Meenakshi Shirodkar first Indian actress to don bikini on screen

Meenakshi Shirodkar first Indian actress to don bikini on screen

An actress wearing a bikini on the big screen in an Indian film is no longer a taboo.
Over the last few years, it ceased to be noteworthy with A-listers Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, and Deepika Padukone donning swimsuits for various films.

But a few decades ago, it wasn’t common. And even as Sharmila Tagore and Zeenat Aman normalised it, they were far from the first to do it.

In 1938, the first decade of talkies in Indian cinema, a Marathi film titled Brahmachari pushed the boundaries on what was considered acceptable on screen, when the film’s lead actress was clad in a swimwear and Meenakshi Shirodkar was the actress in a part-comedy, part-seduction song sequence
“Yamuna Jali Khelu Khel”.
serenading the film’s hero, played by Master Vinayak. As per a Filmfare report, audiences were shocked at the scene, considered quite bold and ahead of its times. In Hindi cinema, Nalini Jaywant became the first actress to wear a bikini, a feat she achieved in the 1950 film Sangram.

As the name suggests, Meenakshi was related to actresses Namrata and Shilpa Shirodkar. Born Ratan Pednekar in 1916, Meenakshi tied the knot to Dr Shirodkar at the age of 19. It was after her marriage that she embarked on her film career with the new screen name Meenakshi and Brahmachari was her debut film
She had a son and two daughters were Shilpa and Namrata. Shilpa Shirodkar who worked in films like Khuda Gawah while her sister Namrata worked in hits like Vaastav. Namrata was also a Miss India finalist, and is currently married to Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu.

News Edit K.V.Raman