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Meet Soniya Mehra, daughter of Vinod Mehra

Following her father’s footsteps, this feisty teenager is making a foray into Bollywood.

Late Vinod Mehra's daughter Soniya Mehra has replaced Amrita Arora in Kamal Sadanah's remake of Victoria No. 203.

Soniya Mehra doesn’t have many fond memories of her late father, actor Vinod Mehra. She was just a child when her dad passed away. But she has heard numerous accounts of him by her mother Kiran Mehra. And Soniya claims that ever since she can remember, she wanted to act in movies, like her father.

Soniya was brought up in Kenya. She began learning dance at the young age of four and joined London Academy of Music and Arts when she was nine. By the time she was in her teens her mind was firmly made up to join Hindi film industry.

Basically, Soniya is trained in theatre acting. But when she came to Mumbai she joined Anupam Kher's acting school to learn the nuances of film acting.

It was Anupam Kher only who referred Soniya’s name to actor-turned-producer Kamal Sadanah when he was looking for an actress for the modern remake of Victoria No. 203.

The role originally went to Amrita Arora, who opted out of the project because of contractual problems. But the film was already on the floors and Sadanah needed an urgent replacement. It was then Anupam Kher gave him Soniya’s photos and told him that the girl has potential. Soniya was eventually signed for the movie.

In Victoria No. 203, Soniya plays the same role once enacted by legendary Saira Banu in the original movie. Anupam Kher (in the role played by Ashok Kumar) and Om Puri (in the role essayed by Pran) are the main actors. The film is directed by Ananth Mahadevan and also features Jimmy Shergill (in the role played by Navin Nishchol in the original).

So far Soniya has signed just this one film, but she is looking forward to work with some best directors of Hindi film industry.

posted by nK @ 7:54 PM Comments: 0