Divya Bharati

Personal Profile (Personal Biography)
Original Name:  Divya Om Prakash Bharti
Date of Birth (Birthday):  25 February, 1974
Date of Death:  5-4-93
Zodiac Sign:  Pisces
Height:  5'4"
Weight:  52 Kg
Hair Color:  Black
Birth Place:  Bombay
Languages:  Hindi, English
Hobbies:  Watching TV

Family Background
Father's Name:  Om Prakash
Mother's Name:  Meeta
Spouse:  Sajid Nadiadwala

1988-1990: Early work and career beginnings

In 1988, Bharti met film-maker Nandu Tolani when she accompanied a friend. Upon seeing her, Nandu Tolani insisted that she become an actress. At that time, Bharti was in the ninth standard. She was originally scheduled to make her screen debut in Gunahon Ka Devta in 1988, but her role was cancelled.^[9] Kirti Kumar (Govinda's brother) noticed Divya at a video library, was eager to sign up Divya for Radha Ka Sangam opposite Govinda. Weeks later, Kirti went personally to meet Dilip Shankar and managed to release Divya from their contract. Before the first shot was taken, Bharti was out of the film after being groomed for two years and replaced by Juhi Chawla.^[9]

Bharti's career was stalled until D. Ramanaidu, one of the biggest producers of Telugu films, offered Bobbili Raja opposite his son Daggubati Venkatesh. She commenced shooting for her screen debut. The film was released in the summer of 1990 and became a colossal hit.^[10] She was introduced as Rani, daughter of the minister who has had all the comforts of life. The film was considered a usual launch for a newcomer, However, she was eventually noticed, particularly for the forthright character she played.

Although highly regarded for her acting abilities, Bharti acted in only one Tamil film, Nila Penne opposite Anand Babu, the son of legendary actor Nagesh who was most widely known for several leading roles in the early 1990s and his dancing exploits. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.^[10]

 

1990–1992:Rise to stardom in Telugu cinema

With more hits, Bharti became a bigger name in Telugu cinema.^[11] In box-office ratings, she figured next to Vijayshanti. In 1991, Bharti had back-to-back hits, including Rowdy Alludu and Assembly Rowdy opposite Chiranjeevi and Mohan Babu.^[12]

Later that year, A Kodandarami Reddy's action romance Dharma Kshetram under Sri Rajeev Productions was released. Bharti essayed the role of beautiful girl along with a prominent Telugu film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, who then starred in many critical and commercial films with the highest number of dual roles (thirteen). The film went on to become one of the biggest Telugu hits of its time.^[13] Nandamuri Balakrishna said about her performance, "This is an exceptional position reflecting an exceptional role she has played for us." ^[14]

1992–1993:Rise to stardom in Bollywood

Bharti's first Bollywood film was Vishwatma opposite Sunny Deol, directed by Rajiv Rai and released on January 2, 1992. The film was an average grosser at the box office, but gained Bharti wider recognition from the public as well as film critics.^[15] Notably, the music of the film was very successful, especially the song "Saat Samundar", which became a favorite and put Bharti in the limelight in Bollywood.^[15]

Seven days later, Bharti's next film, Lawrence D'Souza's romantic drama Dil Ka Kya Kasoor, alongside Prithvi and Sanam, failed at the box office.^[12] Bharti played f a girl named Seema who is secretly in love with a guy who wants to be a singer. She secretly helps him become a successful singer by writing songs for him but keeps her identity a secret from him. Through her songs, he becomes popular and wealthy virtually overnight. The music, by the duo Nadeem-Shravan, was an instant hit, but the film itself did not do well at the box office. However, Filmfare magazines started including Bharti in the list of 1992 "Top Ten Best Actress Performances". After Bharti's flops, she was quoted as saying, "I wanted to prove myself. But I've fallen flat on my face. Now, I have to begin my climb all over again. Yet, I'm positive that one day, success will be mine." (Stardust, March 1992).^[16]

In March 1992, David Dhawan's Shola Aur Shabnam was released. Bharti starred as Divya, the love interest of Karan (Govinda). In the film, Karan and Divya plan to marry each other. Circumstances act against them, and they flee, with Kali Baba's (Gulshan Grover) men after them. Shola Aur Shabnam was popular with critics and was a box office hit in India,^[17] reviving Bharti's career once again. She received a Lux Face of the Year title. It also gave a big boost to Govinda and launched David Dhawan as an established director.^[18]

Four months later, Bharti achieved further success in Raj Kanwar's Filmfare award winning love story Deewana ^[19] starred veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and newcomer Shahrukh Khan. Bharti essayed the role of Kajal, who falls in love and marries a famous singer named Ravi (Kapoor). After Ravi is presumed dead after falling off a cliff, the widowed and depressed Kajal meets a young man named Raja (Shahrukh Khan). Deewana grossed 14 crore, and Boxoffice India declared it a hit.^[20] Her performance in Deewana was highly appreciated.^[21] Critics reported that Bharti belonged to a new breed of Hindi film actors who broke away from character stereotypes. Bharti and Shahrukh Khan won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut and Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut respectively.^[12]

By July 1992, Bharti's work in Deewana was said to have earned her more recognition. She was listed as one of the "Most Valuable Young Stars". She had several other releases that year, among them Jaan Se Pyaara, Geet and Balwaan with another debutant Sunil Shetty. Of these, only Balwaan was a modest success, establishing Sunil Shetty as an action hero. Bharti's role was small, and was not well received. She was mostly criticised for taking a role of minimal importance. Although she explained that the decision was significant, so even when characters are being unkind it's hard not to like.^{[22][clarification needed]}

