Shyam Benegal's Junoon featured a fine ensemble cast of actresses which included Jennifer Kendall, Shabana Azmi, Ismat Chughtai, Pearl Padamsee, Sushma Seth, Dipti Naval and Nafisa Ali in her first screen role.
with Savita Bajaj, Laura Lidell, Sanjana Kapoor, Shashi Saxena and Krishna Mishra.
Compiled by Vikram Phukan.
Ismat Chughtai was the grand doyenne of Urdu literature. Her off-screen persona lends a lot of fire to her role as Ruth's grandmother.
Jennifer Kendall's best role was that of an Anglo-Indian English teacher in Aparna Sen's classic 36 Chowringhee Lane.
Savita Bajaj was seen in quite a few 80's arthouse films. Was married to Ramgopal Bajaj.
Alongside the late Smita Patil, ruled the parallel cinema movement for almost a decade, from the late 70s.
National swimming champion before this film, Nafisa Ali didn't quite become a big marquee name.
Pearl Padamsee makes quite an impact in her tiny cameo. Much respected in the theatre circuit, she was the leading lady in that lightly entertaining Basu Chatterjee film, Khatta Meetha.
A blink-and-you-miss-her turn from Sanjana Kapoor, most famous now for reviving Prithvi Theatre. With Laura Lidell.
A young Dipti Naval was 'backed' by Asha Bhosle's daughter Varsha. Most famous for pairing with Farooque Sheikh in fluffy middle-cinema comedies.
Sushma Seth is the well-regarded character artiste. Somewhat typecast when it came to her mainstream roles, she did make the most of some of her more meaty parts, like this one, her first.
