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.
Bollywood has witnessed multiple cases of tall heroines finding it difficult to pair up with shorter heroes. Some of these actresses have lost out on good opportunities due to their height. The best example is Sonu Walia, who found it difficult to get work in the era of diminutive Khans.
Of course, in the new millennium, the scenario has changed with introduction of new technologies and special effects. Katrina Kaif and Kriti Sanon have made it big in spite being taller than some of their male leads. The recent example is Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024), where Kriti Sanon had to wear flat shoes and her shorter co-star Shahid Kapur wore high heels to match each other. Sometimes, VFX also plays a big part in these cases.
Our today’s forgotten gem is one such actress, who is five feet eleven inches tall. She is the beautiful and multi-talented Shikha Swaroop. Beauty lies in her name itself. Shikha means light while Swaroop means beauty.
Shikha Swaroop was born on 23rd October, 1970 in a well-educated family in Delhi. Though not much is known about her parents; her father’s side comprised mostly bureaucrats while her mother’s close family were doctors by profession. Coming from such educated background, Shikha was a bright student and secured 98 out of 100 in PCM (physics, chemistry and maths) in the higher secondary school. She completed her honours in Economics from St Stephen College, Delhi.
Being the only child, Shikha’s parents gave her freedom to pursue her extracurricular interests. As a school kid, she participated in several activities like skating, swimming, dancing, judo, badminton, shooting, cricket, playing guitar, etc. At the age of twelve, she auditioned for Delhi Doordarshan as a casual announcer and got selected.
While studying in college, Shikha Swaroop started modelling and went on to do over four hundred commercials in her entire career. At that time, she decided to take part in the 1988 Miss India pageant and came to Mumbai.
When veteran actress and former Miss India Zeenat Aman announced her name as the winner, Shikha Swaroop couldn’t believe her ears. She was crowned Miss India 1988 by none other than superstar Rajesh Khanna and the ever-gorgeous Zeenat Aman. Shikha Swaroop felt incredible when she walked the ramp in front of a huge cheering crowd. It was truly her crowning glory moment!! The Miss India title remained with her for two years as there was no competition held in 1989 and 1990, due to death of the sponsor.
The title of Miss India wasn’t the only glory for Shikha Swaroop as God was simultaneously showering more accolades on her. While doing her graduation, Shikha got selected for All India Pistol Shooting competition and had to travel to Baroda for the same. She was accompanied by her mother and was studying for her exams in the train.
Upon reaching Baroda, Shikha realized that most of the participants were police officers and there was a scant chance for her. Unexpectedly, Shikha rose to the finals and emerged the gold medal winner in that competition. You can say 1988 was the luckiest year of her life!!
Very few know that Shikha Swaroop also played cricket but later, chose badminton over cricket and played that at the national level. Laudably, Shikha was managing her economics degree and multitasking various activities together, emerging winner in most of them.
Once, Shikha got a call from Tajdar Amrohi (son of legendary director Kamal Amrohi) for a potential movie role. Immediately, she flew to Mumbai to meet him. To her surprise, Shikha found herself facing Kamal Amrohi himself. After the discussion, Amrohi offered her a role in their new production.
When she expressed doubt about her studies, Kamal Sahab told her that it’s a lifetime opportunity coming her way and she should go for it. Shikha returned to Delhi and discussed with her father, who told her to take the final call.
Interestingly, Shikha felt that she should complete her education first and then do the film. She called Kamal Saahab and asked him if he could postpone the schedule till her exams were over. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out and she lost the film. Probably, the movie under discussion was the directorial debut of Tajdar Amrohi, Ek Number Ka Chor (1991).
Seems destiny had its own plans for Shikha and shortly later, she got a call from music maestro Naushad, who was making his comeback in the film Awaaz De Kahan Hai (1990). The film was basically a remake of his own movie Mela (1948) starring Dilip Kumar and Nargis.
Naushad Saahab wanted Shikha to play the lead in Awaaz De Kahan Hai. Immediately after her exams got over, Shikha took the evening flight from Delhi to Mumbai and started shooting for the film the very next day with her co-actor Avinash Wadhawan.
