Most recently, I have added an article with 75+ interesting facts about Bollywood, related to actors, musicians, and other artists from different generations. As that particular post was a bit lengthy, I thought of adding a new post, sharing a few more interesting facts about Bollywood female actors who played either lead or character roles. To go through that interesting article, please use this link. You can read a few lesser-known facts about Bollywood actors/actresses as well.
In this post, let me add a few more, related to Bollywood actresses only. Let me add, while I am preparing articles on biographies about Bollywood celebrities and other Indian personalities, I try to add at least 2 or 3 interesting facts about that particular celebrity. Please check those facts as well, if you are interested. Also read: Interesting facts about Bollywood actors.
Interesting Facts about Bollywood Actresses
1. Kaho Na Pyar Hai is the first uncredited role of actress Kareena Kapoor, a few months before her debut flick, Refugee, was released in 2000. She shot a few scenes for the movie before she quit, and one such shot is kept in the film, which was not edited out.
2. Since Kareena’s debut film Refugee in 2000, Anu Malik composed songs for 5 Kareena movies in a row, and all her movies released in 2000 & 2001, except Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. The other movies are Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, Yadein, Ajnabee and Asoka. In 2003, Anu Malik composed three of her films in a row – Khushi, Mein Prem Ki Diwani Hoon and LOC Kargil. He recorded maximum songs in Alka Yagnik’s voice, followed by Chithra and others.
3. Bollywood’s hit girl, Asha Parekh shares birth year with the first two superstars of Hindi cinema – Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. The trio were born in 1942, best known for the Quit India Movement. Interestingly, she was also born in Gujarat, and was born on October 2, thus sharing a birthday with two great Indian leaders – Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. Although Asha Parekh, Rajesh Khanna, and Amitabh Bachchan were all born in the same year, 1942, their professional dynamics were vastly different. While Parekh starred as Rajesh Khanna’s leading lady in several major blockbusters, she was never romantically paired with Amitabh Bachchan on screen, despite crossing paths in multi-starrers like Kaalia (1981).
3. Actress Rakhee Gulzar was born exactly on the day of Indian Independence in 1947.
4. Katrina Kaif’s first three blockbuster hits after a series of flops – Namaste London, Singh is Kingg and Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani holds almost the same story as well as climax, including the wedding scene. Read in detail here.
5. Vidya Balan was the first Indian actress to receive a National Award for Best Actress for playing a real-life film actress on screen. A male actor is yet to get this honour, while Keerthi Suresh earned the honour in 2019 for the Telugu film, Mahanadi, by essaying actress Savithri on screen. However, a little credit goes to Shabana Azmi as well, for winning the National Award for Arth, the movie loosely based on the love affair between Mahesh Bhatt and Parveen Babi. Babi’s role was portrayed on screen by Smita Patel. Read more.
6. Lalitha Pawar played more than 700 character roles on screen in 7 decades, which is a Bollywood record.
7. Urmila Matondkar played elder half-sister to Jugal Hasraj in the highly acclaimed family drama, Masoom (1983). A decade later, they played lead pair in Aa Gale Lag Ja (1994).
8. Bollywood top heroines like Sridevi, Dimple Kapadia, Rani Mukerji and Madhuri Dixit have romanced both father and son onscreen, though for different films. Among all male actors – Dharmendra & Sunny Deol duo leads the list. Other names are Amitabh Bachchan & Abhishek Bachchan (with Rani Mukerjee) and Vinod Khanna & Akshaye Khanna (with Madhuri Dixit).
9. Rani Mukerji is perhaps the only Bollywood actress to share onscreen kiss with both father and son onscreen (with Amitabh Bachchan in Black and with Abhishek Bachchan in Bunty Aur Babli). Both the movies were released in the same year, 2004, with an interestingly short gap of less than 6 months.
10. Vidya Balan gave more than 40 screen tests and as many as 17 makeup shoots for her debut movie, Parineeta. Though she worked in a few TV serials and ads in the 1990s, and also appeared in popular music videos, it took her a lot of struggles to get the first break, after which she never looked back. Interestingly, she was signed for numerous Malayalam films, but none of them took off, and she was considered ‘bad luck’. She had almost decided to settle with marriage life at the age of 25+ before she got the dream role in Parineeta.
