Chand Burke

Chand Burke (2 February 1932 – 28 December 2008), also known as Chand Burque, was an Indian character actress in Hindi and Punjabi language films.

Career Chand Burke made her debut in Maheshwari Productions’ Kahan Gaye (1946). Chand appeared in a number of films made in Lahore, and was widely known as “the Dancing Lily of the Punjab.” The Partition of India led to her migration to Mumbai (then Bombay) thus adversely affecting her career.

She was given her first break in Bollywood by the veteran actor Raj Kapoor in the film titled, Boot Polish (1954), where she played the pivotal role of Baby Naaz and Rattan Kumar's tormenting aunt.

Personal life Burke was born in a Punjabi Christian family of twelve brothers and sisters in the Punjab Province of British India (in what is now Pakistan). Her grandfather Chaudhry Allah Ditta was a convert to Christianity while her father Janab Khairuddin, the first graduate from his village, was a school headmaster who wrote Urdu poetry under the pen name Burq (lightning), which later would be Anglicized as Burke. Her brother, Samuel Martin Burke, was Indian Civil Service officer who later became a diplomat to the Scandinavian countries for Pakistan. After divorcing her film writer-director husband Niranjan in 1954, she married businessman Sundar Singh Bhavnani in 1955 with whom she had a daughter named Tonya and a son named Jagjit, who is the father of Indian film actor Ranveer Singh.

Filmography

Year Film RoleNotes 1969 PardesanRakhi 1968 Kahin Din Kahin Raat Pran's scientist assistant 1967 Mera Bhai Mera Dushman Rajan's wife 1965 Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain Kundan's mother 1964 Apne Huye Paraye Rampyari 1960 Ghar Ki Laaj Moti's aunty 1960 Rangeela RajaMadhuri 1960 Shravan Kumar Jamuna 1959 Pardesi DholaReshma 1958 AdalatUrmila 1958 Lajwanti Actress Uncredited 1958 Sohni MahiwalNargis 1957 Dushman Raam Singh's mother 1956 Basant Bahar Leelabai 1955 RaftarJaya 1955 Shahi ChorSushma 1954 FerryElizabeth 1954 Amar KirtanNirmala 1954 Gul BaharNirupa 1954 Boot Polish Kamla Devi 1954 VanjaraSati 1953 Aag Ka Dariya Actress Uncredited 1953 Kaude Shah Poonam Punjabi film 1951 Sabz BaagZubeida 1951 Posti Bhag Bhari Punjabi film 1948 DukhiyariSati 1946 Kahan GayeSalma