Birthday Special: Fatima was a popular child star before Dangal Beckoned her in Bollywood

Fatima Sana Shaikh turns 29 today. Since I have never met the pretty girl or interviewed her either as a child star or as an adult actress till date, I will not be able to reproduce an earlier interview of hers taken by me earlier but pen down a new article on her rise to fame after being a struggling side as well as a child artiste, to wish her a happy 29th birthday today on behalf of bollyy and Mayapuri. Jyothi Venkatesh

Fatima Sana Shaikh did a brief unaccredited cameo as child actor in the 1997 Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgn starrer.......

Though she was born in Hyderabad (now Telangana), in Andhra Pradesh to parents Vipan Sharma, a Hindu from Jammu and Raj Tabassum, a Muslim from Srinagar, baby Fatima Sana Shaikh did all her schooling and graduation here in aamchi Mumbai, though people feel that the sprightly young girl had made her debut with Dangal as an Aamir Khan discovery, where she epitomized the character of Geeta Phogat on screen, not many are aware of the fact that Fatima Fatima Sana Shaikh had actually made her debut as a child artist at a very young age. She did a brief unaccredited cameo as child actor in the 1997 Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgn starrer 'Ishq'.

The little girl had also acted in movies like 'Bade Dilwala'

    Fatima had also featured alongside Kamal Haasan in 'Chachi 420' the same year, in the role of his as well as Tabu’s young daughter Bharthi. This is not the end. The little girl had also acted in movies like 'Bade Dilwala' with Rishi Kapoor and the Shahrukh Khan starrer 'One 2 Ka 4', with Shah Rukh Khan, Jackie Shroff and Juhi Chawla besides the Telugu movie 'Nuvvu Nenu Okkatavudam', with actors like Ranjith Swamy, Sana, Ali, Venu, Jayaprakash etc at the age of 23 before she bagged Dangal.

After her stint as a child artiste, Fatima Sana Shaikh took a break from the movies to concentrate on her studies. After completing her studies, she was back to the showbiz. Although she did not bag any lead roles, she was seen doing small as well as side roles in films. Fatima was seen in films like ‘Tahaan’ (2008), ‘Bittoo Boss’ (2012) ‘Akaash Vani’ (2013) in which, believe it or not, Kartik Aryan and Nushrat Bharucha played the lead

Some of the pictures on her social media account still give us a glimpse of her credibility as a photographer

Success has not touched Fatima very easily and she has had to struggle a lot as an actor in the beginning. In fact, are you aware of the fact that Fatima had also tried her hand at everything and everywhere to reach the place she is in today, including TV serials like ‘Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo’ where she played the character of Suman besides the show ‘Ladies Special’ where she played the daughter of the protagonist in the show.

Resuming her acting career was not very easy for Fatima, who belonged to a very conservative family which has seen its own ups as well as downs and survived. Despite giving numerous auditions, the actress did not get work for a very long time. Instead of wasting her time, the actress started even working as a photographer. Some of the pictures on her social media account still give us a glimpse of her credibility as a photographer. The actress also assisted as a cinematographer for two ads.

Fatima also has immense knowledge of arts

Apart from being a good actor, Fatima is also a fabulous dancer. In fact, videos of her dancing with her ‘Dangal’ co-star Sanya Malhotra on her Instagram handle stands testimony to the same.Apart from photography and dancing, Fatima also has immense knowledge of arts. Her sketching and drawing are worth watching.

Fatima has followed up her phenomenally successful debut with Dangal , with massive flop like Thugs of Hindosthan as well as average hits like Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari and Anurag Basu’s Ludo which was beamed on the OTT platform Netflix and is now working in Bhoot Police with Saif Ali Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez