Divya Bharti
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Divya Bharti
Birth name Divya Om Prakash Bharti
Born February 25, 1974
India
Died April 5, 1993 (aged 19)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other name(s) Sana Nadiadwala
Years active 1990-1993
Spouse(s) Sajid Nadiadwala (1992-1993)
[show]Awards
Filmfare Awards
Lux New Face: Deewana (1992)
Divya Bharti (Hindi: ?????? ?????), (born Divya Om Prakash Bharti, February 25, 1974 - April 5, 1993) was a popular Indian film actress in the early 1990s. In her short career which lasted three and half years she acted in 19 films. Her career was short-lived after her mysterious death in 1993 at the age of 19.
Contents [hide]
1 Personal life
2 Film career
3 Death
4 Filmography
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Personal life
Divya Bharti was born to parents Meeta and Om Prakash. She left studies to start acting at the age of 16. She secretly married Bollywood film producer Sajid Nadiadwala in May of 1992, but kept the marriage a secret due to family, problems and also to safeguard her movie career. She was said to have converted to Islam changing her name to Sana.
[edit] Film career
Divya was first discovered by Kirti Kumar, brother of actor Govinda in 1988 and was considered for a role in the film Radha Ka Sangam opposite Govinda but was eventually turned down.
Divya Bharti made her acting debut at the age of 16 in a 1990 Tamil film titled Nila Pennae and her first hit was the Telugu film titled Bobbili Raja (1990) in which she starred opposite Venkatesh. The film was also dubbed in Hindi as Rampur Ka Raja. She went on to star in four more hit Telugu films; Dharma Kshetram, Tholi Mudhu, Rowdy Alludu and Assembly Rowdy in which she co-starred with Telegu superstars Balakrishna, Prashanth, Chiranjeevi and Mohan Babu respectively.
She then switched over to the Bollywood industry and made her Hindi film debut in the 1992 film Vishwatma. The film was an average hit at the box office[1] but got her noticed for the song picturized on her in the film Saat Samundar which was popular at the time. Many of her other films released that same year which was a record for any newcomer actress in Bollywood at the time. Some of her most notable films in 1992 included Deewana, Dil Aashna Hai and Shola Aur Shabnam putting her at the top of the leading upcoming actresses in Bollywood that year.[1]and gaining her the Filmfare Lux New Face Award. She worked with most of the top actors in Bollywood at the time such as Sunny Deol, Rishi Kapoor, Govinda, Sanjay Dutt as well as Shahrukh Khan and Sunil Shetty who made their debut in films with her as their first heroine.
[edit] Death
On April 5, 1993 at the age of only 19, Divya fell to her death off a 5-storey apartment building in Mumbai tragically ending a potentially successful career. The circumstances behind her death were considered suspicious by the media; however, despite an investigation, police found no evidence that her death was murder. To this day her death remains a mystery. Some sources believe she accidentally fell off, was murdered or committed suicide. One source however believes her husband Sajid Nadiadwala's links with the Mumbai mafia and involvement in the 1993 Bombay bombings on March 12, 1993 resulted in her death but this has never been proven to be true.[2]
Divya's funeral took place on April 7.[3]About 500 people attended the funeral of the then youngest heroine of the silver screen, including Anil Kapoor, Kamal Sadanah, Raj Babbar, Yash Chopra, Jimmy Nirula, Sudhakar Bokade, Mukesh Duggal, Raza Murad, Vikas Anand, Venkatesh, Ram Mohan, Javed Khan, Raj Kanwar, Nitin Manmohan and Pehlaj Nehlani, maker of her first hit, Shola aur Shabnam. A large number of film personalities, including Hema Malini, Urmila Matondkar, Shilpa Shirodkar, Sonu Walia , Somy Ali, Karisma Kapoor, Sangeeta Bijlani, Tabu, Manisha Koirala and Asha Parekh, offered condolences to the bereaved family members at their residence.[4]
Divya's two final completed films Rang and Shatranj were released months after her death. These, in addition to several films produced by her husband Sajid Nadiadwala, were dedicated to her memory. She was also meant to do movies including Mohra, Laadla , Kartavya (1995), and Vijaypath before her death.
[edit] Filmography
Year Title Role   ; Notes
1990 Bobbili Raja
1990 Nila Penne
1991 Rowdy Alludu
1992 Dharma Kshetram Balakrishna
1992 Assembly Rowdy
1992 Vishwatma Kusum First Bollywood film
1992 Shola Aur Shabnam Divya Thapa
1992 Dil Ka Kya Kasoor Shalini/Seema
1992 Dil Hi To Hai Bharti
1992 Jaan Se Pyaara Sharmila
1992 Deewana Kajal Winner, Filmfare Lux New Face Award
1992 Balwaan Priya
1992 Dushman Zamaana Seema
1992 Dil Aashna Hai Laila
1992 Geet Neha
1993 Tholi Muddhu
1993 Kshatriya Tanve Singh
1993 Rang Kajal Malhotra Film was completed but released after her death
1993 Shatranj Renu Film was completed but released after her death
Awards
Filmfare Award
Preceded by
Raveena Tandon
for Patthar Ke Phool Lux New Face
for Deewana
1992 Succeeded by
Mamta Kulkarni
for Aashiq Awara
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