The girl we now know as ‘Meow’ from Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na has been around in the filmy scene for quite some time now, making her Bollywood debut in 2003 with Riteish Deshmukh. Born on 5th August, 1987, she grew up in Mumbai and studied at St. Teresa High School in Santa Cruz, Mumbai. She joined St. Andrews College, Bandra to pursue her Bachelor's Degree of Management Studies. Genelia was also a state level athlete and a national level player before joining modeling and taking up films.
Genelia has only a few films in Hindi but has acted in a number of films down south. The Tamil director Shankar saw her in a commercial with Amitabh Bachchcan and cast her in the Tamil version of his film ‘Boys’. Genelia also starred in various Telugu films before again starring in the Hindi film Masti, again with Riteish Deshmukh. She went on to star in other successful Telugu films including, Satyam, Samba and Sye. Genelia followed it up with a pairing with actor Venkatesh in Subhash Chandra Bose. Genelia returned to the Tamil industry with Sachein with Vijay. It was average at the box office.
Genelia's second Hindi movie was Masti and was also opposite Ritesh. This film was a moderate success. Her most recent Telugu film, Bommarillu, with Siddharth Narayan, was a major commercial and critical success and she won the Filmfare Award as the Best Actress for her performance. Genelia was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai. She came back into Kollywood with Santhosh Subramaniam, which is the remake of Bommarillu. The film also turned out to be a rather successful as its predecessor. Her debut film in Kannada Satya In Love grossed 4 crores in its opening week thus setting a new record in the Kannada film industry.
Genelia won Filmfare award for her acting in southern films and then came back to act oppositeAkshaye Khanna in Mere Baap Pehle Aap which was a moderate success. Her big breakthrough in Bollywood of course came through the blockbuster Jaane Tu…. Ya Jaane Na, after which genelia has become recognized for her sweet, cute looks and refreshing way of acting.Genelia's success rate in Tollywood has been pretty good. Her movies Satyam, Masti, Samba, Sye and Happy have all fared pretty well at the box office. Despite getting good roles and her movies doing average business commercially, Genelia was still waiting for that one big hit that could change her career. The wait was not long as her most recent movie 'Bommarillu' has had a huge positive impact on Genelia’s career.
Bommarillu, with Genelia and Siddharth Narayan in the lead, became a super duper hit and gave her career the much needed boost. In the movie Genelia plays the role of a talkative and bubbly girl 'Hasini' who does whatever she likes to do. Her acting skills have been well appreciated throughout the industry and she won many awards for the movie.Finally the true acting talent of Genelia has come to forefront with 'Bommarillu' and now time will tell if Genelia can become the number one actress in South India. Her latest movie Dee with Vishnu directed by Sreenu Vytla is expected to come out in January or February. Genelia also recently bagged the role of leading lady opposite Aamir Khan's nephew Imraan Khan in his debut Bollywood movie Tu Ya Jaane Na. Her latest release was Mr.Medhavi which is running in theatres well.