Isha Koppikar

Isha Koppikar
Isha Koppikar in 2012
Born	Isha Koppikar (1976-09-19) 19 September 1976 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other names	Isha Koppikhar Narang
Occupation	Actress, Model
Years active	1998–present
Spouse(s)	Timmy Narang (2009–present )
Website
www.iamishakoppikar.com

Isha Koppikar (born 19 September 1976), is an Indian actress and model who has appeared in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films.

Background

Koppikar was born at Mahim, Mumbai in a Konkani family.^[1] 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.^[2] Her modelling work gave her an introduction to the film industry and to her first film appearance in the Tamil movie Kaadhal Kavithai in 1998.^[2] Since then, Koppikar has made over forty films and has several Hindi films in production or due for release in 2010. She continues to model for fashion designers Anita Dongre and Pria Kataria Puri, and is currently the Indian representative of the Italian fashion company Police Watches and Jewellery. Outside her work in film, music and television, Koppikar is a spokesperson for the animal rights organisation PETA^[3] and received the 10th Anniversary Huminatarian Award in December 2009.^[4] She has a black-belt in Taekwondo.^[5] Koppikar married her boyfriend Timmy Narang on 29 November 2009.

Film career

South India

The 1997 Hindi film Ek Tha Dil Ek Thi Dhadhkan, directed by Shahrukh Sultan, is often stated to be Koppikhar's first film, but there is no evidence the project was ever released.^[2] Her career must therefore be said to have begun with the 1998 Tamil film Kaadhal Kavithai, co-starring alongside Prashanth, and directed by Agathiyan, with music by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja. She was awarded the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. Continuing her Tamil film career, Koppikhar's second movie was En Swasa Kaatre in 1998, opposite Arvind Swamy, directed by K. S. Ravi, with music by renowned music director A. R. Rahman. 1998 saw a third film, this time a cameo appearance in Praveen Kanth's Jodi, starring Prashanth and Simran Bagga.

In 1999, Koppikhar alternated between appearances in the Telugu comedy Chandralekha, co-starring Nagarjuna and Ramya Krishnan, directed by Krishna Vamshi; and the Tamil gangland movie Nenjinile, starring Vijay and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar.

By 2000, Koppikhar's sights were on Bollywood, but this did not stop her appearing in four Kannada films: Hoo Anthiya Uhoo Anthiya with Ramesh and directed by Praveen Naik, with music by Karthik Raja; O nanna nalle, starring and directed by Ravichandran; alongside actor-director Ravichandran again in O Nanna Nalle; and finally Surya Vamsha, directed by S Narayan and starring Vishnuvardhan in a double role as father and son.

After four films in 2000, and a detour to Mumbai for a brief appearance in Fiza and an item number in Rahul, Koppikhar returned to the south in 2001 for Sundar C's Tamil project Kaathal Solla Vanthen. This was another film never to leave the development stage although a soundtrack of the same name was made available. However, the Telugu comedy Prematho Raa, starring Venkatesh and Simran Bagga, and directed by Uday Shankar, saw Koppikhar's penultimate South Indian role. She signed off her South Indian career in the Tamil action film Narassima, directed by Tirupathisamy and starring Vijayakanth.

