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Divya Om Prakash Bharti Or As Known Divya Bharti (Hindi: दिव्या भारती), (25 February 1974 - 5 April 1993) was an Indian Bollywood Actress. Before Her Death She Was Number 3 In The Bollywood Industry Just Behind Madhuri Dixit And Sridevi Sadly Before Her Tragic Death. She started her career in 1990 with Telugu films making her debut in Bobbili Raja. After several other hits in the South she entered Hindi films with 'Vishwatma' in 1992 as her debut Film Which Was Average In The Box Office But She Claimed A Huge Praise in her song Saat Samundar Paar which at the time was an big hit song which made her fame. She appeared in more than 14 Hindi films within a year, the years between 1992 and Mid 1993 which Is known a smashing record at the time for a newcomer which till now is a world record for the most films within a year that no one could ever beat. She married Sajid Nadiadwala In May 1992. Her career was cut short by her tragic death in April 1993 at the age of 19. Her death was left mysteriously unknown as they could not find enough evidence of how she died therefore they closed the case in 1998 as it proved to be difficult to find any solution in how to solve her death.
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Early life and background
Divya was born in Mumbai,India, a daughter of Omprakash Bharti, an insurance officer, and Meeta Bharti(Lodhi), a housewife. Divya Bharti(Lodhi) had a younger brother Kunal. Divya's mother was a second wife of Omprakash Bharti.
Divya Studied at Maneckji Cooper High School in Juhu, Mumbai. There, Divya completed grade 9th. Divya was not keen on acting during her school years. However, She used to take part in fashion shows during the Ganapati festival and she won many awards for this, while still in school.
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Divya was good at studies, but she also excelled at extra-curricular activities. Divya and her brother were very good swimmers. They were champion swimmers for the Mumbai's club called Khar Gymkhana. Divya was also an expert driver. She learned to drive at age of fourteen.
Career
Breakthrough In Bollywood
Divya was in the ninth grade when she began to get film offers. Her face resembled to those days' superstar Sridevi and so got noticed by many directors and producers. At first her parents were hesitant, because even Divya wasn't interested. Till Nandu Tolani offered her Gunahon Ka Devta. Finally, Divya agreed to enter in to showbiz, when her mother told her that she would have to give up her studies, she got so excited. Divya was 14 and half then, In late 1988.Meanwhile, the Bharti learned via a friend that Dalip Shankar wanted a new girl opposite Aamir Khan in Aatank Hi Aatank and Rudra Avtaar. By her parents permission, Divya signed both films. During those time,Kirti Kumar, Govinda's brother noticed the charming Divya at video library. He followed her to her residence and then he called up the director Nandu Tolani, who resides in the next building and asked about Divya.
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Radha Ka Sangam Episode
The next thing the Bhartis knew was that Kirti Kumar was eager to sign Divya for Radha Ka Sangam opposite Govinda. Kirti went personally to meet Dalip Shankar and managed to release her from their contract. Kirti quoted in March 1989 in Showtime Magazine "I told Dalip that he could take any girl, but i'd never be able to find another Radha. Kirti changed her name from Divya to Radha. Producer Kirti launched her with much fanfare. He gave interviews on how he had found his perfect Radha after scouring the whole of India for her. And then before the first shot was taken, Divya "Radha" Bharti was out of the film after grooming for two years and replaced by Juhi Chawla. The reasons each side gave for the fall-out were different. Various Magazines wrote different things behind dropped out. Some said "Kirti became over-possessive about her", other said "Lawrence D'souza, who was to direct the film, left the project. Then Kirti decided to take over the film. Being new to direction, he had to drop Divya because he felt he could not handle a newcomer", other magazines wrote "Divya was having an affair with Govinda and Kirti couldn't tolerate that. Others wrote "It was Divya's immaturity, which made her drop out of film.
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Re-struggle
Rise to Stardom in Telugu Cinema
And that was the green signal for other film makers to enter the fray. She was screen-tested by big names Boney Kapoor, Mahesh Bhatt, Shabnam Kapoor, Shekhar Kapoor and Subhash Ghai. They all raved about her but no one signed her, there were rumor that it was her childish reputation had preceded her. In magazines, she had earned a name for being wild and crazy. In fact, for his big budget film Prem, Boney Kapoor signed Divya. Eight days later, Divya was out and Tabu was re-signed. Later Subhash Ghai too called her for Saudagar opposite Aamir Khan and 20 days later she was out and he signed Manisha Koirala and Vivek Mushram. By then, the rejection had affected fifteen years old Divya. Since she was already out of school, they would not accept her back. As result, she was forced to sit idle. Fortunately, One of the biggest producer of Telugu cinema, D. Ramanaidu landed up at Divya's doorstep. He offered Divya , Bobbili Raja, a telugu film opposite Daggubati Venkatesh. Immediately, Divya got a Tamil Film and Rajiv Rai approached her for Vishwatma.
