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Amisha Patel is an Indian actress who works in Bollywood movies. She was born in Mumbai on 9th June 1975. She is an alumna of the Cathedral and John Connon School where she was head girl for the academic year 1992-1993.
Amisha Patel is the daughter of Amit Patel and Asha Patel, sister of Ashmit Patel and the granddaughter of the famous Indian lawyer Rajni Patel. She received a degree in Economics from Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, US. She also studied classical Indian Bharatnatyam dance.
Her name is derived from the first three letters of her father's name Amit and the last three letters of her mother's name Asha. Her brother Ashmit's name was also derived similarly first three letters of his mother's name Asha and the last three letters of his father's name Amit. Patel was raised by her grandmother Sushila and grew up speaking three Indian dialects, Hindi, Gujrati and Marathi – sometimes in the same sentence.
Acting Career
Patel started off with a bang in 2000, co-starring opposite Rakesh Roshan’s son Hrithik Roshan in the romantic drama Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai. The film established her as a star and won her awards for Best Debut at several awards ceremonies. Her second release was the Telugu language drama Badri, opposite Telugu superstar Pawan Kalyan. The film became a major success and amongst the highest earner in the Telugu cinema.
Her first release in 2001 was the cross-border romance Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. Co-starring opposite Sunny Deol, Patel played the muslim girl Sakeena who finds refuge in Deol’s house during the riots, and subsequently falls in love with him. The film went on to become the highest grosser of the decade, and its record hasn’t been broken till date. Later that year, she appeared in Tanuja Chandra’s off-beat film Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar. The film failed both critically and commercially.
Patel faced a career slump in 2002, starring in four continuous failures that include Kranti, Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai, Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage and Yeh Hai Jalwa, failing in both the critical and commercial department. But her last release, Humraaz, became one of the highest grossing films of the year. She played Akshaye Khanna’s girlfriend who marries a rich businessman, Bobby Deol, to grab his wealth but after seeing his honesty, she surrenders to him.
Patel’s career slump would continue despite the success of Humraaz. She had two releases in 2003, Puthiya Geethai and Parwana, both which were critical and commercial disasters.
2004 saw her appearing in two flops, that include the long-delayed Suno Sasurjee and the Telugu film Naani.
Patel had five films lined-up for 2005, all which failed except Mangal Pandey: The Rising. The film became an average earner, despite the strong hype surrounding it being Aamir Khan’s comeback. She appeared sans make-up for the first time. The rest of the films which flopped include Vaada, Elaan, Zameer and Narasimhudu.
Patel had six releases in 2006, all of which failed commercially. Her first two releases, Mere Jeevan Saathi and Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai, were long-delayed projects and were both described as outdated. Her third release, Teesri Aankh: The Hidden Camera saw her playing a mute girl opposite Sunny Deol for the second time after Gadar. In Tathastu, she starred opposite Sanjay Dutt as the helpless mother of a dying son. Ankahee became Patel’s biggest critical success after Gadar with popular critic Taran Adarsh describing her as “Controlled, expressive and portrays her part with gusto.” The film saw her play the role of a betrayed wife who tries save her wrecked marriage after her husband’s extramarital affair with a beauty queen. Later that year, she co-starred Akshaye Khanna and Priyanka Chopra in Dharmesh Darshan’s family drama Aap Ki Khatir. The film opened to mixed reviews.
After a career slump of five years, Patel finally saw success in 2007 with Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. Taking part among an ensemble cast, she played the role of the blabbermouth Pinky who’s able to hold her husband’s gay leanings. She next co-starred Akshay Kumar in the Priyadarshan’s hit movie Bhool Bhulaiyaa. She played the supporting role of Radha, who gets accused of trying to wreck the marriage of her childhood crush. Patel also made an appearance as a guest star in hit movies like Heyy Babyy and Om Shanti Om in the same year.
2008 saw her attempting an image makeover in Kunal Kohli’s Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic co-starring Saif Ali Khan as his silly fashion conscious girlfriend, Malaika. Her bikini item number, Lazy Lamhe, won her much appreciation by both critics and the audience.
After a two-and-a-half-year lull, she appeared in two films in 2011. Her fourth Telugu film, Parama Veera Chakra, proved to be a disappointment. Her next Hindi release, Chatur Singh Two Star (a three year old film), followed suit.
On 23 April 2011, Patel launched her production company, Ameesha Patel Productions, in partnership with her businessman friend Kuunal Goomer. They roped in ace filmmakers David Dhawan and Priyadarshan to direct two films under their banner respectively, which will go in production by 2011-end. Patel will soon appear in Run Bhola Run and Race 2 opposite Govinda and Anil Kapoor respectively.
In Her Own Words
"I was born in Mumbai in the illustrious Patel family. My Grandfather was the renowned lawyer-politician Barrister Rajni Patel who was the Congress Pradesh Committee President of Bombay. My grandmother is the most innocent human being I’ve known in my life. Ours is a true Indian multi-racial family. My dad is of Gujarati-Maharashtrian parentage and my mom’s a Sindhi, so we have the best of all the Indian culture and traditions.
Right from childhood, we were brought up in a traditional yet modern way. My brother and me have never indulged in firecrackers during Diwali, because of concern for the little children who work in the factories to produce them. Similarly, we were encouraged to take part in extra-curricular activities. I was heavily into art, drawing, elocution, and debates. I won several awards in school and college. I was the Head Girl of my school and I’m very proud of the fact.
I got to go to the U.S. to study Economics at the Tuft’s University in Boston. It was a great experience studying there and then I used to model during my Holidays in Mumbai. I’ve modeled for Fair and Lovely and Lakme and many other products.
When I got back from the States, I was working in a financial company but the nine to five job was too much for me to handle. I’ve always had leaning towards the creative fields and soon got bored of life in the cubicle. I’m not street smart, so I couldn’t cope with the pressures of being a number cruncher. I’m a trained in Indian classical dance and I gave my first performance at the age of six! So when I couldn’t satisfy my creative urges, I joined a theatre group and started acting in plays.
It’s strange how Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai happened to me. My father has known Rakesh Roshan from a long time. Once, when I was very young, he’d seen me dancing at a wedding and he’d told my father that one day, he’d launch me in films. My father had vehemently argued with him. So it was destiny that when he invited my mom and me to his house for lunch and offered the film to me opposite Hrithik. It was a dream come true.
When I told my mom and dad about my decision to do the film, there was World War III in the house. They made me see all the disadvantages of being an actress and I told them of all the advantages of being in films. Finally, they came and saw my play and agreed that I would die if I didn’t get an opportunity to be an actress. So they relented. I will never be grateful enough to my parents for letting me become an actress. Also, I’ll never let their trust and faith in me go in vain. I will prove myself with my hard work and I’m confident that I’d be able to do a lot of good work in the film industry."
