Amrita Rao

Amrita Rao

Amrita Rao

She was born 17 June 1981 and she is also known by the mononym Amrita, is an Indian film actress and model. She has appeared in Hindi films of Bollywood as well as a few films in Telugu. Born and raised in Mumbai, Rao made her screen debut in Ab Ke Baras (2002). She rose to prominence as the lead actress in Ishq Vishk (2003) and was nominated for the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for her role. One of her most critically acclaimed roles was in the blockbuster romance Vivah (2006).


Early life
She was born in Mumbai. Her father, Deepak Rao is the owner an advertising agencyAmrita's ancestors were Saraswat Brahmin .Her younger sister is Preetika Rao, is a model and a Southern film actress. Amrita was raised in Mumbai and attended school Canossa Convent Girls School. She graduated from Sophia College with a psychology degree. Amrita described her family as being a "very conservative family a traditional, Indian family" and herself as very liberal.Her mother tongue was Konkani. Apart from Konkani she is also well versed in Marathi, English and Hindi.

Amrita Rao

Career

Rao and advertisements Before starting career as an actor, Rao began her career as a mode did several commercials during her college days. Her first public appearance came at the age of seventeen when she was featured in the music video for Alisha Chinoy's Woh Pyar Mera.In 2002, after graduating with a degree in Psychology from the University of Mumbai, Rao played her first leading role as Anjali Tharp, an Indian girl born and brought up in London, in Raj Kanwar's moderately successful fantasy thriller Ab Ke Baras., the film was averagely received by audiences. Rao's performance was consider to be a decent debut.Film critic Planet Bollywood wrote, "Amrita Rao come out the real winner, with her dancing skills, innocent looks and acting skills."
In May 2003, Rao starred with Shahid Kapoor in the coming of age romance film Ishq Vishk, in an innocent college girl role as Payal Mehra. The film tells the story of two people who are friends since childhood, but only gradually discover their feelings for each other. The film was received favorably by most critics and became one of the highest grossing films of the year, as well as Rao's biggest commercial success. Rao's portrayal earned her several awards, including Filmfare Best Female Debut Award and IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year. Critic Taran Adarsh from IndiaFM wrote, "Amrita Rao is a revelation. If she was quite okay in her first film, she is incredible in her second film. Here's an actress to watch. Her emotional sequences are so powerful that they are bound to melt even the stone-hearted." India Today noted, "The leads are surprisingly assured. But the real find is Amrita Rao. She is quietly attractive, and most important, she really shines in the calm before the storm." In 2004, Rao starred in Indra Kumar adult comedy Masti, opposite Vivek Oberoi. Amongst the low number of Bollywood adult comedy movies at the time of its release, the film received positive response from critics, and also become a financial successful at the box office. Her performance as nchal, who is obsessively possessive about her husband, has been received positively.Rao co-starred alongside Sunny Deol in the action movie Singh Sahab the Great (2013), directed by Anil Sharma. The film chronicles a common man who takes pride in his honesty. Rao portrayed the journalist role as Shikha Chaturvedi, in the film which runs closely with that of Deol's throughout the film.Later that year, she appeared in Prakash Jha's political drama Satyagraha, as part of an ensemble cast that included Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpai. Rao played the role of Sumitra, the daughter-in-law of Amitabh Bachchan's character. Rao was praised in particular. Resham Sengar of Zee News wrote, "Ms. Rao has the sweetly cherubic looks. She is convincing in most of the emotional scenes. But again, her scope of performance is just limited to mouthing a few important dialogues." The movie faced several

Dia Mirza

Dia Mirza

Dia Mirza

She was born on 9 December 1981and she is an Indian model, actress and producer,she won the 2000 Miss Asia Pacific International title. She production house Born Free Entertainment along with Sahil Sangha.Their first film, Love Breakups Zindagi, made under the banner released on 7 October 2011.Mirza has primarily worked in Bollywood, and she is known in media for her social work.



