Although Mukerji was born into the Mukherjee-Samarth
family, in which her parents and relatives were members of the Indian film
industry, she did not aspire to pursue a career in film. However, while still a
teenager she dabbled with acting by playing a supporting role in her father's
1992 Bengali language film Biyer Phool, and later accepted a leading role in
the 1997 social drama Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat on the insistence of her mother.
The following year, she began a full time career in film and gained recognition
for a supporting role in the blockbuster romance Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. After this
initial success in her career, Mukerji's films fared poorly at the box office
for the next three years. Her career prospects improved in 2002 when Yash Raj
Films cast her as the star of the critically acclaimed drama Saathiya.
By 2004, Mukerji had established herself as a leading
actress of Bollywood with roles in the romantic comedy Hum Tum and the dramas
Yuva and Veer-Zaara. She achieved further success for portraying a deaf, blind
and mute woman in the acclaimed 2005 drama Black and an unfaithful wife in the
2006 romantic drama Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Mukerji then collaborated with Yash
Raj Films on several unsuccessful films which led critics to criticise her for
choosing poor roles and pairing with the same set of actors. The 2011
semi-biographical thriller No One Killed Jessica proved to be her first box
office hit in four years, and she followed it by starring in the successful
thrillers Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012) and Mardaani (2014).
In addition to acting in films, Mukerji is involved with
several humanitarian causes and is vocal about issues faced by women and
children. She has participated in concert tours and stage shows, and featured
as a talent judge for the 2009 reality show Dance Premier League. Despite
constant media speculation, she remains guarded about her personal life and is
sometimes labelled a recluse by members of the media. She is married to the
filmmaker Aditya Chopra.Rani Mukerji was born in Mumbai on 21 March 1978. Her
father, Ram Mukherjee (born to the Mukherjee-Samarth family), is a former film
director and one of the founders of Filmalaya Studios. Her mother, Krishna
Mukherjee, is a former playback singer. Her elder brother, Raja Mukherjee, is a
film producer and director. Her maternal aunt, Debashree Roy, is a Bengali film
actress and her paternal cousin, Kajol, is a Hindi film actress and her contemporary.
Another paternal cousin, Ayan Mukerji, is a scriptwriter and film director.
Despite her parents and most of her relatives being members of the Indian film
industry, Mukerji was disinterested in pursuing a career in film. She said,
here were already too many actresses at home and I wanted to be someone
different.
Mukerji received her education at Maneckji Cooper High
School in Juhu and graduated with a degree in Home Science from SNDT Women's
University. She is a trained Odissi dancer and began learning the dance form
while in the tenth grade. As part of an annual tradition, the Mukherjee family
celebrates the festival of Durga Puja in the suburban neighbourhood of
Santacruz every year. Mukerji, a practising Hindu, takes part in the
festivities with her entire family.
At the age of fourteen, Mukerji experimented with acting
by portraying a supporting role in her father's Bengali language film Biyer
Phool (1992). The film starred Prosenjit and Indrani Haldar in lead roles and
narrates the story of two sisters; Mukerji played the younger sibling of
Haldar's character. In 1994, director Salim Khan approached her to play the
lead female role in his directorial, Aa Gale Lag Jaa. Her father disapproved of
a full-time career in film at such a young age, so she rejected the offer. When
Khan approached her with another film offer to play the protagonist of the
social drama Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat, Mukerji accepted the role due to her
mother's insistence that she pursue acting on an experimental basis. Before she
began work on the film, Mukerji trained at Roshan Taneja's acting institute.
Mukerji portrayed a rape victim who is forced to marry her rapist in the 1997
film Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat. Although a commercial failure, Mukerji's
performance was praised, and she won a special recognition trophy at the annual
Screen Awards ceremony. Following the film's failure, Mukerji returned to
college to complete her education. However, inspired by her cousin Kajol's
success in Bollywood, she decided to pursue a full-time career in film.
