Classic Bollywood film actress, Waheeda Rehman (1936-  ) was born into a conservative Muslim family in Chengelpattu, Tamil Nadu, in British India and was a talented classical dancer in her youth. She originally intended to become a doctor, but bad health got in the way, so she turned to acting. Starting with Tamil and Telugu films, she went on to star as the leading lady in scores of Hindi films in the 50’s to 70s, many of which ended up as classics.  After a long absence from the screen, she revived her career with character acting in the last decade.