Sonam Khan (born Bakhtavar Khan) is an Indian actress and former model known for her works in

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 ...

and

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

. She is the niece of actor

Raza Murad Raza Murad (born 23 November 1950) is an Indian actor who appears primarily in Hindi films. He has over 250 Bollywood film credits. Murad has also appeared in Bhojpuri and other regional-language films and on Hindi television. Early life He i ...

and granddaughter of veteran actor

Murad Murad or Mourad ( ar, مراد) is an Arabic name. It is also common in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Turkish, Persian, and Berber as a male given name or surname and is commonly used throughout the Muslim world and Middle East. Etymology It ...

. She was paired with actors such as

Govinda (actor) Govind Arun Ahuja (born 21 December 1963) is an Indian actor, comedian, dancer, and former politician, who has appeared in more than 165 Hindi-language film and established himself one of most popular actors in India. Govinda is known for his ...

Chunky Pandey Suyash Panday (born 26 September 1962), better known by his stage name Chunky Panday, is an Indian actor who works in Bollywood films. He has appeared in over 100 films in a career that has spanned over three decades. His most successful films ...

Rishi Kapoor Rishi Raj Kapoor (4 September 1952 — 30 April 2020) was an Indian actor, film director and producer who worked in Hindi films Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry base ...

Mithun Chakraborty Mithun Chakraborty (born Gouranga Chakraborty; 16 June 1950) is an Indian actor, producer and politician who predominantly worked in Hindi and Bengali language films. He is a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament. He is the recipient of three ...

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu language, Telugu, as ...

Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

Raj Babbar Raj Babbar (born 23 June 1952) is an Indian Hindi and Punjabi film actor and politician belonging to Indian National Congress. three-time member of the Lok Sabha and a two-time member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. He was the Pr ...

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

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare A ...

. Some of her notable films include Vijay,

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 ...

Mitti Aur Sona ''Mitti Aur Sona'' (transl. ''Clay and Gold'') is a 1989 Indian Bollywood action film directed by Shiv Kumar and produced by Pahlaj Nihalani. The film stars Chunky Pandey, Sonam, Neelam in lead roles. Plot Vijay (Chunky Pandey) is from a wea ...

Lashkar Lashkar may refer to: * Lascar, a type of sailor or militiaman employed by the British in South Asia (modern Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan) * Lashkar (film), ''Lashkar'' (film), a 1989 Bollywood film * Laskhar (novel), ''Laskhar'' (novel), a 2008 ...

Kroadh ''Kroadh'' () is a 1990 Indian Bollywood action film directed by Shashilal K. Nair. It stars Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Amrita Singh, Sonam in pivotal roles. Plot Inspector Vikram Shukla ( Anupam Kher) lives a middle-class lifestyle in Madhavp ...

Kodama Simham ''Kodama Simham'' () is a 1990 Indian Telugu-language revisionist western action film directed by K. Murali Mohana Rao, starring Chiranjeevi, Mohan Babu, Sonam, Radha, and Pran in pivotal roles. The film was simultaneously dubbed into Englis ...

Ajooba ''Ajooba'' () is a 1990 superhero film, produced and directed by Shashi Kapoor and co-directed by Soviet filmmaker Gennadi Vasilyev. An Indian-Soviet Union, Soviet co-production, it is loosely based on Arabic literature, Arabic folklore such as ...

and

Vishwatma ''Vishwatma'' is a 1992 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Rajiv Rai and produced by Gulshan Rai. It stars an ensemble cast of Sunny Deol, Naseeruddin Shah, Chunky Pandey, Divya Bharti (in her major Hindi debut), Sonam, Jyostna ...

. She appeared in over 35 films during 1987 through to 1994.

Career

1987-88: Debut & Breakthrough

Sonam was named by her parents (Mushir Khan - father and Talat Khan- Mother) as "Bakhtavar". "Sonam" is her screen-name, which was suggested by

Yash Chopra Yash Raj Chopra (27 September 1932 21 October 2012) was an Indian people, Indian film director and film producer who worked in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chop ...

to be more marketable in the Indian film industry. Her first release was the Telugu language movie ''Samrat'' opposite

Ramesh Babu Ghattamaneni Ramesh Babu (13 October 1965 – 8 January 2022) was an Indian actor and film producer, who was known for his work in Telugu cinema. Babu made his on screen debut with the film '' Alluri Seetharama Raju'' in 1974. He acted in over ...

in 1987. She made her debut in the

industry after being launched by

in the 1988 film Vijay opposite

Professional Expansion (1989 - 1994)

She had nine releases in 1989 and shot to fame that year with the film

where the popular song ''Oye Oye...Tirchi Topi Wale'' was picturised on her and established her as a

sex symbol A sex symbol or icon is a person or character widely considered sexually attractive.Pam Cook, "The trouble with sex: Diana Dors and the Blonde bombshell phenomenon", In: Bruce Babinigton (ed.), ''British Stars and Stardom: From Alma Taylor to ...

