Half-Indian, famous worldwide

INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK / Sep 1, 2005, 12:12 IST

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Meet some young and successful women, half-Indian, who live life on their terms and emerge winners.

One is a hot model, splashed over billboards and magazine covers around the globe, the other is a model-singer-actress making a mark for herself in Singapore. Identical twin sisters who dance with snakes around their belly and are spotted at high-profile events and a singer who swiped many awards at the Grammy Awards.

Half-Indian women who are setting the world crazy
These are some young and successful women who live life on their terms and emerge winners, what so ever.

All of them have one thing in common though: They are all half-Indian. Get set to see the Indians who are making a worldwide impact.

They are the ��Belly Twins��, identical Punjabi vixens who have made a mark for themselves thanks to their unique belly dancing acts performed with snakes. They can be spotted at A-list dos like wedding of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt; Ozzy Osbourne's 50th birthday party.

Neena and Veena: The Punjabi punch
They have also been seen in videos for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ricky Martin, Dr. Dre and Michael Jackson; at the Academy Awards, and on the pages of Cosmopolitan, Vogue and People. Their dad is half-Indian and half-Middle Eastern and the twins have dropped their last name. They have been voted as America's ��Sexiest Twins��.

She is being touted as the breakout actor of 2005. Twenty-four-year-old Navi Rawat, born in Malibu and presently living in Los Angeles, is half-Indian and half-German. A graduate of New York University��s Tisch School of the Arts, Rawat is gaining prominence with her role as Amita Ramanujan in Numb3rs

Navi Rawat: Feast your eyes
Before this, she starred in 24 and The OC and played Ben Kingsley��s daughter in House of Sand and Fog. Rawat says her unique looks have helped her bag unique roles. She plays the lead role in Feast, due to release next year.
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She��s one of the hottest models around. In her official web site, Saira says: ��... I love to paint oil-on canvas - with my nude body as the brush ... My mother is French-Irish-Canadian and my father is Punjabi. Although I'm not completely clear on what ethnicity that makes me, I love who I am inside.��

Saira Mohan: The sexy thing
Mohan has been splashed on the cover of Newsweek as the global face of beauty. When asked what people would be most surprised to know about her, she said, ��I spoke at The World Economic Forum.��
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This 30-year-old model-singer-actress from Singapore has an Indian father and a Chinese mother. Her first big break came in 1997 when Aaron Kwok picked her to be in his music video. She went on to star in the series Threshold of an Era and had major roles in the movies Bullets Over Summer and Skyline Cruisers.

Michelle Saram: Straight from Singapore
In 2000, she released her first Mandarin solo album titled Upfront. Her role of Ye Sha in Meteor Garden II won her a lot of recognition.
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She was the original live action Lara Croft model for Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider video game series. Her father Antony Mitra is half-Indian and half-English, and mother Nora is Irish.

Rhona Mitra: The 'real' Lara Croft
"It's a confusing heritage. I never know if I want to be running across the fields with no clothes on or sitting in the pub drinking Guinness," she has been quoted as saying about her Indo-Irish background. From video games to raunchy scenes on TV serials, Mitra has expanded. She is now considered much more than just a hot model. She played the character of Tara Wilson in the hit TV series The Practice.
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This twenty something, neo-jazz singer enjoyed a stunning sweep at the 2003 Grammies, picking up five trophies in the major categories - Album of the Year, Record of the Year for Don't Know Why, Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Don't Know Why, and Best Pop Vocal Album.

Norah Jones: The sunshine girl
Sure enough, father Ravi Shankar, world-renowned sitar player, and half-sister Anoushka expressed utmost happiness. Jones, however, had nothing to say in their praise. This half-Indian sure has a long way to go. The soulful and dedicated singer is said to maintain a very down-to-earth and low profile.
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She made a rather disastrous debut in Kaizad Gustad��s biggest-blunder-ever Boom. However, this half-Brit, half-Indian model-turned-actress was smart enough to not let one mistake ruin her career. Top modeling assignments and movies with the likes of Ram Gopal Varma followed.

Katrina Kaif: Boom and bang!
Not to forget, her ��friendship�� with Salman Khan also proved fruitful. She can��t speak Hindi to save her you-know-what, but if Bollywood grapevine is to be believed, the very glamourous, hardworking, dedicated and sincere Kat is here to stay in the Hindi film industry.
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She will forever be the Afreen Afreen girl. Who can forget the fantastic shots of this half-Indian, half-Polish beauty looking super sexy on the sand? Lisa lives life on her own terms. She divides her time between her family in Canada, doing theatre in London and now and then flying down to Mumbai.

Lisa Ray: The cat woman
"When people ask me where I belong to, I don��t have a clear answer, but I like it that way," she has been quoted as saying. Up next is Deepa Mehta��s Water. "Water is a beautiful story and it��s been controversial for different reasons earlier. I��ve cut my hair short for the film," she says.
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Ayesha Kapur, the young Michelle in Sanjay Leela��s Bhansali��s Black is a bundle of joy. The half-German, half-Indian girl, all of ten years, living in Pondicherry has become quite a celebrity at such a young age.

Ayesha Kapur: The budding 'babe'
Even a man like Amitabh Bachchan was at a loss for words watching her performance. He called her the ��Superstar��. And what does she think? Does she have it in her to make to big in Bollywood? Is she a superstar? ��I won��t say I��m a superstar, I think I��m a rockstar!�� she says. Kapur hopes to be an actor and a writer. And we wish her the very best!

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