Isha Koppikar (born 19 September 1976) is an Indian actress, politician and model who has mainly acted in Hindi films. She has also featured in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Marathi films. She started her career in South Indian languages films in the second half of the 1990s and focused on Bollywood films in the early 2000s.
Background
Koppikar was born on 19 September 1976 in Mahim, Bombay (now Mumbai) in a Konkani family.[1][2] She has one younger brother. She graduated in Life Sciences at Ramnarain Ruia College in Mumbai. While at college she appeared in a photoshoot for Indian photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha. The shoot led to work in advertising as a model, notably for L'Oréal, Rexona, Camay, Tips & Toes and Coca-Cola. Koppikar competed in the 1995 Miss India contest, winning the Miss Talent Crown.[3] Her modelling work gave her an introduction to the film industry and to her first film appearance in the Telugu movie W/o V. Vara Prasad in 1997.[3]
After a brief appearance in Bollywood's Fiza and Rahul, she came back to the south in 2001 for Sundar C's Tamil project Kaathal Solla Vanthen the movie never took off.[5] Koppikar's last two films down South were Telugu comedy Prematho Raa starring Venkatesh and Simran, and directed by Uday Shankar, and Narasimha starring Vijayakanth.[6]
In 2006 Farhan Akhtar directed a remake of the Amitabh Bachchan hit Don: The Chase Begins Again with Shahrukh Khan in the lead. Koppikar was cast as Khan's girlfriend 'Anita'. Don's tremendous success however did not benefit her checkered career. Vicky Ranawat's Haseena Smart Sexy and Dangerous managed a release towards the end of 2006, but Jagdish A Sharma's murder mystery Gahraee[14] appeared directly on DVD while Hansal Mehta's Raakh and Jahnu Barua's Har Pal were shelved. Ram Gopal Varma's much discussed Shabri[10]- struggled to attract a distributor.
Koppikar married Timmy Narang in 2009. She had two releases in 2010: Right Yaaa Wrong by Neeraj Pathak and Manoj Tiwari's Hello Darling. Both films fared poorly at the box office.[16][17]
Shabri, where she played a woman gangster of Mumbai, was eventually released in 2011.[18] Her performance was praised but the film only had a limited release and failed to make an impact at the box office.[19]
Secondary roles (2013–present)
In 2013, she made her Marathi debut in Maat, directed by Manohar Sarvankar. In 2017, she makes her comeback in Telugu with Keshava followed by the Marathi film, FU: Friendship Unlimited. The following year, she is seen in the Kannada films, Looty and Kavacha.[20] She made her digital debut with the ALTBalaji web series titled Fixerr (2019) where she plays the role of sub-inspector Jayanti Javdekar, who lives in a modest house with her young son and husband.[21] Later, she was also seen in the crime thriller series Dahanam (2022).[22] She also acted in the thriller web series Suranga (2022) with Rakesh Bedi and Fredy Daruwala, co-produced by Kaushik Izardar and others.[23][24]
Political career
She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union minister Nitin Gadkari. She has been appointed as the working president of the BJP's women transport wing.[25]
Other works
Between filming Koppikar, like many Bollywood actors, performs in stage music shows. In addition to this she has appeared in two music videos: Patli Kamar by KK for a private album commissioned by Sony in 2001/2002; and Bandish Projekt's Bhor (Satyam Shivam Sundaram) in 2004, choreographed by Bosco-Caesar. In 2006 she appeared onstage in the Indian Idol Grand Final to dance with the two finalists, and 2007 saw her as one of three judges in the celebrity dance competition Nach Baliye 3, alongside director David Dhawan and Vaibhavi Merchant. She had also owned a restaurant back in 2015. She served as a judge in the Miss Universe 2008 contest, held on 14 July in Vietnam alongside, amongst others, fashion designer Roberto Cavalli and former winner in 2004 Jennifer Hawkins. In August 2009, she presented the new Colors wrestling show 100% De Dana Dan.[26]
She continues to model for fashion designers Anita Dongre and Pria Kataria Puri. In 2007, she became the Indian brand ambassador of the Italian fashion company Police Time and Jewellery.[27] Koppikar is also a spokesperson for the animal rights organisation PETA[28] and received the 10th Anniversary Humanitarian Award in December 2009.[29]
Following the advice of numerologists, she has changed the spelling of her name twice, first to Ishaa Koppikar and later to Eesha Koppikhar. However, as of 2015 she has reverted to the original spelling of her name.[31]
