Farheen

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. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. 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.

Achieving stardom on debut is not so easy in Bollywood. While many big names of Hindi cinema had to wait long to deliver their first hit, few actors tasted success with their first movie itself. But their stardom faded just as quick

Our forgotten gem this week, is an actress, who attained instant stardom on debut and was often compared to one of the top actresses of that era. She comes in the category of “Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena” as she married a famous Indian cricketer. Yes, we are talking about the beautiful Farheen. After reading her name, most of our male readers must have started singing the song “First time dekha tumhe hum kho gaya, second time me love ho gaya

Farheen was born to a Hindu mother and Muslim father in Aurangabad, Maharashtra in 1973. She completed school from Mount Mary School at Bandra, Mumbai and her higher secondary education was from Bandra’s National College

Her family did not have any connection with the film industry and Farheen never really thought of acting as a profession. She landed up in Bollywood due to her mother’s childhood friendship with Reena Roy and her sister producer Barkha Roy.

Farheen was always charming and attractive and decided to do a photoshoot in her college days. She never thought the photoshoot done out of fun, would land her a lead role in a Hindi film

At that time, noted producer Jimmy Nirula was making Jaan Tere Naam (1992) with newcomers Ronit Roy and Mamta Kulkarni. However just two days before the mahurat, Mamta walked out of the movie for unknown reason. Jimmy came across Farheen’s photos and wanted to meet her. The photographer connected him to Reena Roy. Finally, the meeting took place between Farheen and Jimmy and he promptly signed her for this film

Jaan Tere Naam was a musical college romance between two characters: Sunil and Pinky. Sunil falls for his college mate Pinky and pretends to be the boy chosen by her parents for marriage. Later, this lie creates a rift between them and Pinky chooses to marry the other chosen guy.

The star studded mahurat of Jaan Tere Naam was one of the most precious moments of Farheen’s life. The movie itself started with the shoot of the popular song ‘Kal college bandh ho jaayega’. When Farheen had met Jimmy Nirula, she was informed about wearing a bikini in this song but later, she refused to wear the revealing outfit and instead, opted for a more conventional swimsuit. Moreover, she didn’t know how to swim and held her co-actor Ronit Roy so tightly while jumping with him in the pool that it caused nail bruises on his back

The shooting of Jaan Tere Naam started in early 1991 and the film released exactly a year later, on 21st February, 1992. The film turned out to be a surprise hit of that year and all its songs became chartbusters. In between the big hits like Beta, Tahalka, Bol Radha Bol, Khuda Gawah, Khiladi, Shola Aur Shabnam, Jigar and Vansh, Jaan Tere Naam also appeared prominently in list of hit films of 1992

Farheen was so loved by the audience that her fans started calling her Junior Madhuri Dixit. Bollywood as well as South offers poured in and besides Hindi, Farheen got a chance to work with South superstars like Kamal Haasan, Vishnuvardhan, Ravichandran, etc

Around the same time, Farheen got a Hindi movie offer which she rejected and it went on to become a blockbuster. The film was Baazigar (1993) and Farheen was offered the second lead eventually played by Shilpa Shetty. A few of her well-wishers suggested not to take up this second lead role as she was already paired opposite a legend like Kamal Haasan in Kalaignan (1993). In a recent interview, Farheen claimed to not regret rejecting Baazigar as it was predestined.

The year 1993 was one of the biggest years of Farheen’s career as she had many South films released in different languages along with five Hindi releases. While her films down south did well, her Bollywood movies couldn’t set the box office on fire.

Films like Meri Aan, Dil Ki Baazi, Aag Ka Toofan, Tahqiqaat, etc flopped at the box office. Sainik was an average grosser but had her in second lead opposite Ronit Roy. The film had Akshay Kumar and Ashwini Bhave playing the main roles while Farheen played Akshay’s younger sister.

At one point, Farheen’s South films were doing well while her career graph in Bollywood was on a decline. None of her movies after Jaan Tere Naam were hits and slowly, she was getting reduced to second lead and character roles

Her next few Hindi films like Fauj (1994), Amaanat (1994) and Nazar Ke Samne (1995) were all box office flops. Saajan Ka Ghar (1994), which was a remake of the Marathi blockbuster Maherchi Sadi (1991), with big names like Rishi Kapoor and Juhi Chawla couldn’t replicate the success of the original. Farheen had a small yet pivotal role in this film, which went unnoticed as the focus was on Juhi Chawla

In South cinema, Farheen worked by the name of Bindiya. There is an interesting story on how she got this name there. It seems there is no word called Fah in South Indian languages. It would have been difficult to pronounce Farheen and so, the filmmakers there decided to give her a new name. They felt she had a close resemblance to another Bollywood actor Bindiya Goswami and thus, renamed her Bindiya

In a recent interview, Farheen agreed that she resembles the veteran actress but feels annoyed on being called Junior Madhuri Dixit as she does not find any similarities between them.

On the personal front, Farheen is married to the dashing and controversial Indian cricketer Manoj Prabhakar, whom she first met in a gym at Centaur Hotel, Mumbai in 1993. Manoj was already a married man but was going through a rough patch in his marriage. Farheen was like a support system to him. Those days, she would spend most of her time with Manoj and would be present at his cricket matches, affecting her own acting career