Early and personal life

Chaudhry was born Ritu Chaudhry in Darjeeling to a Jat father and a Nepali-origin mother from Darjeeling. She attended Dow Hill in Kurseong till class X and later moved to Loreto College in Darjeeling. Initially in the 1990s, she appeared in TV ads of which most famous was for Pepsi with Aamir Khan and Aishwarya Rai. She was a VJ on music channels where she was noticed by Subhash Ghai. Ghai gave her a break in the movie Pardes, which was released in 1997. She won the Filmfare award for best debut for this movie.

She dated Indian tennis player Leander Paes before she broke up with him due to his affair with then-married Rhea Pillai. She married architect businessman Bobby Mukherji in 2006, but is currently separated from him. She has 8-year-old daughter Ariana from her marriage. In early 2015 she was in the news for having a Swiss bank account.

Acting career

During her acting career, Chaudhry has played a variety of roles, starting with a village girl in Pardes (1997). Her other roles were in Daag: The Fire (1999), where she played a dual role; in Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin (1999) she played a widow forced to marry her brother-in-law; in Dhadkan (2000) she is a loving friend of a man who is madly in love with another woman; in Deewane she plays a singer in love with a thief; in Kurukshetra she plays the stubborn wife of a police officer; in Lajja she plays a young bride forced to fight dowry; in Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar (2001) she plays a stubborn tenant who will not give up her home at any cost; in Om Jai Jagadish she is the loving homemaker; in Dil Hai Tumhaara she is the sister who would do anything for her sister's happiness; in Dobara she is the frustrated housewife; in The Film she is a desperate struggling screenwriter; in Zameer: The Fire Within she's a paralytic dancer, in Film Star she is an uptight arrogant fading actress; in Home Delivery (2005) she's a South Indian superstar; and in Souten: The Other Woman (2006) she plays a desperate housewife who has an affair with her stepdaughter's boyfriend.

Next to doing many films, she has worked with talented actresses, including Kajol, Shilpa Shetty, Amisha Patel, Urmila Matondkar, Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, Rekha, Preity Zinta, Tabu, Padmini Kolhapure, and Hema Malini. When she was asked about this, she responded by saying that she enjoyed working with other actresses, and she expressed her opinion to work with Juhi Chawla, her favorite actress.

In 2010, Chaudhary starred in a Knightsbridge Media Production film, Pusher, directed by Assad Raja, also starring comedian Mani Liaqat. She is currently shooting a thriller, MumBhai - The Gangsters, co-starring Om Puri and Sanjay Kapoor.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	Pardes	Kusum Ganga	Winner - Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Actress
1999	Manasulo Maata		Telugu film
	Dil Kya Kare	Kavita Kishore	Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress
	Daag: The Fire	Kajal Verma / Kajri
	Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin	Nisha
2000	Dhadkan	Sheetal Varma	Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress
	Deewane	Pooja	Guest Appearance
	Kurukshetra	Anjali P. Singh
	Khiladi 420	Ritu Bhardwaj
2001	Lajja	Maithili
	Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar	Saraswati
2002	Bharat Bhagya Vidhata
	Om Jai Jagadish	Ayesha
	Dil Hai Tumhaara	Nimmi
2003	Saaya	Tanya
	Tere Naam		Special Appearance in song "O Jaana"
	Baghban	Arpita Raj	Guest Appearance
	LOC Kargil	Reena Yadav
2004	Dobara	Dr. Anjali Sehgal
2005	Zameer: The Fire Within	Supriya Maheshwari
	The Film	Sushmita Banerjee
	Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye	Ghulab Khan
	Sehar	Anamika Kant
	Film Star	Heera Pandit
	Home Delivery	The Sensational Maya
	Bhagmati	Bhagmati	Animated (Provided Voice)
2006	Souten: The Other Woman	Mitali 'Mita' R. Singh
	Sandwich	Sweety S Singh
	Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana	Anjali
	Sarhad Paar	Simran
	Hope and a Little Sugar	Saloni
2008	Gumnaam - The Mystery	Ria
2015	Mumbhaii - The Gangster	Gangster's Wife	Filming
2016	Dark Chocolate	Ishani Banerjee

TV shows

• Ticket to Bollywood (judge) (NDTV Prime)

Awards and nominations

List of Acting Awards and Nominations

Year	Film	Award	Category	Result
1998	Pardes	Filmfare Award	Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut	Won
1998	Pardes	Filmfare Award	Filmfare Award for Best Actress	Nominated
1999	Dil Kya Kare	Filmfare Award	Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
2001	Dhadkan	Filmfare Award	Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
2001	Dhadkan	IIFA Awards	IIFA Best Supporting Actress Award	Nominated
2001	Dhadkan	Star Screen Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
2001	Dhadkan	Bollywood Movie Award	Best Supporting Actress	Won
2005	Dobara	Zee Cine Award	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]