Anu Aggarwal

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small.

It is our belief that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success and that is why we remember a Ramlal or Sambha as much as Jai-Veeru from Sholay (1975). Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

Nowadays, modelling is considered the first step in to Bollywood but it was not so until the ‘80s. Earlier, Hindi film aspirants usually undertook professional training in acting and various forms of dance before trying their luck out as actors. Models would rarely be chosen for a lead actor role. The trendsetter to reverse this norm was none other than Zeenat Aman who became a top heroine in Bollywood after winning the Femina Miss India and Miss Asia Pacific International pageant in 1970. Parveen Babi, another model turned film star, followed suit. In the ‘80s, many established models like Rati Agnihotri, Jackie Shroff, Mahesh Anand, Kanwaljeet, Anand Balraj, Meenakshi Seshadri, Sangeeta Bijlani, Kimi Katkar, Sonam and Sonu Walia switched over to acting in Hindi films. Some made it big, others faded away.

The ‘90s arrived with one more model turned actor added to this list. That name was Anu Aggarwal who is still known as the Aashiqui girl. Anu was born on 11th January, 1969 in Delhi as Anita Aggarwal and coincidentally signed Aashiqui on her birthday. A gold medallist in sociology from Delhi University; she was a well-known model and VJ before Aashiqui happened to her.

It all started when famous director Mahesh Bhatt was looking out for a fresh pair for his new romantic musical film titled Aashiqui (1990). Mahesh had met Anu Aggarwal earlier at a party and asked her if she would be interested in films but Anu politely refused the offer. Six months later, she got a call from Bhatt again and he requested a meeting to discuss the script of Aashiqui. Anu didn’t refuse this time and signed for the lead role. Her co-actor was also a former model Rahul Roy who was making his own debut with this film.

Aashiqui was made fast and quick on a shoestring budget and released to a thundering response at the box office. Both Anu and Rahul became overnight stars with this film. It is interesting to note that Mahesh Bhatt deliberately hid his newcomers’ faces in the posters which showed a boy and a girl behind a coat indicative of sharing a passionate kiss. The curiosity factor worked wonderfully in favour of the movie and Aashiqui became a runaway hit.

Unexpected things started happening to Anu after the film’s release. In her words, it truly felt like Alice in Wonderland. Young guys would line up outside her house (where she was staying as a paying guest) shouting and screaming her name and would paint “ANU I LOVE YOU” similar to what Rahul Roy’s character did in the film. She would avoid going out in fear of being mobbed and once while travelling in an auto rickshaw, the driver was playing the chartbuster songs of Aashiqui and suddenly realised that his passenger was heroine from the same film. The Aashiqui craze went on for quite some time and Anu signed many films with big actors like Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Jackie Shroff and the legendary Dev Anand.

In 1992, veteran actor Ranjeet released his directorial venture Gajab Tamaasa which reunited Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal. The film was a remake of the successful Marathi comedy Navri Mile Navryala (1984) but wrongly publicised with huge hoardings of bare legged Anu with her undergarments clearly visible which angered her and she blasted Ranjeet in print. Gajab Tamaasa was an unmitigated disaster lasting just a week in theatres.

1993 was relatively better year for Aggarwal which started with Rakesh Roshan’s King Uncle where she played Jackie Shroff’s funny secretary Fanny. A few months later, Saawan Kumar Tak’s Khalnaaikaa hit the cinemas but though a box office bomb, Anu’s performance in a negative role was much appreciated. The same year, Anu made her mark in Tamil cinema with noted director Mani Ratnam’s Thiruda Thiruda. Her sensuous grooves to A.R. Rahman’s ‘Chandralekha’ number were met with claps and whistles. Mani Kaul’s erotic drama The Cloud Door (1995) was another critically acclaimed film which she appeared in.

Unfortunately for Anu, all her aforementioned releases post Aashiqui didn’t work at the box office and that impacted her career drastically. In the coming years, she went on to act with veteran stars like Jeetendra and Vinod Khanna in Janam Kundli (1995) which had a much talked about lovemaking scene between her and Vinod Khanna and then Return Of Jewel Thief (1996) with Ashok Kumar and Dev Anand. Both the films flopped badly at the ticket windows. She also sizzled in an item number ‘Love Machine’ in Jackie Shroff starrer Ram Shastra (1995). Return Of Jewel Thief was her last release which got considerable criticism particularly for her character seducing much senior and older Dev Anand in a song. It was around this time that Anu Aggarwal decided to bid bye to the film world which gave her a short but unimaginable stardom.

After quitting films in late ‘90s, Anu joined a yoga school in Bihar and became a Karmayogi. Unfortunately, she met with a major car accident in 1999 enroute Mumbai. She was in coma for twenty nine days with minimal chances of survival but somehow managed to dodge death and recovered slowly and steadily. The near fatal accident left with her with memory loss problem as well as damaged her beautiful face. Cosmetic surgery was an option but Aggarwal decided to not get back her previous looks and live her life as is.. something bold for an actress to do!!

Around 2001, Anu returned back to Bihar and till date, practices yoga which gives her peace of mind. For years, there was no update on Anu Aggarwal until around 2018 when she started making public appearances again and people would ask her if she quit films after her accident but that wasn’t true as she had left Bollywood much before that. Currently, Anu Aggarwal lives a happy life in Mumbai by practicing yoga. She is involved in social work though the ‘Anu Aggarwal Foundation’ which helps people suffering from mental health and stress. She also makes it a point to appear on TED talks and reality shows when invited.

To sum up, Anu’s life is a short-lived stardom of an actress who later fought and narrowly escaped death. Bravo!