Today, she is Mrs. Tina Ambani – a portly power-wife of the corporate mogul Anil Ambani, but in 1977, when Dev Anand introduced her as his heroine, she was just a dumb and innocent but bold and curvaceous teenager. Her utterly inexpressive, immobile face did not really hamper her acting career; in fact she was one of the favourite show-dolls in the business, acting with most top heroes like Rishi Kapoor (Karz), Vinod Khanna (Khuda Kasam) and Rajesh Khanna (Sautan). She was also the heroine in Sanjay Dutt’s debut film – Rocky. Her long standing affair with Rajesh Khanna came to an end after their ambitious joint venture Alag Alag bit the dust at box-office and sensibly, she decided to bid adieu to film industry and wedded the Reliance-heir in one of the most talked about and lavish wedding ceremonies.

Nowadays, she is busy planning a film on the life of her late father-in-law, the King-maker industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani.

Here’s a look-back at 3 of Tina’s hit films.

Des Pardes was Tina’s ticket to stardom. It was a Dev Anand film and perhaps, the last watchable film the fading star made. It’s a story of an ex-army-man (Dev Anand) and his expatriate elder brother (Pran). The elder brother has settled in U.K., setting up a pub but then, he gets killed by his unscrupulous partner (Ajit), who is running an illegal immigrants’ racket. The younger brother reaches London trying to unearth the mystery and finds a young woman (Tina Munim) on his flight, who has been duped into a phoney marriage. It was an entertaining film, highlighting the problems of illegal immigrants. Rajesh Roshan’s music (Nazrana Bheja Kisine and Aap Kahe Aur) was another plus factor.

 Baaton Baaton Mein was a nicely portrayed love-story between a guy (Amol Palekar) and a girl (Tina), belonging to middle-class Christian families. Their love blossoms during the sub-urban train journeys but then the boat rocks following the boy’s mother’s haughty attitude. How the lovers come together made interesting viewing. Rajesh Roshan again provided some good songs like Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Ghum and Kahan Tak Yeh Man Ko.

 Harjaee was a story of a boisterous prankster (Randhir Kapoor) who fibs about being a cancer patient in order to win sympathy and love from a girl (Tina) but once he gets her love, thanks to fate, he really contracts the dreaded disease. Such emotional roller coaster ride would have been an ideal set-up for histrionics but Tina proves to be just a minor cog in the wheel, whereas Randhir steals the show. Rahul Dev Burman’s music (Tu Tu Hai Wohi and Tujhsa Haseen) was superb as ever.