Pooja Bedi (born 11 May 1970) is an Indian actress, television talk show host and newspaper columnist. She is the daughter of Indian actors

Kabir Bedi Kabir Bedi ( pa, ਕਬੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਬੇਦੀ; born 16 January 1946) is an Indian actor. His career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States and especially Italy among other European countries in three media: f ...

and

Protima Bedi Protima Gauri Bedi (12 October 1948 – 18 August 1998) was an Indian model turned Odissi exponent. In 1990, she established Nrityagram, a dance school in hesarghatta Bangalore. Early life Protima was born in Delhi,''Time Pass: The Me ...

. She participated in the reality television shows ''

Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa ''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa'' is an Indian Hindi-language reality television show and the Indian version of BBC's '' Strictly Come Dancing'' and '' Dancing with the Stars''. The show pairs celebrities with professional dancers. Each couple performs pr ...

'', ''

Nach Baliye ''Nach Baliye'' () is an Indian Hindi-language celebrity dance reality television series that airs on Star Plus. Production Concept The show is a competition wherein 10 television celebrity couples compete against each other. Contestants dance ...

'', '' Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi'' and ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality television game show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom18 and Disney Star. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made ...

''.

Life and career

Early life and career beginnings (1970–2006)

Pooja Bedi was born in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(present-day Mumbai) to the late Indian classical dancer Protima and film star

. she is of Punjabi

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

ancestry on her father's side and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

Haryanvi Haryanvi ( ' or '), also known as Bangru, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the state of Haryana in India, and to a lesser extent in Delhi. Haryanvi is considered to be part of the dialect group of Western Hindi, which also includes Kharibo ...

ancestry on her mother's side. She was brought up in what she calls a bohemian progressive artistic environment. From 1991 to 1995, Bedi worked in Bollywood films and appeared in many commercials and campaigns. She is remembered for the KamaSutra condom campaign which she endorsed and used as a vehicle to raise awareness of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

. She made her film debut with

Jag Mundhra Jagmohan "Jag" Mundhra (29 October 1948 – 4 September 2011) was an Indian director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his early career as an American exploitation film writer-director. Family and early life Mundhra was born at Nagpu ...

's film ''Vishkanya'' (1991). She went on to act in ''

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander ''Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar'' () also abbreviated as ''JJWS'' is a 1992 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age sports film, directed and co-written by Mansoor Khan, and produced and co-written by Nasir Hussain. The film stars Aamir Khan, Ayesha Jhulk ...

'' (1992) with

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi films. Through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian ci ...

for which she earned a nomination in the

Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by '' Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. Although the Filmf ...

in 1993. Her other films include ''

Lootere ''Lootere'' (Translation: ''Robbers'') is a 1993 Bollywood action movie, written and directed by Dharmesh Darshan and produced by Suneel Darshan. The film featured Sunny Deol and Juhi Chawla, along with Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher and Chun ...

'' (1993) and ''

Aatank Hi Aatank ''Aatank Hi Aatank'' ( ''Terror Everywhere'') is a 1995 Indian action crime film written, edited and directed by Dilip Shankar. The movie is highly inspired by ''The Godfather''. It stars Rajinikanth, Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla and Archana Joglekar ...

'' (1995).

Breakthrough role and debut in reality shows (2006–2011)

In 2000, she compiled and edited ''Timepass'', the memoirs of her mother Protima Bedi. She has been a columnist with the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'', the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'', and ''

MiD DAY ''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper owned by Jagran Prakashan Limited. Editions in various languages were published in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore editions were ...

'' newspapers, and has written articles for numerous publications, including ''L'officiel'', ''Femina'' and ''The Week''. In 2005, Bedi along with Hanif Hilal participated in ''

''. In 2006, Bedi participated in ''

'' in its first season followed by '' Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi''. In 2011, Bedi was a celebrity contestant in the fifth season of the Indian version of the

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show '' Big Brother'', ''

''. She was evicted after surviving for 8 weeks in the house, which was Day 56 (27 November).

Personal life

Bedi married Farhan Furniturewala a

Gujarati Muslim The term Gujarati Muslim is usually used to signify an Indian Muslim from the state of Gujarat in western coast of India. Most Gujarati Muslims have Gujarati language as their mother tongue, but some communities such as the Momin Ansari, Memons ...

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

and

Khoja The Khojas ( sd}; gu, ખોજા, hi, ख़ोजा) are a mainly Nizari Isma'ili Shia community of people originating in Gujarat, India. Derived from the Persian Khwaja, a term of honor, the word Khoja is used to refer to Lohana Rajput ...

descent, whom she met in 1990. They were married 6 May 1994 and Bedi converted to Islam upon marriage taking up the name Noorjahan. They have two children, including

Alaya Furniturewala Aalia Furniturewala (born 28 November 1997), known by her stage name Alaya F, is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. Born into the Bedi family, she is the daughter of actress Pooja Bedi. She made her acting debut in 2020 with the co ...

. Bedi and Farhan divorced in 2003. In February 2019, Bedi became engaged to Maneck Contractor.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedi, Pooja Indian film actresses 1970 births Indian women television presenters Indian television presenters Living people Converts to Islam from Sikhism Female models from Mumbai Indian television actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses of European descent in Indian films Actresses of European descent in Bollywood films Lawrence School, Sanawar alumni Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi participants Bigg Boss (Hindi TV series) contestants Bengali actresses Actresses from Punjab, India Indian people of English descent