Biography

Dia Mirza worked when she is in college as a Marketing executive for a media firm. At the same time she modelled for print and Television commercials for brands like Lipton, Walls ice cream and many more. She become Miss Asia Pacific in the year 2000.She debuted through 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein' which could not do well at Box Office. Then she appeared in various movies like 'Dum', 'Deewanapan', 'Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge', 'Tumsa Nahin Dekha - A Love Story', 'Parineeta', 'Dus', 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' etc. But she has garnered a lot of praise for her social work. She has also got an IIFA 2012 Green Award for her contribution towards green environment.She did not see much success as an Actress. She has done various awareness campaigns on prevention of female feticide, HIV awareness, the Cancer Patients Aid Association.Dia started working at the age of 16 years while continuing her college education. She worked as a marketing executive in a multi-media firm called DrNeeraj's Multi media studio. Mirza wanted to complete her graduation in Arts by correspondence, but decided to postpone it as it was becoming difficult to juggle between the Miss Asia Pacific competition, modelling assignments, travelling and training. She has also written articles for Hindustan Times and other publications.She also publicly supported the Naramada Bachao Andolan.

Dia Mirza

 Film career

Dia Mirza made cinematic debut with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein opposite R. Madhavan, which is still remembered the most romantic movies of all time. Later, she appeared in Parineeta, a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production. After her acting skills bagged limelight, In 2012, Mirza tried her luck into regional cinema with Bengali Filmmaker Pratim Dasgupta's Paanch Adhyay.Dia will next be featuring in Johny Mastana, Bits and pieces, Kayanat, Bidhaatar lekha and Familywala. The movie turned out to be a success and was also selected by various Film Festivals within India and across the world.She also appeared in the films Dus and Fight Club. she became a part of some of the biggest blockbusters. She was the only female actor among the six key characters in the film, Acid Factory in which she played a femme fatale who is also a gangster but the film was a failure.




Personal life

She was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. They separated when she was four years old.Her father died when she was nine and her mother married Ahmed Mirza, who died in 2003.Whether she is a Muslim or not carries ambiguity. She adopted her mother's surname and has her father name becoming Dia Mirza Handrich.

When living in Khairatabad, Hyderabad district, she attended Vidyaranya High School for Boys and Girls, a school partly based on the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, and later Nasr School, in Khairtabad. She attended Stanley Junior College and completed her graduation in Bachelors of Arts from Andhra Pradesh Open University, Hyderabad.In April 2014, she got engaged to her long time Business Partner Sahil Sangha.Dia and Sahil will get married on 18 October 2014.

Asin Thottumkal

 Asin Thottumkal

Asin Thottumkal



She was born 26 October 1985 and she known mononymously as Asin, is an Indian actress and trained Bharathanatyam dancer. She began her acting career in the South Indian film industry, but now appears predominantly in Bollywood films. She is the only Malayali actress, other than Padmini, who has the distinction of having dubbed in her own voice for all her films, irrespective of language.Asin also has the distinction of being the 'numero uno' heroine of Tamil cinema over the span 5 years from 2004 to 2008 with a string of blockbuster hits and was fondly referred to as Queen of Kollywood.Currently Asin is one of the leading actresses in Bollywood and tops the Bollywood Hundred Crore Club among actresses.
Making her acting debut in Sathyan Anthikkad's Malayalam film Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka (2001), Asin had her first commercial success with the Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi in 2003, and won a Filmfare Best Telugu Actress Award for the film. M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi (2004) was her debut in Tamil and a huge success. She received her Filmfare Best Tamil Actress Award for her most noted critically acclaimed performance in her third Tamil film, Ghajini (2005). She then played the lead female roles in many successful films, most notable being the dramatic thriller Varalaru (2006), the action thriller Pokkiri (2007), romantic drama Vel (2008) and the blockbuster Dasavathaaram (2008) opposite Kamal Haasan and hence established herself as the leading actress of Tamil cinema and was also honoured by the Tamil Nadu government with the Kalaimamani award for her excellence in the field of art and literature. In 2013, Asin was conferred with Pride of South Indian Cinema award at SIIMA for her contribution to Tamil cinema.



Early life


Asin was born in Cochin (now Kochi) in Kerala to a Syro-Malabar Catholic Nasrani family. Her father, Joseph Thottumkal originally from Thodupuzha, managed several businesses. Her mother, Seline Thottumkal, who moved settlements from Kochi to Chennai to Mumbai to live with her daughter, is a surgeon. According to custom, Asin was to be named Mary, after her paternal grandmother. Asin's father however named her Asin as the name had a beautiful meaning. Asin has quoted that her name means "pure and without blemish". She states that the 'A' in her name is from Sanskrit meaning "without", and 'sin' from English".
She attended Naval Public School from LKG through X standard. She scored over 90% in her X board exams but chose Humanities in XI standard, shocking her family who were confident she would take up science and get into the civil services. She then attended St. Teresa's School in Kochi for her Plus Two education. After that she attended St. Teresa's College in Kochi, a college affiliated with MG University, where she graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English Literature.



