The Saas-y queen

Hated in the latter half of her career for all the good reasons, Lalita Pawar was an actress who did not let anything stand in her way. Not even injuries, not even a tragic marriage.

The Saas; Source: National Herald

Handling life and its turmoil always has been a question to the best of philosophers and writers. While everybody has their own unique combination of a list of generic philosophies of life, Lalita Pawar has one which even the word brave would shy away from.

Acting in her veins and sweat in her skin, Lalita Pawar started off her acting career from the age of playing with dolls. Nine. This beginning would mark the start of the Indian Lady of Cinema.

The silent-era films from the 1940s often found Lalita Pawar leading roles. Her known roles in the future would be in famous films like Anari, Shri 420 and Mr & Mrs 55. Her role of Manthara, in the famous television epic serial Ramayan which grew to another type of infamy in the pandemic, was something else entirely.

Going back to her early career films, she would cause quite a controversy by appearing in a bikini. Considering what India was back then, this was simply atrocious in the public eye.

Chatur Sundari, a film in which Lalita starred in, had her performing 17 roles in a single film!

With her beauty and her acting skills, her career as a heroine was peaking. But alas! What life doth peaceful without violence? Like the slapping scenes in Indian serials with a questionable amount of video edits, a slap from a newbie actor Master Bhagwan would change her entire life like Daya changed locations with his.

Master Bhagwan, acting in the film Jung-E-Azadi, had to slap Lalita in a scene. Due to immense pressure or nervousness,

The slap was so hard that it paralyzed her face as well as pop her left eye!

After three years of treatment and a defective eye, Lalita Pawar's heroine career was done. But, instead of letting this injury scar her, she took advantage of it and changed it into her own unique character trait. From then on, her actual career of fame began.

Hated by Indian households, she would play the role of evil mothers-in-law as well as various evil and cruel characters in films which brought her to national acclaim.

Her contribution to Indian cinema was so significant that she was named the first lady of Indian Cinema.

Sadly, her married life was quite a tragedy, as she found her husband cheating on her with her younger sister which led to their divorce. Although she re-married film producer Rajprakash Gupta later on.