They Trained As Engineers. And Ditched it For Bollywood

Bollywood's Female Engineers: Many of India's top actors trained to be engineers but turn to being big heroines in Bollywood instead. On World Engineering Day, a look at female engineers in the Indian entertainment industry who pursued their interest of acting later on:

Kriti Sanon

Sanon made her debut in Bollywood in 2016 with the movie Heropanti alongside Tiger Shroff. She pursued B.Tech Degree in Electronics and Telecommunication from Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida. During her years in college, her sister clicked her photos for a contest which she won and bagged a free portfolio by Daboo Ratnani. She refused two job offers to pursue acting and modelling in Mumbai after completing her engineering.

Kriti Sanon.

Taapsee Pannu

Being a studious child, Taapsee Pannu was not very much interested in acting during her school days. Later, she casually filled out a form for Channel V Get Gorgeous Pageant and was surprised on getting selected. Pannu had been doing modelling since her college days when she needed money for her daily extra expenses.

She pursued B.Tech in Computer Science from Guru Teg Bahadur Institute of Technology, Delhi. During her second year in engineering, she decided to go for MBA but couldn’t find admission where she wanted. She also worked as a software engineer and developed an app called FontSwap. Reports suggest she even rejected a job at Indian bluechip company Infosys.

Taapsee made her debut in the entertainment industry with Telugu movie Jhummandi Naadam in 2010. Her Bollywood debut was in 2013 with Chashme Baddoor. Since then she has gone on to do some big films like Pink, Looop Lapeta, Thappad among others.

Photo credit: Taapsee Pannu / Instagram

Aishwarya Sharma

The television actress did a six-year course in Kathak from Khairagarh University, Chhattisgarh. She dropped her plan of getting a PhD in classical dancing and pursued engineering instead. After completing her engineering degree, she went on to pursue her passion for acting.

“As I completed my studies in engineering that inner passion to do something different was still alive.” Aishwarya said in an interview.

The engineer-turned-actress was first seen television show Code Red after which she did some other shows as well. She came into limelight in 2017 with the television series Meri Durga. She is also known for her role in Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin as Patralekha or Pakhi.

Ameesha Patel

Born in a Gujarati family, Ameesha Patel did her graduation in Biogenetic Engineering from Tuft University in Massachusetts, USA. She also holds a gold medal in economics. She was offered a job by Morgan Stanley which she turned down to work in movies.

Ameesha Patel made her debut in Bollywood with Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai in 2000 and has also worked in Telugu and Tamil movies. She was seen on television reality show Big Boss in 2019.