Isha Koppikar

Name - Isha Koppikar

DOB - 19 september 1976

Place - Mumbai

She went to Ruia College in Mumbai and studied Life Sciences. While in college, she did a model shoot for Gautam Rajyadhaksa. She took part in the 1995 Miss India Contest, won the Miss Talent Crown and modeled for L'Oreal, Rexona, Camay, Tips & Toes and Coca-Cola, among others.

Her first movie was the Tamil En Swasa Katre opposite Arvind Swamy, one of the most successful actors that time. She received positive reviews for her role and decided to pursue a career in Bollywood: Her first movie was Ek Tha Dil Ek Thi Dhadkan (1997), directed by Shah Rukh Sultan, and has yet to be released.

Koppikar starred in some minor roles in Fiza (2000) and Pyaar Ishq aur Mohabbat (2001) until in 2002, she starred in Ram Gopal Varmas Company as an Item girl in the song Khallas!, which created her nickname Khallas-girl and caused her breakthrough.

In Dil Ka Rishta she played opposite Aishwarya Rai and Arjun Rampal and for her negative role in Qayamat: City Under Threat (2003), she received a Filmfare Award nomination for Best Villain. In the movie Girlfriend (2004), she plays a woman involved in a lesbian relationship and in D (2004), she again worked with Ram Gopal Varma in the prequel of his movie Company.

Recently, she played Arshad Warsi's girlfriend in the Salman Khan starrer Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya?. She is now filming for Farhan Akhtar's Don alongside Shahrukh Khan.

If looks could kill, this Mumbai girl who started out as a model would be lethal. Tall, beautiful, talented, the Khallas girl, Isha Koppikar shot to fame with her song number in Ram Gopal Verma's movie Company. Born in 1976, Isha had never imagined that she would become an actress. Instead, she had hoped to walk in her father's footsteps and become a doctor. “I did not get enough marks to enroll for MBBS,” says Isha, who graduated in life sciences from Ruia College.

Modeling assignments trickled in after she did a photo shoot with Gautam Rajyadhyaksha when she was still in junior college. Besides some prominent assignments for Ponds, Camay, Rexona, Synergy, Coke, L'Oreal and Tips & Toes, she did a few ramp shows. “I did only five or six ramp shows,” she says, “as I used to be plump in those days.” Such candid admissions make her the person she is.

In 1995 she won the Miss Talent crown at the Miss India. She debuted in a Tamil film, En Swasa Katre opposite Arvind Swamy, who was at the peak of his fame at that time following the success of Roja and Bombay. The film got rave reviews and she was expected to be a big hit in the south.

However, she softly entered Bollywood. Her first film, Ek Tha Dil Ek Thi Dhadkan, directed by Shah Rukh Khan in 1997, never got released. Then she was back to south to do her second film with Tamil superstar Prashant. She managed to do about ten films in the south. Her performance in Tamil film 'Kaathal Kavithai' fetched her the Filmfare award for the best newcomer in the south in 2000-01.

Though her work was in the South, her heart was set on making a name for herself in Mumbai. She did small roles in Fiza, Aamdani Athani Kharcha Rupaiya and Pyar, Ishq aur Mohabbat. But she got the much wanted and needed break from Ram Gopal Verma. Her item song ‘Khallas’ in Company became all the rage.

Some of the other movies she worked in were Sanjay Gupta's multi starrer Kaante, Plan with Dino Morea and Krishna Cottage in which she played a ghost. She was nominated as a villain for film Qayamat. In Pinjar her performance was good but anyhow the film didn't work. She was recently in news for her controversial film Girlfriend where she played an obsessive lover to her friend Amrita Arora and did some bold scenes portraying a lesbian relationship.

Today Ishaa Khoppikar has grown beyond being just a sizzling item girl. Ishaa is now setting to sink her teeth into some really challenging roles in her forthcoming films Inteqaam, Humraahi and Raakh.

Isha loves to make friends, is Net-savvy and does a lot of chatting. “I love dancing but no discos and pubs. I am not a night person. I start my day early,” says Isha, who paints and makes candles in her free time. She is not much of a bibliophile, but is at home with self-help books.

If there is something else this Konkani girl loves doing, it is gorging on her mother's cooking. She is a food freak who hankers after butter chicken, biryani, seafood and Chinese! “I can't cook, I just do the eating.” Her parents had always been supportive of her decisions. “My family is my biggest asset and my sensitivity is my strength,” she maintains.