Pooja Bhatt - Actress-cum-film director

Pooja Bhatt born on February 24, 1972, to Mahesh Bhatt and Kiran Bhatt (aka Loraine Bright) is a retired Indian film actress, currently devoting time to film production and direction. She is the step daughter of Soni Razdan, an actress. She has a brother, Rahul Bhatt and step sisters Shaheen and Alia. Her cousin Mohit Suri is a film screenwriter-director. Emraan Hashmi is another famous cousin who is a Bollywood actor.

Following her father's footsteps, she has now began her career's second lease as a film director and producer, though she has acted in many films which were produced and directed by her father.

Bhatt made her acting debut at the tender age of 17, in 1989 with Daddy, a TV film directed by her father Mahesh Bhatt. In the film she portrayed a soul-searching teenage girl in an estranged relationship with her alcoholic father, played by actor Anupam Kher.

Her biggest hit and her big screen debut came with a musical hit, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991) opposite Aamir Khan which was a remake of the Oscar-winning Hollywood classic "It Happened One Night." Pooja received the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for the film.

Her most well-known films in the 1990s included, Sadak (1991), Junoon (1992), Tamanna (1996), a super-hit and multi-starrer Border(1997) and Zakhm (1998). Chaahat where she starred along side Shahrukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher released in 1996.

Her last film appearance was in Everybody Says I'm Fine! in 2001.She has since focused on producing and directing.She made her directorial debut with Paap in 2004, starring John Abraham and Udita Goswami, since then she has made two more directorial ventures, Holiday (2006) and Dhokha (2007).

On August 24, 2003, she married her long-time boyfriend and a former popular VJ of Indian music channel, Channel V, Munish Makhija aka Udham Singh.