. She received critical acclaim in

where she played a complex dual role of a college student who has to work odd jobs to sustain her livelihood. Sonam had ten releases in 1990 including the box office hit

and her only Bengali language movie Mandira. She was also seen in the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

language super hit

opposite

. Her first release in 1991 was the multi-starrer

with

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

Dimple Kapadia Dimple Kapadia (born 8 June 1957) is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films. Born and raised in Mumbai by wealthy parents, she aspired to become an actress from a young age and received her first opportunity through her father ...

and

. This was one of the most expensive films of its time. She had seven other releases that year of which Fateh opposite

did well at the box office. In 1992, she collaborated for the third and last time with

in the big budget

which did well theatrically. Post her marriage, she appeared selectively and featured in movies like Baaz (1992) opposite

Govinda Govinda (), also rendered Govind and Gobind, is an epithet of Vishnu which is also used for his avatars such as Krishna. The name appears as the 187th and the 539th name of Vishnu in '' Vishnu Sahasranama''. The name is also popularly addresse ...

Police Wala ''Policewala'' is a 1993 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age action thriller film directed by Sikander Bharti and produced by Sundeep Kumar. This movie was released under the banner of Sandeep Films. Plot Honest and dutiful Police officer Rak ...

opposite

(1993) and

Insaaf Apne Lahoo Se ''Insaaf Apne Lahoo Se'' () is a 1994 Bollywood film starring Shatrughan Sinha, Sanjay Dutt, Shekhar Suman, Farah Naaz and Gulshan Grover. It was released on 18 March 1994. Plot Mahendra Pratap Singh is a lawyer who live a wealthy lifestyle. ...

(1994) opposite

Personal life

In 1991, Sonam married director

Rajiv Rai Rajiv Gulshan Rai (born 18 July 1955) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film editor. He is the son of the producer Gulshan Rai. He has directed many films under his father's production company ''Trimurti Films''. He made his debut ...

, who had directed her in two very successful films, ''

'' and ''

.'' Rajiv was the son of successful film producer

Gulshan Rai Gulshan Madhosh Rai (2 March 1924 – 11 October 2004) was an Indian film producer and distributor. He produced successful films in the 1970s and 1980s directed by Vijay Anand, Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai and thereafter directed by his son Raji ...

, founder of the banner

Trimurti Films Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd. was an Indian film production house founded by Gulshan Rai in 1970. After Rai's death, his son Rajiv Rai took over as the head of the company. The company's first production was ''Johny Mera Naam'' (1970). The company s ...

.https://www.lokmattimes.com/photos/entertainment/did-you-know-tridev-actress-sonam-left-bollywood-due-to-underworld-threat/ Whereas Sonam was a Muslim, Rajiv and his family were Hindus from Punjab. After marriage, Sonam quit acting and devoted herself to her family. The couple soon had a son, Gaurav Rai. However they later divorced. During the period when bollywood was in the grip of the underworld mafia, Sonam came under pressure from gangster

Abu Salem Abu Salem ( ; born Abu Salem Abdul Qayoom Ansari), also known as Aqil Ahmed Azmi and Abu Samaan, is an Indian criminal gangster and terrorist In 1997, she had to leave India with her husband and son after an attempt was made on her husband's life by gunmen working for

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

leader

Abu Salem Abu Salem ( ; born Abu Salem Abdul Qayoom Ansari), also known as Aqil Ahmed Azmi and Abu Samaan, is an Indian criminal gangster and terrorist Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and then settled in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

for nearly two decades. However, the marriage deteriorated because of the troubles being faced by them from the underworld, and professional frustrations which both of them underwent because they could not pursue their respective careers in India. In 2016, after 15 years of separation, Sonam and Rajiv Rai finally divorced.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonam Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Actresses in Telugu cinema Indian female models Indian film actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian expatriates in the United States Actresses from Mumbai 20th-century Indian actresses