Shama Sikander Indian Actress Known for Basti

Early life

Shama Sikander was born on 4 August 1981 in Makrana, Rajasthan. Her family moved to Mumbai in 1991 and went through a period of financial hardship while she was growing up. She went to several schools in Makrana and Mumbai. She trained at the Roshan Taneja School of Acting in Mumbai. She has three siblings. She is multilingual and speaks Hindi, English, Urdu, Gujarati, Marathi and Marwadi.

Career

Sikander began her acting career with small parts in Prem Aggan (1998) and Mann (1999). She later appeared in Ansh: The Deadly Part and Yeh Mohabbat Hai in 2002, and in Basti in 2003. Her first prominent role was Pooja Mehta in the coming-of-age television drama Yeh Meri Life Hai, which ran from 2003 to 2005. In 2005 she also took a role in Chand Bujh Gaya, a film by Faaiz Anwar about the Godhra train fire. The Central Board of Film Certification at first refused to certify the film for release, and it complied only after the Bombay High Court ruled that the board had infringed the filmmaker's constitutional rights.

She made guest appearances on several television shows, among them Batliwala House No. 43 (2005), CID (2006), Jodee Kamaal Ki (2007), Kaajjal (2008) and Man Mein Hai Visshwas (2009). She hosted a season of Popkorn Newz on Zoom in 2007 and Jet Set Go on STAR One in 2008, before returning to film with a supporting role in Dhoom Dadakka (2008). She also took part as a celebrity contestant and performer in dance programmes such as Jhoom India, Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena, where she appeared alongside the cricketer Vinod Kambli, and Boogie Woogie.

In 2010 she launched a fashion label named Saisha. In 2011 she played the lead in Seven, a supernatural thriller made by Yash Raj Films for television, which was cancelled after one season. From 2012 to 2014 she played the main antagonist in the SAB TV series Baal Veer. In March 2016 she appeared in the short film Sexaholic, and in early 2017 she played the title role in Maaya, a web series directed by Vikram Bhatt. In December 2017 she set up her own production company and announced Ab Dil Ki Sunn (2018), a web series made up of seven short films. She appeared in Bypass Road in 2019 and in the music video for the song "Hawa Karda", released by Koinage Records in March 2021.

Recognition

For Yeh Meri Life Hai she received the Gold Award for Critics' Choice: Best Actress in 2005. In 2004 she won two Indian Television Academy Awards, for Best Debut and for GR8! Face of the Year.

Personal life

Sikander married the businessman James Milliron on 14 March 2022. The two had met in 2015 and had lived together for several years before the wedding.