Nafisa Ali

Nafisa Ali is an Indian actress, politician, social activist, and former beauty queen. She won the Eve’s Weekly Miss India title and represented India at the Miss International pageant, where she was the second runner-up. She earned critical acclaim for her performances in films such as Junoon and Life in a... Metro. She is also a member of All India Trinamool Congress.

Early and personal life Nafisa Ali was born in Kolkata, the daughter of Ahmed Ali, a Bengali man and Philomena Torresan, a woman of Anglo-Indian heritage. Nafisa's paternal grandfather, S. Wajid Ali, was a Bengali writer. Her paternal aunt (father's sister) was Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah, a Pakistani journalist. Nafisa is also related to the Bangladeshi freedom fighter and soldier Bir Pratik Akhtar Ahmed. Nafisa's mother later moved to Australia. She is married to Colonel Ravinder Singh Sodhi, a polo player who won the Arjuna Award. After a later recurrence, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, entering her third remission by July 2026.

Education Nafisa attended La Martiniere Calcutta, where she was a House Captain. She has also studied vedanta taught by Swami Chinmayananda, who started the Chinmaya Centre of World Understanding (Chinmaya Mission).

Career Sports and fashion Nafisa Ali has accomplishments in several fields. She was the national swimming champion from 1972 to 1974. In 1976, she won the Eve's Weekly Miss India title, represented India at the Miss International contest & was declared the 2nd runner-up. Ali was also a jockey at the Calcutta Gymkhana in 1979.

Acting She has acted in several Bollywood films, the notable ones being Junoon (1979) with Shashi Kapoor, Major Saab (1998) with Amitabh Bachchan, Bewafaa (2005), Life In A... Metro (2007), Guzaarish (2010) and Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011) with Dharmendra.She also acted in a Malayalam film called Big B (2007) with Mammootty.

Politics Nafisa Ali contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully from South Kolkata. On 5 April 2009, she contested the Lok Sabha election from Lucknow on the Samajwadi Party ticket after Sanjay Dutt's disqualification by the Supreme Court on the basis of a prior conviction. She then rejoined the Indian National Congress party in November 2009 and said she is returning to Congress for life. However, she joined the All India Trinamool Congress in October 2021 ahead of the 2022 Goa Legislative Assembly election.

Public roles In September 2005, she was appointed the chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI).

Social work She also associated with Action India, an organisation working to spread AIDS awareness.

Filmography

Junoon (1979) Kshatriya (1993) Aatank (1996) Major Saab (1998) Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar (2001) Bewafaa (2005) as Mrs. Verma Godfather: The Legend Continues (2007) Big B (2007) as Mary teacher Life in a... Metro (2008) Guzaarish (2010) Pakistan (2010) Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011) Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3 (2018) as Rajmata Yashodhara Max, Min and Meowzaki (2022) as Jennifer Sequera Uunchai (2022)