Babita

Babita (or Bhambhani) (born 20 April 1948, in Mumbai, is a former Bollywood actress. Babita was born to actor Hari Shivdasani and an English mother. Babita is also mother of today's well known actresses Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor, she is the wife of actor Randhir Kapoor, and the eldest daughter-in-law of actor Raj Kapoor. She is also great-daughter-in-law of actor Prithviraj Kapoor.

Background

Main article: Kapoor family

Babita's father, actor Hari Shivdasani, who was of a Hindu Sindhi family that migrated from Pakistan, and a Christian, British mother. Shivdasani organized a screen test for her with veteran producer G.P. Sippy. He liked her screen test and gave her the opportunity to star in his film.

Career

In her short career she appeared in 19 films including: Dus Lakh (1966), Raaz (1967), Farz (1967), Aulad (1968), Haseena Maan Jayegi (1969), Kab Kyon Aur Kahan (1970) and many more. She starred with her future husband Randhir Kapoor in the hit film Kal Aaj Aur Kal. Her biggest box-office successes were Haseena Maan Jayegi (1968) with her future uncle-in-law Shashi Kapoor, Farz with Jeetendra and Kismat with Vishwajeet.

Personal life

She married Randhir Kapoor on 6 November 1971 when she was 23. After their marriage, Babita had to leave the film industry, as part of the Kapoor tradition which forbids women from acting in films. The marriage produced 2 children: Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor.^[1][2][3]

After the birth of their daughters, their relationship was under strain and finally after a few years they separated. Babita walked out taking her daughters with her. She would eventually break the tradition for which she was forced to leave the industry. Her two daughters went on to become stars of their generation while she could never reach that kind of success.

After 20 years of separation, Babita re-united with husband Randhir Kapoor in 2007 and moved in with him from her old household. She now lives in Mumbai.

Babita became a grandmother when elder daughter, Karisma gave birth to a baby girl, Samaira Kapoor, who was born on 11 March 2005. Babita became a grandmother for a second time when Karisma gave birth to her second child, son Kiaan Raj Kapoor on 12 March 2010.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1966	Dus Lakh	Rita
1967	Raaz	Asha
1967	Farz	Sunita
1968	Kismat	Roma
1968	Haseena Maan Jayegi	Archana 'Archie'
1968	Aulad	Bharti
1969	Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai	Sapna Nath
1969	Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati	Deepali Lakhanpal
1969	Doli	Asha
1969	Anmol Moti
1969	Anjaana	Rachna Malhotra
1970	Kab? Kyoon? Aur Kahan?	Asha Prasad
1970	Pehchan	Barkha
1971	Kal Aaj Aur Kal	Monica 'Mona'
1971	Bikhare Moti
1971	Banphool	Gulabi
1972	Jeet	Kohili
1972	Ek Hasina Do Diwane	Neeta
1973	Sone Ke Hath

Trivia

• Babita was offered the author-backed role of a widow (eventually played by Hema Malini) in Ramesh Sippy's Andaaz, but her father thought it was contrary to her glamour girl image and prevailed upon Babita to turn it down.
• She worked in at least one film with all the top stars of the day, including Shammi Kapoor in Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai, Rajendra Kumar in Anjaana, Manoj Kumar in Pehchaan and Dharmendra in Kab, Kyon Aur Kahan.
• Around the jubilee week, the censor board scissored off a portion of the song Hum to tere ashiq hain. After a lot of public hue and cry, the song was reinstated which gave the film a lease of an additional 25 weeks.