The rise to stardom and tragic fall of one of the heroines of Indian film. Hansa Wadkar (born Ratan Bhalchandra) was one of Maharashtra’s best known stage and screen personalities. By the time she was married — to a much older family friend and impresario when she was just 15 — she had already starred in nine or ten movies and was becoming a name in the film world. Supporting her family on her earnings, her brother sick with malaria, and both parents having taken to drink, life was not easy f...