This actress who came from Tibet ruled Bollywood for years, changed her religion, worked with Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, husband was also famous star

Born in 1924, actress Latika was from Tibetan origin and her real name was Hungu-Lamou. Her mother was Tibetan, and her father, an Australian who had embraced Buddhism, worked in India as a racehorse trainer for the Maharajas. He passed away when Latika was very young. Her mother had her second marriage and got her enrolled at the Kalimpong Girls' Orphanage, known as The Homes, which was run by a Scottish missionary, and hence, Latika had to convert to Christianity and was christened Agnes. She remained at The Homes till she completed her education.

Latika’s stepfather was an engineer who was involved in bridge construction, and his work eventually took the family to Bombay (now Mumbai) during her teenage years. In the City of Dreams, she befriended a neighbor who was a Kathak dancer and actress. Through this friendship, she was invited to visit the Minerva film studios, where director Sohrab Modi noticed her and offered her a chance to act, and gave her the stage name Latika.

She marked her acting debut in the 1944 Hindi film Parakh and went on to star in 12 films over the next five years. Her most famous movies were Jugnu with Dilip Kumar in 1947 and Gopinath with Raj Kapoor in 1948. She met Gope, who was the top comedian in the Hindi film industry in the 1930s and 1940s, on the sets of Gopinath and the two fell in love with each other. Next year in 1949, Latika and Gope married each other and she quit her acting career to focus on her married life, which was the traditional norm at that period. They had two sons Gope Jr. and Lalith. After Gope passed away in 1957, his widow Latika moved to United Kingdom with their two sons. Not much is known about the actress since then.

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