MONICA BEDI

MONICA BEDI - Film Actress

Monica Bedi (born 18 January 1975) was born to Dr. Prem Kumar Bedi and Shakuntala Bedi on January 18, 1975 in a village named Chabbewal (near Bihalla) in the district Hoshiarpur, Punjab. Her parents migrated to Norway in 1979, when she was 4 years old. She went to school in Norway. When she finished college, She left to England to study literature at Oxford University in United Kingdom and completed her acting education at Delhi University. 

She got into films after she met producer/actor Manoj Kumar while she was studying English literature at Oxford in 1995.

Monica Bedi got her first break in Tollywood in the film Taj Mahal in 1995 produced by D. Ramanaidu. Apart from Taj Mahal, he had also cast her in another film Sivayya with Dr. Rajasekhar as hero. Noticed in a video album by Muppalaneni Shiva, the director had recommended Monica to be cast in Taj Mahal. She was cast as a heroine in another film he directed - Speed Dancer - produced by T V D Prasad, after she shot in to fame with her debut Hindi film, Suraksha opposite Saif Ali Khan.

Monica Bedi is most known for her films such as Jaanam Samjha Karo, where she was in the lead role with Urmila Matondkar, opposite Salman Khan, Jodi No.1 with Sanjay Dutt and Govinda, Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat with Arjun Rampal and Aftab Shivdasani, Suraksha opposite Saif Ali Khan and Sunil Shetty, and Tirchi Topi Wale. However, she had a several-years long hiatus from showbiz after she was arrested in Portugal and served jail sentences in Portugal and India.

Bedi was an inmate in Big Boss Season 2, a television-based reality show on Colors. She was one of the contestants of the reality dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 3 on Sony Entertainment television channel where she proved to be a good dancer. Her choreographer partner was Javed Sanadi. Monica was a contestant on NDTV Imagine's Desi Girl reality show.

She sung the divine chants ‘EkOnkar’ for spiritual music album on Universal Music. Ek Onkaar launched in Chandigarh. It is a spiritual offering where Monica has rendered her voice. The album is a compilation of the revered mantra of the Sikhs called ‘Mool Mantra’ which is one of the holiest chants from the holy book of Sikhism ‘Guru GranthSaheb’. 

She is playing the title role in a Tamil movie as Devadasi. The story revolves around an aged use of Devadasi complement as well as Monica plays a Devadasi from Peddhapuram area in Andhra Pradesh.

She acted in a Punjabi movie titled Sirphire as the main female lead opposite Priyanshu Chatterjee, Preet Harpal and Roshan Prince, directed by Harjith Singh Ricky and produced by Gurpreet Singh Sidhu, which released in August 2012. She also won PTC Award for best debut in this film.

In September 2002, she was arrested along with fugitive underworld don Abu Salem by the Lisbon police for entering Portugal with forged documents. They served jail sentence in Portugal. After years of legal battle, they were deported to India on 11 November 2005, after India promised Portugal that Salem would not receive the death sentence.

On 29 September 2006, an Indian Court convicted Monica Bedi for passport forgery. CBI had filed a case against Bedi under section 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and section 12 of the Passport Act for procuring a passport on a fictitious name. In November 2010, the Supreme Court of India upheld the conviction of Bedi, but reduced the jail term to the period that she had already served.