Isha Koppikar (born 19 September 1976) is an Indian actress, politician andmodel who has acted mainly inHindi films, but also inTamil,Kannada,Telugu, andMarathi films. She started her career inSouth Indian languages films in the second half of the 1990s and focused onBollywood films in the early 2000s.

Isha Koppikar
Koppikar in 2025
Born	(1976-09-19)19 September 1976 (age 48) Bombay,Maharashtra, India
Occupations	Actress politician model
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	Timmy Narang ​ ​ (m. 2009;div. 2023)​
Children	1

Koppikar was born on 19 September 1976 in Mahim, Bombay (nowMumbai) in aKonkani family.^[1][2] She has one younger brother. She graduated in Life Sciences atRamnarain Ruia College inMumbai. While at college she appeared in a photoshoot for Indian photographerGautam Rajadhyaksha. The shoot led to work in advertising as a model, notably forL'Oréal,Rexona,Camay,Tips & Toes andCoca-Cola. Koppikar competed in the 1995Miss India contest, winning the Miss Talent Crown.^[3] Her modelling work gave her an introduction to the film industry and to her first film appearance in the Telugu movieW/o V. Vara Prasad in 1997.^[3]

The 1998Hindi filmEk Tha Dil Ek Thi Dhadkan, directed by Shahrukh Sultan, is often stated to be Koppikar's first film, but there is no evidence the project was ever released.^[3] Her career must therefore be said to have begun with the 1997 Telugu filmW/o V. Vara Prasad, in which she appeared in a song with actor Vineeth. Her first movie in Tamil wasKadhal Kavidhai costarring Prashanth for which she won theFilmfare Best Female Debut Award. Her next Tamil movie wasEn Swasa Kaatre (1998) oppositeArvind Swamy, directed byK. S. Ravi, with music byA. R. Rahman followed by a cameo appearance inPraveen Gandhi'sJodi starringPrashanth andSimran. In 1999, Koppikar starred inNenjinile starringVijay and directed byS. A. Chandrasekhar.^[4]

By 2000, Koppikar's sights were onBollywood, but this did not stop her from appearing in threeKannada films with the ruling Sandalwood stars of the time:Hoo Anthiya Uhoo Anthiya withRamesh,O Nanna Nalle withRavichandran andSurya Vamsha oppositeVishnuvardhan.

After a brief appearance in Bollywood'sFiza andRahul, she came back to the south in 2001 forSundar C's Tamil projectKaathal Solla Vanthen; the movie never took off.^[5] Koppikar's last two films down South wereTelugu comedyPrematho Raa starringVenkatesh and Simran, and directed byUday Shankar, andNarasimha starringVijayakanth.^[6]

In 2000, Koppikar started her Bollywood career with a small role alongsideKarisma Kapoor andHrithik Roshan inKhalid Mohamed'sFiza and an item number appearance inPrakash Jha'sRahul. In 2001 she made her full-fledged Bollywood debut withRajiv Rai'sPyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, starringArjun Rampal andSunil Shetty where she was paired with Shetty. Her next release wasK. Raghavendra Rao's urban comedyAamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa oppositeGovinda.^[7]

In 2002, Koppikar appeared in an item number inRam Gopal Verma's underworld movieCompany starringAjay Devgan,Vivek Oberoi andManisha Koirala. The chartbusting item number choreographed byGanesh Hegde earned her title ofKhallas Girl. Another notable item numberIshq Samundar, inSanjay Gupta'sReservoir Dogs remakeKaante starringAmitabh Bachchan,Sanjay Dutt andSunil Shetty, raised her profile higher. She also won theStardust Award for theMost Exciting New Face for herKhallas number.^[8]

She had six releases in 2003. InTujhe Meri Kasam, she made an item number in the songThodi Si Deewani withRiteish Deshmukh. InDil Ka Rishta, she starred oppositeArjun Rampal andAishwarya Rai.Prawaal Raman's portmanteau filmDarna Mana Hai saw her oppositeAftab Shivdasani.Chandraprakash Dwivedi cast her alongsideUrmila Matondkar andManoj Bajpai in the critically acclaimedPinjar which went on to win theNational Film Award forBest Feature Film on National Integration.^[9] A brief role inJ. P. Dutta's war movieLOC Kargil paired her opposite Sunil Shetty again. And inHarry Baweja'sQayamat: City Under Threat, she played one of three terrorists fighting off co-stars Ajay Devgan and Sunil Shetty; a role which earned her aFilmfare nomination in theBest Villain category.^[10]

She had six releases in 2004. BothMani Shankar's science fantasyRudraksh andKundan Shah's madcap comedyEk Se Bhadkhar Ek teamed her withSunil Shetty. InKrishna Cottage, she was cast oppositeSohail Khan for a creepy ghost story.Inteqam, directed byPankaj Parashar and co-starringManoj Bajpai, saw her revive the role played bySharon Stone in the originalHollywood version:Basic Instinct. She made a cameo appearance inKunal Kohli'sHum Tum withSaif Ali Khan andRani Mukerji. And played the leading role inKaran Razdan's –Girlfriend withAmrita Arora andAashish Chaudhary. The controversial film depicting a lesbian relationship provoked a wide range of public protests.^[11]

