Divya Bharti (February 25, 1974 - April 5, 1993) was a popular Indian film actress who acted in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films in the early 1990s. She made her acting debut at the age of 16 in the 1990 Tamil film Nilla Penne (1990), which was a flop. She got her first break in the Telugu film Bobbili Raja opposite Venkatesh, which was a big hit. She also went on to act in several other Telugu films over the next two years. She then joined the Hindi language film industry Bollywood making her debut in Vishwatma in 1992. She appeared in more than 14 Hindi films that year which was considered a record at the time for a newcomer. Her career was tragically cut short by her mysterious death in April 1993 at the age of 19.
Divya was first discovered by actor and director Kirti Kumar, brother of actor Govinda in 1988 and was considered for a role in their movie Radha Ka Sangam. This role ultimately went to Juhi Chawla.
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 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 moved to Bollywood and made her debut in the 1992 film Vishwatma. The film was only an average hit at the box office but got her noticed for the popular song Saat Samundar which was picturized on her in the film. Many of her other Hindi 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 third position of the leading actresses in Bollywood that year after Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit. 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, Jackie Shroff, Rishi Kapoor, Govinda, Sanjay Dutt as well as Shahrukh Khan and Sunil Shetty who were newcomers at the time. She was also due to co-star with Akshay Kumar in Mohra , Ajay Devgan in Vijaypath, Sanjay Kapoor in Kartavya, Anil Kapoor in Laadla and Sunny Deol in Angrakshak before her death.
On April 5, 1993, Divya fell to her death off a 5-story apartment building, Tulsi 2 in Mumbai. The police closed the investigation into her death in 1998, but the circumstances of her death remain murky.
The funeral took place on April 7, about 500 people attended then youngest heroine of the silver screen, including Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Kamal Sadanah, Raj Babbar, Yash Chopra, Jimmy Nirula, Sudhakar Bokade, Mukesh Duggal,Mahesh Anand, Aruna Irani, 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.
She was scheduled to star movies including Mohra, Laadla, Andolan, Angrakshak ,Kartavya (1995), and Vijaypath before her death; her roles were recast. Divya's two final completed films, Rang and Shatranj, were released months after her death. These films--in addition to several films produced by her husband Sajid Nadiadwala--were dedicated to her memory.
Divya Bharti Filmography
Dil Aashna Hai, Dil Ka kya Kasoor, Balwaan, kshatriya, Deewana, Dil Hi To Hai, Dushman Zamana, Jaan Se Pyara, Shola Aur Shabnam and Vishwatma.
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