MUMBAI: Neelam Kothari made her acting debut with Jawaani (1984) opposite debutant Karan Shah. She was also noticed for her appearance in the 1998 film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, where she played herself as a VJ and in the 1999 ensemble family drama Hum Saath Saath Hain in which she played a supporting role. Her last film was the delayed release Kasam in 2001, opposite Chunky Pandey.

Neelam was last seen on the Netflix reality show Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives with Maheep Kapoor, Seema Khan, and Bhavana Pandey. The second season of the show is expected to stream sometime this year, although no official date has been announced yet.

Neelam's accent has grabbed attention all throughout her acting career and continued to be a topic of discussion even after she quit the film industry. Many have asked questions about how she picked up the unique way of speaking, which sounds like a mixture of a variety of accents.

Neelam explained how she caught her "twang" accent. She said, "I wasn’t born with this accent. In Hong Kong, I went to a British school. Then from Hong Kong, I moved to Bangkok, and then I went to an American school. So that’s why people say where she gets this accent from. It’s a twang. It’s a mix of American, British I mean."

The actor pointed out that the way she speaks has been the same since the early days of her acting career. She said, "So, have I been picked? I mean people have picked on me. They have said you know ‘oh the accent is still you know with her after so many years.’ I mean it's just an inherent thing. Now if you watch my interviews you know back in the 80s and if you watch my interviews today, I think I speak the same way. I don’t care. Honestly, I don’t care because it is something which I mean... you know, it's inherent.”

She now owns a store in Mumbai called Neelam Kothari Fine Jewels. She is married to film and television actor Samir Soni.

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Credits: Hindustan Times