Rati Agnihotri

Rati Agnihotri was born on December 10, 1960 to a Punjabi family in Bombay, India, and has an older sister and brother. Although, she came from a traditional, conservative family, she was allowed to model at age 10, since her sister Anita was a Miss Young India. When she was a teenager, her father relocated the family to Madras, Tamil Nadu because of his job. There, she attended Good Shepherd's Convent school and acted in a school play. Bharati Raja, one of Tamil Nadu's famous film director, was in the audience and was on the lookout for a heroine to star in his new film. He met with Rati's father and promised the film would wrap in a month. Her father reluctantly agreed, and a sixteen-year-old Rati was very excited to star in her first film, Pudhiya Varpukal (1979). It was also her hero Bhagyaraj's first film, and he coached her with her lines by teaching her Tamil. The film became a blockbuster, with Rati an overnight sensation. Bharati Raja soon directed her in her second film, Neer