Sargun Mehta

Early life and education

Mehta was born on 6 September 1988 in Chandigarh, India, She has a younger brother. As a child, along with her brother, Mehta auditioned for the dance reality show Boogie Woogie; they were both rejected. Mehta did her schooling at the Sacred Heart Convent school and Carmel Convent School in Chandigarh. She did her graduation in Bachelor of commerce from the Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. She then began studying for a Master's degree in Business Management, but left to pursue her acting career. Thereafter, she was cast in the television programme 12/24 Karol Bagh. After the programme ended, she shifted to Mumbai.

Mehta's fame increased when she played in the 2011 television series Phulwa and the 2012 Kya Huaa Tera Vaada. She established herself as a leading actress, when she appeared the Colors TV drama series Balika Vadhu in 2013.

Acting career

Mehta began her career with theatre shows. During her three years in college in Delhi, she performed in several theatrical productions. Later, she was selected for the supporting role in Zee TV's 2009 television programme 12/24 Karol Bagh. In it, she appeared opposite Ravi Dubey in the role of Neetu Sethi, an effervescent young woman. The show tells the story of four children, Simi, Anuj, Neetu and Mili, of the Sethi family, which lives in the middle-class locality of Karol Bagh in Delhi. Neetu is the third sibling out of the four, who is married to the mentally challenged Omi (played by Ravi Dubey). In an interview with The Hindu, Mehta said that she gained the role by accident: "My friends and I from the theatre club were asked by one of our professors to audition for the role and I landed Neetu's part".

Following the programme's end, Mehta portrayed the lead in another Zee TV production, Apno Ke Liye Geeta Ka Dharmayudh. In the show, which first aired in December 2010, she played the role of Geeta, who stands up for truth and saves her family from being ruined because of the misuse of section 498A which aims to protect women from domestic violence and abuse. On May 2011, the show went off-air after it failed to gain popularity.

In January 2011, Mehta featured as the lead protagonist opposite Ajay Chaudhary in Siddharth Tewary's drama series Phulwa on Colors TV, in which she played the title role. The story is loosely based on the life of Phoolan Devi, the dacoit-turned politician. Referencing her work in the series, she said, "when I did Phulwa it became the significant turning point of my career, which gave me recognition and creative satisfaction as well". The following year, she appeared in an episode of Sony television's crime series Crime Patrol, as Aarti Shekhar.

In 2012, Mehta was chosen to play the pivotal role of Sonia in Fireworks Productions' suspense/thriller series Hum Ne Li Hai... Shapath, opposite Rahil Azam. The story revolved around a murder that took place at a rave party.

Mehta then guest-starred as Anika, opposite Karan Patel in Shontara Productions' Teri Meri Love Stories Star Plus network anthology series in August 2012. At the end of October 2012, Mehta was approached for the role of Aradhya in Shashi Mittal's show Dil Ki Nazar Se Khoobsurat, but was removed from the show due to conceptual changes.

Ekta Kapoor's soap opera Kya Huaa Tera Vaada was Mehta's next show. In it, she played an independent girl character after a ten-year leap in the show's storyline. Co-starring alongside Mohit Malhotra, Mona Singh, Mouli Ganguly, and Neelam Sivia, she was cast as grown-up Bulbul, a journalist. She began shooting on 5 December and was telecast in mid-December 2012. She said: "My character has different shades. I haven't done this kind of role before. The show went off the air near the end of May 2013.

After acting in 12/24 Karol Bagh (2009), Phulwa (2011) and Kya Huaa Tera Vaada (2012), she portrayed a docile character role of Ganga in Colors drama series Balika Vadhu. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Mehta said that she was surprised to be offered the role, as it was not her usual character. In mid-November 2014, she quit the show due to creative dissatisfaction.

After a long break from fiction shows, Mehta made a comeback with the Zee TV's mini series Rishton Ka Mela, she began shoot for the show on 16 April 2015, In it, she played the central character Deepika, who is a young beautiful girl of today's modern era. The show had featured ten episodes, in which she starred alongside an ensemble cast of Eijaz Khan, Usha Nadkarni, Ratan Rajput, Anupam Shyam, Karan Mehra, Hiten Tejwani, Gauri Pradhan Tejwani, Sayantani Ghosh and Karan Grover. The show followed the journey of Deepika, a runaway bride, escaping from her cruel police inspector fiance (played by Eijaz Khan). Deepika runs into a fair where she meets women that each have a story to tell. The show went off-air on 8 May 2015.

