New Delhi: The Khallas girl, actress Isha Koppikar has worked in the industry for nearly three decades. She made her film debut as a lead in 1998 with ‘Chandralekha’, a Telugu venture, before that she made an appearance in ‘W/o V. Vara Prasad’ (Telugu film) and gradually moved to Bollywood. In a recent interview with Hindi Rush, Isha recalled a scene from her debut movie Chandralekha, revealing she was slapped by Nagarjuna 14 times for a scene.
Isha Koppikar On Getting Slapped
She recalled the time and said, “I got slapped by Nagarjuna. I was a fully committed actor that I want to perform in a real, method way. So when he was slapping me, I couldn’t feel it. This was my second film, so I told him, ‘Nag, you really slap me.’ He said, ‘Are you sure? No, I can’t.’ I said, ‘I want that feeling. I am not feeling it right now.’ So he slapped me, but softly.”
Adding more, she said, “In an attempt to look angry, I got slapped 14 times. At the end, I literally had slap marks on my face. Bechara mujhe leke baitha, bola sorry. I said, ‘I asked for it, why are you saying sorry?’”
About Isha Koppikar’s Movie Career
She starred in ‘Kaadhal Kavithai’ in 1998, a Tamil film for which she even won the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. After starring a few Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language movies, Isha made her Bollywood debut in Karisma Kapoor-Hrithik Roshan starrer ‘Fiza’ in 2000. The film was directed by Khalid Mohamed. She then went on to star in the movies such as Rahul, Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, Aamdani Atthanni Kharcha Rupaiya in 2001.
But it was in 2002, Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Company’ marking Vivek Oberoi’s debut that Isha’s item song ‘Khallas’ became a chartbuster and she a rising popular star. Soon, she became the ‘Khallas’ girl, we know today.
Isha featured in several movies like Kaante, Pinjar, Dil Ka Rishta, Qayamat: City Under Threat, Darna Mana Hai, LOC Kargil, Rudraksh, Krishna Cottage, Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, Ek Vivaah… Aisa Bhi amongst various others.
Isha Koppikar got married to Timmy Narang, a businessman in 2009 and the couple has a daughter. However, they got divorced in 2023.