Thus, Shikha Swaroop started a new chapter in her life as an actress. Though Awaaz De Kahan Hai flopped at the box office, there was no looking back for her and multiple film offers started coming her way. Shikha went on to sign notable movies like Police Public (1990), Naagmani (1991), Pyar Hua Chori Chori (1992), Tahalka (1992), Kayda Kanoon (1993), Thanedarni (1994) and Cheetah (1994)
The aforementioned films involved big names like Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Reena Roy, Naseeruddin Shah, Aditya Pancholi, Javed Jaffrey, Mukesh Khanna, Sonu Walia and then upcoming star Akshay Kumar. Sadly except for Tahalka, none of the films could do too well at the ticket counters.
The multistarrer actioner Tahalka turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 1992. Shikha had a negative role of Captain Cynthia in the film; an army officer in the fictional Dongrilla working for the main villain General Dong (Amrish Puri). Her job is to stop the Indian army to enter their state. However, in the film’s climax, she turns positive and actually helps the Army heroes in their mission. Shikha was paired opposite Javed Jaffrey in this movie.
While shooting for Kayda Kanoon (1993) starring Akshay Kumar, Shikha Swaroop was offered the television (tv) series Chandrakanta (1994) by Nirja Guleri. The series revolved around the titular princess and Shikha was offered the main role. Shikha was unsure whether to switch to the small screen. But it seems the character of princess Chandrakanta was meant for her as she had earlier played the princess Portia in her school play Merchant Of Venice as well.
Many of her well-wishers advised her to stay away from tv serials but Shikha saw an opportunity at a time when switching from big screen to tv was considered taboo. The character of Chandrakanta appealed to her and she signed the lead role after some deliberation.
As we know, Shikha’s risk paid huge dividends as Chandrakanta became one of the highest grossing shows on Doordarshan, garnering top TRPs for consecutive months. Audience would eagerly wait for Sunday mornings to catch their favourite fantasy show while having breakfast.
Shikha continued to act in movies and during the shooting of Cheetah (1994), her co-star Mithun Chakraborty confided in her that he had refused the lead opposite her in Chandrakanta due to his busy schedules and the role then went to Shahbaz Khan.
Chandrakanta ran successfully for two years till 1996. However, it was abruptly taken off air without even giving prior intimation to the cast. As per rumours, the TRP’s were getting impacted as the story was moving in different direction after two years. Some insiders cited channel politics as well. It was in a recent interview that Shikha Swaroop clarified that the expensive set had caught fire and all their costumes also got burnt, due to which series had to stop all of a sudden.
Chandrakanta was brought back on air after sometime but by then, had lost its earlier charm and it was stopped soon.
After Chandrakanta ended, Shikha Swaroop didn’t have much on the acting front. Her last release was the Dharmendra actioner Policewala Gunda (1995). She continued to be active on tv until 1999 with serials like Yug (1996), Shaktimaan (1997) and Suraag (1999).
In the current millennium, Shikha disappeared from Bollywood and shifted back to Delhi, where her parents as well as husband resided. During this time, she was also diagnosed with an undisclosed illness, which needed complete rest.
On the personal front, Shikha Swaroop was married to Delhi based businessman Rajiv Lal in 1992 at the peak of her career. A few years back, there was a news of their separation.
In 2011, Shikha returned back to acting after almost a decade and did the sequel to Chandrakanta titled Kahaani Chandrakanta Ki, where she reprised her iconic role. Unfortunately, the sequel wasn’t that successful and was taken off air within a short time.
The following year, Shikha Swaroop played Queen Kaikeyi in Ramayan. Shikha disclosed in an interview that she doesn’t consider her character negative as Kaikeyi was only possessive of her son Bharat and acted only to favour him. Unlike Ramanand Sagar’s super successful Ramayan (1987), the 2012 version couldn’t hold the audience interest for long.
After 2012, Shikha distanced herself from the glamour world and her life remained private until August 2023, when she gave an elaborate interview on Doordarshan and openly spoke about her life in movies and beyond.
Today, Shikha Swaroop runs a garment factory in Delhi and also multitasks as a motivational speaker. She talks about women empowerment and Indian culture. She strongly advocates against the current OTT and movie content, which is full of abusive language, restricting its family appeal.
From a mystical princess Chandrakanta to a motivational speaker on women empowerment, Shikha Swaroop has come a long way. We wish her all the very best in life!!
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All images courtesy Internet
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