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Padma Khanna

Padma Khanna is an Indian actress, dancer and director. She appeared mainly in Hindi and Bhojpuri films in the 1970s and 1980s. She is most remembered for her role in the film Saudagar with Amitabh Bachchan and also as Queen Kaikeyi in Ramanand Sagar's epic series Ramayan (1987–88). She has appeared in two Telugu films with N. T. Rama Rao, in Desoddarakulu and Rajaputra Rahasyam. She also acted in Odia movie Sakshi Gopinath(1978)

Early life

Khanna started her Kathak training when she was about 7, from Pandit Birju Maharaj. She was born in Banares and was introduced to Bollywood under the suggestions of actresses Padmini and Vyjayanthimala.

Career

Khanna debuted as an actress in the 1962 Bhojpuri film Ganga Maiyya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo. She got her break in 1970 when she played a cabaret dancer in Johnny Mera Naam. She often played dancers, appearing in films like Loafer, Jaan-e-Bahaar and Pakeezah in which she acted as a double for Meena Kumari in the opening sequence and the songs Chalo Dildaar Chalo and Teer-E-Nazar Dekhenge. In the 1980s, she played Queen Kaikeyi in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan which aired on Doordarshan.

In 2008, she choreographed and acted in a musical based on the epic Ramayana with 64 actors and dancers at Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, directed by her husband, Jagdish L. Sidana. She also directed a Bhojpuri film, Nahir Hutal Jaya (2004).

Personal life

She was married to the late film director Jagdish L. Sidana. The couple moved to the state of New Jersey in United States in the 1990s where they opened a kathak academy. Khanna's adult children help her to run the academy.