Guwahati:  Lara Dutt is one of the actresses in Bollywood, who doesn’t need an introduction and has carved a niche for herself with her sheer talent and hard work.  The beautiful actress turns 43 today, April 16. 

She was born in the year 1978 to a Hindu father and an Anglo-Indian mother in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh but the family moved to Bengaluru in 1981.

But her journey towards showbiz started much later in 1997 when she was crowned Miss Intercontinental in 1997.

Accolades were big and fame was getting real but it all catapulted to a barrage of success at the turn of the 21st century.

Lara Dutta got crowned the Miss Universe in 2000 and she had Aishwarya Rai’s and Sushmita Sen’s example to have a vision of foraying into the world of cinema.

On her birthday let’s check out some of the movies in which Lara left her mark as an actress.

Andaaz

Popular film director Raj Kanwar film Andaaz with superstar Akshay Kumar was the debut film of Lara Duta. He decided to cast two newcomers who were Miss World and Miss Universe respectively in the same year namely Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta. Both the actress got launched to stardom as the film did phenomenally well at the box office and both were regarded as Best Female Debut in Filmfare. Lara’s journey was one of turbulence in the Hindi film industry because 16 years ago, the roles were not as kind to women as they are now. 

Bhagam Bhag

The comedy maestro and perhaps the most in-demand film director of 2000’s Priyadarshan had planned a mammoth comedy-thriller called Bhagam Bhag. It had a huge ensemble of Priyadarshan’s frequent collaborators like Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Asrani, Shakti Kapoor, and Govinda amongst others but the story revolved around the character of a suspicious girl. In this army of male superstars, Lara signed up for the project and it became one of her most memorable roles. She played the character of a mentally traumatized girl who is immensely suicidal and it carries a secret of death that can be fatal to her. Lara did complete justice to the part and was able to make her mark in three genres within one film including psychological thriller, comedy, and an almost ghostly spirit. 

Billu

Lara Dutta played the roles of the urban Indian women who live in the cities and recognizes a fast-paced life pattern. Lara took the role of Bindiya, a strong-headed woman from a village called Budbuda who has a teenage son, something that no other actress was doing in that era. Lara was acting opposite Irrfan Khan as his wife in what would be considered a supporting character but she shined right through it. She emerged in the role of a woman who is the support pillar of her husband when everybody had gone against him. 

Chalo Dilli

Lara Dutta and Vinay Pathak’s Chalo Dilli has its heart in the right place.  En route to her destination via plane, a busy executive gets stranded with a middle-classed fast-talking male. The story is an interesting premise. A road trip that will irrevocably change the lives of at least one of the participants. But the trip is just the beginning. These films work if every kilometer of the journey throws up quirky characters and humorous touching incidents. Lara Dutta does justice to her role and made it a light-hearted movie to watch. 

She also starred in Housefull, Do Knot Disturb, Chalo Dilli, and Don 2 amongst several successful films. 

Lara will be seen playing a crucial part in Akshay Kumar’s upcoming film Bell Bottom. Directed by Ranjit Tewari Bell Bottom is a thriller set in the ’80s about some unforgettable heroes of the era. Lara still isn’t picking up a run-of-the-mill film that Bollywood allows for Female stars. She chose to play a supporting character with Akshay Kumar, Vaani Kapoor, and Huma Qureshi. 

Lara has stretched herself as an actor and a star over genres and decades in Hindi cinema. She does not always aim for the titular character but the meaty parts.

On a personal front, Lara Dutta is married to Mahesh Bhupathi. Lara Dutta and Mahesh Bhupathi make a super couple together in Bollywood. One has been crowned with the Miss Universe title in the year 2000 while the other is the first Indian to win a tennis Grand Slam tournament. The two met each other for the first time at a business meeting in Mahesh Bhupathi’s sports company. The two got married in 2011 in a simple Church wedding in Bandra, which was followed by a destination wedding in Goa. The two are parents to a lovely young lady, Saira.