After being dropped out of so many Big Projects, Divya got depressed and left Mumbai. On the evening of her return, the producer of Bobbili Raja sent his men over. They wanted Divya to fly down the same night. As Divya quoted in the Nov 1991 "Movie" magazine, "I didn't want to go. I said no but mummy said yes. Imagine, the film became a super-hit and i became a superstar". The move paid off. Bobbili Raja released in the summer of 1990 became a colossal hit. She had captured the south by storm, and she was a goddess there. Even a temple had been built in her name. With more hits, she became a big name in Telugu cinema. In box-office rating, she figured next only to the indomitable Vijayshanti. Her price, according to an insider, had touched a whopping 25 Lakhs per film and 1 lakh per each additional day (If shooting postponed south producers were paying 15 lakhs for 15 days) , which was a big amount in 1991. In Bollywood, only Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi were getting those kinds of price. In 1991 Divya gave back-to-back hits including Rowdy Alludu, Dharma Kshetram and Assembly Rowdy opposite superstars of Telugu cinema including Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna and Mohan Babu. In north India, she was known as the Sridevi of Telugu films. But, that was not what Divya was looking for. She wanted to make it big in Mumbai. And she was back with fresh determination. Meanwhile, She didn't want to disappoint her Telugu audience and she cut down to do one movie per year.
Rise to Stardom in Bollywood
When Divya heard that Rajiv Rai was on the lookout for a new face for his film Vishwatma opposite Sunny Deol, she daringly walked into Rajiv Rai's office with her portfolio. And the same day signed the film. Rajiv was making the sequel to his Blockbuster film Tridev.
The film was produced by Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd. is one of the biggest and oldest film production. Their films put many now-superstars on the map including Hema Malini in Johny Mera Naam and Amitabh Bachan in Deewar. Vishwatma was launched in the late 1990 with grand mahurat. Film actor Dharamendra gave the mahurat shot. Soon Divya was left for long outdoor shooting in Nairobi. By the time Divya came back, film offers started pouring up in Divya's lap. Without single release so far, Divya signed 14 films. She Was Also Known As Shahrukh Khan's Leading Lady as Shahrukh said she was the one that made him famous in the films Deewana, And Dil Aashna Hai.
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2 January 1992 was a big day for Divya. She had many reasons for wanting the film to be successful. vishwatma did do well however the film's success didn't come close to that of Tridev and the film was declared a flop. The film premiere was attended by many film personalities including Amitabh Bachan, Yash Chopra, Jackie Shroff, Juhi Chawla, Raveena Tandon, Manisha Koirala, Chunky Pandey and many more. Although, "Saath Samundar Paar", which was picturized with Divya, became a hit and even today the audience remembers Divya in that song.
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Seven days later, Divya's musical bonanzas Dil Ka Kya Kasoor released. It was supposed to establish her as popular heroine but opened to empty theaters. No one expected film to bomb so badly. Although, the film failed to impress an audience, Filmfare magazines started including Diyva in the list of 1992 top ten best actress performances. Surprisingly, even when other now-wellknown newcomers was introducing to showbiz), Divya collapsed debut made a magazine headline, when many actress included Madhoo in Phool aur Kaante and Chandni in Sanam Bewafa super hit films didn't made them star, Divya's flops made her star. Divya defended herself by quoted, " I wanted to prove myself. But, I've fallen flat on my face. Now, I have to begun my climb all over again. Yet, I'm positive that one day success will be mine", (Stardust, March 1992).
And, Thus Divya too was deleted from the ranks of the promising newcomers for a while. Then Pehlaj Nihlani's Shola Aur Shabnam came along. The film proved a box office hit and Divya was riding high again. Not only did it present Divya in a noble character, but also gave big boost to Govinda's career and launched David Dhawan as established director.