By the end of the year, she starred in Hema Malini's Dil Aashna Hai again co-starring Shahrukh Khan. The film tells the story of a young girl named Laila brought up in a brothel who is a cabaret dancer in Digvijay Singh's (Kabir Bedi) five-star hotel. Digvijay's son Karan (Shahrukh Khan) falls in love with her. Laila is aided by Karan in the search for her birth mother and is determined to seek answers and find acceptance from her real mother. The film garnered negative reviews and poor box office returns.^[23] She described the role as an attempt to pretext her cursorial public image.^{[clarification needed]} Hema Malini labelled her role by stating that "The lady has not just looked glamorous but she has walked with symmetry, smiled with austerity and spoke with sangfroid" ^[24][25]

Bharti's last film release while she was alive was the ensemble film Kshatriya, released just 10 days before her death. Her last completed films were Rang and Shatranj, which were released months after her death and dedicated to her memory. At the time of her death, she had completed 80% of the shooting for the film Laadla before her role was recast with Sridevi. She was also set to star in films like Mohra, Vijaypath and Andolan before her role was recast with other actresses.^[26]

Personal life

Bharti married film producer Sajid Nadiadwala in 1992.^[3] They had met in 1990 at Film City, when Sajid dropped by to meet Govinda on the sets of Shola Aur Shabnam.^[27] She converted to Islam from Hinduism after their marriage and changed her name to Sana.

Death and aftermath

Around midnight of 5 April 1993, Bharti fell to her death from a five-storey Tulsi apartment building in Versova Mumbai. There was much speculation by the media regarding Bharti's sudden demise, including the possibility of suicide, accidental death, conspiracy or even murder.^[28] Mumbai Police failed to find any evidence and closed the investigation in 1998. Some conspiracy theories involved her husband Sajid Nadiadwala, while other theories suggested Mafia complicity.^[29] But the circumstances of her death still remain a mystery.

Bharti's body was released to her family, who arranged for a cremation ceremony.^[30] On 7 April 1993, Bharti was cremated in a Hindu fashion.

Divya Bharati is immortalised in Iran as beauty queen as her portraits can be found along with Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan in art shops across Iran<Priya Krishnamoorthy></http://www.kindlemag.in/srorys_details.php?id=NTE4&displayid=NA==>.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
1990	Bobbili Raja	Rani	Telugu
1990	Nila Penne		Tamil
1991	Naa Ille Naa Swargam		Telugu
1992	Rowdy Alludu		Telugu
1992	Dharma Kshetram		Telugu
1992	Assembly Rowdy	Pooja	Telugu
1992	Vishwatma	Kusum	Hindi
1992	Shola Aur Shabnam	Divya Thapar	Hindi	Lux Face of the Year
1992	Dil Ka Kya Kasoor	Seema/Shalini Saxena	Hindi
1992	Jaan Se Pyaara	Sharmila	Hindi
1992	Deewana	Kaajal	Hindi	Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut
1992	Balwaan	Deepa	Hindi
1992	Dushman Zamana	Seema	Hindi
1992	Dil Aashna Hai	Laila/Sitara	Hindi
1992	Geet	Neha	Hindi
1992	Chittamma Mogudu	Chittemma	Telugu
1992	Dil Hi To Hai	Bharati	Hindi
1993	Tholi Muddhu		Telugu
1993	Andha Insaaf		Hindi
1993	Kshatriya	Tanvi Singh	Hindi
1993	Rang	Kajal	Hindi
1993	Shatranj	Renu	Hindi

 

Incomplete films

Year of release	Title	Co-Star	Replacement
1993	Dhanwan	Ajay Devgan	Karisma Kapoor
1993	Production.No 9 - Rajiv Rai's unamed project	Rekha
1993	Tholi Muddhu	Prashanth	Rambha acted as divya's double in 2-3 scenes.
1993	Do Kadam	Salman Khan
1993	Do Kadam Aagey	Sunil Shetty, Rohit Bhatia
1993	Parinaam	Akshay Kumar
1993	Chal Pe Chal	Jackie Shroff
1993	Bajrangi	Sunny Deol
1994	Mohra	Akshay Kumar	Raveena Tandon
1994	Laadla	Anil Kapoor	Sridevi
1994	Vijaypath	Ajay Devgan	Tabu
1995	Andolan	Govinda	Mamta Kulkarni
1995	Kartavya (1995 film)	Sanjay Kapoor	Juhi Chawla
1995	Angrakshak	Sunny Deol	Pooja Bhatt
1995	Hulchul	Ajay Devgan	Kajol
1995	Kanyadaan	Rishi Kapoor	Manisha Koirala

Divya Bharti was born on February 25, 1974, in Mumbai, India, the eldest child of Omprakash Bharti, an insurance officer, and his second wife, Meeta Bharti.^[6] She had a younger brother named Kunal.

Bharti studied at Maneckji Cooper High School in Juhu, Mumbai, in same era as actors Farhan Akhtar and Rani Mukherji attended. She was an average student and completed grade 9.^[7][8]

Film Background (Filmography)
Debut Film:  Vishwatma
Famous Movies:  Shatranj, Rang, Kshatriya, Andha Insaaf, Tholi Muddhu, Geet, Dil Aashna Hai, Dushman Zamana, Balwaan, Deewana, Vishwatma, Shola Aur Shabnam, Dil Ka Kya Kasoor, Dharma Kshetram, Dil Hi To Hai, Rowdy Alludu, Bobbili Raja
Other Facts:  Was discovered by direcctor Kirti Kumar around 1988 in a Mumbai Video Library