Simran Biography

Simran was born as Rishibala Naval on April 4, 1976 in Mumbai to Ashok Naval and Saradha Naval. Simran is a graduate in Commerce from Mumbai and simultaneously pursued modeling. Simran is a trained dancer and is an expert and Indian classical as well as western dance forms. She married her long time friend Deepak Bagga, commander for Kingfisher Airlines. The couple is blessed with a son named Adheep.

Simran made her cinematic debut in Saawan Kumar Tak’s ‘Sanam Harzai’ bou went unnoticed. She was later signed by Amitabh Bachchan’s Production Company ABCL Corp to play the female lead in ‘Tere Mere Sapne’. The film also starred other newcomers like Arshad Warsi, Chandrachur Singh and Priya Gill. ‘Tere Mere Sapne’ became a box office success and Simran was next seen in films like ‘Bal Bramhachari ‘and ‘Anari No. 1’.

Simran worked in the Malayalam film ‘Indraprastham’ opposite Tollywood superstar Mammootty and the film became a huge success. Eventually she made her Tamil debut in S. A. Chandrasekhar’s romantic comedy film ‘Once More’ starring Joseph Vijay, Sivaji Ganesan, B. Sarojadevi, and Simran Bagga. She also appeared in a Kannada film ‘Simhada Mari’ in the same year. In the year 1997, Simran plunged into Telugu film industry and appeared in films like ‘Abbayi Gari Pelli’, ‘Priya O Priya’, ‘Maa Nannaki Pelli’ and‘ Autodriver’.

Simran started working in the south Indian film industry and soon became one of the top heroines. She was seen in different kind of roles in different genres of cinema. Her breakthrough performance was seen in 1999 Tamil smash hit ‘Thulladha Manamum Thullum’ directed by Ezhil. ‘Thulladha Manamum Thullum’ starred Vijay and Simran as the lead pair and was remade into Telugu as ‘Nuvvu Vasthavani’ starring Akkineni Nagarjuna and Simran. Simran won the coveted Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for ‘Thulladha Manamum Thullum’.

Simran was paired opposite Ajith Kumar in the 1999 release Tamil film ‘Vaali’ directed by SJ Suryah. The film also starred Vivek, Livingston, Jyothika and Balaji in significant roles. The Tamil thriller ‘Vaali’ became a super success and marked a turning point in the actor Ajith Kumar’s career. The next few years proved to be very eventful for Simran as she gave her best performances in the critically and commercially successful films in three different languages.

Simran and Vijay starrer Tamil romantic drama film ‘Priyamanavale’ was released in 2000 and earned rave reviews from the crtics as well as audiences. ‘Priyamanavale’ was a remake of the Telugu mega hit ‘Pavithra Bhandam’ that was also remade into Hindi as ‘Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain’ starring Anil Kapoor and Kajol.

Simran appeared in the critically acclaimed Tamil film ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ directed by stalwart Mani Ratnam . The film also starred P. S. Keerthana, R. Madhavan, Nandita Das, Pasupathy, J. D. Chakravarthy and Prakash Raj. ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and later screened at Cannes Film Festival and San Francisco International film festival. The film received several awards including six National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards South, and Best Film awards at six international film festivals. Simran recebed her first Filmfare Best Actress Award for this film.

Simran was recently seen in the Tamil superhit ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’ directed by Gautham Menon and starring Surya Sivakumar, Sameera Reddy and Divya Spandana in pivotal roles. She received the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award and the Vijay Award for Best Supporting Actress for ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’.

Simran