Mandy Takhar is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

actress who works in

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, K ...

, predominantly in

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

with roles in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

films as well.

Early life

Mandy Takhar was born and raised in the city of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 United ...

in the UK. She traces her roots to Maliana, a small village near

Phagwara Phagwara is a city and municipal corporation in Kapurthala district in Punjab, India. It lies on National Highway 44 and located 40 kilometres from Kapurthala, the district headquarter, away from Chandigarh, away from Jalandhar and from Ne ...

Punjab, India Punjab (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Himachal ...

. She moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

from her family home when she was 17, to study drama at the

Kingston University , mottoeng = "Through Learning We Progress" , established = – gained University Status – Kingston Technical Institute , type = Public , endowment = £2.3 m (2015) , ...

and then left the UK in 2009 to work as an actor in the Indian film industry.

Career

Mandy moved to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

and landed the role opposite renowned Punjabi singer

Babbu Mann Tejinder Singh "Babbu" Maan (born 29 March 1975) is an Indian singer-songwriter, music director, actor and film producer. Most of his artistic work focuses on Punjabi music and films. He is recognised as being among the biggest artists in Punj ...

in the 2010 film, ''

Ekam - Son of Soil ''Ekam: Son of Soil'' is a 2010 Punjabi film directed by Mandeep Benipal (who earlier assisted Gaurav Trehan in '' Hashar'') with story, screenplay and dialogues by Master Tarlochan Singh, produced by B S Maan (Khant) and Darshan Singh Grewal ...

''. She played the lead role opposite the superstar

Gippy Grewal Rupinder Singh "Gippy" Grewal (born 2 January 1983), is an Indian actor, singer, film director and producer whose works span over Punjabi and Hindi film industry. His single "Phulkari" was very successful in the Punjabi music industry. He mad ...

in the film ''

Mirza - The Untold Story Mirza may refer to: * Mirza, Kamrup, town in Assam, India * Mirza (name), historical royal title & noble * ''Mirza'', the genus of giant mouse lemur * "Mirza", song by Nino Ferrer * '' Mirza – The Untold Story'', Punjabi action romance fil ...

''. She played Sahiba in this modern adaptation of the love story of Mirza-Sahiba. Her portrayal of Sahiba got her nominated for the best actress at the

PTC Punjabi PTC Punjabi is a Punjabi television network from India. Indian politician and the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal holds a majority stake in PTC. It features general interest programming including news, dramas, comedie ...

Film Awards. In 2013, she starred in ''

Tu Mera 22 Main Tera 22 ''Tu Mera 22 Main Tera 22'' (English translation: You're my brother & I'm your brother) is a Punjabi comedy film directed by Amit Prasher. The film features Amrinder Gill and Yo Yo Honey Singh in the lead roles as two spoiled rich brothers, alo ...

'' a comedy alongside

Amrinder Gill Amrinder Singh Gill () is an Indian actor, singer, songwriter, and film producer who makes Punjabi-language films and music. He has been nominated for twenty-four PTC Punjabi Film Awards, winning seven including three for Best Actor, and two f ...

and

Honey Singh Hirdesh Singh (born 15 March 1983), known professionally as Yo Yo Honey Singh or simply Honey Singh, is an Indian music producer, rapper, singer, songwriter and an actor. He started out in 2003 as a session and recording artist, and became a b ...

. She played the role of a teacher and won hearts again and got the award for most prominent & popular face and youth Icon of 2012-2013 at the 6th Punjabi Film and Music Festival. She made her debut in Tamil cinema with

Venkat Prabhu Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian filmmaker, actor and playback singer in Tamil films. After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his firs ...

's ''

Biriyani Biryani () is a mixed rice dish originating among the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. It is made with Indian spices, rice, and usually some type of meat (chicken, beef, goat, lamb, prawn, fish) or in some cases without any meat, and ...

'' starring

Karthi Karthik Sivakumar (born 25 May 1977), better known by his stage name Karthi, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. He has won three Filmfare Awards South, an Edison Award, a SIIMA Award and a Tamil Nadu State Film Awar ...

. She won the award for best supporting actor at

PTC Punjabi Film Awards PTC Punjabi Film Awards are Indian film awards presented annually by the PTC Punjabi television network to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professional filmmakers and actors with achievements in the field of Punjabi cinema i ...

. In early 2017 she appeared in the Punjabi film

Rabb Da Radio ''Rabb Da Radio'' () is a 2017 Indian Punjabi-language film directed by Tarnvir Singh Jagpal and Harry Bhatti, and written by Jass Grewal. It stars Tarsem Jassar, Mandy Takhar and Simi Chahal. The film was produced by Manpreet Johal and Vehli ...

. In 2017 she co-hosted the

Brit Asia TV Music Awards The Brit Asia TV Music Awards, also known as Brit Asia TV World Music Awards or the abbreviation BAMA, is an awards show that is held annually in the United Kingdom since 2010 (except in 2016), usually in October. The awards show is produced by ...

with Sukhi Bart.

Filmography

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Takhar, Mandy Living people Actors from Wolverhampton British film actresses British female models British people of Punjabi descent British actresses of Indian descent Punjabi people Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Punjabi cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema British expatriate actresses in India European actresses in India European actresses in Bollywood Alumni of Kingston University Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British actresses