Who is Mandana Karimi? All about the Iranian actor protesting against the Hijab in Mumbai

The death of Iran’s Mahsa Amini has sparked outrage all over the world, with thousands of women coming together to protest against the Hijab. 

While the film industry in India continues to be largely silent on the issue, Iran-born actor Mandana Karimi took matters into her own hands and protested alone in Mumbai’s Bandstand on Wednesday. 

A video uploaded by Karimi on Instagram featured the Lock Upp star protesting and talking about women’s rights while holding a banner that reflects the unrest in Iran following Amini's death. A day later, the post is hard to reach because her Instagram account has been made private.

Who is Mandana Karimi? 

Mandana Karimi is a 34-year-old Iranian actor popularly known for appearing in Indian reality shows Bigg Boss and Lock Upp and films like Roy, Bhaag Johnny, and the third installment of Kya Kool Hain Hum. She has over 1.1 million followers on her Instagram handle. 

Mandana Karimi was born on May 19, 1988, to Seba and Reza Karimi in Tehran, Iran.

While she kickstarted her career as a flight attendant, she later decided to quit the aviation industry to become a model. After a few international stints, she moved to Mumbai in 2010. 

She appeared in several television commercials with Bollywood actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, and Shahid Kapoor. 

In 2015, Karimi bagged a role in Roy, a romance-thriller film starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role. The same year, she starred in Bhaag Johnny and Main Aur Charles as Rachel and Liz, respectively. 

Karimi shot to fame when she appeared on the ninth season of Bigg Boss as a contestant. She went on to become a finalist in the show. 

In 2018, the model-turned-actor made headlines for accusing filmmaker Umesh Ghadge of sexual harassment on the sets of Kya Kool Hain Hum 3. Four years later, she starred in Lock Upp, a competitive reality show hosted by actor Kangana Ranaut.

On the familial front, Karimi tied the knot with entrepreneur Gaurav Gupta in March 2017. Four months after a grand Hindu wedding, Karimi registered a domestic violence case against Gupta, but took back her complaint to make amends and save her relationship. The pair ended up getting divorced in 2021.