Jaya Prada

Born Lalitha Rani Rao in Rajahmundry, Jaya Prada was spotted dancing at a school function as a young teenager and paid ten rupees for her screen debut. It was, by any measure, a modest opening line for a career that would make her one of the most photographed faces of Telugu and Hindi cinema for two decades.

She became a major star in both industries through the late seventies and eighties, pairing memorably with Amitabh Bachchan in Sharaabi and Tohfa, and with Rishi Kapoor in Sargam, while collecting three Filmfare Awards South along the way. Satyajit Ray once called her the most beautiful face on the Indian screen, a line every profile of her still reaches for.

She walked away from filmmaking at her commercial peak in 1994 to join the Telugu Desam Party, later serving as an MP from Rampur from 2004 to 2014 and cycling through the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Manch, RLD and eventually the BJP. These days she resurfaces less for new film roles than for award-night cameos, old-guard reunions, and the occasional legal headline out of Moradabad.

Everything below is from our own cameras.

More on Jaya Prada: en.wikipedia.org