Mandakini (actress)

Starting off as an unknown girl from Meerut, Yasmin was rejected by at least three film makers before Ranjit Virk changed her name to Mandakini and signed her up for Mazloom. Before the film could take off, Raj Kapoor discovered her at age 22 and cast her in a lead role in the 1985 movie Ram Teri Ganga Maili with the screen name "Mandakini" opposite his youngest son, Rajiv Kapoor. The movie was a blockbuster, and it earned Mandakini a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress.[2] She caused a stir after she was seen partially nude in two sequences of the film.[3] She then acted in a few more successful films, such as Dance Dance with Mithun Chakraborty, Kahan Hai Kanoon with Aditya Pancholi and Pyaar Karke Dekho with Govinda, but could not recreate the success of her first movie.

After 1989, Mandakini mysteriously stopped signing films, though she had several film releases in 1990 and eventually faded from Bollywood.

In the early '90s, photographs began circulating of Mandakini in the presence of dreaded gangster Dawood Ibrahim. There were reports doing the rounds that the two were having an affair, and the photos 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 financed movies, had pressured Rajiv Kapoor into casting Mandakini, and she was Ibrahim's mistress. Later, it was alleged that she had moved to Dubai to be with him.[4]

Mandakini vehemently denied the reports linking her to Dawood.[5] While she admitted to knowing and being on friendly terms with him, she claimed that they did not know each other personally, saying that "I know Dawood but I'm not his woman".[6]

Mandakini's career suffered a serious setback. She quit movies after Zordaar in 1996 and has lived in Mumbai with her husband and children. 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. With her husband, she runs a centre for Tibetan medicine, which is commonly known as the Tibetan Herbal Centre in the area.[7]