Ameesha Patel
Ameesha Patel is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi and Telugu films. Patel is the recipient of several awards such as a Filmfare Award and a Zee Cine Award.
Patel made her acting debut in 2000 with the romantic thriller film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, a major commercial success, which earned her the Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut. This success continued with the Telugu action film Badri and the top-grossing period film Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, which won her a Filmfare Special Performance Award. After starring in Humraaz and Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai, Patel's career declined, and she took on supporting roles in Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd., Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Race 2.
After continued fluctuations, Patel made a career comeback by reprising her role in the sequel Gadar 2, which emerged as her highest grossing release. In addition to her acting career, Patel is a humanitarian and works for a number of causes.
Early life and background
Patel was born to a Gujarati father, Amit Patel, and a Sindhi and Punjabi NRI mother, Asha, on 9 June 1975. She is the sister of Ashmit Patel and the granddaughter of 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.Patel studied at Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and was head girl for the academic year 1992–93 before heading to Tufts University in Boston in the United States to study bio-genetic engineering, which she studied for two years, before eventually switching her major 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, 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.
Her grandfather Rajni Patel was a lawyer and Indian national congress's politician. A street in Mumbai 'Barrisrer Rajani Patel Marge' was named after him in 1986.
Acting career
Debut and initial success (2000–2002)
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 the romantic thriller Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai. 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 Sonia Saxena, an exuberant college girl in love, undergoing a tortuous time after losing her lover and rediscovering a more mature relationship, gave Patel scope to perform. The film was a major commercial success and established Patel as a rising star, earning her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. In her second film, the Telugu language drama Badri, she starred opposite Pawan Kalyan. The film was a major success, earning more than ₹12 crore distributor share 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. Set during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, it featured Patel as Sakeena, a Muslim girl who finds refuge in Deol's house during the riots, and subsequently falls for him. Her performance was praised, and won her the Filmfare Special Performance Award, in addition to her first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM concluded: "Despite being one-film-old, Patel deserves full marks for handling the complex role with elegance. She looks the character she is portraying and impresses with a natural performance." The film was perceived as being excessively anti-Pakistani.
These successes were followed by a series of films that flopped at the box office. In the romantic drama Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar opposite Jimmy Sheirgill, she played a successful singer who was abandoned by her mother at the time of her birth.
In 2002, Patel starred in three consecutive flops. In Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage, she played the role of Sapna, who is caged in protective custody of her own father. The film marked her second collaboration with Hrithik Roshan. Unlike their successful pairing in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, the film proved to be a major disappointment and emerged as a critical and commercial failure. Patel's performance in the film was highly criticised by a section of the media, but during an interview she clarified that there was an "error" because the scene explaining that her character is supposed to be asthmatic in the film was edited out not knowing that one shot would make such a difference, thus creating confusion to the viewer about her appearing out of breath, as if she's overacting or crying. Patel's unsuccessful follow-up continued with Kranti opposite Bobby Deol and David Dhawan's comedy Yeh Hai Jalwa opposite Salman Khan. The same year, she tasted minor box office success with the romance Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai, in which she played a career-oriented young woman who rejects the advances of Aftab Shivdasani's character. She found major success when her final release of the year, the musical romantic thriller Humraaz alongside Bobby Deol and Akshaye Khanna. The Abbas–Mustan directorial saw her play a character with negative shades for the first time. She played the girlfriend of Akshaye Khanna, who marries Bobby Deol to grab his wealth – but, seeing Bobby's honesty, her character surrenders to him. Taran Adarsh commented: "Patel is just about okay as Akshaye's lover, but splendid as Bobby's wife. This performance should silence her detractors for sure. Also, she's looked her best with admirable outfits and perfect make-up." Humraaz emerged as the fifth highest-grossing film of the year at the box office, and her performance earned her a second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.
Struggle phase (2003–2006)
During 2003 to 2006, Patel's acting career entered a slump. After the success of Humraaz, her string of unsuccessful films followed, and continued until 2006. In 2003, her only releases were the Tamil language film Pudhiya Geethai and the Hindi film Deepak Bahry's Parwana. Pudhiya Geethai was the first and only Tamil film that she ever starred in. Her releases in 2004, Vimal Kumar's comedy Suno Sasurjee, a delayed production since 2000, and her second Telugu language film Naani, followed. The same year, she also appeared in the music videos for "O Meri Jaan" and "Hai Kasam Tu Na Ja" by Adnan Sami.In 2005, she starred in Satish Kaushik's thriller Vaada, playing Arjun Rampal's unfaithful wife who is followed by her obsessive ex-lover. In her next release, Elaan, she played a TV reporter. She later appeared in Ketan Mehta's historical drama Mangal Pandey: The Rising alongside Aamir Khan, where she played the role of the soft-spoken Jwala, a Bengali widow who gets rescued from committing Sati by a British commanding officer. Patel was cast as a replacement for Aishwarya Rai under the recommendation of Khan, who was impressed by her IQ level when he saw her on BBC under the segment of Question Time India in 2003. The film, which saw her in a deglamorized role for the first time, emerged as an average grosser at the box office. Her other releases that year include Zameer: The Fire Within, a delayed production since 2001, and the Telugu film Narasimhudu, both which failed at the box office.
Patel featured in six films in 2006, all of which failed commercially. She first appeared alongside Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor in Suneel Darshan's musical romance Mere Jeevan Saathi, a delayed production since 2003. Her second release, Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai, saw her playing a blind village girl who gets stuck in a love triangle after undergoing eye surgery. The production was halted since 2002 due to the passing of its director-producer, until Patel's boyfriend then, Vikram Bhatt, took it upon himself to complete the project. The film had a limited release and failed to perform at the box office with some critics terming it as "outdated". In Teesri Aankh: The Hidden Camera, Patel played the role of a mute girl who witnesses a murder. She learned sign language for the role. She was next cast alongside Sanjay Dutt in Tathastu, based on Denzel Washington's thriller John Q. Patel's fifth release in 2006, Ankahee, earned her critical praise, despite emerging as a commercial failure at the box office. The film centred around an extramarital affair with Patel playing a housewife whose husband cheats on her with a model. To understand the mentality of a wronged wife, Patel spoke to her own grandmother who had undergone a similar situation. Diganta Guha from Hindustan Times noted "...it's Patel's performance that remains in your mind. She is dignity personified in the film, playing a woman betrayed in marriage, going all out to save it and in the end choosing her own path." Later that year, she appeared alongside Akshaye Khanna and Priyanka Chopra in Dharmesh Darshan's romantic comedy Aap Ki Khatir.