Ameesha Patel (born Amisha Amit Patel) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Bollywood films. She has also appeared in a few Telugu and Tamil films. She has won a Filmfare Award.
Patel made her acting debut in the romantic thriller blockbuster Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai. She rose to prominence by featuring in top grossing productions- Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), which became one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema, earning her a Filmfare Special Performance Award, Humraaz (2002) and Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007).
Early life and background
Patel was born in a Gujarati family to Amit Patel and Asha Patel. She is the sister of Ashmit Patel and the granddaughter of the famous lawyer-politician Barrister Rajni Patel, who was the Congress Pradesh Committee President of Mumbai. She was born in the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai and has been a trained Bharatnatyam dancer since the age of five. Her birth name is a blend of the first three letters of her father's name Amit and the last three letters of her mother's name Asha.
She studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and was head girl for the academic year 1992–93 before heading to Tufts University in United States to study Bio-genetic engineering, which she studied for two years, and eventually switching to Economics.
Patel's career began as an economic analyst at Khandwala Securities Limited after graduation. Later on, she received an offer from Morgan Stanley but turned it down. After returning to India, she joined Satyadev Dubey's theatre group and acted in plays, including an Urdu language play titled Neelam (1999), that was written by Tanveer Khan, upon receiving permission from her conservative parents. At the same time she plunged into modelling, appearing in several commercial campaigns. Patel has also modelled for well-known Indian brands such as Bajaj, Fair & Lovely, Cadburys, Fem, Lux and many more.
Patel's first opportunity for acting came in the form of an offer from her father's schoolmate, Rakesh Roshan, to star opposite his son, Hrithik Roshan, in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000). The offer came immediately after she graduated from high school, but she refused the project because she wanted to continue her education in the US. Afterwards, Kareena Kapoor replaced her, but luckily, Kapoor dropped out a few days into the principal photography and Patel was given the opportunity once again during a family lunch. She readily agreed to do the project this time. The role of an exuberant college girl in love, undergoing a tortuous time at losing her lover and rediscovering a more mature relationship gave Patel scope to perform. The film was a smashing success and established Patel as a rising star, earning her awards for Best Debut at a number of award ceremonies. In her second film, the Telugu language drama Badri, she starred opposite Pawan Kalyan. The film was a major success, grossing more than Rs 120 million in India.
2001 saw her appearing in Anil Sharma's cross-border romance Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, alongside Sunny Deol. Patel signed on much before she shot into the limelight with Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai and was among 22 girls that were screen-tested from 500 girls who came to audition for the film. Patel had gone through a 12-hour audition before she got the part. The film went on to become the top-grossing film of the year, as well as the biggest hit of the 21st century, earning Rs 973 million in India. These successes were followed by a series of films that flopped at the box office. In Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar (2001), she played a successful singer who was abandoned by her mother at the time of her birth.
In 2002, Patel had three failures. During 2003 to 2006, Patel's acting career entered a slump. After the relative success of Humraaz, her string of unsuccessful films followed, and would continue until 2006. Patel featured in six films in 2006, all of which failed commercially.
After appearing in a series of box office flops during 2003–2006, Patel's career prospects began to improve in 2007. Her first release in that year was the ensemble comedy drama Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.. The low-budget film achieved moderate success at the box office. Patel played the role of Karan Khanna's talkative wife who tries to overcome her husband's gay leanings. Her comic timing in the film was well received. Later in 2007, she co-starred opposite Akshay Kumar in Priyadarshan's hit Bhool Bhulaiyaa as a rejected adopted girl who is accused of trying to disrupt the marriage of her childhood crush.
In an attempt to renew her image, Patel appeared in a bikini item number, Lazy Lamhe, in Kunal Kohli's Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic (2008). She learned scuba diving for the song that took 15 days to complete. Although the film flopped at the box office, Patel managed to garner attention for her appearance. After the release of Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Patel signed on to two comedies; Run Bhola Run and Chatur Singh Two Star. However, both films were continuously delayed despite being completed in 2009. She next attempted a comeback by signing on to Rajkumar Santoshi's Power, but the film was shelved after eight days of principal photography. Despite repeated attempts to land a starring role, Patel dropped out of several projects due to various reasons.
Following a two-and-a-half-year sabbatical, she made a comeback to the Telugu film industry in a brief role with Parama Veera Chakra (2011) alongside Nandamuri Balakrishna; the film flopped. In the same year, the long delayed Chatur Singh Two Star saw the light of day after three years. Run Bhola Run remains unreleased following the shutting down of the production company Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision, despite the trailer and posters being unveiled in late 2010.
On 23 April 2011, Patel hosted an event launching her production company, Ameesha Patel Productions, in collaboration with her friend and business partner Kuunal Goomer. Their debut home production, Desi Magic, was launched at an event on 2 April 2013. In 2013, Patel returned to Hindi cinema with a special appearance in Abbas-Mustan's Race 2, replacing Sameera Reddy as Anil Kapoor's ditzy assistant. Though the film was critically panned, it emerged a box office success. She followed it with a starring role alongside Neil Nitin Mukesh in Shortcut Romeo, a Hindi remake of the 2006 Tamil hit Thiruttu Payale. The film opened to mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office.
In 2018, she played a movie star in the ensemble action comedy Bhaiaji Superhit alongside Sunny Deol, a production in the making since 2012. The film was poorly received by critics.
In 2019, she entered the reality show Bigg Boss 13 with a twist. She was seen as the maalkin of the house for the first week to give different interesting tasks to the housemates.
Source:Wikipedia
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