Sonam

Sonam Biography

Sonam, also known as Sonam Rai is a Bollywood actress who was active from mid-1980s to mid-1990s and popularly known for glamorous roles. Though she worked only in a few movies, she is remembered for her stylist appearance and fashion consciousness at a time when Bollywood was not too glamorous. She was known as a sex symbol in the late 1980’s. She has also acted in a few Telugu movies. Sonam is married to famous film director Rajiv Rai, who directed action thrillers like Gupt, Tridev, Mohra and Vishwatma. Together they worked in Tridev and Vishwatma and they got married when Sonam was only 19. Successful film producer Gulshan Rai is her father-in-law. She is the niece of actor Raza Murad and great-niece of veteran actor Murad. Actress Sanober Kabir, who appeared in Mother 98 and later got married to actor Rajiv Singh is her cousin.  

Her real name is Bakhtawar Murad Khan and she was born in the year 1972. She later changed her name to Sonam to seek opportunities in Bollywood. In 1987, she acted in one Telugu film – Samat opposite Ramesh Babu. She was launched by Yash Chopra in the 1988 film Vijay. Multi-star cast movie Tridev released in 1989 was her first major hit. The movie was directed by her future husband Rajiv Rai and the movie turned out to be a blockbuster. The song - Tirchi Topi Wale was a huge hit in those days, and she was one among those featured actors of the song. She played the role of Renu in this movie. It was followed by another hit movie of same successful team – Vishwatma in 1992.   

In between her debut movie and Tridev, three movies were released titled - Aakhri Adaalat, Aakhri Ghulam and Aakhri Baazi. After the success of Tridev, she got many offers from Telugu cinema also. Kroadh, Ajooba, Ajooba Kudrat Ka and Baaz are other noted releases. However, after the release of Insaniyat in 1994, she quit industry. She married Rajiv Rai in 1992 and left India in 1997, following a life threat on her husband by underworld. The couple has one son. She has been a well-talked actress of Bollywood though her movies never created magic at box office.

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Updated: March 31, 2014