Divya Bharti

In 1988, Bharti, then a ninth-grader, was signed by filmmaker Nandu Tolani for one of his films. She was originally scheduled to make her screen debut in Gunahon Ka Devta in 1988, but her role was cancelled and she was replaced by Sangeeta Bijlani.[11] Kirti Kumar (Govinda's brother) noticed Bharti at a video library, and was eager to sign her for his project Radha Ka Sangam opposite Govinda. Kumar met with director Dilip Shankar and managed to release Bharti from her contract. After taking dancing and acting lessons for months to prepare for her role, Bharti was dropped and replaced by Juhi Chawla. It was speculated that Kumar's possessiveness over Bharti and her childish nature were the cause of her replacement.[12] Bharti's career was stalled until D. Ramanaidu, a Telugu film producer, offered her a leading role in the film Bobbili Raja opposite his son Daggubati Venkatesh. She commenced shooting in Andhra Pradesh for her screen debut. The film was released in the summer of 1990 and became a hit.[13] Bobbili Raja remains one of the most popular and iconic Telugu movies.[14] Later in the year, Bharti acted in a Tamil film, Nila Pennae, opposite Anand. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.[15]

In box office ratings, Bharti ranked next to Vijayashanti who has been widely called The Lady Superstar and Lady Amitabh of South Indian cinema. In 1991, Bharti had back-to-back hits with action comedy film Rowdy Alludu and drama Assembly Rowdy opposite actors Chiranjeevi and Mohan Babu, respectively.[16][17] Later that year, Bharti began filming A. Kodandarami Reddy's action romance Dharma Kshetram under Sri Rajeev Productions. Bharti got to work with Telugu film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna.[18]

While Bharti celebrated her success in Andhra Pradesh, Bollywood's top directors were eager to sign her for films. Bharti's first Bollywood film was Rajiv Rai's 1992 film Vishwatma. In an interview to Filmfare, she said that she liked her role as Kusum, Sunny Deol's love interest, in the film, describing it as a "very good role".[19] The film was an average box office performer but gained Bharti wider recognition from the public as well as film critics.[20][21] Bharti was most notable for the song used in the film Saat Samundar.[22] A week later, Bharti's next film, Lawrence D'Souza's romantic drama Dil Ka Kya Kasoor, in which she starred alongside Prithvi, was released.[23] The film was not a box office success but was recognized for its music.[24]

In March 1992, David Dhawan's romantic action drama Shola Aur Shabnam was released. It was popular with critics and was a box office hit in India, marking Bharti's first major hit in Bollywood.[26][27] She achieved further success in Raj Kanwar's Filmfare Award-winning love story Deewana, which starred veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and newcomer Shahrukh Khan. It was one of the biggest hits of 1992.[28] Her performance in Deewana was highly appreciated.[29] Critics reported that Bharti belonged to a new breed of Hindi film actors who broke away from character stereotypes. Bharti won the Filmfare Award for Lux New Face of the Year.[24] By July 1992, Bharti's work in Deewana was said to have earned her more recognition.[30]

She had several Hindi releases that year—the action drama Jaan Se Pyaara, which featured Bharti alongside Govinda once again,[31] romantic drama Geet opposite Avinash Wadhawan, action Dushman Zamana alongside Armaan Kohli, and action drama Balwaan, which marked the debut of Suniel Shetty.[32][33] The latter achieved moderate success. In October, she appeared in Hema Malini's romantic drama Dil Aashna Hai, which did not do as well at the box office. She portrayed a bar dancer who sets out to find her birth mother. The role earned her critical appreciation.[34] Bharti decided to act in one Telugu movie per year to not disappoint her Telugu audience. Chittemma Mogudu was released in early 1993, again starring the popular couple of Bharti and Mohan Babu.[35] In the last film to be released during her lifetime, the ensemble film Kshatriya, she co-starred alongside Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon. It was released on 26 March 1993.[36]

Bharti was replaced in films she had not completed, including Mohra (played by Raveena Tandon), Kartavya (played by Juhi Chawla), Vijaypath (played by Tabu), Dilwale (played by Raveena Tandon), and Andolan (played by Mamta Kulkarni).[37][38][39][40] She was more than halfway through the filming of Laadla at the time of her death and the movie was reshot with Sridevi portraying the role.[41]

Shortly before her death, she had completed filming for Rang and Shatranj; these were released posthumously on 7 July 1993 and 17 December 1993 respectively and achieved moderate success.[42][43] Although she had completed filming her scenes for both films, a dubbing artist was used as she never got the chance to dub for the films. Her incomplete Telugu film Tholi Muddhu was partly completed by actress Rambha, who slightly resembled Bharti and hence was used as her body double to complete her remaining scenes; the film was released in October 1993.[44]