Nafisa Ali

Nafisa Ali
Born	Nafisa Ali 8 January 1957 (1957-01-08) (age 54) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other names	Nafisa Ali Sodhi
Occupation	Actress, model, Politician
Years active	1979–present
Website
http://www.nafisaali.com

Nafisa Ali (Urdu: نفیسہ علی )(born 18 January 1957) is an actress and social activist from India.

Early life

Nafisa Ali was born to photographer, Ahmed Ali, son of S. Wajid Ali and brother of Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah. Her mother's name is Philomena Torresan, who is now settled in Australia.^[1]

She went to Sr. Cambridge from La Martinere Girls, Calcutta.^[2] She has also studied Vedanta taught by Swami Chinmayananda, who started the center Chinmaya Mission of World Understanding.

Her husband is the renowned Polo player and Arjuna awardee, retired Col R.S. Sodhi. After marriage she chose to be a wife and take care of her three children: daughters Armana, Pia and son Ajit.^[1] After a break of 18 years she returned to the film industry.

Career

Nafisa Ali has accomplishments in several fields. She was the national swimming champion from 1972-1974. She won the Miss India title in 1976 and was runner-up at the Miss International contest in 1977. Ali was also a jockey at the Calcutta Gymkhana in 1979.

Acting career

She has acted in several Bollywood films, the notable ones being Junoon (1979) with Shashi Kapoor and Major Saab with Amitabh Bachchan (1998), Bewafaa (2005) and Life In A... Metro with Dharmendra in 2007. Now she has also appeared recently in the film Yamla Pagla Deewana (2010).

She has also acted in a Malayalam film called Big B (2007) with Mammootty. She is associated with Action India, an organisation working to spread AIDS awareness.

Political career

Nafisa Ali contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully from South Kolkata.

On 5 April 2009, she contested the Lok Sabha election from Lucknow on the Samajwadi Party ticket after Sanjay Dutt's disqualification by the Supreme Court on the basis of a prior conviction.

She then rejoined Congress party in November 2009 and apologised to Sonia Gandhi for contesting on SP ticket.^[3]

Personal life

She is married to Colonel R. S. Sodhi, a polo player who won the Arjuna Award. He is presently a real-estate developer.^[2]

In September 2005, she was appointed the chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI).

See also

• List of Indian women athletes

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Rival has no clue about Nafisa's secret weapon". http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/india/Rival-has-no-clue-about-Nafisa-s-secret-weapon/Article1-399100.aspx. 
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.cfsindia.org/nafisa-ali.html
3. ^ http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?668939

External links

• Nafisa Ali at the Internet Movie Database
• An interview with Nafisa Ali
• A write-up on Nafisa Ali
• Nafeesa Ali's website

Preceded by Meenakshi Kurpad

Miss India 1976

Succeeded by Nalini Vishwanathan

Persondata
Name	Ali, Nafisa
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	8 January 1957
Place of birth	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Date of death
Place of death