In 2005, she had four releases.Sangeeth Sivan's bawdy comedyKyaa Kool Hai Hum withAnupam Kher,Ritesh Deshmukh andTusshar Kapoor saw her getting nominated in three separate award ceremonies (IIFA,Zee Cine Award andStar Screen Awards) for best actor in a comedy role.^[12] Two more comedies saw her make guest appearances:David Dhawan'sSalman Khan vehicleMaine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, andAbbas–Mustan's whodunit,36 China Town withAkshaye Khanna andKareena Kapoor. She also starred inRam Gopal Varma's gangster flickD: Underworld Badhshah alongsideRandeep Hooda andChunky Pandey.^[13]

In 2006Farhan Akhtar directed a remake of theAmitabh Bachchan hitDon: The Chase Begins Again withShahrukh Khan in the lead. Koppikar was cast as Khan's girlfriend 'Anita'.Don's tremendous success however did not benefit her checkered career. Vicky Ranawat'sHaseena Smart Sexy and Dangerous managed a release towards the end of 2006, but Jagdish A Sharma's murder mysteryGahraee^[14] appeared directly on DVD whileHansal Mehta'sRaakh andJahnu Barua'sHar Pal were shelved.Ram Gopal Varma's much discussedShabri^[10]- struggled to attract a distributor.

Koppikar's high-profile film of 2007,Nikhil Advani'sSalaam-e-Ishq, had her sharing limited screen time withSohail Khan. Later in the year came the haunted love triangle,Ram Gopal Varma'sDarling, withFardeen Khan andEsha Deol. Koppikar's first film release of 2008 wasAtul Agnihotri'sHello, based on the best-selling novelOne Night @ the Call Center byChetan Bhagat. This was followed byEk Vivaah... Aisa Bhi, a Rajshri Production directed by Kaushik Ghatak and co-starringSonu Sood.^[15]

Koppikar married Timmy Narang in 2009. She had two releases in 2010:Right Yaaa Wrong by Neeraj Pathak and Manoj Tiwari'sHello Darling. Both films fared poorly at the box office.^[16][17]

Shabri, where she played a woman gangster ofMumbai, was eventually released in 2011.^[18] Her performance was praised but the film only had a limited release and failed to make an impact at the box office.^[19]

In 2013, she made herMarathi debut inMaat, directed by Manohar Sarvankar. In 2017, she makes her comeback in Telugu withKeshava followed by the Marathi film,FU: Friendship Unlimited. The following year, she is seen in the Kannada films,Looty andKavacha.^[20] She made her digital debut with theALTBalaji web series titledFixerr (2019) where she plays the role of sub-inspector Jayanti Javdekar, who lives in a modest house with her young son and husband.^[21] Later, she was also seen in the crime thriller seriesDahanam (2022).^[22] She also acted in the thriller web seriesSuranga (2022) withRakesh Bedi andFredy Daruwala, co-produced by Kaushik Izardar and others.^[23][24] Isha Koppikar, who is returning to Tamil cinema after two decades, will be seen playing an assassin inSivakarthikeyan's science-fiction filmAyalaan (2024).^[25]

She joined theBharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union ministerNitin Gadkari. She has been appointed as the working president of the BJP's women transport wing.^[26]

Between filming Koppikar, like manyBollywood actors, performs in stage music shows. In addition to this she has appeared in two music videos:Patli Kamar byKK for a private album commissioned bySony in 2001/2002; andBandish Projekt'sBhor (Satyam Shivam Sundaram) in 2004, choreographed byBosco-Caesar. In 2006 she appeared onstage in theIndian Idol Grand Final to dance with the two finalists, and 2007 saw her as one of three judges in the celebrity dance competitionNach Baliye 3, alongside directorDavid Dhawan andVaibhavi Merchant. She had also owned a restaurant back in 2015. She served as a judge in theMiss Universe 2008 contest, held on 14 July inVietnam alongside, amongst others, fashion designer Roberto Cavalli and former winner in 2004 Jennifer Hawkins. In August 2009, she presented the newColors wrestling show100% De Dana Dan.^[27]

She continues to model for fashion designersAnita Dongre and Pria Kataria Puri. In 2007, she became the Indian brand ambassador of the Italian fashion companyPolice Time and Jewellery.^[28] Koppikar is also a spokesperson for the animal rights organisationPETA^[29] and received the 10th Anniversary Humanitarian Award in December 2009.^[30]

Koppikar has a black-belt inTaekwondo.^[31]

Following the advice of numerologists, she has changed the spelling of her name twice, first to Ishaa Koppikar and later to Eesha Koppikhar. However, as of 2015 she has reverted to the original spelling of her name.^[32]

Isha married Timmy Narang, a businessman, on 29 November 2009 and has a daughter. However they were divorced on 29 November 2023.

• Isha Koppikar atIMDb
• Eesha Koppikhar atBollywood Hungama
• Isha Koppikar onTwitter