Adhuna Akhtar

She was born to Bengali father Dr Ashish Bhabani. As a child Adhuna used to regularly visit a salon with her mother, Ann in United Kingdom. Her mother was very particular about her hair and there was something about the ambiance of that place which made her want to become a hairdresser. She then enrolled for a training course at Worthington Hair, a salon in Northwest England. Adhuna also participated in, and won, the under-21 national junior hairstyling championship when she was just 17.

She first launched her salon, Juice, in 1998 in Mumbai along with her brother and business partner, Osh Bhabani. But they subsequently changed the name to BBLUNT.

She made her Bollywood debut as a hairstylist in 2001 with Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai. It was a path-breaking film in many ways — including the looks of the actors. It posed huge challenges for her as they had to create special styles for each of the actors — Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna. The film proved to be a major turning point for her business and the hairdressing industry as a whole.

She also did the hairstyling for the Hrithik Roshan starrer, Lakshya, in 2004. Preity Zinta was given two looks in the film — a long-haired one and a short crop. It was hard since she and her team were working in Ladakh’s extreme conditions. She recalls a harrowing time — the first day of the shoot — when Preity’s wig began to expand due to the wind and temperature. At the end of it, both Preity and she were in tears, but they managed to make the look work somehow.

She was married to Farhan Akhtar and the couple has two daughters, Shakya and Akira. On 21 January 2016, the couple announced their separation in a joint statement issued to the media. The divorce was finalised in 2016.