Ameesha Patel

s a random combination of her fathers and last three letters of her mother’s name. Ameesha did her schooling from Cathedral and John Girl School and completed her degree in economics from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts after dropping out of a bio-genetic engineering course earlier. She is the Grand Daughter of Indian Freedom fighter, lawyer and former Justice Rajni Patel. A Gemini born Ameesha was born in Mumbai’s top notch Breach Candy Hospital. Ameesha Patel began her career as an economic analyst although she had chances to enter cinema but she enrolled in a theatre group led by Satyadev Dubey overcoming objections from her conservative parents to act in a Urdu play “Neelam”. After a brief stint in the theatre she went on to be the main model for famous brands like Fair &Lovely, Fem, Lux and many more which eventually lead to her entry in to cinema in the year 2000.

Dream Debut in the year 2000 Film Debut in Kaho Na... Pyaar Hai ( 2000) Ameesha Patel recived an offer to co-star with Hrithik Roshan in his film debut in his father’s directorial Kaho Na ... Pyar Hai, replacing Kareena Kapoor after date issues. The film was a dream take-off for both the stars as they could not have asked for anything better as the movie emerged as a blockbuster and also had amble scope for deep hitting and intense emotional scenes which were crucial as it proved to be a turning point in their career, the movie also won her numerous Best Debut Award in major awards. She was next seen taking a detour to Telegu cinema opposite Pawan Kalyan later the same year, the action movie was also a super hit. Biggest career blockbuster ( 2001) Ameesha Patel was next seen in the romantic-war drama Gadar; Ek Prem Katha, opposite Sunny Deol. The movie set at the time of partition of India saw Patel as a Muslim girl who takes refuge in Deol’s home only to fall in love with him later on.The movie was a phenomenal hit and was the biggest hit of the century and also broke many existing records and collected rave reviews especially for Patel’s matured and seasoned performance where she was pitch perfect in depicting the varied emotional dilemmas of the character and is still one of her best. Array of Underperforming flicks( Beginning of 2002 - 2006) Ameesha Patel had a pretty low career phase in the initial part of the year 2002, which saw her appearing in back to back flops like Ye Zindagi Ka Safar , Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage and Kranti which received highly negative reviews contrary to her previous outings and she finally commercial success again in latter part of 2002 with Abbas-Mustan’s Humraaz opposite Akshaye Khanna and Bobby Deol; incidentally also got her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her character with negative shades, which she did for the very first time and also was a huge silencer in the face of her harsh critics. Ameesha however could not continue her good form as she landed next in a series of flops in different languages a like Pudhiya Geetangal in Tamil, Parwane in Hindi and Telegu movie Naani. Vaada, Elaan, Narasimhudu and the critically acclaimed Mangal Pandey completed her poor box office run in 2005. The year 2006 continued her poor box office run with movies like Humko Tumse Pyar Hai, Mere Jeevan Saathi with exceptions of positive reviews for Ankahee. Gradual return to winning ways ( 2007-2009) Honeymoon Travels Pvt.Ltd saw her return to the mainstream with rave reviews for her comic timing for the very first time opposite Karan Khanna as one of the couples travelling by the Honeymoon travels bus. Priyadarsan next cast her opposite Akshay Kumar in the Hindi remake of cult Malayalam movie Manichitratazhu in a prominent role in Bhool Bhulaiyaa and also a well-received cameo in Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic. The year 2009 saw Ameesha Patel working in shelved and unreleased projects like Run Bhola Run, Power and Chatur Singh Two Star, the two of which bombed later upon release. Recent movies Ameesha was seen in a supporting character in Hit Race 2, Shortcut Romeo were her latest works and Desi Magic under her home production house and the delayed Bhaiaji Superhit are her upcoming releases.