Happy Birthday To Manisha koirala :
Real/Other Names:: Manisha
B. Koirala
Date of Birth:: August 16, 1970(Age-42)
Place of Birth:: Kathmandu, Nepal
Spouse:Samrat
Dahal
Grandfather: Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala ( Prime Minister of Nepal during
the late 50s-early 60s)
Brother: Siddharth Koirala
Early life:
Manisha Koirala was born into the politically prominent Hindu Koirala family;
Her grandfather Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala was the Prime Minister of Nepal
during the late 50s-early 60s, as well as two of her great grand uncles, Girija
Prasad Koirala and MP Koirala. She studied at Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan,
New Delhiand Vasant Kanya Mahavidhyalaya (VKM) Varanasi. She lived with
hergrandmother in Varanasi during her studies. Her ambition was to be a doctor,
but a modelling stint opened a career path into Bollywood.
In 2004, she returned from New York after receiving a diploma in filmmaking.
She became a member of an independent documentary filmmaker's society.
Career
Her first film was Pheri Bhetaula (We
shall meet again), a Nepali movie released in early 1989. Her first Hindi movie
was Subhash Ghai's Saudagar in 1991. The film proved to be a good beginning, as
it was the biggest hit of the year.
She starred in a number of unsuccessful films during 1992-1993 until Vidhu Vinod
Chopra's love saga 1942: A Love Story (1994) and Mani Ratnam's Tamil drama
Bombay (1995) came out.[6][7] Her performance in the latter was particularly
appreciated and won her the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. She
was also seen in more commercial films, such as Mansoor Khan's romantic musical
Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995) opposite Aamir Khan.Her role of Kiran, an ignored
wife who leaves her husband and child inorder to fulfill her singing talent and
subsequently becomes a popularstar, earned her a Filmfare nomination for Best
Actress.
Koirala had a particularly successful year in 1996. She received positive
reviews for her performance in the drama Agni Sakshi,[8] where she played the
role of a battered wife on the run from her mentally sick husband, played by
Nana Patekar. The film became one of the biggest hits of that year at the
Indian box office. Later that year, she acted in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's
directorial debut, Khamoshi: The Musical. The film saw her playing the role of
Annie, a caring daughter to deaf parents. Her performance was highly
acclaimed,and won her a second consecutive Filmfare Best Performer Award, as
well as a Star Screen Award for Best Actress. One critic from Channel 4wrote,
"Koirala... demonstrates the full range of her acting ability,rather than
playing against it as she has had to do in more traditionalfilms. The scene
where she shouts at her father through the door,screaming and using sign
language even though she knows he can neithersee nor hear her, is extremely powerful"
One year later in 1997, she played the leading role alongside Kajol and Bobby
Deol in the thriller Gupt: The Hidden Truth. The film became one of the biggest
hits of the year.
She went to collaborate once again with Mani Ratnam, and starred in his
award-winning film Dil Se (1998) opposite Shahrukh Khan.Her role received
similarly good reviews, and earned her several awardnominations. Despite
performing poorly at the box office in India, thefilm proved to be a hit
overseas.
Success followed for Koirala, and she went on to act in severalcritically and
commercially successful projects. in 1999, she starredin the moderately
successful Kachche Dhaage (1999), which was followed by six more releases, the
most notable of them being Indra Kumar's drama Mann.She played the role of a
traffic accident victim in the film, whichentered into the top five highest
grossing films of the year.Her performance in the film won her favorable
reviews. Film critic M.Ali Ikram wrote about her performance, "If there is
respite forManisha's innumerable fans of late, this flick is it. We may not
careabout hits and flops, but it is painful to watch this acting virtuosoin the
innumerable side roles she has been seen in of late. IndraKumar's decision to
cast Manisha here, is a case of perfect casting,and she never lets him or the
audience down. This lady is truly the Meena Kumari of her generation. It is
great fun watching Manisha and Aamir Khan'sperfect chemistry opposite one
another. The film's climax has bothstars permanently molding a spot for
themselves in Bollywood history,and it will have you shedding tears by the
bucketful."
In 2001, she starred in the drama Grahan opposite Jackie Shroff.Her portrayal
of a rape victim in the film who quests for justice wasappreciated, but the film
was a major commercial failure. She nextplayed the main protagonist in Rajkumar
Santoshi's drama Lajja along with an ensemble cast that included Rekha, Anil
Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit. The film received a positive reception from critics,
and Koirala's performance was particularly praised.
