The winner of the Gladrags Supermodel Contest in 2002, was Bengali bombshell Koena Mitra, who eventually landed into films. After her successful modeling career, it was her desire to act, that made her shift from ads and music videos to doing commercial Hindi cinema.
Having her roots in Kolkata, Koena graduated in psychology. She took the modeling world by storm and also became the semi-finalist for the Miss Intercontinental pageant. After this she featured in various hit videos like Stereo Nation’s ishq, Aaj Ki Raat, Channo and Akh Teri. She was noticed and people knew there here was another dusky beauty from Bengal who had come to rule Bollywood.
A no. of ads like Mirinda, Clinic All Clear, Margo and Maruti Alto feature Koena, but it was “Road” that finally gave Mitra her first break as a commercial Hindi movie heroine. The film did quite well and Koena got the desired attention. Then came “Musafir”, “Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena”, “Insaan” and finally “Apna Sapna Money Money”, which released only recently.
Though there have been no awards for this beauty as yet, she is as dedicated to her profession as any other actress. A normal day in her life begins with breakfast, gym and then straight to the sets. She often skips her morning meals is the shoot is early in the morning!
Koena admits that being a Bengali, her hindi was accented. She was inhibitant as to how the public would react to that but she was lucky enough that the audience and the critics completely accepted her. Having already played different types of characters like a psychiatrist in Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena, to a dancer in Musafir, Koena firmly believes that she has matured with every character she has played.
Acting with big banners has always been an important issue because Koena feels that the big producers market their films really well. She loves working in as well as watching films. She looks forward to doing a lot of Bollywood “masala movies” which give her an extra dimension to explore her talent.
