Twinkle Khanna

Twinkle Khanna (born 29 December 1973), also known as Tina Jatin Khanna, is an Indian author, columnist, interior designer, film producer, and former actress.

Khanna made her acting debut with the musical romance Barsaat (1995), which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

Khanna made her screen debut opposite Bobby Deol in Rajkumar Santoshi's musical romance Barsaat (1995).

She was cast by Dharmendra and before the film's release Khanna signed for two more projects.

It performed well at the box office and became the sixth-highest-grossing film of the year, and she received the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for her performance.

The following year she played lead roles in Raj Kanwar's action film Jaan and Lawrence D'Souza's romance Dil Tera Diwana opposite Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan respectively.

Jaan was a box office hit and Dil Tera Deewana failed to do well.

K.N. Vijiyan of the New Straits Times wrote that "Khanna does not look like a typical Hindi actress".

While reviewing Dil Tera Diwana, Vijiyan wrote about Khanna: "Unlike her previous movies, she looks really good in all her scenes and she can act well."

In 1997, two films featuring her; Uff! Yeh Mohabbat and Itihaas were released.

Both of these films were poor box office performers.

Khanna went onto appear in films such as Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai (1998), Seenu (1999), Baadshah (1999) and Joru Ka Ghulam (2000).

Her only release in 1998 was Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai, which featured her as Salman Khan's love interest and was a box office success.

Khanna acted opposite Akshay Kumar in two action films: International Khiladi and Zulmi (both 1999).

In the former she played a news reporter who falls in love with a criminal whom she interviews.

Both performed poorly at the box office.

She was paired with Daggubati Venkatesh in the Telugu film Seenu (1999).

Khanna played the lead role in Baadshah (1999), featuring Shah Rukh Khan as a detective.

In the same year, she acted opposite Saif Ali Khan in Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan, a romantic comedy directed by Mahesh Bhatt.

She was paired opposite Aamir Khan in Dharmesh Darshan's Mela (2000).

Similar to The Seven Samurai in story, it was an average grosser at the box office.

After Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega (2001), Khanna retired from films.

Twinkle Khanna was born on 29 December in Mumbai, the first of two daughters of veteran Hindi film actors Dimple Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna, with whom she shared her birthday.

Her maternal grandfather, Chunnibhai Kapadia was a Gujarati businessman and her father Rajesh Khanna, born in Punjabi Khatri Hindu family in Amritsar, Punjab, was from a family of railway contractors.

On her mother's side, she is the niece of Simple Kapadia, an actress and costume designer whom she "adored".

Her sister Rinke Khanna and cousin Karan Kapadia have also acted in films.

Khanna attended the New Era High School, Panchgani and the Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics.

After finishing her Class 12th, she wanted to pursue a career as a chartered accountant and took the entrance examination, but joined the film industry instead due to the insistence of her parents.

She later pursued a Master of Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London, graduating in 2024.

In 2015, Khanna released her first non-fiction book, Mrs Funnybones which was declared a bestseller, making Khanna India's highest-selling woman writer that year.

Khanna's second book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, a collection of short stories, one of which was based on social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, was later made into National Award winning feature film, Pad Man with the focus on dispelling taboos around menstruation.

It was produced under Khanna's production house Mrs. Funnybones Movies which was set up in 2016.

Her third book, Pyjamas Are Forgiving (Juggernaut Books, 2018) made her the highest-selling female author in India on 2018, according to Nielsen BookScan India.

Her fourth book, Welcome to Paradise was released in 2023 and received critical acclaim.

It was no. 1 position in fiction on the Nielsen BookScan and cemented its position at no. 1 on the Crossword bookstore bestseller list within a few weeks of publication.

In 2022, Twinkle Khanna went onto pursue her Masters in Fiction Writing at the Goldsmiths, University of London and completed her degree in 2023.

Her final dissertation received a distinction and got shortlisted for the Pat Kavanagh Prize.

In addition to this, Twinkle also launched Tweak India, a bilingual digital media platform for women and supports a number of causes.

She is a former film actress known for her work in Hindi films.