Divya Om Prakash Bharti Or As Known Divya Bharti, (25 February 1974 - 5 April 1993) was an Indian Bollywood Actress. She started her career in 1990 with Telugu films making her debut in Bobbili Raja. After several other hits in the South, she entered Hindi films with 'Vishwatma' in 1992 as her debut film, where she earned accolades for performing the song Saat Samundar Paar. She appeared in more than 14 Hindi films between 1992 and 1993 - a world record for a newcomer. She married Sajid Nadiadwala in May 1992. Her career was cut short by her tragic death in April 1993 at the age of 19. She had just turned nineteen in february of that year.The investigation into the circumstances of her death was closed in 1998, and the exact nature of her death still remains a mystery.
Early Struggle 1988
Divya was in the ninth grade when she began to get film offers. Her face resembled to those days' superstar Sridevi and so got noticed by many directors and producers. At first her parents were hesitant, till Nandu Tolani offered her Gunahon Ka Devta around mid 1988. Divya was 14 and a half at that time.
Meanwhile, Divya learned via a friend that Dalip Shankar wanted a new girl opposite Aamir Khan in Aatank Hi Aatank and Rudra Avtaar. By her parents permission, Divya signed both films. During those time, Kirti Kumar, Govinda's brother noticed the charming Divya at a video library. He followed her to her residence and then he called up the director Nandu Tolani, who resides in the next building and asked about Divya.
Radha Ka Sangam Episode
The next thing the Bhartis knew was that Kirti Kumar was eager to sign Divya for Radha Ka Sangam opposite Govinda. Kirti went personally to meet Dalip Shankar and managed to release her from their contract. Kirti quoted in March 1989 in Showtime Magazine "I told Dalip that he could take any girl, but he'd never be able to find another Radha"[citation needed]. Kirti changed her name from Divya to Radha. Producer Kirti launched her with much fanfare. He gave interviews on how he had found his perfect Radha after scouring whole of India for her. And then before the first shot was taken, Divya "Radha" Bharti was out of the film after being groomed for two years and replaced by Juhi Chawla. The reasons each side gave for the fall-out were different. Various Magazines wrote different things behind dropped out. Some said "Kirti became over-possessive about her", others said "Lawrence D'souza, who was to direct the film, left the project. Then Kirti decided to take over the film. Being new to direction, he had to drop Divya because he felt he could not handle a newcomer", other magazines wrote Divya was having an affair with Govinda and the smitten, jealous Kirti couldn't tolerate that. Others wrote It was Divya's immaturity, which made her drop out of film.
Re-struggle
And that was the green signal for other film makers to enter the fray. She was screen-tested by big names Boney Kapoor, Shabnam Kapoor, Shekhar Kapoor and Subhash Ghai. They all raved about her but no one signed her, there were rumor that it was her childish reputation had preceded her. In magazines, she had earned a name for being wild and crazy. In fact, for his big budget film Prem, Boney Kapoor signed Divya. Eight days later, Divya was out and Tabu was re-signed. Later Subhash Ghai too called her for Saudagar opposite Aamir Khan and 20 days later she was out and he signed Manisha Koirala and Vivek Mushran. By then, the rejection had affected fifteen years old Divya. Since she was already out of school, they would not accept her back. As result, she was forced to sit idle. Fortunately, One of the biggest producer of Telugu cinema, D. Ramanaidu landed up at Divya's doorstep. He offered Divya , Bobbili Raja, a telugu film opposite Daggubati Venkatesh. Immediately, Divya got a Tamil Film and Rajiv Rai approached her for Vishwatma.