Career


Asin's first assignment was an advertisement for BPL Mobile. She debuted in a Malayalam film Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, at the age of 15. After taking a year out to pursue her education, Asin returned with her breakthrough film as an actress, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi Teja, portraying a Tamil girl in her first Telugu language film, which subsequently fetched her the Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress. In the same year she won the Santosham Best Actress Award for her performance alongside Akkineni Nagarjuna in her second Telugu film, Shivamani. Her following two Telugu films, Lakshmi Narasimha and Gharshana, both portrayed Asin as the love interest for police officers and both were successful ventures.

Asin's first Tamil language film was M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi, in which she co-starred with Jayam Ravi. Asin reprised her role from her film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi for the remake, which saw her portraying a Malayali girl instead of the Tamil girl in the original. The movie subsequently went on to super hits in Tamil cinema during 2004, introducing Asin to Tamil film industry. After a brief return to Telugu films, to do Chakram, she appeared in Ullam Ketkumae.The film, initially launched in 2002 and was supposed to be her debut as a lead heroine, is a college love story, directed by Jeeva, which was long-delayed but eventually became a successful venture at the box-office, creating wider opportunities for her and the rest of the cast.

 Asin Thottumkal

The following year, her long-delayed venture, Varalaru opposite Ajith Kumar also succeeded at the box office, and The Hindu said she "looks lustrous and sails through her role smoothly".Asin appeared in Pawan Kalyan's Annavaram, another successful venture which was a remake of Thirupaachi. In January 2007, Asin appeared opposite Ajith Kumar and Vijay in two different films, Aalwar and Pokkiri, with the latter becoming a success, whilst Aalwar became a failure. Whilst Asin's role in Aalwar was criticised, her performance in Pokkiri was lauded by critics. Her final project of the year was opposite Surya, in Hari's Vel, which had a Diwali 2007 release, subsequently becoming her third successful film which released during the Diwali season in three years. Asin, who portrayed a TV anchor, was appreciated for her role in the film.
 
Brand Ambassador

Asin has been the brand ambassador for several companies and products, and has appeared in commercials for Avon, Mirinda, Colgate, Fairever, Fair & Lovely, Lux, Tanishq, Tata Sky, Parachute, Spinz talc, Sure anti-perspirant, Tea, Big Bazaar, BPL Mobile and Clinic All Clear,.Asin's endorsement of Mirinda made her the only Indian actress to have completed ten years with a particular soft drink endorsement.


Personal life
Asin currently resides in Lokhandwala, Mumbai.She also owns an apartment in Marine Drive, Kochi and a farmhouse in Vagamon, Kerala.The actress can speak seven languages; being well-versed in Malayalam (her mother tongue), Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, French, English and Sanskrit. Asin also speaks a smattering of Italian, and learnt basic Marathi for her movie Khiladi 786 in which she played a typical Marathi girl. In June 2013, it was reported in the Indian media that Asin was learning German during her free time.She reportedly began learning Spanish after visiting Spain in early 2014.

Genelia D'Souza

Genelia D'Souza

Genelia D'Souza



She was born 5 August 1987 and she is an Indian film actress, model, and host. She has appeared in South Indian cinema and Bollywood films. After gaining wide attention in a Parker Pen commercial with Amitabh Bachchan, Genelia began her acting career with Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003. She was recognized for her role in Boys the same year, and later established herself in Telugu cinema by acting in several Telugu films during 2003–2005.Genelia received her first Filmfare Award in 2006 for her performance in the Telugu romantic film, Bommarillu, which earned her critical acclaim. In 2008, she gave critically acclaimed performances in Santosh Subramaniam, a Tamil remake of Bommarillu, and the Bollywood movie Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na. Having acted in several commercially successful movies in Telugu and Tamil, Genelia has established herself as one of the leading actresses of the South Indian film industry. In addition to movie acting, Genelia has hosted the television show Big Switch, and is the brand ambassador of Fanta, Virgin Mobile India, Fastrack, LG Mobiles, Garnier Light, Margo, and Perk in India.




