Amisha's charismatic charm lies in her girl-next-door appeal. Daughter of Amit & and Asha Patel and the granddaughter of the famous Indian lawyer Rajni Patel, Amisha was born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth and was weaned on pageantry, pomp and glory. A profligate scion that she is, when Amisha decided to take acting as a career she was blazing path that no one in her family had ever tried before. She says her motto is, "You should never be too scared to achieve your dreams because they do come true." Surely Amisha's dream of becoming an actress has come true and now she is the dream girl to millions of her fans worldwide.

Becoming an actress had not always been Amisha's dream. In fact after completing her schooling she went to study in the US and at one point of time she was aiming to become a Biotech engineer. If anything she proved to be a brilliant student and even won a gold-medal in economics and graduated from Tufts University in Boston. During her time at Tufts, she taught a conversational Hindi class. Then she worked for a finance company and did some modeling in between. It was at this point of time that the acting bug caught up with her. She returned to India and in about a year's time she managed to avail herself the crucial parental consent for her to pursue an acting career.

She made a sensational debut in the film Kaho Na Pyaar Hai opposite Hrithik Roshan. The film became most talked about when it was released and Amisha found herself a star overnight. Hair flowing, and stunning in tight jeans and a halter-top, Amisha's performance in the film's title song and dance number won her a permanent space in the heart and mind of numerous male fans. Her posters depicting her in different scenes from the film sold like hotcakes and many critics started branding her as the hottest pin up girl. With her second film, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, Amisha delivered another winner at the box-office.

On heels of the success of Gadar came virulent controversy, which was not too unexpected considering the fact that the film's script revolved around an India-Pakistan relationship. About the controversy and the violent protests that followed Amisha says, "What are they protesting about? There is nothing anti-Hindu or anti-Islamic about the film. I received calls from Lahore and Karachi, telling me how much they loved the film there. A few even wanted to meet me, if they ever come to India. When Pakistanis have loved the movie, how can there be anything anti-Islamic about the it."

The controversy over the film had the opposite effect of further intensifying Amisha's brand as a film actress. After Gadar she was really in the big league and was aiming for the top slot. Rough and tumble in a scramble to reach the top can wither the hardiest of egos; if Amisha was scarred by the rat race then she did not show it. When asked to talk about her relationships, Amisha offers no double takes, no shocked gasps, no demurring. In fact at the height of the Gadar controversy she is known to have said, "Tomorrow if I fell for a Muslim man, I would marry him. Love is the essence of any religion."

But it is the hotshot Bollywood director Vikram Bhatt who has turned out to be the essence of Amisha's love story. The two plan to tie the knot soon. While this may crush a lot of male fantasies we're sure it won't impede on Amisha's rise to the top of the Bollywood.

Kaho Na Pyar Hai
The film that launched the careers of Amisha Patel and Hrithik Roshan