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Rani Mukerji (pronounced [raːni mʊkʰərdʒi]; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of multiple accolades, including eight Filmfare Awards. Mukerji has featured in listings of the leading and highest-paid actresses of the 2000s. Born into the Mukherjee-Samarth family, Mukerji dabbled with acting as a teenager by starring in her father Ram Mukherjee's Bengali-language film Biyer Phool and in the social drama Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat (both 1996). Mukerji had her first commercial success with the action film Ghulam and breakthrough with the romance Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (both 1998). Following a brief setback, the year 2002 marked a turning point for her when she was cast by Yash Raj Films as the star of the drama Saathiya. Mukerji established herself by starring in several commercially successful romantic films, including Chalte Chalte (2003), Hum Tum (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), and the crime comedy Bunty Aur Babli (2005). She also gained praise for playing an abused wife in the political drama Yuva (2004) and a deaf and blind woman in the drama Black (2005). Mukerji's collaborations with Yash Raj Films from 2007 and 2010 produced several unsuccessful films and led critics to bemoan her choice of roles. This changed when she played a headstrong journalist in the biographical thriller No One Killed Jessica (2011). Further success came with the thrillers Talaash (2012), Mardaani (2014) and Mardaani 2 (2019), the comedy-drama Hichki (2018), which emerged as Mukerji's highest-grossing release, and the drama Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway (2023). Mukerji is involved with humanitarian causes and is vocal about issues faced by women and children. She has participated in concert tours and stage shows, and featured as a talent judge for the 2009 reality show Dance Premier League. Mukerji is married to filmmaker Aditya Chopra, with whom she has a daughter. Early life and background Mukerji was born in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) on 21 March 1978. Her father, Ram Mukherjee (born to the Mukherjee-Samarth family), was a former film director and one of the founders of Filmalaya Studios. Her mother, Krishna Mukherjee, is a former playback singer. Her elder brother, Raja Mukherjee, is a film producer and director. Her maternal aunt, Debashree Roy, is a Bengali film actress and her paternal second cousin, Kajol, is a Hindi film actress and her contemporary. Another paternal second cousin, Ayan Mukerji, is a scriptwriter and film director. Despite her parents and most of her relatives being members of the Indian film industry, Mukerji was uninterested in pursuing a career in film. She said, "There were already too many actresses at home and I wanted to be someone different". Mukerji received her education at Maneckji Cooper High School in Juhu and graduated with a degree in Home Science from SNDT Women's University. She is a trained Odissi dancer and began learning the dance form while in the tenth grade. As part of an annual tradition, the Mukherjee family celebrates the festival of Durga Puja in the suburban neighbourhood of Santacruz every year. Mukerji, a practising Hindu, takes part in the festivities with her entire family. In 1994, director Salim Khan approached Mukerji to play the lead female role in his directorial, Aa Gale Lag Jaa. Her father disapproved of a full-time career in film at such a young age, so she rejected the offer. At age 18, following her mother's suggestion that she pursue acting on an experimental basis, Mukerji accepted leading roles in the social drama Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat, Khan's second offer to her, and her father's Bengali film Biyer Phool, both of which were released on the same day in October 1996. Before she began work on Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat, Mukerji trained at Roshan Taneja's acting institute. She portrayed a rape victim who is forced to marry her rapist in the film. Although the film was a commercial failure, Mukerji's performance earned her a special recognition trophy at the annual Screen Awards ceremony. Following the film's poor showing at the box office, Mukerji returned to college to complete her education. However, inspired by her cousin Kajol's success in Hindi films, she decided to pursue a full-time career in films. Career Breakthrough and initial struggle (1998–2001) In 1998, Mukerji starred opposite Aamir Khan in Vikram Bhatt's action film Ghulam, her first commercial success. Though her role in the film was brief, the song "Aati Kya Khandala" earned her public recognition. Due to Mukerji's husky voice, Bhatt had someone with a higher pitched voice dub her lines; Mukerji stated that it was done as her voice "did not suit the character". In the same year, Karan Johar cast her opposite Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in his directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The role was originally written for Twinkle Khanna, but when she and several other leading ladies rejected it, Johar signed Mukerji on the insistence of Khan and the filmmaker Aditya Chopra. She played Khan's character's love interest and later wife, Tina who dies after giving birth to their daughter. Johar had originally intended to dub Mukerji's voice, but she improved her diction and eventually provided her own voice. Reviewing the film for India Today, Nandita Chowdhury wrote that it was "the gorgeous Rani who steals the show. Oozing oomph from every pore, she also proves herself an actress whose time has come". Kuch Kuch Hota Hai proved a breakthrough for Mukerji; it had earnings of over ₹1.03 billion (US$13 million) to emerge as the year's top-grossing Hindi film, and won eight Filmfare Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Mukerji. Following this, she had starring roles in Mehndi (1998) and Hello Brother (1999), critical and commercial disappointments that failed to propel her career forward. By 2000, Mukerji wanted to avoid typecasting as a "standard Hindi film heroine" and thus decided to portray more challenging roles in addition to the archetypical glamorous lead. In Badal and Bichhoo, two male-centric action dramas (both starring Bobby Deol), she played roles that were met with little acclaim from critics. A supporting role in Kamal Haasan's bilingual film Hey Ram proved more rewarding. The film was a partly fictionalised account of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and Mukerji played a Bengali school teacher who is raped and murdered during communal riots in Calcutta. Having only portrayed glamorous roles thus far, she was challenged by Haasan's insistence on realism and to appear on screen without wearing make-up; she believed that the experience changed her approach to acting. The controversial subject matter of Hey Ram led to poor box office earnings, but the film was critically acclaimed and selected as India's official entry to the Oscars. After starring in the romantic comedies Hadh Kar Di Aapne and Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye, Mukerji starred alongside Sa.... Discover the S Mukerji popular books. Find the top 100 most popular S Mukerji books.