Poonam Dhillon (born 18 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician. A former Eve’s Weekly Miss Young India 1978, she is best known for her 1979 film ''

Noorie ''Noorie'' is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Manmohan Krishna and produced by Yash Chopra under the Yash Raj Films banner. The film stars Farooq Shaikh and Poonam Dhillon in lead roles, with supporting performance ...

.'' Some of her well-known films include '' Red Rose'' (1980), '' Dard'' (1981), '' Romance'' (1983), '' Sohni Mahiwal'' (1984), ''

Teri Meherbaniyan ''Teri Meherbaniyan'' is a 1985 Indian Bollywood, Hindi film directed by Vijay (director) , Vijay Reddy and produced by K.C. Bokadia. Dog Brownie played a pivotal role while Jackie Shroff and Poonam Dhillon played the lead roles. The movie is ...

'' (1985) '' Samundar'' (1986), '' Saveraywali Gaadi'' (1986), ''

Karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

'' (1986), '' Naam'' (1986) and '' Maalamaal'' (1988). Dhillon participated in ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through JioStar Network. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally availabl ...

'' in 2009. She played the lead role of Sharda Modi in the Sony TV series '' Ekk Nayi Pehchaan'' in 2013. She has done theatre, starting with the award-winning "The Perfect Husband" and many other plays, the latest being "The Perfect Wife" with several shows in

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Career

The first time Dhillon gained fame was when she got crowned Miss Young India 1978. Director

Yash Chopra Yash Raj Chopra (27 September 1932 21 October 2012) was an Indian film director and film producer who worked in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chopra was the reci ...

noticed her and offered her a role in the film '' Trishul'' (1978) where her song "Gapoochi Gapoochi Gum Gum" with Sachin Pilgaonkar became popular. Chopra then gave her the title role in ''

'' (1979) opposite Farooq Shaikh, which he produced. The low budget film

shot in Bhaderwah, Kashmir, became a superhit and was a phenomenal success at the box office, partly also for Khayyam's music. For this film, Poonam was nominated for the

Filmfare Award for Best Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Actress is given by '' Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise the female performer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. The award was first given in ...

. Subsequently, she went on to act in around 90 films in Hindi, including ''Sohni Mahiwal'', ''Red Rose'', ''Teri Kasam'', ''Dard'', ''Nishana'', ''Yeh Vaada Raha'', ''Samunder'', ''Romance'', ''Kasam'', and ''Sitamgar''. She was paired with

Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. Considered as one of the greatest and most successful actors in the history of Indian cinema, h ...

in six films: '' Dard'', '' Nishaan'', '' Zamana'', '' Awam'', '' Red Rose (1980 film)'' and ''Jai Shiv Shankar''. She made a special appearance in ''Judaai'' as a favour to producer Boney Kapoor when

Juhi Chawla Juhi Chawla Mehta ( Chawla; born 13 November 1967) is an Indian actress. She established herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. Recognised for her comic timing and vivacious on-screen ...

had to drop out. She also appeared in regional films such as ''Nyay Danda'' ( Bengali), '' Yuddha Kaanda'' (

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 ...

), ''Ishtam'' ( Telugu) and '' Yavarum Nalam'' (

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 ...

), '' 13B: Fear Has a New Address'' (

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 ...

). Dhillon was a contestant on Season 3 of ''

'' aired on

Colors TV Colors TV is an Indian general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of Soap opera, family dramas, Comedy, comedies, fantasy shows, youth-oriented Rea ...

in 2009. She ended up as the second runner-up on the show. Her big comeback on Indian television in a lead role was with the serial '' Ekk Nayi Pehchaan'' on Sony TV in 2013 where she played the uneducated yet ideal wife of a rich businessman. She has been in the Hindi theater production ''The Perfect Husband'', which won the best comedy play award in 2005 and which completed a

Golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...

run. She then did another play ''The Perfect Wife'' co-starring Sooraj Thapar and ''Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi'' with Asif Sheikh. She was also seen in a play called ''U Turn'' which is the Hindi version of a Marathi play. Dhillon ventured into the make-up van business in 1991 pioneering the concept in the Indian film industry. She runs a make-up van company called "Vanity."

Personal life

Dhillon was born in

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. Her father Amreek Singh was an

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

in the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

and would often get transferred. Her mother was a school principal and both her siblings are doctors. Poonam was quite studious growing up and aspired to become a doctor. Poonam attended Carmel Convent in handigarhfor schooling and did her graduation after joining films at age 16. Dhillon was married to producer Ashok Thakeria and has two children, a daughter Paloma and a son Anmol.

Activism and politics

She has been very active with social causes like drug awareness, AIDS awareness,

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marit ...

and

organ donation Organ donation is the process when a person authorizes an organ (anatomy), organ of their own to be removed and organ transplantation, transplanted to another person, #Legislation and global perspectives, legally, either by consent while the d ...

. She has been a prominent speaker at the SAARC business summits in

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

and Delhi and was appointed cultural ambassador. She was also a speaker at the MINDMINE event. In 2012, she along with other celebrities participated in a show supporting the "Save and Empower the Girl Child" cause in collaboration with Lilavati Hospital. In 2014, she launched an event management and film production company called "Poetic Justice Films and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd." with industrialist Aneel Murarka and choreographer Samir Tanna. In 2017, Dhillon was appointed as one of four members to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, which is the official body for appeals against decisions of the Central Board of Film Certification in the Indian film industry. Dhillon joined the

Bhartiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

in 2004 and was appointed vice president of the Mumbai unit of the party in 2019.

Filmography

Films

Television

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dhillon, Poonam Living people Indian film actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Hindi television Indian stage actresses Indian television actresses Indian soap opera actresses Entertainers from Kanpur Actresses from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Maharashtra 1962 births