Bollywood 2000–2002

Taking time out from four Kannada films in 2000, Koppikhar appeared alongside Karisma Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan in Khalid Mohamed's Fiza. An item number appearance in Prakash Jha's Rahul completed Koppikhar's introduction to Hindi film. Brief returns to South India in 2001 were coupled with Koppikar's proper Bollywood debut in a small supporting role in Rajiv Rai's Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, starring Arjun Rampal and Sunil Shetty. Koppikar was paired with Shetty in the film. Her next release was K. Raghavendra Rao's urban comedy Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa, opposite Govinda, Juhi Chawla and Johnny Lever. By 2002, Koppikhar appeared to be consigned to support roles until she was asked by Ram Gopal Varma to appear in an item number for his underworld movie Company starring Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi and Manisha Koirala. The number in question was Khallas, choreographed by Ganesh Hegde and the effect on cinema audiences and critics was to leave her with the enduring nickname Khallas Girl. A second notable item number, Ishq Samundar, in Sanjay Gupta's Reservoir Dogs remake Kaante, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Shetty, was enough to raise her profile and in the following year she took the Stardust Award for Most Exciting New Face for Khallas. . Koppikhar's career produced five films in 2003. In Dil Ka Rishta, directed by Naresh Malhotra, she played opposite Arjun Rampal and Aishwarya Rai, marking Koppikar's second appearance with Rampal. Prawaal Raman's portmanteau film Darna Mana Hai saw her alongside college whipping boy Aftab Shivdasani. Dr Chandrakprakash Dwivedi cast her in the role of Urmila Matondkar's sister in the sectarian film Pinjar, also starring Manoj Bajpai. A brief appearance in J. P. Dutta's war movie LOC Kargil paired her opposite Sunil Shetty again. And in Harry Baweja's Qayamat: City Under Threat, she played one of three terrorists fighting off co-stars Ajay Devgan and Sunil Shetty; a role which would bring her a Filmfare nomination in the Best Villain category.^[6]

In 2004, Koppikhar's films were releasing on average every two months. Both Mani Shankar's science fantasy Rudraksh and Kundan Shah's madcap comedy Ek Se Bhadkhar Ek teamed her next to perennial acting partner Sunil Shetty. In Krishna Cottage, she was cast opposite Sohail Khan for Santram Verma's creepy ghost story. Inteqam, directed by Pankaj Parashar and co-starring Manoj Bajpai, saw her revive the role played by Sharon Stone in the original Hollywood version: Basic Instinct. Another cameo appearance in Kunal Kohli's Hum Tum with Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji could have left a comedy taste to 2004, but this would be the year of street protests following Karan Razdan's controversial Girlfriend, co-starring Amrita Arora and Aashish Chaudhary caught in a lesbian love triangle. The film provoked public poster burning and calls for the film to be banned.^[7]

In 2005, she eased up somewhat only releasing four films. Sangeeth Sivan's bawdy comedy Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, with Anupam Kher, Ritesh Deshmukh and Tusshar Kapoor saw her nominated in three separate award ceremonies (IIFA, Zee Cine Award and Star Screen Awards) for best comedy role.^[8] Two more comedies saw her make guest appearances: David Dhawan's Salman Khan vehicle Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, and Abbas-Mustan's whodunit, 36 China Town with Akshaye Khanna and Kareena Kapoor. A return to Ram Gopal Varma's Factory saw her alongside Chunky Pandey in Vishram Sawant's gangster flick D: Underworld Badhshah, starring Randeep Hooda.

Farhan Akhtar directed a 2006 remake of the Amitabh Bachchan hit Don: The Chase Begins Again, this time with Shahrukh Khan in the lead. Koppikhar was cast as Khan's girlfriend 'Anita'. By now the success of Don was in contrast to her stuttering career with a string of films stuck in production or abandoned. Vicky Ranawat's Haseena Smart Sexy and Dangerous crept out towards the end of 2006, Jagdish A Sharma's murder mystery Garhee appeared on DVD, Hansel Mehta's Raakh was dropped, whilst Koppikhar's highest profile film of 2007, Nikhil Advani's multi starrer Salaam-e-Ishq, saw her sharing limited screen time with Sohail Khan. Ram Gopal Varma's much discussed Shabri, directed by Lalit Marathe -a role which led to her being unrecognised in character and barred from the film set by security men^[6]- has yet to attract a distributor. Later in the year came the haunted love triangle of Ram Gopal Varma's Darling, with Fardeen Khan and Esha Deol. Koppikhar's first film release of 2008 was Atul Agnihotri's Hello, based on the novel One Night in a Call Centre by Chetan Bhagat. This was followed within weeks by Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi, a Rajshri Production directed by Khashik Ghatak and co-starring Sonu Sood. She has had three films released in 2010, Jahnu Barua's Har Pal, Right Yaaa Wrong by Neeraj Pathak and Manoj Tiwari's Hello Darling.

