Hema Malini Dharmendra Deol[4][5] (born 16 October 1948;[6] Hindi pronunciation: [ɦeːmaː maːlɪn̪iː d̪ʱəɾmeːn̪d̪ɾə d̪eːoːl]) is an Indian actress, director, producer, and politician who is currently serving as a member of the Lok Sabha from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), representing Mathura constituency since 2014.

[11] Malini first acted in a lead role in Sapno Ka Saudagar (1968), and went on to feature in numerous Hindi films, frequently opposite Dharmendra, whom she married in 1980.

[3] She won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her dual role in the comedy Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), and was nominated ten more times leading up to Baghban (2003).

[15] In 2012, the Sir Padampat Singhania University conferred an honorary doctorate on Malini in recognition of her contribution to Indian cinema.

In 1972, she played a double role opposite Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar in Seeta Aur Geeta,[34] which earned her a Filmfare Best Actress Award for the film.

[citation needed] Malini and Dharmendra acted together in 28 films including Sharafat, Tum Haseen Main Jawan, Naya Zamana, Raja Jani, Seeta Aur Geeta, Patthar Aur Payal, Dost (1974), Sholay (1975), Charas, Jugnu, Apna Khoon, Azaad (1978) and Dillagi (1978).

[citation needed] In the 80s Malini continued to star in big budget films such as Kranti, Naseeb, Satte Pe Satta and Rajput, most of which proved successful at the box office.

She continued to work in heroine-centric roles after becoming a mother in films such as Aandhi Toofan, Durgaa, Ramkali, Sitapur Ki Geeta, Ek Chadar Maili Si, Rihaee and Jamai Raja.

She continued to be paired with Rajesh Khanna in movies such as Dard, Bandish, Kudrat, Hum Dono, Rajput, Babu, Durgaa, Sitapur Ki Geeta and Paap Ka Ant, some of which were major successes in her career.

In the 1990s, she produced and directed the 1992 film Dil Aashna Hai, starring Divya Bharti and Shah Rukh Khan in the leading roles.

She also produced and directed her second feature film Mohini (1995), starring her niece Madhoo and actor Sudesh Berry in the leading roles.

After taking a break from films for a number of years, Malini made a comeback with Baghban (2003),[33] for which she earned a Filmfare Best Actress Award nomination.

[38] In 1999, Malini campaigned for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Vinod Khanna, a former Bollywood actor, in the Lok Sabha Elections in Gurdaspur, Punjab.

[40] In the 2014 general elections for the Lok Sabha, Malini defeated the Mathura incumbent, Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) by 3,30,743 votes.

[45][46] In 2016 the Bombay High Court entertained a Public Interest Litigation challenging allotment of a plot of land in Mumbai to Malini's dance academy.

The petitioner Ketan Tirodkar sought to file a cheating case against the actress for defrauding the government to allot a piece of land which was reserved for gardens.

[52] She said, "My friends at PETA have organised investigations at Jallikattu events and documented that bulls are pulled roughly by their nose rings, punched, pummelled, hit with sharp sticks and crammed into trucks so tightly that they can barely move".

[61] Hema Malini directed and produced serials for Doordarshan like Terah Panneh, Rani Laxmibai, Bharti, and Noopur.

[67] Malini is considered among the finest actresses of Hindi cinema and is regarded for her range of roles, her dance, beauty and her styling.

Bindu Batra of India Today noted, "Her rise was ascribed partly to her youth and largely to her cultivated resemblance to Vyjayanthimala.

"[75] Rachit Gupta of Filmfare feels her "dominance was unprecedented" and said, "Malini defined everything that the Dream Girl tag stood for.

[77] Dinesh Raheja of Rediff.com praised her "takes-your-eyes-prisoner beauty" and "tinkling laugh" and noted, "Hema was never in danger of being mistaken for a thespian.