Rani Mukherjee born on March 21, 1978, is an Indian film actress who works in Bollywood movies.
Making her acting debut with Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (1996)
Mukherjee had her first commercial success with Karan Johar‘s romance Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), her biggest hit so far, and won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for her performance in the film.
She later starred in many films, most of which fared below expectations. She re-invented her image with Saathiya (2002), which was commercially and critically successful.
In 2004, her performances in the hit Hum Tum and the critically acclaimed Yuva earned her the Best Actress and the Best Supporting Actress awards at the Filmfare, making her the first actress to win two major awards in the same year.
She received unanimous praise for her role as a deaf and blind girl in the film Black (2005), as well as many awards for her memorable performance, establishing herself as a leading actress in Bollywood.
Mukherjee comes from a film-oriented family of Bengali origin. Her father Ram Mukherjee is a retired director and one of the founders of Filmalaya Studios while her mother Krishna was a playback singer.
Her brother Raja Mukherjee is a film producer, now turned director. Her maternal aunt, Debashree Roy, is a national award-winning Bengali film actress and her cousin, Kajol, is a popular Bollywood actress.
Mukherjee is a trained Odissi dancer, and began learning the dance in the tenth grade. Mukherjee studied at Maneckji Cooper High School in Juhu, and later enrolled at Mithibai College in Mumbai.
After doing a short cameo appearance for the first time in her father’s Bengali film Biyer Phool (1992), Mukherjee made her acting debut four years later, as the protagonist of Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (1996).
Her performance as a rape victim in the film was well received, but when the film failed at the box office, she returned to college to complete her education.
Mukherjee as Tina Malhotra in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), her biggest commercial success to date. Pictured with Shahrukh Khan.
Mukherjee returned to films in 1998. Her first release that year was Ghulam, opposite Aamir Khan; the film did well at the box office. The song Aati Kya Khandala made Mukerji popular among the masses, earning her the nickname of Khandala Girl.
Karan Johar’s directorial debut, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, co-starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, followed for her that year. The movie was a blockbuster, and she received her first Filmfare Award in the Best Supporting Actress category.
In 2005, Mukherjee starred in four high-profile films: Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black, Shaad Ali’s Bunty Aur Babli, Amol Palekar’s Paheli and Ketan Mehta’s The Rising.
Mukherjee was offered the lead role in Mira Nair’s Hollywood film, The Namesake (2007) but owing to clashing dates with Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, she could not commit to the project.
Gossip columnists have linked Mukherjee to many industry figures, but she has strongly denied every single rumor of romance.
Several gossip columns have also claimed that she is regularly in feud with some of the Bollywood actors and actresses, but Mukherjee has denied this.
Mukerji changed the English transliteration of her surname from Mukherjee to Mukerji several years ago. At the time, it was reported that she did this for numerological reasons. In 2006, Mukerji stated that numerology was not a concern; her name had been put down as Mukerji on her passport, and she wanted to be consistent.
Mukerji has three homes in Mumbai, including her childhood home.
She bought a bungalow in Juhu for herself and her parents in mid-2005. The house went through a two year renovation with the interiors done by Twinkle Khanna and Sussanne Roshan.
In June 2005, Mukerji was widely criticized following the publication of an interview with British newspaper Desi Xpress. Mukerji was asked to name her idol and she replied, “Adolf Hitler”. However, in an interview with Times Now a year later, she denied ever mentioning Hitler’s name.
In November 2006, Mukerji was shooting for the film Laaga Chunari Mein Daag in Varanasi when avid fans crowded the set. Security personnel beat the crowd back. A media storm followed as various groups insisted that Mukerji should have stopped the security guards. Mukerji later issued an apology.
In March 2004, Mukerji visited the sandy dunes of Rajasthan to boost the morale of the jawans. It was for a show where entertainers and stars visit Indian troops in far-flung regions to encourage them along with the NDTV team.
In February 2005, Mukerji performed at the HELP Telethon Concert to help raise money for the victims of Tsunami in company with other Bollywood stars.
She was highly involved in the Temptations 2005 show in New Delhi. The actress helped to raise funds for the National Centre For Promotional of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), a leading disabled rights’ group.
Mukerji donated her prize money, her half-share of 50 lakh rupees from her 2007 appearance on Kaun Banega Crorepati with Preity Zinta, to the Holy Family Hospital. She said that this institution looks after children with heart problems.
Mukerji is a stage performer and has participated in two world tours. Her first world tour was in the year 1999 with Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Akshaye Khanna and Twinkle Khanna. It was called the Magnificent Five.
Five years later, Temptations 2004 came along. It was the most successful Bollywood concert in its time. Mukerji performed alongside Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal and Priyanka Chopra in nineteen stage shows across the globe.
In 2005, Mukerji was a guest of honour at a state dinner to greet General Pervez Musharraf in company of the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh.Mukerji was the only Bollywood actress on the elite guest list.
She appeared along with various other Bollywood actors at the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, as part of a performance showcasing Indian culture, on behalf of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Rani Mukerji was on the top slot of Filmfare’s ‘Top Ten Bollywood Actresses’ list for two years in a row (2004-2005). She was also placed number one on Rediff’s ‘Top Bollywood Female Stars’ Rankings for three consecutive years (2004-2006), while in 2007, she was ranked at number five.
In February 2006, Filmfare Magazine placed her eighth amongst the “Ten Most Powerful Names of Bollywood”, an achievement she repeated from the previous year, where she was ranked at number ten as the only woman on the list. In 2007, she was ranked higher at number five.
On Women’s International Day 2007, Mukerji came in the fourth position on the All-Time Best Bollywood Actresses Ever Listing.
She was placed at number #36 by UK magazine Eastern Eye as one of “Asia’s Sexiest Women” (Sept/2006). Mukerji is frequently featured in various lists by Rediff.com, among them, Bollywood’s Most Beautiful Actresses, Bollywood’s Best Dressed Women and Women of Many Faces.