In 1998, Mukerji starred opposite Aamir Khan in Vikram
Bhatt's Ghulam (1998), a moderate commercial success. Though her role in the
film was small, the song "Aati Kya Khandala" earned her widespread
recognition. Due to Mukerji's broken voice texture, Bhatt hired a dubbing
artist with a much higher pitched voice to dub for her lines. When asked if the
director's decision to not use her voice in the film affected her, she said
that her voice was dubbed as it "did not suit the character.
Later that year, Karan Johar cast Mukerji opposite
Shahrukh Khan and her cousin, Kajol, in his big-budget directorial debut Kuch
Kuch Hota Hai. The role was originally written for Twinkle Khanna, but when she
rejected the role, Johar approached several leading actresses, all of whom
refused the offer. He subsequently cast Mukerji after she volunteered to play
the role. Johar had originally intended that a dubbing artist dub Mukerji's
lines in the film, but she improved her diction and eventually dubbed for her
own lines. She portrayed Tina Malhotra, a college student who is in a
relationship with Khan's character. Writing for India Today, film critic
Nandita Chowdhury considered Mukerji to be the scene-stealer and added,
"Oozing oomph from every pore, she proves herself an actress whose time
has come. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai proved a breakthrough for Mukerji it emerged as a
blockbuster in India and abroad with earnings of over INR1.03 billion (US$17
million), and won eight Filmfare Awards, including a Best Supporting Actress
trophy for Mukerji.
Following the success of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mukerji
played leading roles in the social drama Mehndi (1998) and the comedy Hello
Brother (1999). Both these films were critical and commercial disappointments
which failed to propel her career forward. By 2000, Mukerji wanted to avoid
being type-cast as a "standard Hindi film heroine" and thus decided
to portray more challenging roles in addition to the archetypical glamorous
female lead. However, none of her film releases in 2000 were particularly
notable. In Badal and Bichhoo, two male-centric action dramas (both featuring
Bobby Deol in the lead), she played roles that were met with little acclaim
from the critics. A supporting role in Kamal Hassan's bilingual film Hey Ram
proved more rewarding. The film was a partly fictionalised account of Mahatma
Gandhi's assassination and Mukerji portrayed the character of Aparna Ram, a
Bengali school teacher who is raped and murdered during communal riots in
Calcutta. The controversial subject matter of Hey Ram led to poor box office
earnings, but the film was critically acclaimed and selected as India's
official entry to the Oscars that year. Mukerji found no success in her next
two releases, the comedy Hadh Kar Di Aapne and the romance Kahin Pyaar Na Ho
Jaaye. The romantic comedy Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega, however, earned her a Best
Supporting Actress nomination at Filmfare and was better received by the
critics. Padmaraj Nair of Screen found Mukerji's role to be "too meagre
for her to prove herself" but added that "she is quite adequate in
whatever scenes she has been given.
The year 2001 was a disappointing one for Mukerji. In a
review for her first release of the year, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, a drama
based on surrogate childbirth, film critic Sukanya Verma found Mukerji to be
"handicapped with a role that doesn't give her much scope besides weeping
and sobbing" and preferred the "meatier" role of her co-star
Preity Zinta. In Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai and Nayak: The Real Hero, films that
failed to garner praise, Mukerji played the love interests of Abhishek Bachchan
and Anil Kapoor respectively. In a review for the latter, Sarita Tanwar wrote
that Mukherjee has very little to do except being part of some magnificently
picturised songs.
After three consecutive years of poorly received films,
Mukerji's career prospects began to improve in 2002 when Yash Raj Films, a
leading production company in India, cast her for two high-profile productions:
Mujhse Dosti Karoge!, a romantic comedy co-starring Hrithik Roshan and Kareena
Kapoor, and Saathiya, a remake of the Tamil box office hit Alaipayuthey. Mujhse
Dosti Karoge! was heavily promoted before release and proved a success
internationally, but failed to earn profits in India. The romantic drama
Saathiya proved a major turning point in her career, winning her a Filmfare
Critics Award for Best Actress in addition to a Best Actress nomination at the
same ceremony. Mukerji was director Shaad Ali's only choice to play the lead
role he said, She was born to play this role. She looked the character. She
looked vulnerable. She looked the right age. She was perfect. The film
co-starred Vivek Oberoi, and her paternal aunt Tanuja, and proved an economic
success. Mukerji's portrayal of Suhani Sharma, a medical student who deals with
the tensions and discontent of being married at a young age, met with critical
acclaim. The BBC stated that "Mukerji plays the character of a middle
class girl with great conviction, and Udita Jhunjhunwala of Mid Day added,
"Her expressions and acting are understated in a role that fits her like a
glove.
