HEMA MALINI CHAKRAVARTHI
Hema Malini Chakravarty was born in a Tamil Iyengar family at Ammankudi, Tiruchirappalli to V.S. Ramanujam Chakravarthy and Jaya Chakravarthy on 16 October 1948. Her mother was a film producer. Malini was the youngest of the three children and has two brothers. She was not interested in studies but liked history, her favourite subject in school. She was educated at the Andhra Mahila Sabha in Chennai.
Some of the popular Bollywood actors like Sanjeev Kumar and Jeetendra proposed to Hema Malini, In her authorized biography, Hema Malini also claimed she almost got married to Jeetendra, but later backed out. Unable to tolerate the rejection, Sanjeev Kumar was reportedly driven to liquor and remained unmarried till his death in 1985.
Hema fell in love with her co-star Dharmendra during the filming of Sholay. She eventually married him in 1980. Before they married both converted to Islam, since Dharmendra was already married to Prakash Kaur who refused to divorce him. Apart from Sholay, the Dharmendra-Hema pair appeared together in films like Seeta Aur Geeta, Dreamgirl, Charas and The Burning Train. After her marriage she became the step-mother of Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, both popular actors in Bollywood. She has two daughters with Dharmendra, Esha Deol (born 1982) and Ahana Deol (born 1984). Her elder daughter Esha is a well-known actress in Bollywood while her younger daughter Ahana is an aspiring director who worked as an assistant director to Sanjay Leela Bhansali in his film Guzarish (2010) that starred Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai.
Hema Malini's niece is actress Madhoo who had starred in films Phool Aur Kaante (1991) and Roja (1992).
Hema Malini and her husband have been involved in politics, as members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, with the support of the Bhratiya Janata Party. She campaigned for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Vinod Khanna, former Bollywood actor in the 1999 Lok Sabha Elections in Gurdaspur in Punjab. In 2004, Hema Malini joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In February 2004, she joined the party (BJP) officially. With her film career less hectic, she has been an active member of the party, attending party meetings and rallies and campaigning for the party through various elections. In March 2010, she was made general secretary of the BJP. In February 2011, it was reported that Hema Malini has been recommended by H.N.Ananth Kumar, party general secretary.
Malini is a trained Bharatanatyam artist, a classical dance of India. Her daughters are well trained in the same dance form; the three have performed together at charity dance concerts. Malini had a natural ability of performing Odissi. Her refulgent smile eased her portrayal of a wide range of characters ranging from the fiery Narasimha to a graceful Lord SriRama on Ramcharitmanas, written by Tulasidas. In 2007, she performed in Mysore on the eve of Dussera, where she played the roles of Sati, Parvati and Durga. She had performed at the Khajuraho Dance Festival with her daughters.
She directed and starred in the television serial Noopur, in which she played the role of a Bharatanatyam dancer. She owned the editorship of New Woman, a Hindi woman's magazine. In 2000 she was appointed as the first-ever woman chairperson of the National Film Development Corporation for three years. She owns a dance school, Natya Vihar Kalakendra.
In 2007, she was signed by Kent, a mineral water purifier system, as its brand ambassador. She is one of the three brand ambassadors of Pothys, a textile showroom in Chennai (the others being Sudha Ragunathan and Trisha Krishnan).The first biography of Malini, Diva Unveiled-Hema Malini, was written by Ram Kamal Mukherjee and first published in 2005.
REKHA
Rekha is daugher of the well known film superstar Gemini Ganeshan and actress Pushpavalli. She was born 10 October 1954. Her original name Bhanurekha Ganesan. Both of her parents were film stars hence studio became her playground. Film studio was like second home for her. Rekha started acting very early, at the age of Thirteen . She did not even know Hindi at that time. But she was a quick learner and learnt hindi in three months and dancing in one month.
Noted in Bollywood films for her versatility and acknowledged as one of the finest actresses of Hindi cinema, Rekha started her career in 1966 as a child actress in the Telugu movie Rangula Ratnam, though her film debut as a lead happened four years later with Sawan Bhadon (1970). Despite the success of several of her early films it was not until the mid-to-late 1970s that she got recognition as an actress. Since the late 1970s, after undertaking a physical transformation, she has been featured as a sex symbol in the Indian media.
Rekha has acted in over 180 films in a career that has spanned over 40 years. Throughout her career, she has often played strong female characters and, apart from mainstream cinema, appeared in arthouse films, known in India as parallel cinema. She has won three Filmfare Awards, two for Best Actress and one for Best Supporting Actress, for her roles in Khubsoorat (1980), Khoon Bhari Maang (1988) and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996), respectively. Her portrayal of a classical courtesan in Umrao Jaan (1981) won her the National Film Award for Best Actress. Though her career has gone through certain periods of decline, she has reinvented herself numerous times and has been credited for her ability to sustain her status.
DEEPIKA PADUKONE
Padukone was born( 5 January 1986 ) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her family moved to Bangalore, Karnataka, India, when she was eleven months old. Padukone is of Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin origin, and her mother tongue is Konkani. Her father, Prakash Padukone, is a retired badminton player of international repute, and her mother is a travel agent. Padukone also has a younger sister, Anisha, born on 2 February 1991.
Padukone attended Sophia High School in Bangalore, and completed her pre-university studies at Mount Carmel College Bangalore. While in high school she played badminton at the state level. However, she was not keen on pursuing a career as a badminton player. While in college, Padukone pursued a career in modeling. She was spotted in a ramp competition in NLS, Bangalore. Over the years, she has modeled for such Indian brand names as Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up toothpaste and Limca, and has been "brand ambassador" for the Jewels of India retail jewelry show. The cosmetics company Maybelline made her its international spokesperson. At the fifth annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards she was awarded the title "Model of the Year".
