Genelia D’Souza

Some Lesser Known Facts About Genelia D’Souza

• Does Genelia D’Souza smoke?: No

• Does Genelia D’Souza drink alcohol?: No

• She was born and raised into a Marathi-speaking Mangalorean Catholic Family in Mumbai.

  

• Her mother, Jeanette D’Souza, had to leave the post of the Managing Director of a Pharma Multinational corporation to help Genelia with her career.

  

• According to Genelia, her name is a portmanteau (a linguistic blend of words) of her parents- Jeanette and Neil. She furthers says that her name means “rare” or “unique.”

• Genelia completed her bachelor’s degree in Management Studies while shooting for her debut film, Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003.

• During her school and college days, she was a sports enthusiast and was a state level athlete and a national level football player.

  

• At the age of 15, Genelia had become a household name when she did a Parker Pen commercial with Amitabh Bachchan.

• She also gained wide attention when she did a Fair & Lovely advertisement during the 2003 Cricket Worl Cup.

• She signed three Telugu movies simultaneously at the age of 16.

• She made her Bollywood debut with Ritesh Deshmukh in the movie Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003.

• She dated Ritesh Deshmukh for a decade before tying the knot with him.

• The year 2006 proved to be a significant turning point in Genelia’s career; as she did two Telugu films in early 2006- Happy and Raam. The most successful film of her career “Bommarillu” was also released in the same year.

• After nearly five-year hiatus in Bollywood, Genelia made a comeback in Bollywood in June 2008 with the film “Mere Baap Pehle Aap.” However, the film failed at the box office.

• Her role of Aditi Mahant in the blockbuster Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na gained wide popularity. 

• Apart from doing lead roles in many films, Genelia also made cameo appearances in Jai Ho and Lai Bhaari in 2014.

• Genelia is also into philanthropy and is associated with “The Banyan,” a voluntary organization which rehabilitates homeless women with mental illness in Chennai.

• In 2009, Genelia was one of the judges at the grand finale of Gladrags Mega Model and Manhunt.

• Genelia D’Souza holds a Limca world record of delivering four different super hit films in four different languages- Ready (Telugu), Satya in Love (Kannada), Santosh Subramaniam (Tamil), and Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (Hindi) in a calendar year.

• Genelia has appeared in a number of popular TV commercials including Fanta, Chocolate Perk, Virgin Mobile India, Fastrack watches, LG mobiles, Garnier, and Dabur Vatika hair oil.