Sangeeta Bijlani (born 9 July 1960) is an Indian former

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

actress and

Miss India Miss India may refer to: * Femina Miss India, the most prestigious and oldest surviving national beauty pageant in India that started in 1964. It sends its winner to Miss World. * Miss Diva, the national beauty pageant that sends its winners to Miss ...

winner in 1980.Sangeeta Bijlani
movies.yahoo.com She started her Bollywood career with a lead role in ''

Qatil ''Qatil'' (translation: ''Killer'') is a 1988 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Ashok Gaikwad and produced by Shama Akhtar and Nasim Hijazi. The film stars Aditya Pancholi and Sangeeta Bijlani in the lead roles. Shakti Kapoor play ...

'' (1988) and was one of the three female leads in the film ''

Tridev ''Tridev'' () is a 1989 Indian action thriller film directed by Rajiv Rai. It stars Sunny Deol, Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit, Sangeeta Bijlani, Sonam, Anupam Kher and Amrish Puri. The film was critically and commercial ...

'' (1989).

Early life

Bijlani was born on 9 July 1960 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- ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, India into a

Sindhi Hindu Sindhi Hindus are Sindhis who follow the Hindu religion, whose origins lie in the Sindh region and spread across modern-day India and Pakistani Sindh province. After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those who fl ...

family.

Modelling and commercials

Bijlani began modelling at the age of 16. She went on to do many commercials including ads of

Nirma Nirma is a group of companies based in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, that manufactures products ranging from detergents, soaps, cement, cosmetics, salt, soda ash, LAB and injectables. Karsanbhai Patel, an entrepreneur and philanthrop ...

and

Pond's Pond's is an American brand of beauty and health care products, currently owned by Unilever. History Pond's Cream was invented in the United States as a patent medicine by pharmacist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) of Utica, New York, in 1846. M ...

soap. Sangeeta received her popular name "''Bijli''" from her modelling days.

Miss India Universe and international recognition

Bijlani was crowned

Universe Title in 1980. She represented India at the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

pageant in

Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

where she won Best National Costume award designed by her mother Poonam Bijlani.

Bollywood debut and success

Bijlani made her Bollywood debut in 1987 with ''

'', opposite

Aditya Pancholi Aditya Pancholi (born 4 January 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and playback singer working in Hindi cinema. Acting career 1985–87: Television movies and serials He was signed for a few television video films produced by Hiba, which ...

and then went on to act in ''

'', '' Hathyar'', '' Jurm'', '' Yodha'', ''Yugandhar'', '' Izzat'' and ''

Lakshman Rekha Lakshmana Rekha (), in some later versions of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', is a line in the soil drawn by Lakshmana. This line is drawn around the dwelling in the forest that he shared with his elder brother, Rama, and Rama's wife, Sita. The li ...

''. She did a bilingual in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

opposite

Vishnu Vardhan Vishnu Vardhan (born 27 July 1987), also known as J. Vishnuvardhan, is a professional tennis player from India. He won bronze medal in men's doubles at 2010 Asian games in Guangzhou, China. He paired-up with and Sania Mirza for mixed doubles an ...

. She was nominated by 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 ...

category for Jurm opposite

Vinod Khanna Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in Hindi films; while also being a notable spiritual seeker. In Bollywood, he was the recipient of two Filmfare awa ...

and was directed by

Mahesh Bhatt Mahesh Bhatt (born 20 September 1948) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter known for his works in Hindi cinema. A stand-out film from his earlier period is ''Saaransh'' (1984), screened at the 14th Moscow International Film F ...

and scripted by

Salim Khan Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 24 November 1935) is an Indian actor, film producer and screenwriter. As a screenwriter, he wrote the screenplays, stories and scripts for numerous Bollywood films. Khan is one half of the prolific screenwriting d ...

. She has also worked with

Mukul Anand Mukul S. Anand (11 October 1951 – 7 September 1997) was an Indian film director and producer. He was the nephew of veteran film scriptwriter Inder Raj Anand and cousin of actor and director Tinnu Anand. Career Mukul S. Anand made his debut a ...

J.P. Dutta Jyoti Prakash Dutta (born 3 October 1949) is an Indian Bollywood film producer, writer and director, best known for making patriotic action war films. Personal life Dutta is married to the Bollywood film actress Bindiya Goswami with whom he has ...

, Rahul Rawail and

N. Chandra Chandrashekhar Narvekar (born 4 April 1952) is an Indian producer, writer and director, known for gritty realism, in his early dark and loud films. His most successful commercial films are ''Ankush'', ''Pratighaat'', ''Tezaab'' and ''Narsimha (199 ...

Television career

Bijlani made her small-screen debut with ''Chandni'' - "a tale of power, revenge and love" in early 1996 opposite actor Shahbaz Khan. She also went on to produce ''Hasna Mat'', with

Kader Khan Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film director. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his debut film in the 1973 film '' Daag'', starring Rajesh Khanna, in which he ...

Star Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, ...

and ''Kinarey Milte Nahi'' on

Zee TV Zee TV (stylised as ZEE TV) is a Hindi general entertainment pay television channel in India. It was launched on 2 October 1992, as the first privately owned TV channel in the country. It is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Zee TV also ...

Personal life

Bijlani and

Salman Khan Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nation ...

started dating each other in 1986 when they were still modelling and their relationship lasted 10 years. On 14 November 1996, Bijlani married cricketer

Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...

at a reception at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. The marriage ended in a divorce in 2010, reportedly due to Azhar's alleged affair with badminton player

Jwala Gutta Jwala Gutta; family names traditionally precede personal names in Telugu naming customs (born 7 September 1983) is an Indian badminton player. Beginning in the late 1990s, she represented India at international events in both mixed and women' ...

, which was denied by the player.

Filmography

In popular culture

A 2016

film '' Azhar'', directed by Tony D'Souza, was based on her life and depicts her relationship with her ex-husband and Indian cricketer

Mohammad Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the Memb ...

. Bijlani's character was played by

Nargis Fakhri Nargis Fakhri (born October 20, 1979) is an American actress and model who primarily works in the Indian Hindi-language films. Her first role in film came with the 2011 romantic drama ''Rockstar'', for which she was nominated for Filmfare Award ...

in the film. According to media reports, Bijlani was not happy with her portrayal in the film as she was called the "house breaker" and further planned to sue the filmmakers. However,

Emran Hashmi Emraan Anwar Hashmi (; born 24 March 1979) is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi cinema. Hashmi debuted in 2003 with the crime thriller film ''Footpath'' and subsequently appeared in films include ''Murder'' (2004), '' Kalyug'' ...

the lead actor in the film slammed the media reports that Bijlani is unhappy with her character.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bijlani, Sangeeta 1960 births Living people Sindhi people Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian film actresses Female models from Mumbai Femina Miss India winners Miss Universe 1980 contestants Actresses from Mumbai 20th-century Indian actresses