Sangeeta Bijlani (born 9 July 1960) is an Indian former actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who is known for winning the title of Femina Miss India 1980. She represented India at

Miss Universe 1980 Miss Universe 1980 was the 29th Miss Universe pageant, held on 8 July 1980 at the Sejong Cultural Center in Seoul, South Korea. It was the first time in the pageant's history that the event was held in South Korea. Shawn Weatherly from the Un ...

.Sangeeta Bijlani
movies.yahoo.com She started her acting career starring in

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 ...

films, playing a lead role in the film ''

Qatil ''Qatil'' (translation: ''Killer'') is a 1988 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Ashok Gaikwad and produced by Shama Akhtar and Nasim Hijazi. The film stars Aditya Pancholi and Sangeeta Bijlani in the lead roles. Shakti Kapoor play ...

'' (1988) and was one of the three female leads in the film ''

Tridev ''Tridev'' () is a 1989 Indian action thriller film directed and co-written by Rajiv Rai. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit, Sangeeta Bijlani, Sonam, Anupam Kher and Amrish Puri. The film was critically a ...

'' (1989).

Early life

Bijlani was born on 9 July 1960 in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

(present Mumbai),

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India into a

Sindhi Hindu Sindhi Hindus are ethnic Sindhis who practice Hinduism and are native to the Sindh region of the Indian subcontinent. They are spread across modern-day Sindh, Pakistan and India. After the partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were amo ...

family.

Modelling and commercials

Bijlani began modelling at the age of 16. She went on to do many commercials including ads of

Nirma Nirma is a conglomerate based in Ahmedabad, India, involved in the manufacture of various products, including detergents, soaps, cement, cosmetics, salt, soda ash, linear alkyl benzene, and injectables. It was founded in 1969 by Karsanbhai P ...

and

Pond's Pond's is an English brand of beauty and health care products, currently owned by Unilever. History Pond's Cream was invented in the United States as a patent medicine by pharmacist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) of Utica, New York, in 1846. M ...

soap. Sangeeta received her popular name "''Bijli''" from her modelling days.

Miss India Universe and international recognition

Bijlani was crowned

Miss India Miss India may refer to: Beauty pageants * Femina Miss India, selects representatives to compete in Miss World ** Femina Miss India Bangalore ** Femina Miss India Delhi ** Femina Miss India South * Miss India Worldwide India, selects representa ...

Universe Title in 1980. She represented India at the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

pageant in

Seoul, South Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

where she won Best National Costume award designed by her mother Poonam Bijlani.

Bollywood debut and success

Bijlani made her Bollywood debut in 1988 with ''

'', opposite

Aditya Pancholi Aditya Pancholi (born 12 September 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and playback singer working in Hindi cinema. Early life Pancholi was born to Rajan Pancholi, the younger brother of Dalsukh Pancholi, the family being pioneers as directo ...

and then went on to act in ''

'', '' Hathyar'', '' Jurm'', '' Yodha'', ''Yugandhar'', '' Izzat'' and ''

Lakshman Rekha Lakshmana Rekha (), in some later versions of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', is a line in the soil drawn by Lakshmana. This line is drawn around the cottage and dwelling in the forest that he shared with his elder brother, Rama, and Rama's wife, ...

''. She did a bilingual in

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 ...

opposite

Vishnu Vardhan Vishnu Vardhan (born 27 July 1987), also known as J. Vishnuvardhan, is an Indian professional tennis player. He won bronze medal in men's doubles at 2010 Asian games in Guangzhou, China. He paired-up with and Sania Mirza for mixed doubles and w ...

. She was nominated by the

Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. Although the Filmfare ...

category for Jurm opposite

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 ...

and was directed by

Mahesh Bhatt Mahesh Bhatt (born 20 September 1948) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter known for his works in Hindi cinema. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Mahesh Bhatt, a number of accolades, including four Nati ...

and scripted by

Salim Khan Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 24 November 1935) is an Indian actor, film producer and screenwriter. He wrote the screenplays, stories and scripts for numerous Bollywood films. He is one half of the prolific screenwriting duo of Salim–Javed, ...

