Ayesha Takia was born with an Anglo-Indian Muslim origin on 10th April, 1986 in Mumbai and started acting by the time she was 18 and therefore, never enrolled for graduation. Her onscreen debut was a child artist for Complan alongside Shahid Kapoor with whom she later starred in three movies. She featured in two music videos: one with Falguni Pathak but the other one “Shake it daddy” made her popular. Her debut movie was “Taarzan: The wonder car” and despite the disastrous performance of the movie, she won the Filmfare Best Debut award that year. Most of her movies have failed at box office, but her roles have stood out in almost all of them. Her moist powerful role till date remains in “Dor” where she played a young widow who wants to enjoy her life despite the death of her husband. She won much acclaim and awards for her role. “Socha na tha” was supposed to be her debut movie but got delayed and by then, she was a two movie veteran. Her other movies include “Dil Maange More”, “Shaadi no. 1”, “Shaadi se pehle”, Salaam-e-ishq”, “No Smoking” and the most recent, “Sunday”. “No Smoking” was again alternative cinema and the movie drew positive reviews from critics. Her long list of upcoming movies looks promising to change her track record and deliver a series of records.
Archive for April, 2008
Apoorva Lakhia
April 30th, 2008
krishna Apoorva Lakhia is one of those Indian directors who have done most of their initial projects in Hollywood as an assistant director. He started his career as an assistant director in the movie “Kama Sutra: A tale of love” and then, left for Hollywood projects where he worked on movies like “The ice storm”, “A perfect murder” and “Addicted to love”. Having earned exposure to great learning projects abroad, he came back to India to work as an assistant for Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Oscar nominated movie “Lagaan: Once upon a time in India”. His resume caught the attention and fancy of many producers and he finally got the big break in 2002 with “Mumbai se aaya mera dost” starring Bachchan Jr. His next movie saw the Big Bachchan joining the cast as he tried to remake “Man of fire” in Bollywood as “Ek ajnabee”. “Shootout at Lokhandwala” became his most successful box office movie and was a multi-star cast with both the Bachchans appearing together this time. This movie was based on the life of Bombay based underworld gangsters and is inspired from the real-life stories of Maya Dolas and Dilip Buwa. The recent movie “Dus kahaniyaan” offered a bouquet of ten stories of which one named “Sex on the beach” was directed by Apporva Lakhia. The box office has high expectations from his next movie “Mission Istanbul” starring Vivek Oberoi, Sunil Shetty, Shriya Saran and Zayed Khan.
Sanjay Suri
April 30th, 2008
krishna Sanjay Suri started his career as a model when he reached New Delhi and promoted brands like Gillette, Nilkamal Furniture and Times of India. He made his Bollywood entry with “Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi” with co-actors Dino Morea and Rinkie Khanna. His supporting role in the movie was highly appreciated even though the movie flopped. Success at the box office eluded Sanjay despite power packed performances in all of his movies since “Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi”. His releases during that period included “Daman: A victim of marital violence” with Raveena Tandon and “Filhaal” and “Dil Vil Pyar Vyar”. All his roles established him as a great actor but the movies bombed. Another release of his, “Pinjar” with Urmila Matondkar was set on a story line during the Indo-Pak partition and earned critical fame but commercial success still remained a dream. His success at the box office came with the movie “Jhankaar Beats” where he played the lead opposite Juhi Chawla and succeeded in wooing the audiences to the theatres. His movies and roles have always received great support even though the movie did not perform as well as expected. Among his recent releases like “My Brother..Nikhil” and “Bas ek pal”, he was again paired with Juhi Chawla but the movies did not click anywhere except in Mumbai.
