Meet actress whose mother slapped her for bold photoshoot, worked with Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Sunny Deol, quit acting at peak of her career at 19 due to...

Born in 1972, Bakhtawar Khan is the granddaughter of late actor Murad and niece of actor Raza Murad known for his villainous roles. She made her acting debut at the age of 15 in the Telugu film Samrat in 1987. Bakhtawar was given her screen name Sonam by the legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra, who launched her in Bollywood in his 1988 action drama Vijay, in which she was paired opposite Rishi Kapoor. Sonam captivated the filmmakers with her beauty and charisma as she acted in a total of 20 movies in the next two years. She became known as the Oye Oye girl after the popular track Tirchi Topi Wale from the 1989 film Tridev. She worked with superstars Amitabh Bachchan, Sunny Deol, Chiranjeevi, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda in films Ajooba, Kroadh, Kodama Simham, Fateh, and Baaz, respectively.

However, Sonam's career was short-lived as she suddenly quit the film industry in 1991 after her marriage to director Rajiv Rai at the age of just 19 years. Rajiv, who is the son of producer Gulshan Rai and 17 years older than Sonam, had directed her in superhits Tridev and Vishwatma. She even became a mother to a son before she turned 20. Their son was diagnosed with autism and for his treatment, the couple moved abroad ad settled in Europe. Sonam and Rajiv separated in 2001 due to differences in their marriage, and eventually got officially divorced in 2016.

The actress returned to India a few years ago, is now quite active on Instagram and is looking to make her Bollywood comeback. Sonam shares glimpses of her personal life through photos and videos on social media, and sometimes, also shares some throwback pictures from her heydays in the industry. In November 2024, Khan shared a couple of photos from her bold photoshoot and revealed that her mother slapped her and tore the magazine after she saw those photos in the magazine. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sonam Khan (@sonamkhan_72)

"When I got a tight slap! I thought I was gonna look great and was wearing a skin colour short dress which was hidden by the tall grass around. So when the images came out, my mom came with the magazine and gave me a tight slap and tore the magazine up. I may have been bold at that time but my parents were always very protective about me. Nonetheless I was always a rebel with a cause. Atleast that’s what I thought", Sonam recalled.

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