Mumbai: Veteran actress and former Miss India, Poonam Dhillon, rings in her 63rd birthday on Friday.
Born on April 18, 1962, in Kanpur, to aeronautical engineer in Indian Air Force Amreek Singh and mom, Gurcharan Kaur. After clinching the Miss Young India title in 1978, her delicate charm and magnetic screen presence caught the eye of auteur Yash Chopra, who cast her in “Trishul” (1978) which was a hit at the box office, with the song pictured on her ‘Gapuchi Gapuchi Gam Gam’ continuing to be popular even today.
Her true breakthrough, however, came with the poignant romantic drama “Noorie” (1979), which not only earned her a Filmfare Best Actrees nomination but also immortalised her as a symbol of delicate strength in Hindi cinema.
Subsequent to her debut “Kaala Patthar”, “Dard”, “Red Rose”, “Biwi O Biwi”, “Yeh To Kamaal Ho Gaya”, “Teri Meharbaniya”, “Karma”, “Batwara”, “Kasam”, “Sohni Mahiwal” became super-hits. She has also acted in regional language movies in Bengali, Tamil, and Kannada. Her screen chemistry with Rajesh Khanna, Rishi Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty was widely adored and her soft-spoken yet expressive presence resonated with audiences across the country.
She further expanded her repertoire through theatre, captivating audiences in award-winning productions such as “The Perfect Husband” and “The Perfect Wife”, staged in India, the US, and Dubai.
In 1988, she got hitched to Ashok Thakeria and gave birth to a daughter Paloma and a son Anmol, though this marriage ended in 1997.
In 2013, she returned to the small screen with the popular Sony series “Ekk Nayi Pehchaan” and in 2009, she endeared herself to younger audiences through her participation in ‘Bigg Boss Season 3’.
Dhillon ventured into the make-up van business in 1991 pioneering the concept in the Indian film industry. She runs a make-up van company called “Vanity.” Her influence extended into public life too, as she briefly forayed into politics as she joined BJP in 2004 and later served as a member of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal in 2017.
