Malaika Arora

Biography

Malaika Arora (born 23 October 1973) is an Indian actress, dancer, model, VJ, and television personality who appears in Hindi-language films. She made her debut as a film producer in 2008, with her former husband Arbaaz Khan, founding the company Arbaaz Khan Productions, which created the Dabangg film series. 

As an actress, she has starred as a lead in films like Kaante (2002) and EMI (2008). She also performed in the songs Chaiyya Chaiyya (1998), Gur Naalo Ishq Mitha (1998), Maahi Ve (2002), Kaal Dhamaal (2005) and Munni Badnaam Hui (2010).

Arora was selected as one of the VJs when MTV India started its operations. She began working as an interviewer, hosted shows such as Club MTV, and later co-hosted with Cyrus Broacha the shows Love Line and Style Check. 

Malaika then entered the modelling world, appearing in many advertisements, for album songs like Bally Sagoo's "Gur Naalo Ishq Mitha" opposite Jas Arora and item numbers such as "Chaiyya Chaiyya" in the 1998 Bollywood film Dil Se.

In 2010, she featured in the item song "Munni Badnaam Hui" in the film Dabangg, which was produced by her former husband Arbaaz Khan. On 12 March 2011, she helped set a world record with 1235 participants performing a choreographed dance to "Munni Badnaam" which she led.

She was the Taiwan Excellence celebrity endorser in 2012. She endorsed Dabur's 30-plus. She states that she never wanted to do acting. She performed live alongside Atif Aslam, Shaan, and Bipasha Basu in a series of concerts at LG Arena in Birmingham and The O2 Arena in London.

In 2014, she confirmed that she would make a cameo appearance in the Farah Khan-directed action comedy-drama film Happy New Year.

Malaika appeared on the television show Nach Baliye as one of the three judges. The show was aired on STAR One in mid-2005. She continued as a judge in Nach Baliye 2 which started airing in the last quarter of 2006. 

In this show, she performed many item numbers as an example for the contestants. She appeared on the show Zara Nachke Dikha as a judge on STAR One. She was a judge on the show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa in 2010.

Malaika is on the judges panel in the show India's Got Talent. She was the judge and host of the MTV Supermodel of the Year in 2019 and a judge of India's Best Dancer in 2020.

Arora was married to Bollywood actor-director-producer Arbaaz Khan in 1998 whom she met during a coffee ad shoot. Since her marriage with Khan until they got divorced, she was known as Malaika Arora Khan. 

On 28 March 2016, they announced separation citing compatibility issues. The couple officially got divorced on 11 May 2017. Together they have a son, Arhaan Khan, born on 9 November 2002. 

The custody of the son after the divorce is with Arora, while Khan has visitation rights on his son, as per the settlement reached in the Bandra Family Court. Bollywood actor Salman Khan and actor-director-producer Sohail Khan are her former brothers-in-law. Her former father-in-law was scriptwriter Salim Khan.

Arora has been in a relationship with actor Arjun Kapoor since 2016. In April 2022, she had an accident on the Mumbai–Pune Expressway when three cars collided with each other as she was returning home from an event. She was taken to the Apollo Hospital in Navi Mumbai where she got a few stitches.

Arora became a vegan in 2020.