Mahima Chaudhry one of the most celebrated actresses of the 90s won hearts with her debut alongside Shah Rukh Khan in Pardes (1997) directed by Subhash Ghai. She portrayed the innocent village girl Ganga a role that earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. She went on to play leading roles in several films including Daag (1999) Dhadkan (2000) and Kurukshetra (2000) while also receiving critical acclaim for her performances in Dil Kya Kare (1999) Lajja (2001) and Dobara (2004). Recently an old interview of Mahima Chaudhry resurfaced in which she opened up about the dark side of the Bollywood industry and the struggles she went through. Mahima Chaudhry was launched by director Subhash Ghai for Pardes. She faced challenges working with him as he allegedly bullied her and even took her to the court. Mahoma further claimed that the filmmaker tried to sabotage her career by sending messages to producers urging them not to work with her. She said It was quite stressful. He sent a message to all the producers that nobody should work with me! If you pick up one of the issues of Trade Guide magazine in 1998 or 1999 there was an ad that he had given which stated that if anybody wanted to work with me that person would have to contact him. Otherwise it would be a breach of contract. However there was no such contract which said that I had to seek his permission.” Mahima Chaudhry was paired opposite Manoj Bajpayee in Satya Mahima Chaudhry revealed that she was initially cast opposite Manoj Bajpayee in the 1998 film Satya but was later replaced by Urmila Matondkar without any prior notice. She shared that despite accepting the signing amount she only found out about her replacement through the media. The actress was disappointed as Satya was supposed to be her second film. She said He didn’t even have the courtesy to inform me or my manager. I found out from the press that he had already started shooting without me. For those unaware Mahima Chaudhry was originally named Ritu Chaudhry but changed it due to Subhash Ghai’s superstition. Ghai believed that actresses whose names started with the letter M had successful careers prompting her to adopt the name Mahima Chaudhry. In 1999 Mahima was shooting for Dil Kya Kare when she was involved in a car crash and multiple pieces of glass had to be removed from her face as a result of the accident. In 2006 Mahima Chaudhry married businessman Bobby Mukherji and welcomed their daughter Ariana in 2007. However due to incompatibility issues the couple parted ways in 2013. On the professional front Chaudhry was last seen in Zee5 web series The Signature in 2024. The show also featured Anupam Kher.