Perhaps one of the most beautiful & underrated Bollywood actresses, Sonam was born on September 2, 1972 in Bombay. Her birth name is Bakhtawar, which means 'Fortunate One'. Since Bakhtawar is a Tibetan/Punjabi boys' name, she changed her name to Sonam, a name which stuck on, and is very popular in India. Even Bollywood actor, Anil Kapoor, has named his daughter Sonam.
Sonam rose to fame after the 1989 movie Tridev (1989), with the song "Oye Oye...Tirchi Topiwale.." on everyone's lips, tapes, videos, loudspeakers, and even whistles. This number actually carried the entire movie, and even popularized not only the rest of the cast, but all the other songs also. Sonam is remembered as the scantily/bikini young woman clad in a number of her movies.
Sonam is the niece of actor Raza Murad, and is the wife of film director Rajiv Rai, who directed her in Tridev and Vishwatma. Currently, Rajiv, Sonam and their only child are settled in the UK, where they were compelled to re-locate after a failed attempt to kill Rajiv by Bombay-based gangster, Abu Salem.
Sonam did attempt to make a come-back, in vain though, after Rajiv's opposed her move. He, however, continues to direct Bollywood films occasionally.
