Lara Dutta

Early life

Dutta was born in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh to a Punjabi father and an Anglo-Indian mother.^[1] Her father is Wing Commander L.K. Dutta (retired) and her mother is Jennifer Dutta. She also has two older sisters, one of whom serves in the Indian Air Force and a well known younger sister. Famed composer and DJ Nitin Sawhney is Dutta's cousin.^[2] The Dutta family moved to Bangalore in 1981 where she completed high school from St.Francis Xavier Girls' High School. Lara graduated in economics with a minor in communications fromUniversity of Mumbai. She was crowned Miss Universe in 2000 which led to her appointment as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador in 2001

Modeling career

Dutta won the annual Gladsrags modeling competition in her native India, thus winning the right to be the first Indian representative at the 1997 Miss Intercontinental, in which she took first place. Later, she was crowned Femina Miss India Universe and Miss Universe in 2000.^[4]

At Miss Universe 2000 in Cyprus, Dutta was the clear favourite ahead of fierce competition from Venezuela, Spain, USA and Canada. She achieved the highest score in the swimsuit competition and her finalist interview score was the highest individual score in any category in the history of the Miss Universe contest, as her perfect interview saw a majority of the judges giving her the maximum 9.99 mark. After her final question, in which Dutta delivered a passionate defense of the Miss Universe contest (and other beauty pageants), she became the second Indian Miss Universe.

In the same year, Priyanka Chopra and Dia Mirza won their respective Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific titles which gave India a rare triple victory in the world of beauty pageants.

[edit]Acting career

Lara Dutta primarily signed up to do the Tamil film, Arasatchi in 2002, but due to financial problems, it only released in mid-2004. She made her Hindi debut in 2003 with the film Andaaz which was a box office success and won her a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. She then appeared in a number of films, some of which failed at the box office and some of which were mildly successful. Her box office "hits" includeMasti (2004), No Entry (2005) and Partner (2007) and House Full (film) (2010).

She dated Derek Jeter for a while when she was living in New York city.^[5]

In 2006, she starred in the comedy, Bhagam Bhag which did well at the box office.^[6]

In 2007 Sania Mirza and Dutta both participated in Kaun Banega Crorepati on 13 November 2007.^[7] Dutta's first release of 2007 was Shaad Ali's Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. The film was a box office failure in India but did better overseas, especially in the U.K.^[8] She received mixed reviews for her performance in the film. Her later release, Partner opened to a good response and became a hit.^[9]

Her recent release Blue is one of the most expensive movies of Indian cinema and Dutta had walked out of the project because she did not know how to swim and the movie was entirely shot in the ocean. She initially refused to sign on to the movie, but the male protagonistAkshay Kumar encouraged her in learning how to swim and she immediately started training with a special coach. Blue was released on 16 October 2009.^[10][10] She stated that "The moment I got to know of it, I called Akshay and told him that I wouldn't be able to accept the assignment. He knew the reason behind my decision. Not many people are aware that I had almost drowned while shooting for Andaaz, Akshay had rescued me. When I reminded him I couldn't swim, he told me to forget my phobia and learn swimming pronto," said Dutta. "Today, I feel Blue has not merely made me overcome my phobias, but has also taught me something that will stay with me for the rest of my life".^[10]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
2003	Andaaz	Kajal The Main Lead	Winner, Filmfare Best Female Debut Award
	Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost	Kesar
2004	Khakee		Special appearance in song Aisa Jadoo
	Masti	Monica
	Bardaasht	Advocate Payal
	Arasatchi	Lara	Tamil film
	Aan: Men at Work	Kiran
2005	Insan	Meghna
	Elaan	Sonia
	Jurm	Sanjana Malhotra
	Kaal	Ishika
	No Entry	Kajal
	Ek Ajnabee	Adult Anamika	Special appearance
	Dosti: Friends Forever	Kajal
2006	Zinda	Jenny Singh
	Fanaa	Zeenat	Special appearance
	Alag		Special appearance in song Sabse Alag
	Bhagam Bhag	Munni/Nisha/Aditi
2007	Jhoom Barabar Jhoom	Anaida Raza/Laila
	Partner	Naina
	Om Shanti Om	Herself	Special appearance in song Deewangi Deewangi
2008	Jumbo	Sonia (voice)
	Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi		Special appearance in song Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte
2009	Billu Barber	Bindiya
	Satyameva Jeyathe		Telugu film Special appearance
	Do Knot Disturb	Dolly	Main Female Lead
	Blue	Mona
2010	Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai		Releasing on 25 June 2010
	House Full	Hetal Patel
	Aur Devdas		Announced[11]
	Don 2 - The Chase Continues		Under Production

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