Flora Saini
Flora Kaur Saini (born 29 September 1978), also known by her screen name Asha Saini, is an Indian film actress and model.[1] She predominantly works in Tollywood, and also appeared in a number of Kannada, Tamil and Hindi films. Since her debut in Prema Kosam (1999), she has acted in over 50 films and co-starred with noted actors including Rajinikanth, V. Ravichandran, Sudeep, Shivarajkumar, Vijaykanth, Prabhu, Karthik, Jagapati Babu and Rajasekhar.[2]
Flora made her acting debut in the 1999 Telugu film Prema Kosam.[4] The producer of the film rechristened her as Asha Saini; some years later she would adopt a new screen name, Mayuri, as per the advice of an astrologer, before eventually reverting to her original name.[5]
The actress subsequently played supporting roles in more than a dozen Telugu-language films in the next three years. She appeared in the film Narasimha Naidu (2002), which went on to become highly successful. [6] It was for some time the most notable film in her filmography, and it led to her being referred to as “Lux Papa” thereafter.[7] In 2002, Flora made her first Hindi-language film, starring in the T. P. Aggarwal-produced Bharat Bhagya Vidhata.[8] Her second Hindi film, Love in Nepal (2004), also produced by Agarwal, saw her paired with popular playback singer Sonu Nigam.[3]
Flora has appeared in several Kannada-language films, too, including Giri, starring Srinagar Kitty, and Nammannna, starring Sudeep.[9]
In March 2008, she was arrested in Chennai for supposedly having forged visa documents,[7] and was subsequently banned from the Tamil film industry.[10] She claimed innocence,[11] and the ban was lifted a couple of weeks later.[12]
Three films in which Flora Saini stars – the Telugu-language Broker, and two Kannada-language films, Vismaya Pramaya and Vah Re Vah – were released on December 31, 2010, a rare occurrence that secured her an entry in the Limca Book of Records for the most film releases on one day.[13] In 2010, Flora Saini was honoured with the Uttarakhand Ratna Award.[14] She has also received The Great Daughter of Soil Award in Mauritius for her anti-poverty work there.[4]
She is last seen in a web-series called Gandi Baat season 2 with Anveshi Jain,[15] where she played a lead role. Recently, Saini was seen in many web series and notably worked in Mayanagari-City of Dreams of Hotstar.
In 2015, Flora Saini played the role of Muskan in MSG: The Messenger starring Gurmeet Ram Rahim. She played the role of a daughter with Jayshree Soni as Kasam and Olexandra Semen as Alice.
