She had it all—beauty, talent and a string of blockbuster hits. But at the peak of her career, she disappeared from the silver screen.

Born on November 16, 1963, in Jharkhand, she was one of the leading actresses of the 80s and 90s.

Proficient in dance forms like Kathak and Bharatnatyam from a young age, she was crowned Miss India in 1981 when she was just 17.

Winning the beauty pageant eventually opened the doors to Bollywood. She made her debut in Painter Babu (1983) with a lesser-known cast. The film didn’t make waves, but it didn’t take long for her to become a household name.

It was Subhash Ghai’s Hero that turned her into an overnight sensation. The cult 1983 film starred her opposite Jackie Shroff, and it became a smashing hit.

Wondering who this talented diva is? We are talking about Meenakshi Seshadri.

From Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna to Rishi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor, she went on to share the screen with Bollywood’s biggest stars.

Meenakshi’s career-best performance is said to be in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Damini. She was part of the woman-orientated film at a time when heroines were merely cast as the love interest to the larger-than-life heroes.

In 1996, she starred in Ghaatak with Sunny Deol. The film had everything: hard-hitting action, emotional drama, and, of course, the dialogues that became instant classics. It was her last movie before she quietly walked away from the limelight.

On the personal front, her alleged relationship with Kumar Sanu was much talked about, as the singer was already married at that time.

At the peak of her stardom, Meenakshi tied the knot with American banker Harish Mysore and relocated to the US.

A proud mother of two, Meenakshi runs Indian classical dance classes in America, far from the flashing cameras of Bollywood.