Payal Rohatgi was born on November 9, 1982 in Hyderabad in a middle class family and is 5'6" tall. She is born to father Shashank Rohatgi and Veena Rohatgi and has a brother Gaurav Rohatgi. She grew up in Ahmadabad in Gujarat and was a computer engineer by profession. She participated in Miss Tourism World in 2001 and was chosen the winner against the participants from 65 countries. She was then encouraged to try her luck in entertainment industry and she went to Mumbai and started modeling.
She was offered to campaign popular brands like Amul, Nirma, and Nescafe and she was successful in promoting these brands. She was then seen in Cadbury’s Temptation Chocolate, and later in jaguar bath products, Dabur's Lal Dantmanjan and many other ad films.
Career in Movies
Harry Baweja's Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai (2002), a Hindi remake of the Hollywood teen flick American Pie was her debut movie in Bollywood. Since the movie was a multi starrer, she almost went unnoticed in this film.
Another notable role was in Tauba Tauba (2004), where she was seen as a young teacher who seduces her student. Her skimpy outfits and daring poses created lot of buzz among viewers and her role was badly criticized by parents and schools. But, in her part she was successful in stamping her name in the Bollywood industry and win space in the heart of million of fans.
For some years she did small budget films, but she realized that these small budget films were not of her sensibility as these films released badly and were shot badly, so she gave up the idea and upgrade herself to play in A graded films.
In 2006, she signed her first A grade Bollywood film, 36 China Town, as one of the lead characters with already established names like Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, and Paresh Rawal, movie get good response from viewers and her role is appreciated by masses. Corporate released at the end of 2006, this movie was critically acclaimed and was a huge hit at box office. Here she played the part of an item girl.
Success came successively and she was then signed for a lead role opposite Arbaaz Khan by Priyadarshan for his film Dhol (2007) produced by Percept Picture Company.
