Born: 21 March 1978, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Height: 5' 3" (1.60 m)
Rani Mukerji comes from a film-oriented family of Bengali origin. Her father Ram Mukherjee is a retired director and one of the founders of Filmalaya Studios while her mother Krishna was a playback singer. Her brother Raja Mukherjee is a film producer, now turned director. Her maternal aunt, Debashree Roy, is a national award-winning Bengali film actress and her cousin, Kajol, is a popular Bollywood actress.
She is a trained Odissi dancer, and began learning the dance in the tenth grade. She studied at Maneckji Cooper High School in Juhu, and later enrolled at Mithibai College in Mumbai.
After doing a short cameo appearance for the first time in her father's Bengali film Biyer Phool (1992), she made her acting debut four years later, as the protagonist of Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (1996). Her performance as a rape victim in the film was well received, but when the film failed at the box office, she returned to college to complete her education.
She returned to films in 1998. Her first release that year was Ghulam, opposite Aamir Khan; the film did well at the box office.The song Aati Kya Khandala made her popular among the masses, earning her the nickname of Khandala Girl. Karan Johar's directorial debut, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, co-starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, followed for her that year. The movie was a blockbuster, and she received her first Filmfare Award in the Best Supporting Actress category.She followed her career by signing on several projects. Unfortunately, most of them did not do well at the box office. Although Badal was one of the highest grossing films of 2000, she still didn't succeed to establish her status in the industry at that point of time.
In 2001, she starred in Abbas Mustan's romantic drama Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, co-starring Salman Khan and Preity Zinta. The film was released after a one-year delay, and was one of the first Bollywood movies to handle the issue of surrogate childbirth.Her role was that of Priya Malhotra, a woman who is unable to conceive after a miscarriage, thus hires a surrogate mother.
In 2002, she played the lead role in Kunal Kohli's romance Mujhse Dosti Karoge!, co-starring alongside Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor. Although the movie did not do well in India, it generated great business overseas and marked her entry into India's biggest production house: Yash Raj Films. Later that year, Mukerji starred in Shaad Ali's critically acclaimed Saathiya opposite Vivek Oberoi. Essaying the role of Suhani Sharma, a medical student who deals with the tensions and discontent of being married at a young age, she won a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance, and among several other nominations, received her first Best Actress nomination at the Filmfare.
Her first 2003 release was Aziz Mirza's drama Chalte Chalte opposite Shahrukh Khan. The film saw her play a similar role to that of Saathiya, and she received her second nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award. Among another three releases that year, shestarred in Chori Chori, where she portrayed her first comic role. Although the film did not do well at the box office, her comic timing was praised.
In 2004, her performance as a Bengali housewife in Mani Ratnam's Yuva won her second Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. Though the film failed to do well, her performance was critically acclaimed.She followed through by playing the leading role in the romantic comedy Hum Tum, which became one of the biggest hits of the year.It won her several awards, including her first Filmfare Best Actress Award. Her last release of the year was Yash Chopra's love saga Veer-Zaara, co-starring alongside Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta. The film, which emerged as the top grossing movie of the year in India and abroad, tells the love story of an Indian officer, Veer Pratap Singh, played by Khan, and a Pakistani woman, Zaara, played by Zinta. Mukerji played the supporting role of Saamiya Siddiqui, a Pakistani lawyer who takes it upon herself to find the truth about Veer Pratap Singh.
She in her critically acclaimed performance as the blind, deaf and mute Michelle McNally in Black (2005), which earned her the Filmfare Best Actress Award for the second consecutive year.In 2005, she starred in four high-profile films: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black, Shaad Ali's Bunty Aur Babli, Amol Palekar's Paheli and Ketan Mehta's The Rising. She was primarily noted for her performance in Black. When Bhansali first came to her with the offer, she turned it down and stated that she was not confident enough to play a deaf-blind girl. Once the director put faith in her, she agreed to do it and intensely studied sign language with professionals at the Helen Keller Institute in Mumbai.She received much critical acclaim for her performance and collected numerous trophies in the category of Best Actress at various award ceremonies. Her next release, Bunty Aur Babli, surfaced as one of the biggest hits of the year.The film, though successful at the box office, opened to mixed reviews, and so did her performance. Nevertheless, she received Best Actress nominations from the IIFA Awards and Filmfare Awards.
She was offered the lead role in Mira Nair's Hollywood film, The Namesake (2007) but owing to clashing dates with Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, she could not commit to the project. Her first release in 2006 was Karan Johar's drama Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, which consisted of a multi-starrer that included Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta and Kirron Kher. The film opened to mixed reviews but emerged as the most successful movie ever overseas. She received several nominations for Best Actress, and won her third IIFA Best Actress Award for the third consecutive year. Her next release was B.R. Chopra's Baabul. The movie did not do well at the box office in India though proved to be a hit overseas. Her role as a widow met with mixed reviews.
Her first 2007 release, Ta Ra Rum Pum, where she played a pianist turned housewife and a mother for the first time on celluloid, was a semi-hit. Her performance was generally well received, with one critic noting, "Rani enacts the role of the mother/wife proficiently."Her last two releases of the year, Pradeep Sarkar's drama Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya, were critical and commercial failures in India.
Her role in Kunal Kohli's Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, which released on June 27, 2008, received positive reviews from critics; however, the film failed to do well at the box office. Her most recent release, Dil Bole Hadippa, opened on September 18th 2009 under the Yash Raj Films banner, with her starring as a Punjabi villager who dreams of playing first class cricket, no matter what it takes. The movie co-stars Shahid Kapoor and Anupam Kher.