. She has also worked with

Mukul Anand Mukul S. Anand (11 October 1951 – 7 September 1997) was an Indian film director and producer. He was the nephew of veteran film scriptwriter Inder Raj Anand and cousin of actor and director Tinnu Anand. Career Mukul S. Anand made his debut as ...

J.P. Dutta Jyoti Prakash Dutta (born 3 October 1949) is an Indian film producer, writer and director who works in Hindi cinema. He best known for making patriotic action war films, such as ''Border'' (1997), ''LOC Kargil'' (2003) and '' Paltan'' (2018) and ...

Rahul Rawail Rahul Rawail is an Indian film director and editor in Bollywood known for his films like ''Love Story (1981 film), Love Story'' (1981), ''Betaab'' (1983), ''Arjun (1985 film), Arjun'' (1985), ''Dacait'' (1987), ''Anjaam'' (1994), ''Arjun Pandit ...

and

N. Chandra Chandrashekhar Narvekar (born 4 April 1952) is an Indian producer, writer and director, known for gritty realism, in his early dark and loud films. His most successful commercial films are ''Ankush (1986 film), Ankush'', ''Pratighaat'', ''Tezaab' ...

Television career

Bijlani made her small-screen debut with ''Chandni'' - "a tale of power, revenge and love" in early 1996 opposite actor

Shahbaz Khan Shahbaz Khan may refer to: * Shahbaz Khan (actor), formerly Haider Amir, Indian actor * Shahbaz Khan (colonel), Pakistan Army colonel * Shahbaz Khan (cricketer) (born 1991), Pakistani cricketer * Shahbaz Khan (hydrologist), Australian climatologi ...

. She also went on to produce ''Hasna Mat'', with

Kader Khan Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film producer. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his debut in the 1973 film '' Daag'', starring Rajesh Khanna, as a prosecuting l ...

Star Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of family dramas, romantic comedies, youth-oriented reali ...

and ''Kinarey Milte Nahi'' on

Zee TV ZEE TV also known as Z TV is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched on 1 October 1992 as the oldest privately owned television channel in India. History ...

Personal life

Bijlani and

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 ...

started dating each other in 1986 when they were still modelling and their relationship ended as Khan was caught cheating. Years later, the duo shared hugs and kisses during Khan's 57th birthday. On 14 November 1996, Bijlani married cricketer

Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former cricketer who also served as the Indian national cricket team's captain. He was a right-handed middle order batter and an occasional medium fast bowler. He play ...

in Mumbai. The marriage ended in a divorce in 2010.

Filmography

Television commercial

* 1984: Popular Tv commercial Vicco Turmeric ayurvedic skin cream

In popular culture

A 2016

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

film '' Azhar'', directed by Tony D'Souza, was based on her life and depicts her relationship with her ex-husband and

Indian cricketer The India men's national cricket team, also known as Men in Blue, represents India in international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and is a full member nation of the International Cricket Council with T ...

Mohammad Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former cricketer who also served as the Indian national cricket team's captain. He was a right-handed middle order batter and an occasional medium fast bowler. He playe ...

. Bijlani's character was played by

Nargis Fakhri Nargis Fakhri is an American actress who primarily works in Hindi-language films of India. After working as a model in America, Fakhri came to prominence in India with the 2011 romantic drama film ''Rockstar (2011 film), Rockstar''. She subseque ...

in the film. According to media reports, Bijlani was not happy with her portrayal in the film as she was called the "house breaker" and further planned to sue the filmmakers. However,

Emran Hashmi Syed Emraan Anwar Hashmi (; born 24 March 1979) is an Indian film actor, who appears in Hindi films. Initially known for performing bold scenes, Hashmi has since portrayed strong roles in films. One of the most unconventional actors of India, H ...

the lead actor in the film slammed the media reports that Bijlani is unhappy with her character.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bijlani, Sangeeta 1960 births Beauty pageant contestants from Mumbai Living people Indian Sindhi people Sindhi actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian film actresses Female models from Mumbai Femina Miss India winners Miss Universe 1980 contestants Actresses from Mumbai 20th-century Indian actresses