Early life


Born in Mumbai into a Mangalorean Catholic family, Genelia was raised as a Roman Catholic in the Bandra suburb of Mumbai. Her mother tongue is Konkani. Her mother Jeanette D'Souza was formerly a managing director of the Pharma Multinational corporation (MNC), who left her job in 2004 to help Genelia with her career. Her father Neil D'Souza, is a senior official with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).She also has a younger brother, Nigel D'Souza,who works with the Bombay Stock Exchange. According to Genelia, her name means "rare" or "unique", and is a portmanteau of Jeanette and Neil, her mother and father's names. She is also often informally referred to as Geenu, her nickname.Genelia studied at the Apostolic Carmel High School in Bandra and later joined St. Andrew's College in Bandra to pursue her Bachelor's Degree of Management Studies. She completed her degree while shooting for her first film, Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003 and initially thought that an MNC job would suit her.She liked sports and studies in college, and was a state level athlete, sprinter, and a national level football player.
Genelia did her first modeling assignment at the age of 15, the result of being spotted as the bridesmaid at a wedding. She was selected for the Parker Pen commercial with Amitabh Bachchan, just two days before her exams, and had to shoot the next day. Initially she refused, because of her exam the next day, but the director persuaded Genelia to shoot for the commercial.She gained wide attention from the Parker Pen commercial with Amitabh Bachchan, who said "she was good, and her expressions were spontaneous". She further did a Fair and Lovely 2003 Cricket World Cup advertisement with cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth.



Acting career


When Genelia was offered a role in Tujhe Meri Kasam, initially she turned it down, as she was not keen to pursue a career in acting. But the crew insisted and kept contacting her for two months, and she agreed when she saw the Telugu version of the movie. Tamil director, S. Shankar, was impressed with her performance in the Parker Pen commercial and decided to cast her in a leading role in his 2003 Tamil film Boys. Genelia was selected among 300 girls, who had auditioned for the movie. She signed three movies simultaneously in three different languages, Tujhe Meri Kasam (Hindi), Boys (Tamil), and Satyam (Telugu).
Genelia's professional movie career began, with her Bollywood debut Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003. Indian film critic Taran Adarsh noted, "Genelia is a wonderful performer. She catches you unaware with a performance that's natural to the core." The movie garnered poor box office returns, and it failed to propel her career in Bollywood.Following her poor debut in Bollywood, she decided to act in South Indian films. Later the same year, she made her Tamil debut as the teenage girl Harini in Boys, a story about five teenagers having stereotypical teen-boy fantasies. The movie, though noted for its vulgar sexual content, was a box-office success,and subsequently she started receiving Telugu film offers. She left Tamil cinema for a while to concentrate on the Telugu film industry. She made her Telugu debut in 2003 as a medical student in Satyam.Sify noted in their review that, "Genelia is excellent as her body language is her major asset."The movie was well received, and it raised her profile in the Telugu film industry.

Genelia D'Souza

Personal life


D'Souza is deeply religious and says that, she regularly attends Sunday Mass at St. Anne's Parish (Bandra), and whenever the family is home, a part of their evening is reserved for saying the rosary together.In an interview with The Times of India, she comments, "I keep a Novena every Wednesday at St. Michael's Church in Mahim."In an interview with Daily News and Analysis, she said that "My communication with God is conversational, I'm God's favourite child; I believe that God has always been kind to me." Her mother tongue is Konkani.Tabloids repeatedly linked D'Souza romantically with Ritesh Deshmukh, ever since they starred together in their debut film Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003.They were reportedly ready to get engaged, but Ritesh's father, the then-Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh did not agree.D'Souza later denied any rumors of a relationship with Deshmukh, and responds that she had just friendly relations with him.However, the couple eventually got married on 3 February 2012, according to Marathi marriage traditions in a Hindu wedding ceremony.She got married in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Bandra, the following day.