In 2002, she starred opposite Ajay Devgan in Ram Gopal Verma's Company. The
film was a critical success, as was Koirala's performance in it, and she won
her third Filmfare Best Performer Award.Critic Alok Kumar wrote about her
performance, "Manisha Koirala has yetanother solid performance to add to
her already overflowing portfolioof excellent roles. She has proved herself
once again with a powerfuland sensitive performance. She holds her own in every
scene she's inand is amazing in her emotional scenes, displaying confidence
andmaturity. Her new look suits her well. Here's a girl who can
reallyact."
After years of success, in 2003 Koirala left the mainstream cinema. She was
seen in several low budget films, yet not less challenging roles. She ventured
into strong woman-oriented films in 2003, such as Escape From Taliban which won
her the BFJA Best Actress Award. She then played the main protagonist in the
movie Market where she enacted a role of a prostitute, portraying a whole life
story.
After receiving a diploma in filmmaking, she produced the small-budget
caper-comedy Paisa Vasool (2004) in which she starred along with Sushmita Sen;
this was probably the first ever chick-flick in Indian cinema in that it did
not have a male lead nor a love story.
Overall, Koirala starred as the leading role in 6 high-budget, successful Tamil
movies: Bombay (1994) co-starring Arvind Swamy, Indian (1996) co-starring Kamal
Hassan, Mudhalvan (1999) co-starring Arjun, Aalavandhan (2001) co-starring
Kamal Hassan, Baba (2002) co-starring Rajnikanth and Mumbai Express (2005)
co-starring Kamal Hassan.
Since then, she has played supporting and leading roles in variousunsuccessful
films, some of which being well received by critics, suchas the historical epic
drama Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story (2005), the thriller Tum - A Dangerous
Obsession (2005), and the horror film Anjaane - The Unknown (2006).Koirala's
only release of 2007 was Anwar, in which she played a supporting role.
In 2008, she made her comeback to films, with her first leading role since
Mumbai Express (2005), in Tulsi, opposite Irrfan Khan. Although pre-release her
comeback was described by the media as "shocking", and the film
suffered from poor marketing, her performance as Tulsi, a young homemaker
diagnosed with blood cancer, was well received. Taran Adarsh from indiaFM
wrote, "Manisha Koirala sinks her teeth in this role and delivers a fine
performance."She next starred in Sirf(2008), a movie about four couples
from different strata of life, whichportrays the lifestyle of people in metro.
The film, which was releasedwithout any notice or publicity, was a major
critical failure and faceda low box-office opening, with most shows being
cancelled out due toits poor critical response.
Her first Bengali film Khela directed by Rituparno Ghosh also released the same
year along with long delayed Hindi film Mehbooba, both films released on the
same day.In 2009 her releases include actress Deepti Naval's directorial debut
titled Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Char Aane Ki Barish, Jahnu Barua's untitled
directorial venture where she is all set to play a 80-year-old women, she is
also set to star in Mani Ratnam's Raavan.
Social work
In September 1999, Koirala was appointed as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador.She
is actively involved in social work, specifically working with organizations to
promote womens rights, prevention of violence against women, and also to
prevent the human trafficking of Nepali girls for prostitution.
Controversies:
Ek Chotisi Love Story
In 2002, Manisha accused the director of the film Ek Chotisi Love
StoryShashilal Nair of using Koirala's body double to shoot some love scenesin
the film and portraying her in bad light by shooting obscenepostures using
another actress in her place, without Manisha's approvalto do so. Koirala
required from Nair to re-shoot these scenes becausethe double's body did not
match her physique and required that thesescenes be deleted from the film. She
later claimed that Nair hadstipulated he would re-shoot the scenes only if she
agreed to bear halfthe expenses.
I always believed inShashi. I did this film out of sheer goodwill. I had
nothing to gainfrom it financially as I did the film for free. I also gave him
all thedates immediately. It was his first chance to direct a film in
fouryears. He has a family to support and I couldn't bear to see a friendin
hardship.
Koirala decided to sue Nair and dragged him to court. She has movedthe court
against him, and objected to the alleged nudity and obscenepostures, and pleaded
that these scenes be deleted from the film,saying she had not performed in
these scenes and that Nair had made useof another actress for this. Finally,
the court decided to stay the release of the film.
The pet case
Another controversy occurred in February 2006, following a media report
claiming Koirala had named her pet dog after a revered Muslimfigure, which
caused demonstrations against her. Koirala was providedpolice security to
prevent problems. The accusations continued,although Koirala denied them and
the police said the actress had no petat all.
Personal life:
Manisha has dated several high profile and lesser known menincluding
her earliest boyfriend Sameer (who was a working professionalin the US), actors
Rahul Roy, Vivek Mushran, Nana Patekar, Aryan Vaid, Australian ambassador
Crispin Conroy, UK based Cecil Anthony among others. She is now reportedly
marrying an American named Christopher Dorris. Manisha is known for her
gregarious and easy going nature.
