Leela Chitnis
| Leela Chitnis लीला चिटनिस |
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| Born |
9 September 1909 Dharwad, Karnataka, India |
| Died | 14 July 2003 (aged 93) Danbury, Connecticut, USA |
| Occupation | Film actor, theatre actor |
| Years active | 1930s-1980s |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. G. Y. Chitnis |
Leela Chitnis (9 September 1909 – 14 July 2003) was an actress in the Indian film industry, active from 1930s to 1980s. In her early years she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her later roles playing a virtuous and upright mother to leading stars.
She was born in Dharwad, Karnataka to an English literature professor. She was one of the first educated film actresses. After graduation she joined Natyamanwantar, a progressive theatre group that produced plays in her native Marathi language. The group's works were greatly influenced by Ibsen, Shaw and Stanislavsky. With the theatre group, Leela played the lead role in a series of comedies and tragedies and even founded her own repertory.
Chitnis' early stage work included comedy Usna Navra (1934) and with her own film group Udyacha Sansar. She started acting to support her four children. She started as an extra and went on to stunt films.
In Gentleman Daku ("Gentleman Thief") in 1937, Chitnis played a polished crook dressed in male apparel and was publicised in the Times of India as the first graduate society-lady from Maharashtra. By then she had already made her first major mark as an actress on the silver screen. Chitnis worked at Prabhat Pictures, Pune and Ranjit Movietone before going on to be the leading lady in Bombay Talkies.
Specialising in controversial films that challenged accepted societal norms, especially those regarding marriage and the invidious caste system, Bombay Talkies was having limited luck at the box office. But it bounced back with Kangan ("Bangles", 1939), which introduced Chitnis playing the lead role as the adopted daughter of a Hindu priest in love with the son of a local landlord who opposes the relationship and threatens the holy man. Her love, however, stands up to his father's prejudices, an unusual theme for the time, but one that appealed to the public imagination enough to ensure it success at the box office.
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