In July 2015, Mehta made her filming debut with Angrej, a Punjabi film directed by Simerjit Singh, alongside Amrinder Gill, Aditi Sharma, in which she portrayed the central role of Dhan Kaur. The film had receive significant opening in India, which earned ₹40.50 million (US$630,000) in its first week. The film grossed ₹124.5 million (US$1.9 million) in the international markets in 17 days, and emerged as the second highest grossing Punjabi film of 2015.

Other work and appearances

On October 2012, Mehta participated in Sony Entertainment Television's reality-based Comedy Circus series titled Comedy Circus Ke Ajoobe, along with Kapil Sharma. It was her first foray into comedy. In January 2013, she quit the show due to her busy schedule involving multiple other programmes.

Mehta walked the ramp at the prestigious award the twelfth Indian Television Academy (ITA)'s fashion event titled, Fashion Ka Jalwa on 4 November 2012. In December 2012, Mehta participated in the fifth season of Star Plus' celebrity couple dance reality show Nach Baliye. She was joined by Ravi Dubey, and on a 23 March 2013 finale episode, she was announced as the first runner-up of show. In addition, she participated in another version of show, entitled Nach Baliye Shriman v/s Shrimati, in which the couples competed against each other. The mini-series began in April 2013, and Mehta competed against Dubey. On 24 May 2013, Mehta walked the ramp as showstopper at Gitanjali Fashion Nights in Mumbai.

In December 2013, she made a special appearance in the sixth season of Nach Baliye, along with Dubey. By the end of 2013, mehta landed her first television hosting assignment with special children's season of Sony Entertainment Television's dance reality show Boogie Woogie.

In January 2014, Mehta featured in the print campaign for the 2014 GR8! TV Magazine's 15th calendar edition, GR8! Love Stories Calendar, which featured twelve real life television couples. She appeared along with her husband, Dubey. The first edition of the calendar was shot by the fashion photographer Pravin Talan, and it was launched by Anu Ranjan and Shashi Ranjan, founders of GR8 Entertainment Ltd., at a Gala event on 6 January 2014. In mid-February 2014, Mehta appeared as a guest along with Siddharth Shukla, Ravi Dubey and Karan Wahi on Colors Television's comedy/talk show Comedy Nights with Kapil, performing in a special episode of Pinky Bua's (Upasana Singh) wedding. Mehta gave a special dance appearance on the grand premiere of the Indian reality show Bigg Boss 8 on 21 September 2014, along with Gautam Gulati and Sukirti Kandpal. Later, on 18 October 2014, she appeared as a special panel member on the show.

On 18 February 2015, Mehta started to shoot for an episode of Colors TV's cookery/talk show Farah Ki Dawat, on which she appeared as a guest in its first episode along with actor Abhishek Bachchan. The show was hosted by filmmaker Farah Khan, and its first episode was telecast on 22 February 2015.

In May 2015, Mehta featured in the director Waseem Sabir's music video titled O Meri Jaan, in which she appeared alongside many actors, include Gautam Rode, Ruhana Khanna, Riddhi Dogra, Meiyang Chang and Hiten Tejwani. The music video highlights the father-daughter relationship, which spreads the message of the importance of raising a girl child with love. The video song sung by Suhail Zargar and It released on Father's Day.

In the second week of June 2015, Mehta was selected to appear as a special dance performer in the seventh season of Star Plus television's couple dance reality show Nach Baliye, in which she performed with the contestants Nandish Sandhu and Rashami Desai in special "Teen Ka Tadka" episode on first week of July 2015.

Mehta appeared as a guest-participant in the ninth season of the reality show Bigg Boss. She participated and teams up with Mandana Karimi and Rishabh Sinha on the day 23 in "Hotel BB" luxury budget task on 3 November 2015.

Personal life

Mehta began dating her 12/24 Karol Bagh co-star Ravi Dubey in 2009, and married him in December 2013. On 5 February 2013, In an interview with IndiaTimes, Mehta said that she and Dubey "always shared a good bond and understanding. But after doing Nach Baliye together we understand each other professionally more." After marrying, she changed her name to Sargun Mehta Dubey.