Mahima Chaudhry

Mahima was born as Ritu Chaudhry to a Jat father from Baghpat District of Uttar Pradesh and a Nepalese-origin mother in Darjeeling, India. She attended Dow Hill in Kurseong until class 10 and later moved to Loreto Convent, Darjeeling. Having grown up in the Darjeeling Hills region, she is fluent in both Hindi and Nepalese languages. She won the ‘Miss Darjeeling’ title in a local beauty contest. Prior to her first release Pardes, she changed her name to Mahima Chaudhry upon the recommendation by her director Subhash Ghai, who believed the letter 'M' to be lucky for leading actresses in his films. Chaudhry started her career as a Video jockey. In films, she has played a variety of roles, starting with a village girl in Pardes (1997). Her other roles were in Daag: The Fire (1999), where she played a dual role; in Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin (1999) she played a widow forced to marry her brother-in-law; in Dhadkan (2000) she is a loving friend of a man who is madly in love with another woman: in Deewane she plays a singer in love with a thief: in Kurukshetra she plays the stubborn wife of a police officer: in Lajja she plays a young bride forced to fight dowry; in Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar (2001) she plays a stubborn tenant who will not give up her home at any cost; in Om Jai Jagadish she is the loving homemaker; in Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002) she is the sister who would do anything for her sister's happiness; in Dobara she is the frustrated housewife; in The Film she is a desperate struggling screenwriter; in Zameer: The Fire Within she is a paralytic dancer, in Film Star she is an uptight arrogant fading actress; in Home Delivery (2005) she is a South Indian superstar; and in Souten: The Other Woman (2006) she plays a desperate housewife who has an affair with her stepdaughter's boyfriend. In 2010, Chaudhry starred in a Knightsbridge Media Production film, Pusher, directed by Assad Raja. She also worked in the thriller Mumbhaii - The Gangster, co-starring Om Puri and Sanjay Kapoor.