Sonali Bendre

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sonali Bendre

• Does Sonali Bendre smoke?: No

• Does Sonali Bendre drink alcohol?: Not Known

• Sonali was born into a middle-class Marathi family and was raised in a strict household. 

• She travelled throughout her childhood; as her father used to work in Central Public Works Department (CPWD), and used to get transferred to a new city after every 2-3 years, due to which, Sonali never got a chance to make longterm friends.

• She never thought of doing modelling, but destiny had some other plans for her. During a fashion show at her college, the girl who was supposed to the ramp walk couldn’t make it, after which Sonali was asked to replace her. It was a tough ask for her as until that time she never wore a heel. Luckily, she did well and even won the first prize, after which she started getting modelling offers. 

• She was discovered by filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt during a modelling assignment.

• Though she started her acting career with Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Naaraaz’ (1994), her second film ‘Aag’ (1994) was released first.

• She first met her husband on the sets of ‘Naaraaz’ (1994); as he was producing Mahesh Bhatt’s upcoming film ‘Angaaray’ (1998). It was one-sided love for him but with time they became friends and after a courtship of 5 years, they got married in 2002.

• In the late 1990s, she was immensely popular despite not having many hits and bagged films with the A-list stars and banners, mainly because of her gorgeous looks.

• According to reports, she was the highest paid TV actor in 2014; as she allegedly charged ₹4 lakh per day to be part of Life OK’s show ‘Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh.’

• She has always been a voracious reader, and in 2015, she released her first book ‘The Modern Gurukul: My Experiment with Parenting,’ through which she shared her experiences and challenges as a first-time mother. 

• In 2017, she started a digital club called ‘Sonali’s Book Club’ to encourage reading habit.

• She is an avid dog lover. 

• She is allergic to perfumes.

• The interior designing of her Juhu apartment was done by her close friend Sussanne Khan, designer duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla. 

• In July 2018, she tweeted about the news that she has been diagnosed with high-grade metastatic cancer.