Ayesha Takia

e of four! Ayesha Takia came into prominence with TV commercials right from her teenage and she was never from her childhood fluent in Hindi but that has never got in her way in launching herself in Bollywood.

Initial Stint in Television Takia began working in ads when she was fifteen years old where she came into prominence with the “I’m a Complan boy/Girl campaign. Takia was also a part of hit musical video’s like “Shake it Daddy” , and also the famous number “Meri Chunnar Udd Udd Jaye” ; the former being the reason behind her entry into Hindi cinema. Takia was a go getter from her Early days and her continuous efforts in television finally paved way for her entry into cinema in the year 2004. Beginning of Acting career (2004) Takia was first approached by Imtiaz Ali for the lead in his directorial debut Socha Na Tha in the year 2004 opposite Abhay Deol ; post production delays postponed the release of the movie by which time her second film Taarzan: The Wonder Car had already released thus making it Takia’s official debut in cinema. The Ajay Devgn starrer turned out to be failure in the box-office and opened to mediocre reviews only but Takia’sperformance led way to good reviews and she got her very first award, the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for the movie. After a disastrous run in Dil Maange More, Takia came back to the winning ways with Socha Na Tha for which she came under the limelight once again for her performance in the romantic drama. Takia came up along with an ensemble cast in the mindless gimmickry Shaadi No. 1 which too had a cold response. Takia then shifted to Telugu industry in 2005 where she shared screen with Nagarjuna Akkineni in Robbery which was later dubbed in Hindi titled Super ; the movie was recorded a hit in Telugu and Takia received a nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Telugu that year. Successive failures ( mid 2005 – 2006) Takia was becoming highly inconsistent in the coming years with back to back failures in box office and also in critical reception. Home Delivery and Shaadi Se Pehle which followed were utter flops and received negative reviews, even though Naseeruddin Shah directorial starring Takia with a huge cast Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota was well received by the critics but repeated mediocre responses as her previous outings. Career’s best performance in Dor ( late 2006) After a lean patch , Takia made an sizzling comeback in the Hindi remake of the acclaimed Malayalam movie ‘Perumazhakkalam’ wherein she played a widowed women who gets embroiled in the mental turmoil of getting to know the wife of her husband’s murderer when she is approached for granting her husband a pardon by law . Takia delivered a high spirited performance in which she went on to be one of the strong character of the movie ; undoubtedly coming up with her career best role till date for which she gained innumerable Awards and recognition. Takia could not anyhow continue her good streak after Dor wherein she went on to play lead roles in a series of unsuccessful movies starting from the romantic anthology Salaam-E-Ishq ,Kya Love Story Hai , Fool n Final and Cash which were all practical wash outs of the respective years . In 2007 Takia got a respite in Anurag Kashyap’s Neo noir thriller No Smoking which got mixed reviews with critics and also emerged a commercial failure although the movie was considered much ahead of its time by many and Takia was appreciated again for her unpretentious performance. Ajay Devgn starrer Sunday, the Rohit Shetty directorial comedy was a welcome change for Takia as it managed to be a decent hit. After the uneventful De Taali and partially disappointing thriller 8×10 Tasveer added further to her misery. Wanted which released in 2009 was a phenomenal hit and the Salman Khan starrer was followed up with the social drama Paathshala which garnered mixed reviews; the movie dealt with the theme of short comings in the Indian educational system. The lukewarm reception for her next two outings Mod and Aap Ke Liye Hum in the year 2013 leading Takia to end her film career.