MITHUN

Mandakini (born 7 January 1969, as Yasmeen Joseph) is a former Bollywood actress. She had a brief, but controversial career in Hindi movies and was rumoured to have a relationship with gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

Early career

At 16 she was cast in the lead role in Raj Kapoor's 1985 movie, Ram Teri Ganga Maili opposite his youngest son, Rajiv Kapoor. The movie was a hit, and it earned Mandakini a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. The film also caused a stir because of two scenes - one in which Mandakini bathes in a waterfall wearing only a flimsy white saree through which her breasts were clearly visible, and another in which she was shown breast-feeding a child. Some critics claimed that the scenes were vulgar and exploitative, and were used to get around the Indian Film Censor Board's stringent rules against nudity. Kapoor, as usual, defended the inclusion of the scenes stating that they were tasteful.

Mandakini acted in a few more successful films, such as Dance Dance, with Mithun Chakraborty and Pyaar Karke Dekho with Govinda, but never managed to recreate the success of her first movie.

The Dawood Connection

In 1994, photographs began circulating of Mandakini in the presence of dreaded gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Rumours had already been doing the rounds that the two were an item, and these only served to fuel them. One of the theories put forward was that Ibrahim, who was known to have a keen interest in Bollywood and had even financed movies, had pressured Rishi Kapoor into casting Mandakini, and she was actually his mistress. Later, it was reported that she had even moved to Dubai to be with him.
Mandakini vehemently denied all rumours linking her to Dawood. While she admitted to knowing him and being on friendly terms with him, she claimed that they did not know each other personally, let alone being a couple. She also pointed out that she had been married to R. Thakur, a doctor in Mumbai, and even gave birth to a son in 1995.
However, the rumours never ceased. One such theory was that Mandakini was not involved with Dawood, but with his brother Anees, whom she had secretly married. It was rumoured that she had a son from one of the brothers who was being brought up in the USA.

Later career

Mandakini's career suffered a serious setback. She quit movies after Zordaar in 1996, and has lived in Mumbai since, with her husband and son. Since then, she has made attempts to reinvent herself. She released two pop music albums - No Vacancy and Shambala - neither of which was a success. Currently, she runs classes in Tibetan yoga and is a follower of the Dalai Lama.