Lilavati Munshi

Lilavati Munshi was an Indian politician and Gujarati essayist. She was a member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1946 and the Rajya Sabha from 1952 to 1958 as a member of the Indian National Congress. She wrote essays and sketches.

Biography Lilavati was born on 21 May 1899 in a Gujarati Jain family of Keshavlal.

In the 1950s, she founded the Society for the Prevention of Unhealthy Trends in Motion Pictures in Bombay. In 1954, she moved a resolution to prohibit screening of 'undesirable' films and obscene scenes, which was adopted by the House following which the government amended the Cinematograph Act in 1959. Kissing scenes were not uncommon in Indian films till the 1950s; it was largely due to her movement that they vanished.

She died on 20 February 1978.

Personal life Her first marriage was to Lalbhai Sheth. After he died in 1926, she married Gujarati writer Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi. They had two sons and four daughters.