Manisha Koirala

Following a series of commercial failures, she established herself as a leading actress with the romantic dramas 1942: A Love Story (1994) and the Tamil-language Bombay (1995).

She is credited for such roles as 1942 A Love Story, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Bombay, Agnisakshi, Khamoshi, Gupt, Dil Se and Company.

Koirala's career prospects improved after starring in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's romance film 1942: A Love Story (1994), set during the Indian independence movement.

She played Rajjo, the daughter of a freedom fighter who falls in love with Naren (Anil Kapoor), the apolitical son of a British colonial employee.

Chopra dismissed Koirala as a "terrible actress" after her first screen test, but was impressed with her performance for a second audition and decided to cast her in place of Madhuri Dixit.

The film featured the protagonists sharing a deep kiss; it was certified U/A (Parental guidance required) by the Central Board of Film Certification, becoming the first Indian film to receive the rating.

Koirala's performance received positive reviews, with critics hailing her as "a sensitive performer".

The film proved to be a box office flop.

However, it fetched Koirala her first nomination for Best Actress at the annual Filmfare Awards ceremony.

Several members of her family went on to become politicians; her grandfather, Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, was the Prime Minister of Nepal during the late 1950s to the early 1960s, as were two of her great-uncles, Girija Prasad Koirala and Matrika Prasad Koirala.

Koirala spent her early life in India, and she stayed in Varanasi at her maternal grandmother's home for some years and later in Delhi and Mumbai.

Manisha Koirala (born 16 August 1970) is a Nepalese actress who works in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi and Tamil.

Known for her work in both commercial and independent cinema, she is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards.

Koirala made her acting debut with the Nepali film Pheri Bhetaula (1989), and went on to feature in the Hindi drama Saudagar (1991).

While at home in Varanasi, she attended the Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya until Class X. During a break after her board exams, Koirala made her acting debut in 1989 with the Nepali film Pheri Bhetaula as an experiment.

Aspiring to become a doctor, she moved to Delhi and studied at the Army Public School (APS) of the Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi campus.

In an interview, she said that living on her own in Delhi helped her become "strong and independent."

In Delhi, Koirala took on a few modeling assignments, but later shifted her focus toward acting.

One of these was for a wool company.

Determined to pursue a career in acting, Koirala moved to Mumbai for film roles.

She followed this with her Hindi film debut in Subhash Ghai's directorial Saudagar two years later, which emerged as a commercial success.

According to Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com, "[C]ritics saw sparks in Manisha, even as she was constantly referred to as Madhuri Dixit's lookalike".

However, this was trailed by a series of films that performed poorly at the box office, including First Love Letter (1991), Anmol and Dhanwan (both 1993), which led to Koirala being labeled "a jinx" by producers.

Koirala is frequently cited as one of the most beautiful actress of Bollywood.

Yalgaar (1992), did well at the box-office and was classified as a hit.

Koirala received critical recognition for her portrayals of characters in varied genres: an ambitious wife in Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995), the daughter of deaf-mute parents in Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), a terrorist in Dil Se.. (1998), a mistreated woman in Lajja (2001) and Sushmita Banerjee in Escape From Taliban (2003).

In 1995, Koirala made her debut in Tamil cinema with the Mani Ratnam-directed political romance Bombay, starring alongside Arvind Swami.

She took up the role on the insistence of her friend Ashok Mehta, at a time when other contemporaries urged her to not act in non Hindi film industries.

She subsequently starred in a series of commercial successes, including Agni Sakshi (1996), Indian (1996), Gupt: The Hidden Truth (1997), Kachche Dhaage (1999), Mudhalvan (1999), Company (2002) and Ek Chhotisi Love Story (2002).

In addition to acting in films, Koirala was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in 1999 for India and 2015 for Nepal, and was involved in the relief works after the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.

She promotes causes such as women's rights, prevention of violence against women, prevention of human trafficking and cancer awareness, contributing as an author to the novel Healed: an account of her struggle with ovarian cancer.

Manisha Koirala was born into the politically prominent Koirala family, in Biratnagar, Nepal.

Her father, Prakash Koirala, is a politician, former Cabinet minister and a former member of Nepal’s House of Representatives, while her mother, Sushma Koirala, is a homemaker.

She has one brother, Siddharth Koirala, who is a former Bollywood actor.

In 2001, the Government of Nepal awarded her with the Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu.

Born to the politically prominent Koirala family, she is the daughter of Prakash Koirala and granddaughter of Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, former Prime Minister of Nepal.

Post-2003, Koirala began to work with independent film makers in art-house projects and in other language films.

Her performances in the drama Tulsi (2008), the Malayalam psychological drama Elektra (2010), the anthology I Am (2010) and the romantic comedy Mappillai (2011) were praised.

She took a break from acting after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 and returned five years later with the coming-of-age drama Dear Maya (2017).

The following year, she featured in the Netflix production Lust Stories and the biography Sanju; the latter ranks among the highest-grossing Indian releases.