Antara Biswas (born 21 November), known professionally as Monalisa, is an Indian actress who primarily works in

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

films and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

television. She participated as a contestant on '' Bigg Boss 10'' in 2016 and is best known for portraying Mohana Rathod in the supernatural drama '' Nazar''. Monalisa is considered as one of the highest paid Bhojpuri actress.

Early life

Antara Biswas was born to a

Bengali Hindu Bengali Hindus () are adherents of Hinduism who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. They make up the majority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Assam's Barak Valley ...

family on 21 November. She adopted the stage name of Monalisa at the behest of her uncle. She studied at

Julien Day School Julien Day School (JDS) is a co-educational primary, secondary and senior secondary school based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and its outskirts. It is run by The Julien Educational Trust, and operates four branches in Kolkata (Elgin Road), ...

in Elgin Road, South

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, and graduated from Ashutosh College of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

, earning a BA degree in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

before starting out a few years ago as a small-time TV actress and model in Odia video albums.

Career

Monalisa at Launch of film Rampur Ka Laxman

Monalisa acted in several low-budget films before making her debut in

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

with ''

Blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

'', starring

Ajay Devgn Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director, and producer. One of the most prolific actors of Hindi cinema, Devgn has appeared in over Ajay Devgn filmography, 100 films and ha ...

and Suniel Shetty. She then acted in South Indian films before coming to notice through her role in '' Tauba Tauba'' opposite Amin Gazi. She acted in a Kannada film titled '' Jackpot''. Monalisa made her Bhojpuri film debut with '' Bhole Shankar'' alongside

Mithun Chakraborty Mithun Chakraborty (born Gouranga Chakraborty; 16 June 1950) is an Indian actor, film producer, screenwriter, entrepreneur and politician who predominantly works in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. In a career spa ...

and Manoj Tiwari. The film was a major commercial success and broke the standing record for biggest opening for a Bhojpuri film. She further established herself as a leading actress in Bhojpuri cinema with successful films such as ''Hum Bahubali'', '' Saat Saheliyan'', '' Devra Bada Satawela'' and '' Devra Bhail Deewana'' among others. Monalisa's most notable role on television include her playing Mohana Mehta Rathod in '' Nazar'', Iravati Verma in '' Namak Issk Ka'' and Yamini Raichand in '' Bekaboo''. In 2022, she participated in ''Smart Jodi'' with her husband, Vikrant Singh Rajpoot and later played Rama in ''

Favvara Chowk ''Favvara Chowk'' () is an Indian television comedy series. Produced by H3 Entertainment, premiered on 5 December 2022 on Dangal TV. It stars Bharti Singh, Monalisa, Ali Asgar, Abhishek Verma, Surabhi Mehra, Samriddhi Mehra and Haarsh Limbac ...

''.

Personal life

She married Bhojpuri actor Vikrant Singh Rajpoot in the ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through JioStar Network. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally availabl ...

'' house on 17 January 2017.

Media image

Monalisa is considered in the media as one of the most popular and highest paid Bhojpuri actress. She is also one of the most followed Bhojpuri actress on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

with over 5.8 million followers. In 2010, ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' stated that Monalisa (along with

Rinku Ghosh Rinku Ghosh is an Indian television and film actress. She is known for her work in the T.V. serial '' Durgesh Nandini ''(2007) and films such as '' Daroga Babu I Love You '' (2004), '' Bidai '' (2008) and '' Balidaan '' (2009). She has primari ...

) was the most sought after actress in the Bhojpuri film industry.

Filmography

Bhojpuri films

Other language films

Television

Special appearances

Web series

Award and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Biswas, Antara Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Actresses from Kolkata Indian film actresses Actresses in Bengali cinema Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Odia cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Bhojpuri cinema Indian web series actresses Indian television actresses Bengali television actresses Actresses in Hindi television Actresses in Bengali television Asutosh College alumni University of Calcutta alumni 21st-century Indian actresses