Dia Mirza
April 29th, 2008
krishna Dia Mirza was born on 9th December, 1981 to a German-Bengali couple in Hyderabad. The actress retains a Muslim name though she practices Hinduism. She became Miss Asia Pacific 2000 after being a second runner up in the Miss India competition that year. Dia gave up her graduation in Arts as she got busy with her modeling assignments and movies. Her Bollywood entry was far from a dream one as most of her movies were disastrous at the box office. Her first film was “Deewanapan” closely followed by “Rehna hai tere dil mein” opposite Madhavan and Saif Ali Khan. Her other projects were “Tumko na bhool payenge”, “Tehzeeb”, “Pran jaye par shaan na jaye”, “Dum”, “Stop”, “Tumsa nahi dekha”, “Kyun! Ho gaya na..”, “Blackmail”, “Parineeta”, “Dus”, “Phir hera pheri”, “Lagey raho Munnabhai” and a few others. Among these movies, “Dum” is the only hit movie with her as the female lead. Her performance as a supporting artist was well appreciated in the movies “Dus”, “Parineeta” and “Lagey raho Munnabhai”. Besides movies, she has also featured in music videos like “Kajra Mohabbat wala” with Sonu Nigam. Her upcoming releases are “Naa Naa karte” and “Familywala”. Besides these, she is on the cast of 7-8 other movies.
Amrita Rao
April 29th, 2008
krishna Amrita Rao was born on 7th June 1981 in Mumbai and did her schooling and graduation in Mumbai. She is a graduate from Sophia College in psychology. During her college years, she moved to modeling and promoted brands like Fairever Face Cream, Perk and Bru. These movies earned her calls from directors but she refused the offers in lieu of studies. After graduation, she debuted in “Ab ke baras” opposite Aryan Babbar but the movie did not click. She re-appeared in Bollywood in the love story ‘Ishk Vishk” and her performance was very much appreciated and she was nominated as the Filmfare best female debutant and won the IIFA award as well. She appeared all set to step in the big shoes of Bollywood lead actresses with spectacular success in “Masti”, “Main Hoon Na” and “Vivah”. “Vivah” brought her back with her “Ishk Vishk” lead Shahid Kapoor and remains her most successful movie till date. She also earned a Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award for her performance in “Vivah”. Meanwhile she chose a few weak plots to work on like “Deewar”, “Vaah! Life ho to aisi”, “Shikhar”, “Pyare Mohan” and “My name is Anthony Gonsalves” which bombed at the box office and earned her poor reviews from the critic. Such poor selection of movies led her to no releases in Bollywood in 2007 but she starred in a Telegu hit “Athidhi” during this period.
Anubhav Sinha
April 29th, 2008
krishna Anubhav Sinha is a 42 year old veteran who has showed lots of promise and potential but is yet to hit homerun on the celluloid screen. Anubhav Sinha was born in Allahabad and did his early schooling in Allahabad and Varanasi before going on to become a mechanical engineering graduate from the Aligarh Muslim University. After trying his fortunes as an engineer, Anubhav realized his true dreams and started as an assistant director in 1990. Four years of experience served as an ideal launch pad for him to start as an independent director. His talent was first appreciated with “Shikasht” and he got selected for a TV show “Sea Hawks” on UTV. The show went to don the TRP ratings for thirty five weeks across all the networks. Having conquered the silver screen, he went about establishing a niche for himself in the music video industry and worked on 75 music videos. Bollywood seemed to be the only hurdle left in India and with that goal set, he went about his business. His first feature film “Tum Bin” released in 2001 with fresh faces as leading stars and remains one of the most appreciated romantic movies featuring newcomers in lead parts. Other works of his include “Aap ko pehle bhi kahin dekha hai”, “Dus”, “Tathastu” and “Cash”. None of these movies have been great money spinners yet but all of them have done considerable business at the box office. The critics have been very supportive of Anubhav appreciating his talent and class.
