VERSATILE & TALENTED: BHOOMIKA CHAWLA

Versatile and talented

Bhoomika Chawla pursues her acting career after marriage by playing a variety of roles, writes KK Moidu

Unlike other leading ladies of the industry, gorgeous Bhoomika did not disappear from the industry after she got married. She will play a medley of roles in forthcoming Telugu and Tamil films to sustain her career.
Bhoomika Chawla will play one of the most important roles in her career by donning a man's fashion in forthcoming Tamil film. Her role as a girl and her transformation as a man is a challenge to the calm and slim heroine. According to reports the movie is inspired from the Iranian film Baran, which won awards for acclaimed film director-writer Majid Majidi.
Another forthcoming Telugu film directed by Srinivas Kumar, vibrant Bhoomika will for the first time rub shoulders with Telugu hero Srikanth. Although Srikanth and Bhoomika acted in the family genre of films for many years, they never appeared on screen together. One of the highlight of the film is Chakri's music. The film is produced by distributor turned producer Prashant.
Bhoomika is the ladylove of debutante hero Murali Krishna in Telugu film Mallepuvvu directed by Samudra. Bhoomika's character in the film is quite different from her all other roles that she has done so far. The film has eight songs composed by music maestro Ilayaraja.
Svelte Bhoomika is one of the most beautiful smiling faces of the industry. She carved a niche for herself by playing an innocent girl in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. Her gorgeous eyes and girl next-door image with pleasing movements won praise from the audience of Bollywood and the South. Her marriage with long time beau Bharat Takur, a millionaire yoga master, did not pause her acting career. Bhoomika has gone one step ahead by venturing into film financing by starting own production company Down Down. Bhoomika not only continued her acting career after her marriage but also made her Punjabi film debut opposite Gurdas Mann in Yaariyan directed by Deepak Grewal.
Bhoomika Chawla was born on Aug. 21, 1978, in Delhi as Rachna and is lovingly called as Guddiya. The tall actress is the youngest of the Punjabi speaking Chawla family. Her father Ajit Sing Chawla is a retired Colonel and mother Bali Chawla is a housewife. Her elder brother also serves armed forces.
Bhoomika Chawla entered to the film industry after doing many commercials for top brands and Hindi music video albums. The campaign for Ponds Talcum Powder made her popular and that helped her for an easy entry into tinsel world. The comely actress with an easy-going mind-set won the hearts of cinegoers with her natural performance. She wants to continue in the industry as long as the audience accepts her and her ultimate aim is to win a Best Actress National Award.
Although Bhoomika was born and brought up in the capital city New Delhi, she moved to the commercial capital Mumbai in 1997 and started her modelling career. The bright-faced college girl with a warm smile learnt the early lessons of acting and expressions from her modelling career. She also tried her luck on the mini screen serial Hipp Hip Hurray on Zee TV.
Bhoomika debuted opposite Sumanth in Telugu film Yuvakudu in 2000. The film bombed at the box office but she gained the attention of directors and producers of the industry. The success of her second Telugu film Khushi established her as a successful heroine of the industry. She was paired opposite power star Pawan Kalyan in the super hit film and she won the Best Actress Award. The success of the film earned her many fans and hyped her as a strong runner for the top slot.
Her hero in Telugu film Snehamante Idera directed by Bala Sekharan was Nagarjuna. The film was a remake of super hit Friends directed by Siddique. Bhoomika was the love interest of crowd puller Mahesh Babu in Okkadu directed by Gunasekhar. Okkadu not only performed well at the box office but also won the Filmfare Award for best film, best director, best actor, best music director for MS Raju, Gunasekhar, Mahesh Babu and Mani Sharma respectively. Okkadu also won Santosham Award for Prakash Raj as the best villain, best art direction for Ashok and MS Raju won the Santosham Best Film Award. Okkadu's Tamil remake Ghilli starring Vijay and Trisha in the lead roles repeated the success. Kannada remake of the film was Aajay and action hero Puneet Kumar played the lead was also a box office hit.
Bhoomika's pairing opposite Jr NTR in Simhadri directed by SS Rajamouli was one of the biggest hit in Jr NTR's career. She played a mentally retarded girl as Indu and got rave reviews for her fabulous performance. The film was remade in Tamil as Gajendra but the film couldn't repeat the success of the original. Bhoomika's pairing opposite Jr NTR in Samba was an average grosser. Bhoomika had enough luck to pair opposite megastar Chiranjeevi in Jai Chiranjeeva. Bhoomika played the title role as a journalist in the heroine oriented film Anasuya. The film won acclaim and was a big hit at the box office. Bhoomika was absolutely comfortable in the role of the film directed by Ravi Babu and he also played a negative role in the film.
Her pairing opposite Jagapati Babu in triangular love story Swagatam directed by Dasaradh was one of the best in her career. Her chemistry with Jagapati Babu was appreciated but the big budget film received lukewarm response at the box office and failed to fulfill the high expectations of the audience.
Bhoomika made her Bollywood debut opposite mega star Salman Khan in Tere Naam. The film was the remake of Tamil super hit Sethu, which made Vikram a dependable leading man. With her charm and grace she portrayed a simple innocent brahmin girl in the musical hit Tere Naam. The film was one of the biggest hit of the year and she was nominated for several Best Debut Awards at different ceremonies including Filmfare Best Actress Award. She won the Zee Cine Awards Best debut actress trophy. Bhoomika and Salman again paired in Atul Agnihotri's directorial debut Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa. She was the ladylove of Abhishek Bachchan in Run, a remake of Tamil blockbuster of the same title. Bhoomika paired opposite debutante Karan Sharma, son of director Romesh Sharma in Amitabh Bachchan starrer Dil Jo Bhi Kahey. She also acted in another Amitabh starrer Family-Ties of Blood, which bombed at the box office. Bhoomika played Gulab Gandhi's role in Gandhi My Father, which explores the troubled relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and Harilal Gandhi.
Bhoomika forayed into Tamil film industry by pairing opposite Vijay in Badri, a remake of Tollywood hit Thammudu. She was the heroine of Srikant's launching vehicle super hit Rojakkoottam and together the two made a cute pair. Her pairing opposite Surya as one of the heroine in Tamil film Sillunu Oru Kadhal was also a box office grosser. AR Rahman and Shreya Ghosal won the Filmfare Awards for the best music director and best female playback singer respectively.
In her less than a decade career, Bhoomika has acted in around 30 films in different languages and paired opposite front-line heroes of the industry like, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Jr NTR, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgon, Abhishek Bachchan, Vijay, Surya etc. All the three Tamil films, which Bhoomika played the heroine roles were superhits. But the expected boom in her Tamil career did not materialise. The cute Chawla girl is masquerading as a boy in the forthcoming Tamil film and hopes that it will firm her foothold in Tamil cinema.