He died from an accidental gunshot wound, a few days into the marriage, leaving Leena a widow at age 25.
She had an arranged marriage to her first husband, Siddharth Bandodkar, who came from a prominent Goan political family. She also penned some songs for Amit Kumar and Rajesh Bambal for a music album. She is now appearing for the reality shows.
She appeared as a guest judge for the first 2 episodes of "K for Kishore", a new reality TV singing show launched by Sony TV during December 2007. īairaag, in 1976, is another example where she acted with Dilip Kumar and an ensemble star cast of Saira Bano, Prem Chopra and Helen. She gave one of her best performances in Mehboob Ki Mehndi with Rajesh Khanna in 1971. She was cast opposite many of popular heroes of that era. She made her debut in Man Ka Meet for Sunil Dutt, and it was his wife Nargis who groomed her to be an actress. Initially, she worked in advertisements but eventually ventured into films. Career Ĭhandavarkar came into the limelight after finishing as one of the runners-up for the Fresh Face Competition organized across the country by Filmfare. She quit Bollywood after marriage with singing legend Kishore Kumar only to return for two movies later. She had an elder brother Anil Chandavarkar who married director Atmaram's daughter and has a daughter from the marriage. A film with Dev Anand never saw the light of the day. The films she turned down went to Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Babita, Rakhee, and Rekha, respectively. (1974) opposite Dharmendra, Khaan Dost(1976) opposite Shatrughan Sinha and Ganga Ki Saugandh (1978) opposite Amitabh Bachchan. She turned down roles like Kal Aaj aur Kal (1970) opposite Randhir Kapoor, Khilona (1970) opposite Sanjeev Kumar, Sharmilee (1971) opposite Shashi Kapoor, Kati Patang (1971) opposite Rajesh Khanna, Hanste Zakham (1973) opposite Navin Nischol, Jheel Ke Us Paar (1973) and Resham Ki Dori She was one of the topmost heroines in early 70s alongside Hema Malini and Mumtaz.
The movie was a hit and she became an overnight star. The film got shelved and she made her debut under the direction of Sunil Dutt with the movie Man ka Meet in 1968. She was supposed to debut with the film Maseeha (1967) opposite Sunil Dutt costarring Raaj Kumar and Mumtaz too under the direction of Sunil Dutt himself. Leena Chandavarkar was born to a Konkani Marathi speaking Army officer Sreenath Chandavarkar at Dharwad in Karnataka in 1950.