Kajal Aggarwal

 Kajal Aggarwal

Kajal Aggarwal

She was born 19 June 1984 and she is an Indian actress, who predominantly appears in Telugu and Tamil films. Through her successful film career, Kajal has become one of the most popular celebrities in South India.In addition to her acting career, Kajal participates in stage shows and is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products
Kajal made her film debut in the 2004 Bollywood film Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na and entered the Telugu film industry through the film Lakshmi Kalyanam (2007). She had her first commercial success with Chandamama (2007) and rose to prominence after her performance in Magadheera (2009), which remains her biggest commercial success in Telugu cinema and fetched her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actress. Following further consecutive successes with Darling (2010), Brindavanam (2010), Mr. Perfect (2011), Businessman (2012), Naayak (2013) and Baadshah (2013) she established herself as one of the leading actresses in Telugu cinema.
 
Early life

Kajal was born in Mumbai to Vinay Aggarwal, an entrepreneur, and Suman Aggarwal, a confectioner.She has a younger sister, Nisha Agarwal, who is also an actress appearing in Telugu and Tamil films. She studied at St. Anne's High School, Colaba, Mumbai and Jai Hind College, Mumbai. She graduated from K.C. College, Mumbai with a degree in Mass Media.She started her modelling career while she was still in college.She was planning on pursuing MBA in Brand Management before deciding to pursue acting.


Career
Kajal made her acting debut in the 2004 Bollywood film Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na, in which she enacted a minor supporting role as the friend of Diya, following which she signed veteran Tamil director Bharathiraja's Bommalattam, alongside Arjun Sarja. The film, however, got delayed and released in mid 2008.

She made her debut in the Telugu film industry and played her first leading role in 2007 in Teja's Lakshmi Kalyanam alongside Kalyan Ram, which did not fare well at the box office. Later that year, she appeared in the Krishna Vamsi-directed film Chandamama, which opened to positive reviews and became her first major successful film. In 2008, she had her first Tamil film release, Perarasu's action entertainer Pazhani, co-starring Bharath. Following this film, she had two more Tamil releases that year with Venkat Prabhu’s comedy-thriller Saroja, in which she did a guest appearance, and Bharathiraja's investigative thriller Bommalattam. Although the former went on to become a commercial as well as a critical success,[ both films failed to boost her career as her roles were too insignificant.Both her Telugu releases, Pourudu and Aatadista opposite Sumanth and Nitin, respectively, neither received positive reviews while the former was successful at the box office.

 Kajal Aggarwal

Kajal had four releases in 2009. she first starred in another Tamil film Modhi Vilayadu, opposite Vinay Rai which garnered mixed reviews and was a financial failure, following which she appeared in the high budget Telugu historical drama Magadheera, alongside Ram Charan Teja, which saw her essaying double roles for the first time. The film, directed by S. S. Rajamouli, received universal critical acclaim, while Kajal, particularly, was praised for her portrayal of a princess in the film. Kajal was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Telugu and was also nominated for the award for Best Telugu Actress in the South Scope Awards for her performance in the film.The film was also highly commercially successful and broke several records,emerging as the highest-grossing Telugu film of all time.Magadheera's enormous success turned Kajal into one of the most sought-after actresses in Telugu cinema and catapulted her into the main foray of leading Telugu actresses.The film was released again in Tamil as Maaveeran in 2011, which was also successful at the box office.Her subsequent releases Ganesh Just Ganesh, opposite Ram and Arya 2 opposite Allu Arjun received mixed reviews from critics, while her performance garnered positive feedback.

