One of the leading ladies of the 90s, Mahima Chaudhry made a permanent place in everyone’s heart with her debut film, Pardes in 1997. Directed by Subhash Ghai, Mahima’s portrayal of a naive village girl, ‘Ganga’, made her a sensation overnight. As a result, Mahima became the ‘mehbooba’ of every youngster and also won the Filmfare award for Best Female Debut. After her debut, Mahima showcased her acting chops in movies like Daag, Dhadkan, Kurukshetra, Dil Kya Kare, Lajja and many more.
Talking about her personal life, Mahima was in a steady relationship with tennis player, Leander Paes before breaking up with him due to his affair with model, Rhea Pillai. In 2006, Mahima got married to a businessman, Bobby Mukherji and embraced motherhood in 2007 with the arrival of their daughter, Ariana. In 2013, Mahima separated from Bobby due to incompatibility.
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Mahima Chaudhry was a VJ on music channels when she was noticed by director, Subhash Ghai and cast her as the lead actress in Pardes. However, in a throwback interview, Mahima revealed that she was bullied by Subhash Ghai and was even taken to court by him. The actress also claimed that the director sent messages to producers not to work with her. Levelling allegations on him, Mahima had said:
“I was bullied by Mr. Subhash Ghai. He even took me to the court and wanted me to cancel my first show. It was quite stressful. He sent a message to all the producers that nobody should work with me! If you pick up one of the issues of Trade Guide magazine in 1998 or 1999, there was an ad that he had given which stated that if anybody wanted to work with me, that person would have to contact him. Otherwise, it would be a breach of contract. However, there was no such contract which said that I had to seek his permission.”
Mahima was supposed to work in the 1998 film, Satya opposite Manoj Bajpayee, but got replaced by Urmila Matondkar. Talking about the same, Mahima said that she was not even told about her replacement and only got to know from the media. In her words:
“That was supposed to be my second film. I had taken the signing amount. He didn’t even have the decency to call me or my manager and inform me about the reality. I learnt from the press that he had begun shooting without me.”
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Do you know that Mahima Chaudhry changed her name because of Subhash Ghai? Yes, you read that right, Mahima’s real name is Ritu Chaudhry, but she changed her name because of Subhash Ghai’s superstition. He believed in launching big careers with actresses whose name’s initial start with the letter M. Therefore, she changed her name to Mahima Chaudhry.
Mahima Chaudhry has faced a lot of ups and downs in her life. In 2022, the actress was also diagnosed with breast cancer!
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