Monica Dogra

Monica Dogra Biography

Monica Dogra is an American singer and actress of Indian origin. She is best known as the lead heroine of Dhobi Ghat. The movie marked her acting debut as well as Kiran Rao’s directorial debut. The movie was co-produced by Aamir Khan. She played the role of an American banker who reaches Mumbai to devote time to her hobby - photography. Prateik Babbar played lead role opposite her. Initially she was not at all interested in giving auditions for the movie. As a Bollywood playback singer, "Dooriyan Bhi Hai Zaroori” of Break ke baad and Theme song of Inkaar are the noted songs. She is a professional singer and an artist of Mumbai-based electro rock duo Shaa'ir and Func and has toured 20 countries with the band in the past 4 years. She is living in Mumbai for the past 5 years. In March 2014, she was featured on the Cover page of FHM Magazine.

She is the daughter of Kashmiri immigrants. She was raised in Maryland and since childhood she listened to Lata Mangeshkar songs, Hindu devotional songs and ghazals. She is trained in musical theater, dance, drama and voice from NYU. She completed graduation in Music in 2004 from NYU. Sreetama Ghosh, a noted vocalist is her inspiration.

‘New Day: The Love Album’ (2007) was her first released album with her new music band. ‘Rock on’ was her first Bollywood movie in which she made a friendly appearance. Same year Kiran Rao approached her with the lead role of Dhobi Ghat. She initially didn’t accept the role, though she has been a great fan of Aamir Khan. In 2013, her second Bollywood movie, David was released.

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Updated: May 13, 2014