Happy Birthday Karisma Kapoor: Lesser Known Facts About Lolo

Known for such films as ‘Biwi No. 1’, ‘Coolie No.1’, ‘Hero No.1’, the No. 1 actress in Bollywood during the 1990s and the early 2000s, Karisma Kapoor is celebrating her 45th birthday today. The actress, who started her career in acting at the tender age of 15, has given memorable hits with actors – Govinda, Ajay Devgn and Salman Khan, and has also worked in trend-setting films like ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, ‘Raja Hindustani’, ‘Fiza’ and ‘Zubeidaa’. Having entered Bollywood at a very young age, the actress had once confessed that the journey was anything but easy. Cousin to Ranbir Kapoor and elder sister of Kareena Kapoor Khan here is looking at a few interesting facts about Lolo, one of Bollywood’s highest-paid actresses.

Babita named Karisma Kapoor Lolo after the legendary Hollywood actress Jina Lollobrigida. Karisma is the great-granddaughter of Prithviraj Kapoor and granddaughter of the legendary daughter Raj Kapoor.

Karisma started her career in Bollywood when she was merely 15 years old. The actress allegedly dropped out of school in her sixth standard to pursue acting. She made her debut with ‘Prem Qaidi’ opposite Harish Kumar. The film was a moderate success.

Karisma Kapoor won the National Film Award for best-supporting actress for the film ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’. Prior to that, she had won the Best Actress award at Filmfare for her film ‘Raja Hindustani’ opposite Aamir Khan. She went on to win the Filmfare award for the Best Actress once more for her a portrayal of a sister in search of her brother in ‘Fiza’. The actress had also won the Filmfare critics award for Best Actress for the film ‘Zubeidaa’, where she shared screen space with Manoj Vajpayee and the legendary Rekha.

In a career that saw over 50 films, Karisma was seen giving the most number of hits with Ajay Devgn and Govinda. Her films ‘Coolie No. 1’ and ‘Hero No.1’ with Govinda were especially successful. Her pairing with Salman Khan was also appreciated.

It was during this period that Karisma Kapoor was romantically linked to both Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, but they never made any formal announcements.

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After Twinkle Khanna had refused the role of Tina in ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, the role was first offered to Karisma Kapoor and when she refused Rani Mukherjee bagged it, winning the Filmfare for Best Actress in supporting role for her act.

Even more shocking is the fact that the film which catapulted Karisma Kapoor to stardom was not even made for her. Her role in ‘Raja Hindustani’ was initially meant to be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan debut, however, she could not do it due to her commitments to Miss World.

It seems a lot of career-defining roles that Karisma Kapoor essayed were initially not meant for her. Karisma was not the first choice to play Nisha in the film ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ either. The role was first offered to Raveena Tandon and when she declined, it was offered to Juhi Chawla, Kajol, Manisha Koirala and Shilpa Shetty, all of whom turned it down. Karisma would go on to win National Award for her performance.

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Karisma turned down a few roles herself as well. She was offered Juhi Chawla’s role in ‘Ishq’, Manisha Koirala’s role in ‘Gupt’ and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s role in ‘Bride and Prejudice’. Interestingly, she was the one who was first offered ‘Ashoka The Great’ and ‘Talaash’, roles that her sister, Kareena Kapoor Khan, would later go on to take up.

Karisma was also in a high-profile relationship with Abhishek Bachchan, with the two even announcing their engagement at Big B’s 60th birthday bash. However, the two parted ways four months later and while no explanation was ever given, it is widely believed that Abhishek’s patchy career and Babita’s interference led to the breakup.

Karisma would go on to marry Delhi-based Business Sanjay Kapur but they too filed for divorce after staying together for nine years.