India’s first Fair & Lovely actress Neesha Singh: Why she quit films and what she does now

Before the era of social media casting, many actresses started their career with ads. Advertisements used to be a huge platform and made them a household face. Controversial but high selling beauty brand Fair & Lovely had such a face: Neesha Singh.

Neesha Singh: India’s first Fair & Lovely model who left stardom

Neesha is remembered to be in shows like Buniyaad, then India's first English language TV series called A Mouthful of Sky. She also starred in Bollywood films like Bazaar (1982) and Ankush (1986).

Born to Sikh parents, Neesha was a South Bombay girl with dreams of making it big in the film industry. In her early days, acting was never on Neesha's radar. But an opportunity came across when she starred in a video made in her college canteen. The video was a Hindustan Lever campaign which was directed by the legendary Alyque Padamsee, launching Fair & Lovely.

Her relationship with acting was never driven by the hunger that typically sustains long careers in the industry. She had admitted that performance was an interest for her, not an obsession. She worked steadily without the machinery of ambition that defines most film journeys. The industry noticed her even though she did not feel compelled to chase it.

Her co-star for Ankush was veteran actor Nana Patekar. He was initially taken aback by her casting. “Nana hated me on sight,” Neesha had said. “He looked at Chandra and said in Marathi, ‘Are you mad? How the hell do you think you can use this girl?’” But by the third day, after watching her reaction shots, he tapped her head and said, “Chal jayegi tu.”

After films, the actress then found love and success in TV, through which she became a household name. But right at the peak of her career, she quit. Neesha Singh got married and shifted to Singapore almost overnight. In 1991, the last few serials she had running, she had to be bumped off. Neesha said, "For me, acting was not a junoon, it was a shauk.”

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