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Four Months later, Raj Kanwar's love story Deewana became the biggest hit of 1992, where she held her own against veteran Rishi Kapoor and the debutant Shahrukh Khan, who later went on to become Bollywood superstar and an icon of Indian Cinema. With the super success of Deewana, Divya got rid of her promising newcomer status and entered the A-list. Her performance in Deewana was highly appreciated. Around that time, Divya's other films Balwaan, with Sunil Shetty, and Jaan Se Pyaara, with Govinda released and did well at the box office. By the end of the year, Hema Malini's Dil Aashna Hai released, in which Divya played a bar dancer, who was looking for her mother. Although the film was a box-office failure, her performance in the film was much appreciated by critics.
Suddenly, with big hits under her belt, Divya had become the hottest property in showbiz. And many predicted that she was poised to hit the number one slot not very far. In fact, In September,'Movie' magazines such as "Movie", "Stardust" an "Filmfare" putnher at the 3rd position actress by the bases of price, popularity and position right after Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi. But, destiny had other plans, on the fateful day of 5 April 1993, Divya fell on the compound from her 5th floor apartment, She was only nineteen.
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Personal life
Barely 16, Divya met Sajid Nadiadwala in 1990 at Filmcity, when Sajid dropped by the sets to Meet his friend Govinda. Divya was shooting with Govinda_Ahuja on the sets of Shola Aur Shabnam. It was Govinda who introduced Sajid to Divya. Soon, it became a routine for the unit to see Sajid on sets everyday.
As Sajid quotes in Movie June 1993 issue "Somewhere around 15 January 1992 Divya told me that she wanted to get married. The very next day she was tense because her name was being linked with all heroes. She wanted to marry and put an end to all these controversies. People expect me to have a relationship with everyone, she would complain.
Then on 20 May 1992. Divya got married to Sajid in the presence of her hairdresser Sandhya, the hairdresser's husband and a kazi at Tulsi apartments, Sajid's Versova residence. She converted to Islam and took on a new name, "Sanah". As Sajid quotes "We kept the marriage a secret because her career was at stake. Her producers would have panicked. In retrospect, I wish we had told the truth. Divya wanted to announce that we were married but i kept telling her to wait for a while. I wish I hadn't. Every time she saw the rushes of her films, she would sigh, "This will flop and people will ask me to quit". But that never happened, her films were hits. By the end of 1993, she would have completed all her assignments.v
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Death
Around midnight 5 April 1993, Divya fell to her death off her husband's 5-storey apartment building, Tulsi 2 in Mumbai.There were numerous speculations by the media regarding Divya's sudden demise, including the possibility of accidental death, suicide and even murder. Divya's dress designer is believed to have been present at the apartment at the time of death but the unfortunate event could not be avoided. Police closed the investigation into her death in 1998, but the circumstances of her death still remain murky.
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Her body was released on 7 April 1993 and the funeral took place the same day. About 500 people attended the funeral of then youngest heroine of the silver screen, including Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Kamal Sadanah, Raj Babbar, Yash Chopra, Jimmy Nirula, Sudhakar Bokade, Mukesh Duggal,Mahesh Anand, Aruna Irani, Raza Murad, Vikas Anand, Venkatesh, Ram Mohan, Javed Khan, Raj Kanwar, Nitin Manmohan and Pehlaj Nehlani, maker of her first hit, Shola aur Shabnam. A large number of film personalities, including Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri Urmila Matondkar, Saif Ali Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Shilpa Shirodkar, Sonu Walia, Somy Ali, Babita, Karisma Kapoor, Sangeeta Bijlani, Tabu, Manisha Koirala and Asha Parekh, offered condolences to the bereaved family members at their residence. Her family also stated in an interview if my daughter was taking drugs and drinking, how comes she completed 14 films within a year that shows how my divya doesnt drink or take drugs shes perfectly innocent and others too knows that she was a innocent bright talented girl.
She was scheduled to star in movies including Mohra, Laadla, Andolan, Angrakshak ,Kartavya (1995), and Vijaypath before her death; her roles were recast. Divya had almost completed 80% of Laadla before her death but the entire movie was redone with Sri Devi. and footage of her performance on scenes that she had completed was released years later. The movie would have released in 1993 had Divya completed the movie but it was eventually released in 1994.
Divya's two final completed films, Rang and Shatranj, were released months after her death. These films—in addition to several films produced by her husband Sajid Nadiadwala—were dedicated to her memory.
1998
In 1998 they decided to close the case since it proved too difficult to find what had really happened for the real reason that caused her tragic death but till now her death remains a mystery and never be known of how she died but till today is remembered of her brilliant personality and acting and will never be forgotten. Because of her overwhelming performance she is still love & remembered by the people.
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