Trivial Pursuit 147

She was born to Dr. Ramaiah, a renowned nuclear physicist from Andhra Pradesh and Marthe, an Irish Indologist of Swiss-French origin.




She was crowned 'Miss India' in 1954 and the same year along with Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, she was listed as one of the 10 most beautiful women in the world by 'Vogue' magazine.




She was the first choice for the role of Tonya Gromeko in the David Lean classic 'Doctor Zhivago' (1965). David Lean wanted to cast her as Tonya, a role which finally went to Geraldine Chaplin, daughter of the legendary Charlie Chaplin.

Salvador Dali's 'The Madonna Of Port Lligat'

Salvador Dali used her as a model for the 'Madonna'.




She learnt acting from French film maker Jean Renoir and Satyajit Ray wanted to make a film with her and Marlon Brando.




A smitten Raj Kapoor wanted to sign her up for four films. She was spotted by Raj Kapoor and was lined up to be a marquee name for his RK banner, as he wanted to sign her for a four film contract, only to be turned down by her for a role in a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film that went on to win the Indian Government's coveted National Award for Best Film (1961).

Later in life, she made documentary films and dubbed Hong Kong movies into English. She also worked as an editor for 'Society' magazine and translated the French playwright Eugene Ionesco.


In between, she made a film for J.R.D. Tata — on 'How To Use A Washroom in the Plane'.


She even worked as a translator for Indira Gandhi during some of her interviews.


She was listed as one of the most beautiful women in the world by 'Vogue' Magazine and remained so, till her demise in 2009.






Identify this graceful beauty.








Additional Trivia :

           Mug shot of Benito Mussolini : Arrested in 1903, in Basel, Switzerland, for vagrancy.

                                            Benito Mussolini

** Her grandfather on her mother's side, Mr. Mange, was the owner of a factory. In his time, he was the sole importer and purveyor of American threshing machines in Europe. 

A young Benito Mussolini was an employee at this factory and was fired by Mr. Mange for creating trouble (read; for banging a co-worker's hand with a red hot metal rod), much before he became a notorious dictator.

                                           Felix Yusupov

                                                         
  

                                           Grigori Rasputin

** Her maternal grandmother's next door neighbour Prince Felix Yousoupoff (Count Yusupov), once appeared naked at their doorstep. Prince Yusupov will best be remembered by history as one of the men who killed Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin*. 


(* Rasputin was a mystic/'mad monk' who held Russia to ransom since he had convinced Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra that he could cure their son and heir Alexei, of the haemophilia that he had inherited through Queen Victoria).        

                                           Sarojini Naidu

                                Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

** On her father's side, she had an aunt called Sarojini Naidu, who once gave her chocolates to eat and told her 'Now go out to the outhouse and see Mickey Mouse'.

The Mickey Mouse turned out to be none other than Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the man the world calls Mahatma Gandhi.




"You are not Mickey Mouse !!" she said.


"No ?" Gandhiji asked.


"Your ears are big but they're not big enough."


"Is that all ?" he asked..


"And you don't have a tail'..


'So I am not Mickey Mouse,' Gandhi Ji said, "but who am I ?"


"You are Gandhiji," she said.


She put the flowers down and gave him the chocolates.


He took them and began to eat them immediately, as happy as schoolboy with a box of tuck.




Imagine Mahatma Gandhi having chocolate !!