Birth Date: 30 Jul, 1963, Age (62)

Occupation : Actress

Place of Birth : Meerut

Mandakini

Mandakini (born 30 July 1963) is a former Bollywood actress. She is best remembered for her role in the 1985 movie Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Starting off as an unknown girl from Meerut, Yasmin was rejected by at least three filmmakers before Ranjit Virk changed her name to Madhuri 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. Her physical assets were exploited to the full in the film which had caused quite a stir, especially because of two scenes in it. Mandakini 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 never recreated the success of her first movie.

In 1994, photographs began circulating of Mandakini in the presence of dreaded gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Rumors had already been 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 Rishi Kapoor into casting Mandakini, and she was his mistress. Later, it was alleged that she had moved to Dubai to be with him. Mandakini vehemently denied all rumors linking her relation to Dawood. She was extremely famous during this time. While she admitted to knowing and being on friendly terms with him, she claimed that they did not know each other personally, let alone be a couple.

Currently, she runs classes in Tibetan yoga and is a follower of the Dalai Lama. With her husband, she runs a center for Tibetan medicine, which is commonly known as the Tibetan Herbal Centre in the area.