Although I could continue with my “Queens of the Nineties” series for several more weeks, I’m going to wrap it up today with a personal favorite not normally placed among Bollywood royalty (which is a crying shame).

Juhi Chawla is angel-faced and seems to be as sweet in her personal life as she appears onscreen. She is pleasant and refreshing to watch and she has an innocent vitality that is rejuvenating to the viewer, like jaadu–that is, magic. Her comedic timing is her most remarked-upon talent and, as someone who doesn’t even care for comedies, I must say she’s rather grand.

The woman who describes herself on her Facebook and Twitter as “Actress, Mother, Entrepreneur, Activist and not necessarily in the same order :)” began her career in the late eighties after winning a beauty pageant a few years prior. Her first Bollywood hit was a modern-day Romeo and Juliet adaption in 1988 titled “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak” (“From Doom to Doom”) opposite Aamir Khan.

She and Aamir would prove to be a popular pairing, starring in more films throughout the nineties, including “Ishq” (“Love”) in which she shared screen space with Kajol as well and the two made a lovely team. Her other most popular costar was Shahrukh Khan. She played a harassed woman to Shahrukh’s psychotic stalker in the 1993 film “Darr” (“Fear”) which film legend Yash Chopra directed. Juhi credits Chopra, who passed away recently, with truly launching her career.

That same year she won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in “Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke” (“We Are Travelers on the Path of Love”). The film was a remake of the old Hollywood film “Houseboat” and paired her again with Aamir Khan.

Of rival popularity with “Darr” was “Yes Boss” which put her opposite Shahrukh, for neither the first nor last time. On this occasion, it was in a much more light-hearted manner than the pair’s first film and set the tone for many of the other films they’d star in together.

“Yes Boss” is spontaneous and fun and Juhi is without doubt the dazzling heart of it. She matches Shahrukh’s antics measure for measure with skill to spare. It’s no wonder when one knows the two are best friends in real life–their Twitter handles even match.

The pair also started a production company together in 1999. They were, unfortunately, unsuccessful save for the last of the four films they produced: “Chalte Chalte” (“While Walking”). Among the ones declared, a flop is the film “Asoka” and I frankly have no idea why because “Asoka” is beautiful.

Juhi is not often remembered as on level with the greats of her generation–except in the hearts of her fans and in the eyes of Shahrukh, who always names her as among his personal favorites. Still, she was talented and vivacious and beautiful and sometimes a film’s only saving grace (“Duplicate” in particular comes to mind as the film as a whole is dreadfully insipid and yet still worth watching once for Juhi).

If you give her a try, Millikids, I bet you’ll fall in love with her, too.