Anjala Zaveri (born 20 April 1972) is a
British Indian
British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India.
Currently, the British Indian population exceeds 2 million people in the UK, making them the single largest Ethnic groups in the United Kingdo ...
actress known for her work in
Telugu and
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
cinema. She appeared in several successful films, including the Telugu blockbusters ''
Preminchukundam Raa'' (1997), ''
Choodalani Vundi'' (1998), and ''
Samarasimha Reddy
''Samarasimha Reddy'' is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by B. Gopal and produced by Chengala Venkat Rao. It stars Nandamuri Balakrishna in the title role alongside Anjala Zaveri, Simran, Sanghavi, with music com ...
'' (1999),
as well as the Hindi film
''Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya'' (1998).
Personal life
Zaveri was born on 20 April 1972 in a
Gujarati family in
Portsmouth, Hampshire.
She is married to
Tarun Arora
Tarun Arora is an Indian
Model (person), model, actor and producer who works in Hindi, Telugu language, Telugu and Tamil language, Tamil language films.
Career
Tarun Arora began modelling while studying hotel management in Bangalore. He won ...
.
Career

Anjala Zaveri was discovered by actor
Vinod Khanna
Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer, and politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Hindi cinema. Recognised as a style and fashion icon, he wa ...
through a nationwide talent search in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. She made her film debut with ''
Himalay Putra'' (1997), which also marked the debut of
Akshaye Khanna, but the film failed to make an impact. She later appeared in ''
Betaabi'' (1997). Her only commercially successful Hindi film was the romantic comedy
''Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya'' (1998), where she starred alongside
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; born 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who predominantly works in Hindi films. In a career spanning over three decades, his awards include two National Film Awa ...
,
Arbaaz Khan
Arbaaz Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 4 August 1967) is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Bollywood, Hindi cinema, in addition to Telugu cinema, Telugu, Urdu and Malayalam, Malayalam cinema.
Since his debut in 1996, he ha ...
, and
Kajol.
Zaveri found greater success in
Telugu cinema
Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...
. She made her Telugu debut in ''
Preminchukundam Raa'' (1997) opposite
Venkatesh, which became a blockbuster. She later starred alongside
Chiranjeevi
Konidela Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, philanthropist and former politician known for his work in Telugu cinema. Known as the "Mega Star", he is widely regarded as one of the most succe ...
in ''
Choodalani Vundi'' (1998), one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of the time. In 1999, she appeared in ''
Samarasimha Reddy
''Samarasimha Reddy'' is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by B. Gopal and produced by Chengala Venkat Rao. It stars Nandamuri Balakrishna in the title role alongside Anjala Zaveri, Simran, Sanghavi, with music com ...
'' opposite
Nandamuri Balakrishna
Nandamuri Balakrishna (born 10 June 1960), also known as Balayya or NBK, is an Indian actor, film producer, politician and philanthropist known for his works in Telugu cinema. Balakrishna is an elected member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative A ...
, which became the highest-grossing Telugu film at the time.
Her later Telugu films, such as ''
Devi Putrudu'' (2001) and ''
Bhalevadivi Basu'' (2001), failed at the box office. She then appeared in ''
Aaptudu'' (2004), which had a moderate run. After a hiatus, she returned to acting with a role in
''Life Is Beautiful'' (2012).
In addition to Telugu and Hindi films, Zaveri also acted in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
,
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
, and
Kannada
Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
films, working with actors like
Mammootty
Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, ...
and
Sudeep
Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Kichcha Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer and television presenter, who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He has also worked in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Te ...
.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1972 births
Living people
Actresses from Portsmouth
Actresses in Hindi cinema
Actresses in Kannada cinema
Actresses in Malayalam cinema
Actresses in Tamil cinema
Actresses in Telugu cinema
English people of Gujarati descent
Indian film actresses
{{UK-film-actor-stub