Happy Birthday Sanjay Dutt and Elli Avram

Birthdays are occasions to rejoice, turning a year wiser, yet reminding oneself to stay young when it comes to chasing their dreams. On this note, BollyCurry is here to wish two members of the Bollywood family who are  turning a year older - Sanjay Dutt and Ellie Avram.

Dutt was born on July 29th, 1959, to Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt who were both lauded as legends of Hindi Cinema by then. Dutt found his way to acting after a long struggle with drug addiction set off by the loss of his mother to cancer. The  struggles on the personal front continued to haunt him in the form of two broken marriages - the first one with Richa Sharma and the second with Rhea Pillai. He recently found happiness again as he became a father to twins with his third wife Manyata Dutt. But he is yet to completely emerge from the shadow of the legal tussle he got into for illegal arms possession, for which he continues to serve a jail sentence.

Dutt began his acting career with a minor role in his father's film Reshma Aur Shera (1972). But it was the super hit film Rocky (1981) which truly launched him in Bollywood and turned him into a young heartthrob. The 80's saw Dutt starring in many commercial hits such as Vidhaata (1982), Main Awara Hoon (1983) and Ilaaka (1989). The turn of the decade gave him his first Filmfare nomination for best actor for his nuanced performance in the musical blockbuster  Saajan (1991). However, he continued to stick to action movies and gritty dramas which were his forte and this preference continued well into the 90's with Subhash Ghai's Khalnayak (1993), which was his swan song before the first stretch of imprisonment. His comeback into the industry with Daud (1997) was the beginning of a bumpy ride, but he found his groove 3 years later with  Vaastav: The Reality (1999) for which he won the Filmfare Best Actor Award. Dutt backed this with a string of credible performances in films such as  Mission Kashmir (2000),  Parineeta (2005) and Shabd (2005). His career made a massive resurgence with the 2003 blockbuster Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., which also had a successful sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). Several hits and misses continued, the latest being a memorable performance in Zanjeer (2013), followed by another one in the top-grosser PK (2014). Dutt is one artiste you can never rule out entirely and he surely has some power-packed performances still waiting to be delivered.

From a stalwart to a relative newbie, next in line for blowing the birthday candles is the Swedish actress Ellie Avram. Born in 1990 to a Swedish actress and Greek musician, Avram was always inclined towards performing arts. A deep affinity towards Indian songs and movies led her to leave Stockholm for Mumbai in 2012 with experience from only a couple of small acting roles in her kitty. A few opportunities in commercials helped her gain a foothold in the modeling world, which then led to her first Bollywood role opposite Manish Paul in Mickey Virus (2013). A short while before its release, she entered popular reality show Bigg Boss (Colors) and her banter with the show host Salman Khan raised her popularity levels. Though she did not win the contest, the increased recognition definitely helped her career and she has a couple of projects in line now, including a role in comedian Kapil Sharma's upcoming debut Kis Kisko Pyaar Karu.

We toast birthday wishes to these two stars who have proved that perseverance delivers. We at BollyCurry wish both the actors the very best in their future endeavors.

Writer: Aishwarya S.

Editor(s): Pooja B. and Gunia K.

Graphics: Saraa K.

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