Mahima Chaudhary
Mahima Chaudhry (born Ritu Chaudhry) is an Indian actress and a former model who appears in Bollywood films. She made her acting debut in the 1997 film Pardes, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.
Early and personal life
Chaudhry was born Ritu Chaudhry in Darjeeling to an Indian, Hindu Jat father and a Nepali-origin mother from Darjeeling. She attended Dow Hill in Kurseong till class X and later moved to Loreto College in Darjeeling. Initially in the 1990s, she appeared in TV ads of which most famous was for Pepsi with Aamir Khan and Aishwarya Rai. She was a VJ on music channels where she was noticed by Subhash Ghai. Ghai gave her a break in the movie Pardes, which was released in 1997. She won the Filmfare award for best debut for this movie. She belongs to Kakripur village near Baraut in Bagpat district in Uttar Pradesh. Her gotra is Panwar. She dated Indian tennis player Leander Paes before she broke up with him due to his affair with then-married Rhea Pillai. In early 2015 she was in the news for having a Swiss bank account.
Acting career
During her acting career, Chaudhry has played a variety of roles, starting with a village girl in Pardes (1997). Her other roles were in Daag: The Fire (1999), where she played a dual role; in Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin (1999) she played a widow forced to marry her brother-in-law; in Dhadkan (2000) she is a loving friend of a man who is madly in love with another woman; in Deewane she plays a singer in love with a thief; in Kurukshetra she plays the stubborn wife of a police officer; in Lajja she plays a young bride forced to fight dowry; in Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar (2001) she plays a stubborn tenant who will not give up her home at any cost; in Om Jai Jagadish she is the loving homemaker; in Dil Hai Tumhaara she is the sister who would do anything for her sister's happiness; in Dobara she is the frustrated housewife; in The Film she is a desperate struggling screenwriter; in Zameer: The Fire Within she's a paralytic dancer, in Film Star she is an uptight arrogant fading actress; in Home Delivery (2005) she's a South Indian superstar; and in Souten: The Other Woman (2006) she plays a desperate housewife who has an affair with her stepdaughter's boyfriend.
Next to doing many films, she has worked with talented actresses, including Kajol, Shilpa Shetty, Amisha Patel, Urmila Matondkar, Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, Rekha, Preity Zinta, Tabu, Padmini Kolhapure, and Hema Malini. When she was asked about this, she responded by saying that she enjoyed working with other actresses, and she expressed her opinion to work with Juhi Chawla, her favorite actress.
In 2010, Chaudhary starred in a Knightsbridge Media Production film, Pusher, directed by Assad Raja, also starring comedian Mani Liaqat. She is currently shooting a thriller, Mumbhaii - The Gangster, co-starring Om Puri and Sanjay Kapoor.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Pardes | Kusum Ganga | Winner – Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Actress |
| 1999 | Manasulo Maata | Telugu film | |
| Dil Kya Kare | Kavita Kishore | Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress | |
| Daag: The Fire | Kajal Verma / Kajri | ||
| Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin | Nisha | ||
| 2000 | Dhadkan | Sheetal Varma | Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| Deewane | Pooja | Guest Appearance | |
| Kurukshetra | Anjali P. Singh | ||
| Khiladi 420 | Ritu Bhardwaj | ||
| 2001 | Lajja | Maithili | |
| Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar | Saraswati | ||
| 2002 | Bharat Bhagya Vidhata | ||
| Om Jai Jagadish | Ayesha | ||
| Dil Hai Tumhaara | Nimmi | ||
| 2003 | Saaya | Tanya | |
| Tere Naam | Special Appearance in song "O Jaana" | ||
| Baghban | Arpita Raj | Guest Appearance | |
| LOC Kargil | Reena Yadav | ||
| 2004 | Dobara | Dr. Anjali Sehgal | |
| 2005 | Zameer: The Fire Within | Supriya Maheshwari | |
| The Film | Sushmita Banerjee | ||
| Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye | Ghulab Khan | ||
| Sehar | Anamika Kant | ||
| Film Star | Heera Pandit | ||
| Home Delivery | The Sensational Maya | ||
| Bhagmati | Bhagmati | Animated (Provided Voice) | |
| 2006 | Souten: The Other Woman | Mitali 'Mita' R. Singh | |
| Sandwich | Sweety S Singh | ||
| Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana | Anjali | ||
| Sarhad Paar | Simran | ||
| Hope and a Little Sugar | Saloni | ||
| 2008 | Gumnaam – The Mystery | Ria | |
| 2015 | Mumbhaii - The Gangster | Gangster's Wife | Filming |
| 2016 | Dark Chocolate | Ishani Banerjee |
TV shows
- Ticket to Bollywood (judge) (NDTV Prime)
Awards and nominations
| Year | Film | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Pardes | Filmfare Award | Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut | Template:Won |
| 1998 | Pardes | Filmfare Award | Filmfare Award for Best Actress | Template:Nom |
| 1998 | Pardes | Zee Cine Awards | Best Female Debut | Template:Won |
| 1998 | Pardes | Zee Cine Awards | Face of the Year-Female | Template:Won |
| 1998 | Pardes | Filmfare Award | Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut | Template:Won |
| 2000 | Dil Kya Kare | Filmfare Award | Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress | Template:Nom |
| 2001 | Dhadkan | Filmfare Award | Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress | Template:Nom |
| 2001 | Dhadkan | IIFA Awards | IIFA Best Supporting Actress Award | Template:Nom |
| 2001 | Dhadkan | Star Screen Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Template:Nom |
| 2001 | Dhadkan | Bollywood Movie Award | Best Supporting Actress | Template:Won |
| 2005 | Dobara | Zee Cine Award | Best Supporting Actress | Template:Nom |
Her first breakthrough performance, where she won rave reviews, was Pardes (1997) as Ganga, the love interest of two men played by Shah Rukh Khan and Apoorva Agnihotri. The role of Ganga was a village girl who still values her culture. She was chosen to be the female lead among about 3,000 applicants who auditioned for Pardes. Her career was launched by Subhash Ghai who had also launched the careers of popular actresses like Madhuri Dixit and Manisha Koirala. She changed her name to Mahima Chaudhary since Subhash Ghai has a superstitious belief of launching big careers with actresses whose names start with the letter 'M'.
Unlike most top actresses in India, Chaudhry did not mind playing a second fiddle in films like Dhadkan (2000) and Dil Kya Kare (1999). Apart from her role in Pardes, she also won acclaim for her role as Kavita, the loving wife of a man (played by Ajay Devgan) in Dil Kya Kare. She was nominated for Filmfare Awards for that role.