Rise to Stardom in Telugu Cinema 1990 - 1992
After being dropped out of so many Big Projects, Divya got depressed and left Mumbai. On the evening of her return, the producer of Bobbili Raja approached her for his upcoming project. They wanted Divya to fly down the same night. As Divya quoted in the Nov 1991 "Movie" magazine, "I didn't want to go. I said no but mummy said yes. Imagine, the film became a super-hit and i became a superstar". The move paid off. Bobbili Raja released in the summer of 1990 became a colossal hit. She had captured the south by storm, and she was a goddess there. Even a temple had been built in her name. With more hits, she became a big name in Telugu cinema. In box-office rating, she figured next only to the indomitable Vijayshanti. Her price, according to an insider, had touched a whopping 25 Lakhs per film and 1 lakh per each additional day (If shooting postponed south producers were paying 15 lakhs for 15 days) , which was a big amount in 1991. In Bollywood, only Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi were getting those kinds of price. In 1991 Divya gave back-to-back hits including Rowdy Alludu, Dharma Kshetram and Assembly Rowdy opposite superstars of Telugu cinema including Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna and Mohan Babu. In north India, she was known as the Sridevi of Telugu films. But, that was not what Divya was looking for. She wanted to make it big in Mumbai. And she was back with fresh determination. Meanwhile, She didn't want to disappoint her Telugu audience and she cut down to do one movie per year.
Rise to Stardom in Bollywood 1992 - 1993
When Divya heard that Rajiv Rai was on the lookout for a new face for his film Vishwatma opposite Sunny Deol, she daringly walked into Rajiv Rai's office with her portfolio. And the same day signed the film. Rajiv was making the sequel to his Blockbuster film Tridev.
The film was produced by Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd. is one of the biggest and oldest film production. Vishwatma was launched in the late 1990 with grand mahurat. Film actor Dharamendra gave the mahurat shot. Soon Divya was left for long outdoor shooting in Nairobi. By the time Divya came back, film offers started pouring up in Divya's lap. Without single release so far, Divya signed 14 films.
2 January 1992 was a big day for Divya. She had many reasons for wanting the film to be successful. Vishwatma did do well however the film's success didn't come close to that of Tridev and the film was declared an average grosser. Notably, the film's most popular song "Saat Samundar Paar", which was picturized with Divya, became a hit and even today the audience remembers Divya in that song.
Seven days later, Divya's musical bonanzas Dil Ka Kya Kasoor released. It was supposed to establish her as popular heroine but opened to empty theaters. No one expected film to bomb so badly. Although, the film failed to impress an audience, Filmfare magazines started including Diyva in the list of 1992 top ten best actress performances. Surprisingly, even when other now-well known newcomers was introducing to showbiz), Divya collapsed debut made a magazine headline, when many actress included Madhoo in Phool aur Kaante and Chandni in Sanam Bewafa super hit films didn't made them star, Divya's flops made her star. Divya defended herself by quoted, " I wanted to prove myself. But, I've fallen flat on my face. Now, I have to begun my climb all over again. Yet, I'm positive that one day success will be mine", (Stardust, March 1992).
And, Thus Divya too was deleted from the ranks of the promising newcomers for a while. Then Pehlaj Nihlani's Shola Aur Shabnam came along. The film proved a box office hit and Divya was riding high again. Not only did it present Divya in a noble character, but also gave big boost to Govinda's career and launched David Dhawan as established director.
Four Months later, Raj Kanwar's love story Deewana became the biggest hit of 1992, where she held her own against veteran Rishi Kapoor and the debutant Shahrukh Khan, who later went on to become Bollywood superstar and an icon of Indian Cinema. With the super success of Deewana, Divya got rid of her promising newcomer status and entered the A-list. Her performance in Deewana was highly appreciated. Around that time, Divya's other films Balwaan with another debutant Sunil Shetty and Jaan Se Pyaara with Govinda released and did well at the box office. By the end of the year, Hema Malini's Dil Aashna Hai released, in which Divya played a bar dancer, who searches for her birth mother. Although the film was a box-office failure, her performance in the film was much appreciated by critics.
Suddenly, with big hits under her belt, Divya had become the hottest property in showbiz. And many predicted that she was poised to hit the number one slot not very far. In fact, In September,'Movie' magazines such as "Movie", "Stardust" an "Filmfare" putnher at the 3rd position actress by the bases of price, popularity and position right after Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi.
Do you think that if Divya Bharati was alive she could have Overtaken success of Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi?