Vidya Balan in ‘Piya Bole‘ Song
11. Actress Babita has romanced both her future husband, Randhir Kapoor, and his uncle, Shashi Kapoor, onscreen. Similarly actress Neetu Singh has romanced her future husband Rishi Kapoor, brother-in-law Randhir Kapoor and his uncle Shashi Kapoor on screen before she tied knot and retired from films.
12. Similarly, Saif Ali Khan has romanced both his wife Kareena Kapoor and his future sister-in-law Karishma Kapoor onscreen, following ‘Kapoor tradition’.
13. After doing several hit films with Anil Kapoor in the 1980s and 1990s, Sridevi married Anil Kapoor’s elder brother in 1996, and said ‘Judai’ to Bollywood.
14. Parineeti Chopra was an All-India topper for 12th standard exams.
15. Deepika Padukone is the first female actress to enter the elite 500-crore club. Interestingly, except for Shah Rukh Khan, she has never worked with the biggest stars of Bollywood. She was paired with Akshay Kumar once, and the movie, Chandini Chowk to China, was a big flop. They worked together in Dezi Boys, though not as pairs.
16. Similarly, the extremely talented and National award-winning actresses of Bollywood, Tabu and Vidya Balan, have never done a full-fledged lead role opposite Khans or Hrithik Roshan.
17. Many beauty pageant winners like Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra started their film journey with Tamil films before joining Bollywood. Yukta Mookhey made a cameo appearance as herself in a Tamil film song before making her Bollywood debut. Diya Mirza appeared as an extra in a Tamil film song of A. R. Rahman before winning Miss. Asia Pacific crown and joining movies. In fact, Lara Dutt’s first signed movie was from Tamil, which had a delayed release (after Andaz had a theatrical release).
18. Only two Bollywood actresses have won a National award for Best Actress for a double role – Sharmila Tagore for Mausam and Kangana Ranaut for Tanu Weds Manu Returns, and none from male actors. However, Kamal Hassan won the same for Indian, which was dubbed into Hindi as Hindustani.
19. Priyanka Chopra essayed 12 characters representing zodiac signs in a single film, ‘What’s Your Rashee?’, which is the highest among all actors.
20. Kangana Ranaut is the only actress to receive the Filmfare Critics’ Choice Award for a dual role, and she got it for ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns‘.
21. Nutan for Milan (1967) is the first actress to win a Filmfare award for best actress for playing a dual role. Waheeda Rehman won it the following year for the 1968 movie, Neel Kamal. This award was first won by a male actor in 1971 (Rajesh Khanna for Saccha Jhoota)
22. Actresses Madhabala and Meena Kumari, who were contemporaries in the classic era of Bollywood, share many things in common in their personal and professional life, including a strained marriage relationship, a battle with disease and early death in their 30s. Read it in detail here. I have made a lengthy list.
A sad note and a tribute
Let me end this post with a sad note, and it’s about none other than the tragic actress Divya Bharati. After working in South Indian Cinema for a couple of years with smash hits, she joined Bollywood in 1992. She was launched into Bollywood with Vishwatma (January 1992), which was a hit. 10 Bollywood films starring Divya Bharati were released the same year, which is a record for any Indian actor/actress.
No confirmed, universally accepted world record currently exists for “most film releases in a debut year for a leading actor/actress.” An analysis of global cinematic data confirms that this unique record almost certainly belongs to Divya Bharti. The chances are incredibly low that any other Indian actor or actress has ever played ten leading roles in a single language during their debut year. (She already debuted in Telugu and Tamil one year earlier – This fact can be ignored)
Out of 10 films, 4 films were either blockbusters or superhits. Other films also received popularity after her demise. She was nominated alongside Kajol, Karishma Kapoor and Ayesha Jhulka for the best female debutante at the Filmfare Awards. Divya won the award, beating all these actresses, who went on to become huge stars in the 1990s. The saddest part is that she was not alive when this award was announced, and her father accepted it on her behalf. During that brief span in Bollywood, three more of her films were released in 1993, and nearly a dozen roles she had either signed or started shooting had to be recast with other actresses.
I dedicate this post to her. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
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