Juhi Chawla: The Sunny Girl

By: Arya Aiyappan
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Juhi Chawla, the quintessence of warmth, sunny freshness, and beguiling smile charms the audience mesmerized by her marvellous acting. The chipper Bollywood queen, and former Femina Miss India in her long 16 year-old Bollywood alliance with a sparkling array of hits to credit has matured into an actress of commendable finesse.

Daughter of Dr.Chawla and Mona Chawla and brother Sanjeev Chawla, Juhi was born on 13th November 1967 in Ludhiana, Punjab. Juhi's convent education at the Convent of Jesus and Mary and subsequently at St. Xavier's Mumbai coupled with the virtues of sophistication, and munificence ingrained in her from her childhood refined her as the paradigm of femininity in Bollywood. As the winner of the coveted Femina Miss India title in 1984 Juhi went to Miami representing India at the Miss Universe Pageant and won the Best Costume Award for Miss Universe contest in 1984. It hardly took time for the leading model to plunge into the glitzy world of showbiz.with her debut Sultanat in 1986.

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak with Amir Khan, a major hit for the duo kick started their film career. Amir-Juhi hit pair featured forth in many films churning out success at the box office with films like Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, Ishq, etc. Juhi's acting skills slowly blossomed under the Yash Raj banner with films like Aaina opposite Jackie Shroff and Darr opposite Sunny Deol and Shahrukh Khan.

Though she always kept herself away from the tag image of a sex symbol, Juhi was the innocent, effervescent girl glamorous in her own right. Juhi's association with Shahrukh Khan in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Darr, Yess Boss, Duplicate, etc, proved to be a focal point in their careers. The duo's friendship became strong over the years with their partnership in a film production firm (Dreamz Unlimited). Juhi is blessed with a good friends' circle who vouchsafe her commitment, loyalty, love and affection to others.

Juhi's love marriage to industrialist Jai Mehta never deterred her acting path. Despite her marital status there were many roles tailor-made for her in Bollywood. On a slow and steady pace she gained her ground and carved a niche of her own. She is blessed with a daughter Janhvi and son Arjun. As a resposible wife and conscientious mother Juhi cocooned herself for a while to make a striking comeback with character roles where she plays roles befitting her age. Juhi voiced her opinion loud and clear when she said "I am coming back strongly, but on a different track. I am going to play my age. I don't think I will look good running around the trees now. I have definitely outgrown that." Juhi bagged the Filmfare Best Actress Award for Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke in 1993 and Star Screen Award Best Supporting Actress for Teen Deewarein.

Juhi has matured into a character artist with her focus on commercial and offbeat films like My Brother Nikhil, Teen Deewarein, Jhankaar Beats, 7' Phere, Bas Ek Pal to name a few. Through a radical shift from musical melodies to character roles Juhi has been able to give expression to many a promising role entrusted into her hands. Her forthcoming releases include Farah Khan's Happy New Year with Shahrukh Khan, Nikhil Advani's Salaam E Ishq: A Tribute To Love with Anil Kapoor and Ravi Chopra's Bhoothnaath with the Big B himself.

Juhi juggles herself in and out of various roles as a model, actress, producer, miscellaneous crew, etc. From cameo roles to character roles she has poignantly portrayed several roles on screen withoutbeing vulgarous. The woman in Juhi has blossomed so has her perspective towards life, whether it be her love for pets, her decision to donate eyes or as a goodwill ambassador for the hearing impaired children to raise funds for their treatment. The name Juhi Chawla fl"...s a gentle smile across multitudes of faces with her awe-inspiring philosophy of life - "life is too short to bear grudges".

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