Recent  Activities

In early 2012, Kajal appeared in the Telugu gangster film Businessman alongside Mahesh Babu, directed by Puri Jagannadh. The film, a Sankranthi release, opened to positive reviews and turned out to be a blockbuster.Kajal's performance in her role in the film, though limited, was praised by critics.
Kajal made a comeback in Kollywood later that year with two big releases; the first was the action thriller film Maattrraan opposite Surya and directed by K. V. Anand. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Her performance was well received; a review carried by The Indian Express summarised "Kajal does with utmost sincerity as the foreign language translator Anjali. It's this trait and her graceful demeanour which makes Kajal a pleasant watch.The second was A. R. Murugadoss's Thuppakki, another action thriller film opposite Vijay, where she played the role of a boxer. The film was released on Deepavali and received mostly positive reviews from the critics. While Maattrraan was declared as an average success, Thuppaki was declared as a blockbuster and has become the second Tamil film ever to enter the Rs.100 crore club. Her final release in 2012 was the Telugu romantic film Sarocharu, opposite Ravi Teja for the second time in her career. Although her performance in the film was praised by critics, the film received poor reviews and did below-average business at the box office.
In early 2013, she starred in V. V. Vinayak's action film Naayak opposite Ram Charan Teja and Amal Paul. Upon release, the film received positive reviews and was a major commercial success.She later starred in the Hindi film Special 26, a 1987 Heist Drama directed by Neeraj Pandey opposite Akshay Kumar. The Movie went on to be a major critical and commercial success.She later appeared in Srinu Vaitla's Baadshah opposite Jr. NTR for the second time in her career. Upon release critics appreciated her performance. The Times of India commented "Kajal is as usual an eye-candy. She's got a good role and has done justice to her performance. Also she looks stunning in the songs." The Movie was also a Blockbuster at the Box office, cementing her position in Telugu cinema.Kajal has completed filming for the comedy film All in All Azhagu Raja, where she will again star opposite Karthi. She plays a character called Chitra Devi Priya, who she described as "little arrogant, but a sweetheart nonetheless".She will also feature make a cameo appearance in the film Yevadu starring Ram Charan Teja, Shruthi Hassan and Amy Jackson, along with Allu Arjun.[58] Her recently released Tamil film is Jilla which was produced by R. B. Choudary. This film also has Mohanlal and Vijay in lead roles.

Shriya Saran

Shriya Saran



She was born 11 September 1982 and also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has acted in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English and Kannada.Saran was born in Dehradun and spent most of her childhood in Haridwar. In 2001, her dance master gave her the opportunity to appear in Renoo Nathan's debut music video "Thirakti Kyun Hawa", which brought Saran to become known by many Indian filmmakers.

Shriya Saran   

Shriya Saran was born on 11 September 1982 in the Dehradun region of Uttarakhand in Northern India to Pushpendra Saran and Neeraja Saran.Her father worked for Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and her mother was a chemistry teacher in Delhi Public School, Ranipur in Haridwar and Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi.Saran completed her schooling from both schools where her mother had taught.She has an older brother named Abhiroop who lives in Mumbai. Her family lived in the small town of colony in Haridwar when she was growing up. She later studied at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature.Saran is an accomplished dancer. She was first trained as a child by her mother in Kathak and Rajasthani folk dance, and later trained in Kathak style by Shovana Narayan.She was involved with many dance teams in college and with her teacher. They would incorporate social issues into their dance routines.
Career
While in her sophomore year at the LSR College in Delhi, Saran got her first opportunity to appear in front of the camera for a video shoot. Following her dance teacher's recommendation, she was invited to appear in the music video of Renoo Nathan's "Thirakti Kyun Hawa".Shot in Banaras, the video was seen by Ramoji Films who offered her the lead role of Neha in their film Ishtam.Saran accepted the part, and even before it was released she was signed to four more films, including Nuvve Nuvve, in which she played a millionaire's daughter who falls for a middle class man. In 2002, she starred in Santosham, co-starring Nagarjuna, Prabhu Deva and Gracy Singh, which was her first commercial success.The film took the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film and Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu). Saran played a girl who lets someone she loves go with another, but wins him back later in life. For her performance, she earned a nomination for the CineMAA Award for Best Actor- Female, giving her a good foothold in the Telugu industry in the early part of her career.

Although Saran aspired to become a well known dancer and believed she could enter the field of cinema as such, she was rather offered a leading role. Thus, Saran made her film debut in 2001 with the Telugu film Ishtam, and had her first commercial success with Santhosham (2002). She subsequently appeared in several more Telugu films, while making in-roads in the Hindi and Tamil film industries. In 2007, Saran starred in Sivaji, the highest-grossing Tamil film at that time. She also gained critical acclaim for her role in the 2007 Bollywood film Awarapan. In 2008, Saran played the lead role in her first English film, the American-Indian co-production The Other End of the Line. Her following projects included popular films such as Kanthaswamy (2009) in Tamil, and Pokkiri Raja (2010) in Malayalam, her roles in which have established her as one of the leading actresses in the South Indian film industries. In 2012, she was cast in the British-Canadian film Midnight's Children under the direction of Deepa Mehta, based on Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, for which she got international critical acclaim. She achieved further commercial success by starring in films such as Pavitra (2013) and Chandra (2013). In 2014, Shriya Saran starred in the critically acclaimed Telugu film Manam, which she received accolades for her performance.In 2008, Saran acted in the Hindi film Mission Istaanbul with Zayed Khan, Vivek Oberoi and Shabbir Ahluwalia. She played the character of Anjali Sagar which was inspired by the character of Romila Dutta played by Preity Zinta in the film Lakshya a journalist who desires to have a child with her husband, which leads to their separation, since he is reluctant. Bollywood Hungama critics said that her character was wasted, as again she gets very little screen time.However, she did pick up the Stardust Exciting New Face Award.