In 2003, Mukerji replaced Aishwarya Rai to play the lead
female role opposite Shahrukh Khan in Aziz Mirza's romance Chalte Chalte. Media
reports suggested that Rai was replaced after feuding with Salman Khan on the
film's sets, but Shahrukh insisted that Mukerji was the first choice for the
role, and was replaced after completing her previous commitments. The film's
concept was similar to Saathiya and dealt with misunderstandings between a
married couple. Mukerji said, "[Unlike Saathiya], Chalte Chalte deals with
a more mature and deeper form of love. It is about how a man and woman react to
situations. You cannot really get very different with the characters, but you
can put them against a different background. The film was well received by both
critics and audiences, and the following year Mukerji received a second Best
Actress nomination at Filmfare. Also that year, she starred in Milan Luthria's
romantic comedy Chori Chori opposite Ajay Devgan, Sudhir Mishra's suspense
drama Calcutta Mail, alongside Anil Kapoor and Manisha Koirala, and J.P.
Dutta's ensemble war film LOC Kargil. None of these films fared well critically
or commercially. The year 2004 marked the beginning of the most successful
period in Mukerji's career. At the 50th Filmfare Awards in 2005, Mukerji won both
the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards, becoming the only actress
to win both awards in the same year. The Best Supporting Actress win was for
Mani Ratnam's Yuva (2004), a composite film that featured an ensemble cast
including Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Kareena Kapoor and Esha
Deol. The film narrates the story of three youngsters from different strata of
society whose lives intersect by a car accident; Mukerji was cast as Shashi
Biswas, a financially deprived Bengali housewife who is abused by her husband,
a local goon (played by Bachchan). Taran Adarsh wrote, "Amongst the
leading ladies, it is Rani Mukerji who is the best of the lot. The role
demanded an actress of substance and Rani more than lives up to the expectations.
She won the Best Actress award for her starring role in Kunal Kohli's Hum Tum
(2004), a romantic comedy about two headstrong individuals who meet at
different stages of their lives. The film pitted her opposite Saif Ali Khan and
proved one of the biggest commercial successes of the year. The Hindu found
Mukerji's portrayal of Rhea Sharma to be "self assuredly competent"
and Tanmaya Kumar Nanda of Rediff.com wrote, Rani is her usual collected self,
changing into the many hues of her character with the ease of a chameleon.
Later that year, Mukerji achieved further success when
Yash Chopra cast her alongside Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta in his period
romance Veer-Zaara. The film narrates the story of star-crossed lovers, Veer
Pratap Singh (played by Khan) and a Pakistani woman, Zaara Hayaat Khan (played
by Zinta) Mukerji played the role of Saamiya Siddiqui, a Pakistani lawyer
embroiled in a court case involving Singh. With a worldwide gross of over
INR940 million (US$15 million),[24] Veer-Zaara emerged as the highest grossing
film of the year; it was screened at the Berlin Film Festival and met with
critical acclaim. Mukerji's role was praised by the critics; BBC noted, ts Rani
Mukerjee who deserves praise for her acting. To act through your eyes and not using
dialogue is an art. Rani for one, has perfected this. She won the Best
Supporting Actress trophy at the IIFA Awards ceremony, and received a
nomination in the same category at Filmfare.
