Mandakini's Journey: From Yasmeen Joseph to Bollywood Stardom

I first met her in the form of several nude and semi-nude photographs shot by my friend JP Singhal, one of the best photographers working for both the corporate sector and especially films. Singhal was best known for the amazing calendars for which he was better known and after making his name as a designer of calendars, he specialized in photographing aspiring stars who had the rare gift of enticing them to pose for him in every provocative way and could even talk about completely stripping starlets without any complaints even after shooting the before and after photographs.

He had a collection of nude photographs of some leading actresses in the early stages of their lives. Some leading filmmakers visited him at his studio in Worli only to see the latest nude photographs shot by him. Incidentally, Singhal was a good friend of MF Hussain and wanted me to write a book on Hussain which would be illustrated with the photographs of Hussain taken by him, but it did not happen as Hussain was forced to leave the country and Singhal left the world. My dream of becoming a media conduit between two great human beings remained unfulfilled. And now it will never be fulfilled...

She returned to India and married a former Buddhist monk and had a boy and a girl. She continued to look for work in films and when her efforts yielded nothing, she started a yoga class which was based on Tibetan yoga.

She is now back in Mumbai with her family. And when my friend Hema met her last with her kids, she still looked glamorous and kept expressing her desire to return to films. She is now 58, married, a mother of two, and has lost touch with her roots as an actress. Normally, all these factors disqualify an actress from being a lead actress. So, is there any chance of Mandakini coming back? Or will she opt to play sister and mother roles?

If Ganga flows in the right direction then it is mother Ganga, but if Ganga moves on crooked paths then it will surely become dirty. Isn't it so?

I was on my way to the office when I decided to meet Singhal and after having the best tea, there was a kind of mischief in his eyes when he took out an album from his shelf and placed it in front of me. There were photos in black and white and color and all the photographs were of a girl named Yasmin Yusuf and all the photographs showed young Yasmin in semi-nude and nude poses. I had never seen so many nude photographs in my life till then.

Singhal told me that he planned to show the photographs to Raj Kapoor and was sure the showman would cast him in his next film which was soon after the grand success of “Bobby”...

Singhal had a meeting with the showman and showed him the pictures of Yasmin Joseph and the showman took away all the pictures and shouted, “I have found my Ganga”

One thing led to another. K.K. Singh, one of Raj Kapoor's assistants, had a script that he had written hoping to have it directed by Raj Kapoor. His dream came true when Raj Kapoor signed Yasmin as the leading lady of his film, which he based on Singh's script and called his film "Ram Teri Ganga Maili". Yasmin was earlier signed for a film called "Mazloon" and was given the name Mandakini. Raj Kapoor retained the same name and signed her along with his son Rajiv Kapoor, Mandakini became a star overnight.

Her scenes in “Ram Teri Ganga Maili” created a furor all around. But it was Mandakini's pictures in the media, wearing a transparent white saree, that created a real storm. The entire film was filled with scenes that were controversial and became a topic of debate and discussion and even gossip.

But the showman completed “Ram Teri Ganga Maili” even though he was not well most of the time and had to be carried on “palanquins” when the shooting had to be done at high altitudes. The censors tried their best to cut the revealing scenes of Mandakini (Ganga) but the showman had an answer to all their objections and “Ram Teri”… got a tremendous response all over the country and even abroad. Unfortunately, this was the last film directed by Raj Kapoor…

The success of "Ram Teri" made an unknown Yasmin Joseph Mandakini a huge star, who was flooded with offers because, after all, she was Raj Kapoor's heroine.

Unfortunately, all the movies she signed were either very small films or were produced and directed by almost unknown directors. Due to these movies, she was labeled a flop heroine and when she was without any work, she came into the limelight when she moved to Dubai and was mostly seen in the company of notorious smuggler Dawood Ibrahim, a fact which closed the doors of India for her. She denied having any connection with Dawood, but her pictures with him at cricket stadiums and other public places proved otherwise.

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