Her latest release is Shabri (2011) directed by Lalit Marathe where she plays a woman gangster of Mumbai.^[9]

isha Koppikar has signed for Marathi Movie titled ‘Maat’.Where she is playing lead role, The movie is produced by Manali Mangesh Sawant under the banner of Saayali Dream Ventures, and will be directed by Manohar Sarvankar.The film also stars Sameer Dharmadhikari. MAAT story revolves around an ambitious couple passed through different stages of life, different colors of life.^[10]

Other works

Between filming Koppikhar, 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 Baliye3, alongside director David Dhawan and Vaibhavi Merchant. 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 2008, prior to her taking on her married name, she adopted a second spelling change to her name from Ishaa Koppikar to Eesha Koppikhar, following the advice of numerologist Niraj Mancchanda.^[11]

In August 2009, Koppikhar presented the new Colors wrestling show 100% De Dhana Dhan.

Personal life

After a prolonged 10-year affair with Inder Kumar both broke off.^[12] Both Isha and he patched-up after the divorce but the relationship did not last too long.^[13]

Leena Mogre and Preity Zinta introduced her to hotelier Timmy Narang,^[14] whom she married on 29 November 2009.^[15]

Filmography

Years	Title	Role	Language	Notes
1998	Kaadhal Kavithai	Jothi	Tamil	Won, Filmfare Best Female Debut (Tamil)
1999	En Swasa Kaatre	Madhu	Tamil
1999	Jodi		Tamil	Cameo appearance
1999	Chandralekha	Lekha	Telugu
1999	Nenjinile	Nisha	Tamil
2000	Surya Vamsha	Padma	Kannada
2000	Hoo Anthiya Uhoo Anthiya		Kannada
2000	Nuvvu Vastavani		Telugu
2000	O Nanna Nalle	Rangu	Kannada
2000	Fiza	Gitanjali	Hindi
2001	Prematho Raa	Swetha	Telugu
2001	Narasimha	Vanmathi	Tamil
2001	Rahul		Hindi	Special appearance
2001	Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat	Rubaina	Hindi
2001	Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa	Anjali	Hindi
2002	Company		Hindi	Special appearance
2002	Kaante		Hindi	Special appearance
2003	Pinjar	Rajjo	Hindi
2003	Dil Ka Rishta	Anita	Hindi
2003	Qayamat: City Under Threat	Laila	Hindi
2003	Darna Mana Hai	Abhilasha	Hindi
2003	LOC Kargil	Santho	Hindi
2004	Rudraksh	Lali	Hindi
2004	Krishna Cottage	Disha	Hindi
2004	Hum Tum	Diana Fernandez	Hindi	Special Appearance
2004	Girlfriend	Tanya	Hindi
2004	Ek Se Badhkar Ek	Tracy/Shalini Mathur	Hindi
2004	Inteqam: The Perfect Game	Avantika Suryavansh/Pinky	Hindi
2005	Kyaa Kool Hai Hum	Urmila Martodkar	Hindi
2005	D	Gunjan	Hindi
2005	Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?	Vicky's Girlfriend	Hindi
2006	Darna Zaroori Hai		Hindi	appears in a Darna Mana Hai flashback
2006	36 China Town	Sonia Chang	Hindi
2006	Don: The Chase Begins Again	Anita	Hindi
2006	Haseena Smart, Sexy, Dangerous	Haseena	Hindi
2007	Gahraee	Nishi	Hindi
2007	Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love	Phoolwati	Hindi
2007	Darling	Ashwini	Hindi
2008	Hello	Esha	Hindi
2008	Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi	Chandini Shrivastava	Hindi
2010	Right Yaaa Wrong	Anshita	Hindi
2010	Hello Darling	Satvati	Hindi
2011	Shabri	Shabri	Hindi
2011	Har Pal	Shweta	Hindi
2011	Raakh	Nandini	Hindi
2013	Maat		Marathi	Debut Marathi movie
2015	Bharosa	Herself	Hindi	Tamil language as Kandasa Special appearance in song
2016	Rani Tu Main Raja	Suraiya	Hindi	Opposite Girish Kumar & Amrita Puri

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Isha Koppikar.

• Isha Koppikar at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Koppikar, Isha
Alternative names
Short description	Indian actor
Date of birth	19 September 1976
Place of birth	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Date of death
Place of death