In 2005, Outlook magazine published that Mukerji had
established herself as the most successful actress of contemporary Hindi
cinema. Her first film role that year was opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Sanjay
Leela Bhansali's highly acclaimed Black, a drama about an alcoholic man who
dedicates his life to teach a blind and deaf girl how to communicate. Bhansali
wrote the part of the blind-deaf girl specifically for Mukerji, who was
initially hesitant to take on the role due to its "challenging"
subject matter. Once Bhansali enforced his faith in her, she agreed and began
intensely studying sign language with professionals at the Helen Keller
Institute in Mumbai. Black won several awards including two National Film
Awards and eleven Filmfare Awards, and Richard Corliss of TIME featured it as
the fifth best film of the year. Mukerji's performance met with unanimous
acclaim; Empire called the performance "astonishing, Filmfare included her
work in their listing of Indian cinema's 80 Most Iconic performances" and
wrote, "Rani has left an indelible mark with this role that usually comes
once in a lifetime for most. She became the only actress to win both the Best
Actress and Best Actress Critics
trophies at the Filmfare Awards ceremony.
That year, Mukerji received a second Best Actress
nomination at Filmfare for her work opposite Abhishek Bachchan in Bunty Aur
Babli, a comedy film which marked her fifth collaboration with Yash Raj Films.
She played the titular character of Vimmi "Babli" Saluja, a con
woman. The film was the second highest grossing film of 2005 and Mukerji's
third major success in two consecutive years. Film critic Namrata Joshi wrote
that "Rani plays to the gallery with ease" and Taran Adarsh wrote
that she "sinks her teeth into the role and comes out with flying
colours". She followed it with Amol Palekar's fantasy film Paheli,
reuniting her with Shahrukh Khan. The film was a box office flop in India but
was given a strong international release; it was screened at the Sundance Film
Festival and was India's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the
79th Academy Awards. Raja Sen of Rediff.com was impressed by the film as well
as Mukerji's performance which he called "another perfectly played part.
Mukerji's fourth and final release of the year was the highly anticipated
period film Mangal Pandey The Rising. Director Ketan Mehta initially approached
her for a cameo appearance, which was developed into an "important part
after she gave her consent to star in the film. Her role was that of Heera, a
prostitute who forms the love interest of the titular character (played by
Aamir Khan). Derek Elley of Variety mentioned that Mukerji made "the most
of her feisty nautch-girl, despite having a small role for a star of her
caliber.
Mukerji turned down an offer from Mira Nair to star in
the Hollywood film The Namesake, choosing instead to collaborate once again
with her friend Karan Johar in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), an urban drama
dealing with infidelity and dysfunctional relationships. The high-profile
production featured an ensemble cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan,
Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta and Kirron Kher, and told the story of two
unhappily married couples in New York which results in an extra-marital affair.
Mukerji played Maya Talwar, a woman layered with self-doubt and question about
the relationship between her husband (played by Abhishek Bachchan) and herself.
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was a popular release, emerging as a major economic
success with gross earnings of over INR1.13 billion (US$19 million). Rajeev
Masand of CNN-IBN wrote, "Rani looks a million bucks and she dives under
the skin of her character to make that part one that we will remember for a
long time. The role won Mukerji a third consecutive IIFA Best Actress Award and
among other nods, earned her a sixth Best Actress nomination at Filmfare. The
poorly received melodrama Baabul was her final appearance that year.
Following the failure of Baabul, Yash Raj Films cast
Mukerji in Siddharth Anand's family drama Ta Ra Rum Pum in the role of a
popular racing driver's (played by Saif Ali Khan) wife and the mother of two.
Mukerji was excited to play the part of a mother for the first time, and
modelled her character after her own mother. Released in 2007, the film was an
economic success, but received mixed reactions from the critics. Khalid Mohamed
hailed Mukerji's performance as "near flawless but Rajeev Masand thought
that neither she nor Khan "are able to make much of an impression because
their characters are so unidimensional and boring. The woman's film Laaga
Chunari Mein Daag from director Pradeep Sarkar was Mukerji's second release
that year. She described the film as a "journey of a girl into womanhood
and her sacrifices for her family. Her role (which earned her a Best Actress
nomination at Filmfare) was that of Vibhavari Sahay, a young girl of limited
means who is forced to moonlight as a prostitute to fend for her family. Jaya
Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Konkana Sen Sharma and Kunal Kapoor co-starred in
the film which released to poor box office returns and little praise from the critics.
The Indian Express noted that Mukerji was responsible for the film together,
even if her part, both as the ingénue and the hooker, doesn't have freshness.