Ritesh Deshmukh
April 29th, 2008
krishna Ritesh Deshmukh was born on 17th December, 1978 in Latur to Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, present chief minister of Maharashtra. He completed his schooling and graduation in Mumbai before moving to New York to join the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. His Bollywood debut was in 2004 against Genelia D’souza in the movie “Tujhe meri kasam” which enjoyed moderate success at the box office. It was only in his third movie “Masti” that he became a known face and was established as a good comic leads in movies. He tried serious roles in movies like “Bardaasht” and ”Naach” but later decided to take comic roles rather than serious ones. His popular movies which established his rank as a comedian and also, impressed the box office charts include “Kya kool hai hum”, “Mr ya Miss”, “Bluffmaster”, “Malamaal weekly”, “Apna Sapna Money Money”, “Hey Baby” and “Dhamaal”. “Hey Baby” remains his most successful movie till date where he plays a Casanova who later changes completely after adopting a baby girl. He also appeared in Om Shanti Om. His future projects include “De Taali” and “Aladdin and the mystery of the lamp”. He has won the best comedian award for his roles in the movie “Masti” and “Bluffmaster”.
Amisha Patel
April 28th, 2008
krishna Amisha Patel delivered three consecutive super hits including “Kaho Naa.. Pyar Hai” and “Gadar: Ek Prem Katha” and announced her entry in Bollywood. Both the movies did handsome business and Amisha was also shown thumbs up by the critics. She won the best debutant award for “Kaho Naa.. Pyar Hai” at almost all the award functions. She was also awarded a Filmfare Special Performance award for Gadar. But then, her magic touch was lost and she had to wait till 2006 for appreciation of her acting talent in the movie “Ankahee”. Another hit of hers was “Bhool bhulaiya” where she starred opposite Akshay Kumar. Meanwhile, she appeared in “Humraaz” as well which was turned out to be a hit. Her long list of flops includes “Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar”, “Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai”, “The Rising”, “Mere Jeevan Saathi”, “Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai”, “Teesri Aankh” and “Aap ki khatir”. “Ankahee” worked as a straw to save her sinking career. The story was inspired from her ex-boyfriend’s real life and she played the role of his wife in the movie. She impressed in “Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.” Where she played the wife of a man confused about his sexual preferences. Her current projects are “Thoda pyar thoda magic”, “Do lucky” and “Chatur Singh Two star”. Before making her career in films, Amisha graduated from Tufts University and worked for Morgan Stanley.
Anant Mahadevan
April 28th, 2008
krishna Anant Mahadevan is an actor who later became a director. He started his career with the television serials and made his way up into the movies. He acted in serials like “The sword of Tipu Sultan” and then, went to feature in character roles in more than 50 Bollywood movies, the latest being “Eight by Ten” by Nagesh Kukunoor. His career as a director began with the TV serial “Indradhanush” in 1989 but he had to wait till 2002 to get a break as a movie director. His first film “Dil Vil Pyar Vyar” with Madhavan, Jimmy Shergill and Sanjay Suri was highly appreciated though did not perform as expected at the box office. His later projects included a few movies with Emran Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Jimmy Shergill and Shahid Kapoor like “Aksar”, “Aggar”, “Victoria no. 203” and “Dil maange more”. Other movies in the pipeline include “Meeting se meeting tak” and “Anamika”. Anant will work with Akshay Kumar for the first time in Anamika though Ayesha Takia had worked with him earlier in “Dil maange more”.
Aftab Shivdasani
April 28th, 2008
krishna Aftab Shivdasani was born in Mumbai on 25th June, 1978 (he shares his birth date with his father) and did his graduation from H R College of commerce. Even during his school days, he was actively involved in movies and featured in various movies as a child artist. His earliest movies were “Mr. India”, “Shahenshah”, “Chaalbaaz” and “Insaniyat”. His career as a senior lead artist started when Ram Gopal Verma gave him a break in his movie “mast” in 1999 opposite Urmila Matondkar. The movie did not do any wonders but he was awarded the Filmfare best debut award for his role in the movie “Mast”. After “Mast”, he appeared in many movies, most of which enjoyed moderate success at the box office though none of them went on to become a super hit. His much appreciated performances were in “Kasoor” where he played a negative role and won the award for best actor in a villainous role in 2002, “Awara Paagal Deewana”, “Hungama” and “Masti” where he played comic roles. A few of his movies turned out to be a disaster at the box office which included “Mr ya miss” and the multi starrer “Jaani Dushman”. A common joke usually associated with Aftab’s movies is that he prefers singing a dream sequence in the movie with his opposite lead in the movie.
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