Rakhee

Raakhee
Rakhee at Neena Singh's art exhibition
Born	Rakhee Majumdar (1947-08-15) 15 August 1947 (age 69) Ranaghat, Bengal, Dominion of India (now in West Bengal, India)
Years active	1967–2003
Spouse(s)	Ajay Biswas (m. 1963; div. 1965) Gulzar (m. 1973)
Children	Meghna Gulzar

Raakhee Majumdar (born 15 August 1947) is an Indian film actress, who has primarily appeared in Hindi films, as well as several Bengali films. She is popularly known as Raakhee Gulzar after her marriage to lyricist-director Gulzar. In four decades of acting, Raakhee won three Filmfare Awards and a National Film Award, among others. At the Filmfare, Raakhee has been nominated 16 times (8 for Best Actress and 8 for Best Supporting Actress), making her the overall most-nominated performer in the female acting categories alongside actress Madhuri Dixit.

Rakhee was born in a Bengali family at Ranaghat in the Nadia district, West Bengal, in the early hours of 15 August 1947, just hours after the declaration of independence of India. She received her early education in a local girls' school. Her father had a flourishing shoe business in his native village in East Bengal, modern-day Bangladesh, before the partition of India and thereafter he settled in West Bengal. While still a teenager, Raakhee had an arranged marriage to Bengali journalist/film director Ajay Biswas, which ended shortly thereafter.

In 1967, the 20-year-old Raakhee (also credited as "Rakhee") acted in her first Bengali film Badhu Baran, after which she was offered the lead role in her first Hindi film in 1970, Rajshri Productions' Jeevan Mrityu with Dharmendra.

In 1971, Rakhee played a double role opposite Shashi Kapoor in Sharmilee, and in the same year she also acted in Lal Patthar and Paras; all three films were popular and she therefore became established as a major Hindi lead heroine. Her films over the next decade included Shehzada (1972), Heera Panna (1973), Daag: A Poem of Love (1973), Hamare Tumhare (1979), Aanchal (1980), and Taaqat (1982). She regards her performances in Blackmail (1973) and Tapasya (1976) to be her best performances. She acted with Dev Anand in Heera Panna, Banarasi Babu, Lootmaar, and Joshila.