The star who had a bit of Madhuri Dixit in her
Mayur Lookhar
The 80s saw the rise of new stars in the Hindi film industry, from Mithun Chakraborty and Govinda to Padmini Kolhapure, Tina Munim, Meenakshi Seshadri and Madhuri Dixit. There were other names too though, beyond the glamour of the A-list. Some made their presence felt doing B grade cinema, and one of its stars was Sonika Gill.
Gill made her debut as a supporting actor in the 1980 Raj Babbar-starrer Nazrana Pyaar Ka. Unable to get meaty roles, she switched to B grade cinema and was unnoticed until the 1988 masala entertainer Bijlee aur Toofan, starring Hemant Birje, Kader Khan and Sadashiv Amrapurkar.
She went on to play a cameo in the 1989 blockbuster Ram Lakhan as Vivienne, the uber cool escort of Sir John (Raza Murad). Vivienne develops feelings for Lakhan (Anil Kapoor) and eventually sacrifices herself to save her hero.
Gill drew comparisons with Madhuri Dixit for her looks, although Ram Lakhan was the only film in which they worked together.
Unfortunately, Gill never got a big Bollywood project again and switched to Punjabi cinema. She returned to Hindi cinema in the mid-2000s, playing insignificant roles, last as Advocate Kanchan in the children's film My Friend Ganesha 3.
