Indian Film Actresses - Bollywood and More

Since Bollywood seems to be a very popular subject, I thought I would undertake my most ambitious project ever.
Most people are familiar with Bollywood actresses (or they should be after all the Hubs I have done on them) but there is a lot more to the cinema of India than just Bollywood.
You have Tamil cinema, Telugu cinema, Bengali cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema among others.
So I am going to try to bring some attention to some of the actresses of Indian cinema that you may not be so familiar with.
Of course some familiar faces will show up, because they are important as well.

Indian cinema is by no means second rate.
While they may not have the billions to pour into productions like Hollywood does, India produces close to a thousand films annually.
20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros have taken notice of this, and many Hollywood production companies have begun to work with India.

The Bollywood film 3 Idiots that came out in 2009, has so far made Rs. 201,38,00,000 (that's Indian rupees), that translates roughly into a little over $44 million dollars US which beats Hollywood films released in 2009 like The Pink Panther 2, Halloween II, Saw VI and The Fourth Kind.

Of course even $44 million doesn't even come close to Avatar's $2,555,342,764, but you get my point.
Hollywood still rules quite easily, but Indian cinema has it's place as well.

So here is part one of the women of Indian cinema.

Of course I couldn't start off this list without mentioning the most popular woman (worldwide) in Indian cinema, Aishwarya Rai (or Aishwarya Rai Bachchan).
I have done so many write ups on Ash before, that it's hard to come up with something new to say about her.
But since it's been brought up before that beauty is only skin deep, let's see if Ash is as pretty inside as well as out.
 
She is the brand ambassador for The Eye Bank Association of India, an organization that promotes eye donation in India.
Ash is the brand ambassador for Pulse Polio, an immunization campaign established by the government of India in 1994 to eradicate Polio in India.
Ash and her family started a special school for underprivileged girls in Uttar Pradesh.
She performed at the HELP! Telethon Concert to help raise money for the victims of the 2004 tsunami earthquake.
There is the Aishwarya Rai Foundation for helping those less fortunate who are in need of support.
She has also done work for PETA and The Smile Train, an organization that helps children who are suffering with unrepaired clefts.
So whether you think it's just good PR or not, Ash has used her fame to help out a lot of people in India.

Bollywood actress Ayesha Takia was born on April 10th, 1986 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
She has appeared in over twenty films. making her big screen acting debut in the 2004 film, Taarzan: The Wonder Car, a role for which she won the 2005 Filmfare Best Debut Award.

Indian model and Bollywood actress Amrita Rao was born on June 7th, 1981 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Amrita has appeared in over twenty movies as well.
Her big screen debut was in the 2002 film, Ab Ke Baras.

Ameesha Patel was born on June 9th, 1975 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
That's three from Mumbai so far.
She has appeared in over thirty movies so far, and while most have been Bollywood productions, she has appeared in Tamil and Telgu films as well.  
Ameesha Patel made her debut in the 2000 film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, and was nominated for a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for the role.

Anjali was born on September 11th, 1982 in Rajamundry, Andhra Pradesh, India.
She mainly works in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada cinema.
Her acting debut was in the 2006 Telugu film Photo.
In 2007 she won both the Filmfare Best Debut Actress Award (Tamil) and the Vijay Award for Best Debut Actress.

Bollywood actress Amrita Arora was born on January 31st 1981 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
She has appeared in over twenty films, her first being Kitne Door Kitne Paas in 2002.
On February 5th, 2010 she gave birth to her first child, a baby boy.

Indian television presenter and actress Archana Puran Singh was born on March 26th, 1962 in Dehradun, India.
She has appeared in over fifty films, and although her big screen debut was in the 1982 film Nikaah, it was in an uncredited role, so her first credited role was in Jalwa in 1987.
In 1999, she won the Star Screen Award for Best Comedian for the film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

Model and actress Anushka Sharma was born on May 1st 1988 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
She has only appeared in four films, but her first film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, got her nominated for the 2009 Filmfare Best Actress Award, the 2009 Filmfare Best Female Debut Award, the 2009 Star Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer, the 2009 Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow (Female), and she won the 2009 Apsara Film and Television Producers Guild Award for Best Debut (Female).

Amala Akkineni was born in West Bengal, India, on September 12th, 19??.
During her career, she appeared in over fifty Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films, beginning with Cheekh in 1985.
Amala is a vegetarian  and she founded the "Blue Cross of Hyderabad", an organization that promotes the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights

Ambika was born on November 6th, 1962 in Kerala, India.
She has appeared in over seventy Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam movies.
Her acting debut was in the Malayalam film, Mamangam in 1979.

Indian film actress and model Anjana Sukhani was born on December 10, 1978 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
She made her acting debut in the 2002 film, Na Tum Jaano Na Hum.
She has appeared in fourteen films, including one Kannada and one Telugu film.

Anushka Shetty was born on November 7, 1981 in Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
She made her acting debut in the 2005 Telugu film Super, and has appeared in over twenty Telugu and Tamil films.
I don't know if she is related to Shilpa Shetty or not, but both of them are from Mangalore and the Shetty name seems fairly popular (or common) there.

Indian model and Bollywood actress Anu Agarwal was born on January 11th, 1969 in Malka Ganj, Delhi (although some sources list her being born in Punjab or New Delhi ).
She made her acting debut in Aashiqui (1990), and went on to appear in 11 films.

Amrita Singh was born on February 9th, 1958 in Hadali, Khushab, Punjab, India.
She has appeared in over fifty movies and her acting debut was in the 1983 film, Betaab, where she debuted with Sunny Deol .
Amrita has been romantically involved with actor Saif Ali Khan (they were married and have two children), actor, producer and director Sunny Deol, cricket player Ravi Shastri and actor, film producer and politician Vinod Khanna.