Hema Malini is an Indian actress, classical dancer, film director, producer and politician. Active in Hindi cinema since the late 1960s, she is among the most prominent leading actresses of her era and was widely referred to in the press as the "Dream Girl". She has appeared in over 150 films, predominantly in Hindi, with notable work also in Tamil and Telugu cinema. Since 2014, she has served as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, representing Mathura on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.
| Full name | Hema Malini Chakravarti |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 October 1948, Ammankudi, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Profession | Actress, classical dancer, director, producer, politician |
| Spouse | Dharmendra (m. 1980) |
| Children | Esha Deol, Ahana Deol |
| Dance form | Bharatanatyam (also trained in Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattam and Odissi) |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Constituency | Mathura (Lok Sabha) |
| Major awards | Padma Shri (2000), Filmfare Best Actress (1973), Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award (2000), Padma Bhushan (2019) |
Hema Malini was born on 16 October 1948 in Ammankudi, a village in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, into a Tamil Iyengar family. Her father, V. S. R. Chakravarti, was a businessman, and her mother, Jaya Chakravarti, was a film producer who actively guided her early career. She trained in Bharatanatyam from a young age and later studied other Indian classical dance forms.
She made her screen debut in the Tamil film Idhu Sathiyam (1965) in a supporting role. Her Hindi film debut came with Sapnon Ka Saudagar (1968), opposite Raj Kapoor, where she was introduced as the "Dream Girl", a tag that remained with her throughout her career.
After her debut, she rose quickly to leading-lady status with films such as Johny Mera Naam (1970) opposite Dev Anand, Tum Haseen Main Jawan (1970), Andaz (1971) and Lal Patthar (1971). By the early 1970s she was among the highest-paid actresses in Hindi cinema.
This period saw a string of major commercial and critical successes. Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), in which she played a double role as twin sisters separated at birth, won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Other landmark films include Sholay (1975), in which she played the talkative tonga-driver Basanti opposite Dharmendra; Dream Girl (1977); Trishul (1978); Meera (1979), directed by Gulzar, where she portrayed the saint-poet Meera Bai; and Kranti (1981).
From the mid-1980s, she gradually moved to character roles while continuing to act selectively. She turned to direction with the television series Noopur and the dance-themed film Dil Aashna Hai (1992), which marked the debut of Shah Rukh Khan. She also directed Mohini (1995) and Tell Me O Khuda (2011), which featured her daughter Esha Deol.
Hema Malini is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and has performed widely in India and abroad. She runs the Natya Vihar Kalakendra, a dance institution, and has staged several dance ballets, including Ramayana, Meera, Savitri, Durga and Radha-Krishna, often performing alongside her daughters.
Hema Malini was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2003 by the BJP and served until 2009. In 2014, she contested the Lok Sabha election from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, defeating sitting MP Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal. She was re-elected from Mathura in 2019 and again in 2024, serving three consecutive terms in the Lok Sabha.
She married actor Dharmendra in 1980. The couple have two daughters, Esha Deol, an actress, and Ahana Deol. She lives in Mumbai and Mathura.
Hema Malini's career spans the transition of Hindi cinema from the late 1960s into the contemporary era. She is regarded as one of the few female leads of her generation to have headlined commercially successful films built around her persona, including double-role vehicles such as Seeta Aur Geeta. Her parallel work in Bharatanatyam and her later political career have given her a long-term public profile beyond cinema.