Shriya Saran   

Personal life


Saran is well known for her charity work. She describes herself as someone used to "sharing time and resources with the underprivileged since childhood." She says that "celebrities can show the way by sensitising people to social issues, campaigning for causes or being part of fund-raisers." Her family has always encouraged her to think of the needy.
Saran is a brand ambassador for the Naandi Foundation,and for the Save A Child's Heart Foundation (SACH), which works for the benefit of poor children and people affected by natural calamities. She helps finance a Prevention of Aids foundation. In 2009, Saran joined with other eminent personalities to promote 'The Joy of Giving Week', to encourage people from all walks of life to engage in acts of giving. She regularly participates in carnivals and campaigns that associate with children benefits. She is associated with animal welfare and the Blue Cross of India.She is also associated with an NGO called World Vision that finds parents for deprived kids, and works for Apollo’s RDF to raise funds for underprivileged childrens.

In January 2008, Saran was the subject of a controversy, when a Hindu organisation in Chennai lodged a police complaint against Saran, objecting to the outfit worn by her during the 175th day celebration of her film, Sivaji: The Boss. In a complaint, the Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) alleged that Shriya's outfit had "offended Hindu culture".Shriya publicly apologised to Tamilians and Hindus, saying it was a mistake, and that she had "great respect for the tradition and culture of Tamil Nadu I was shooting for a Hindi film in Thanjavur. I came to the function directly from the shooting, I was unaware of the repercussions because of the attire I wore during the function."
On working in different regional film industries in India she has stated, "I don’t consider Kollywood or Bollywood as separate entities. For me, there’s only a single category, the Indian film industry, which is extremely rich owing to its diverse genres and languages."She is fluent in Hindi, English, and can understand Tamil and Telugu well. On 19 January 2013, she quit Twitter due to derogatory comments from her followers.

Sameera Reddy

Sameera Reddy

Sameera Reddy

She was born 14 December 1982and she is an Indian actress who primarily appears in Tollywood and Bollywood films.She has also appeared in a number of Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada films.She also went on to appear in some Tamil films like Vaaranam Aayiram, Vedi and Vettai.




Early life

Sameera was born on 14 December 1980 in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. Her father Chinta poli Reddy, is a businessman, while her mother Nakshatra, referred to as Niki by her daughters and in the media, was a microbiologist and worked with an NGO. She has two siblings, Meghna Reddy, a former VJ and supermodel,and Sushma Reddy, a Bollywood actress and model, both elder to her.She did her schooling at Bombay Scottish School in Mahim, Mumbai and graduated from Sydenham College.Sameera described herself as a "Tomboy" and "the ugly duckling in the family", while citing: "I was plump, had glasses and my glam quotient was rather low till I was 19".

Career

Reddy first appeared in ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas's "Aur Aahista" music video in 1996, when she was a graduate. She caught the attention of Bollywood and was cast in a pivotal role in the 2002 Hindi film Maine Dil Tujhko Diya. In 2004, she appeared in Musafir.Reddy appeared in the Tamil film Vaaranam Aayiram directed by Gautham Menon, opposite Surya Sivakumar, which was a blockbuster. Reddy's acting and modest portrayal of a confident and down-to-earth girl earned her rave reviews.She was signed for two films of Gautham Menon : Yohan Adhyayam Ondru and Dhruva Natchathiram, but both the films were eventually dropped.

Personal life

Reddy is a big fan of American talk show queen Oprah Winfrey. She met Oprah during the former's visit to India at the welcome party hosted by Parmeshwar Godrej. As the television celebrity was reportedly impressed by Sameera's saree, she was presented a similar saree as a gift by the actress before she left India.Sameera got married to Akshai Varde an entrepreneur on 21 January 2014. It was a traditional Maharashtrian wedding.