Neha Dhupia

Neha Dhupia (born 27 August 1980) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu and Malayalam films. Now she is one of the judges in MTV Roadies (season 16). She has won the 2002 Femina Miss India pageant.

Dhupia was born in Cochin (present-day Kochi), India to a Sikh family. Her father, Commander Pradip Singh Dhupia, served in the Indian Navy and mother, Manpinder, (Babli Dhupia) is a homemaker. She went to Naval Public School, Cochin then transferred to Navy Children School, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. She graduated from Jesus and Mary College in New Delhi,affiliated to the University of Delhi, with honours in History.

Dhupia made her acting debut in a play in New Delhi called Graffiti. Thereafter she appeared in a music video for Indipop band Euphoria and modeled for advertisement campaigns. She then appeared in the TV serial Rajdhani. In 2002, she participated in the Femina Miss India pageant, where she was crowned as Miss Universe India 2002. She was subsequently sent to the Miss Universe 2002 pageant in Puerto Rico where she placed in the top 10. After placing in the pageant, Dhupia intended to pursue a career in the Indian Foreign Service, but turned to acting instead.

Film career

Dhupia made her film debut in 1994 as a child artist in Malayalam film Minnaram starring Mohanlal. Her Bollywood debut was with the 2003 film Qayamat: City Under Threat, which had an average performance at the box office. She rose to fame with her role Julie and then appeared in Sheesha (2005) in a dual role of twin sisters but it did not do well at the box office. She then starred in films such as Kyaa Kool Hai Hum (2005) and Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), which did well at the box office, and featured in a segment of the anthology film Dus Kahaniyaan (2007).

In the following years, Dhupia appeared in supporting roles in multiple films including Chup Chup Ke (2006), Ek Chalis Ki Last Local (2007), Mithya (2008), Maharathi (2008), Singh Is Kinng (2008) and Dasvidaniya (2008). In 2011, she played Eva Braun in the film Dear Friend Hitler about Mahatma Gandhi.

Other

Dhupia has modeled on the runway for designers such as Rohit Bal and D'damas. In 2016, Dhupia conceptualized and hosted a Bollywood podcast called #NoFilterNeha on the Indian music app Saavn, in which she interviews Bollywood celebrities. The show received positive reviews, with over 2.3 million listeners. Dhupia debuted season four in November 2019 and plans to expand the podcast into a web series.

Dhupia has run in the Mumbai Marathon to support the Concern India Foundation and helped to raise over 5 lakhs. She also helped to raise money for victims of the 2011 Sikkim earthquake. She performed at the GR8 Women's Award 2012.

She also participated in the Hiru Golden Film Awards 2014 in Sri Lanka as a special guest along with Bollywood actors such as Sunil Shetty, Vivek Oberoi, Anil Kapoor, and actress Bipasha Basu.

Actor Angad Bedi began dating Neha while he was in a relationship with Nora Fatehi, Neha eventually got pregnant and the couple decided to get married 3 months into the pregnancy in a private ceremony at a Gurudwara on May 10, 2018. On November 18, 2018, she gave birth to their first child, a girl, Mehr Dhupia Bedi. Neha Dhupia has been fat-shamed for her post-pregnancy weight gains by certain sections of the media.

In March 2020 she was trolled on social media after a clip went viral on the internet of the reality show MTV Roadies where Dhupia threw abuses at a contestant(male) who slapped his girlfriend for allegedly cheating.Some comments towards her described her reaction as hypocritical after she did not react similarly to a previous incident on Roadies where a female contestant on said she had slapped four men. where she said the famous line "it's her choice. " Neha stated that she stands by every single thing she said and decided to speak out after even her family members faced "abuses and harassment" on social media.