She appears mostly in Hindi as well as Tamil and Kannada language films. Born to Badminton player Prakash Padukone, she chose to become an actress and not pursue a career in sports. Padukone made her acting debut in the 2006 Kannada film Aishwarya. The following year, she made her Hindi film debut in the blockbuster Om Shanti Om opposite Shah Rukh Khan, which earned her the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. It also remains her biggest commercial success so far. She subsequently appeared in films such as Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Housefull (2010). While the former earned her a Filmfare nomination in the Best Actress category, the latter emerged as a commercial success.
In addition to acting, Padukone is also the ambassador of prominent brands such as Tissot, Sony Cybershot, Nescafe and Kingfisher Airlines.
JUHI CHAAWLA
Juhi Chawla was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. She is the first child born to Dr. S. Chawla and Mona Chawla.
She completed her schooling from Ludhiana before the family moved over to Mumbai. She graduated from Sydenham College, Mumbai with a specialisation in HR. She was the winner of Miss India title in 1984; later she won Best Costume Award for the Miss Universe contest in 1984. She is also a very good dancer. In a Baaje Payal (a film based on a collection of interviews for dancers/actresses) interview, she mentioned having learnt Kathak for three years and regretted giving it up as it could have helped her in her career as an actress. She is also an accomplished classical singer and has been training for the last 6 years.
FilmChawla ventured into films with the 1986 Sultanat. She also acted in Kannada classic Premaloka directed by Ravichandran in 1987. Her first major role in Bollywood was in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak in 1988, in which she starred with Aamir Khan. The film, a modern-day adaption of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, became both a major critical and commercial success. It won the Filmfare Best Movie Award, and Chawla won the Filmfare Lux New Face Award and received her first nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award. The film subsequently received classic status.
In 1990, she starred in such films as Pratibandh, which was a box office success and for which she was nominated the Filmfare Best Actress Award, and Swarg. In 1992, she was nominated for a Filmfare for Bol Radha Bol which performed well commercially.
In 1993 she starred in the moderately successful project Aaina, and hits like Lootere opposite Sunny Deol and Mahesh Bhatt's hit Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke. She followed it with a leading role in Yash Chopra's thriller Darr, which went on to become the third top-grossing film of the year in India. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. Most of Chawla's films of 1994–6 were unsuccessful, though she received a Filmfare nomination for her performance as a battered wife in Daraar. She had a revival in 1997 with such romantic comedies as Yes Boss, Deewana Mastana and Ishq. Ishq became one of the top-earners of the year, and Chawla received her sixth Filmfare nomination for her portrayal of a model in Yes Boss.
Chawla's pairing with Aamir Khan and their on-screen chemistry was often cited by the media as successful. She has also teamed up with Shahrukh Khan in several movies, including Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Darr, Duuplicate and Yes Boss.
Juhi Chawla as Chandrika in 3 DeewareinThrough the 2000s, Chawla started appearing in independent and art films, and her work in the genre included the critically acclaimed films 3 Deewarein, 7½ Phere and My Brother Nikhil, which Taran Adarsh termed as "amongst the finest in her career". She won a Star Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress for 3 Deewarein.
She was seen in Nikhil Advani's Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love for which she received good reviews. She starred with Urmila Matondkar in Bas Ek Pal (2006) and with Manoj Bajpai in Swami. Juhi's latest releases include Ravi Chopra's Bhoothnath with Amitabh Bachchan, in which she made her singing debut with the song "Chalo Jaane Do". Another film called Krazzy 4 with Irfan Khan and Arshad Warsi was released in 2008. Both Bhootnath and Krazzy 4 were critical and commercial successes in India. In 2009, she appeared in a guest appearance in Luck By Chance to play a comic part for which she dyed her hair blonde. The film got extremely positive reviews and has got a good opening at the box office.
Chawla has appeared in several non-Hindi language films. She has appeared in various Punjabi films: Shaheed Uddham Singh (2000), Des Hoyaa Pardes (2004), Waris Shah: Ishq Daa Waris (2006) and "Sukhmani:hope for life" (2010). Her first Malayalam film was Harikrishnans, which also starred actors Mohanlal and Mammootty. In the beginning of her career she acted in Kannada films, which include the successful Premaloka and unsuccessful films like Shanthi Kranthi and Kindara Jogi. She acted with popular Kannada actor Ravichandran in all these three films.
Her most recent release was Onir's critically acclaimed feature I Am (2011). Unfolded in several chapters, the film starred Chawla alongside Manisha Koirala in an episode named I Am Megha. She played the title role of which film critic Taran Adarsh commented, "It's a delight to watch Juhi and Manisha, after a hiatus. Both deliver striking performances - even getting the language right." For her performance, Chawla was awarded the Best Actress award at the 13th London Asian Film Festival.
TelevisionDuring the 2000s, Chawla has also been presenter and host of numerous television shows, particularly award ceremonies, including the Filmfare Awards and the Zee Cine Awards. Chawla has been a judge for the entertainment show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa alongside Saroj Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant during the show's third season.
ProducerJuhi later turned producer and became the co-owner of a production company called Dreamz Unlimited with Shahrukh Khan and director Aziz Mirza. The first two films produced by the production company were Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and Asoka. Their third film, Chalte Chalte was the first success for the company.
Personal lifeJuhi Chawla is married to industrialist Jai Mehta. The couple have two children; a daughter Jhanvi born in 2001, and a son Arjun born in 2003. Her mother died in a car accident in Prague during the shooting of the movie Duplicate in 1998.
Jai Mehta and Juhi Chawla are the co-owners of the Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders in partnership with Shahrukh Khan under their company Red Chillies Entertainment. She has won two times Film Fare Award & Many Other National, International Awards.
