Hyderabad:
Till her views on pre-marital sex became controversial and effigies were burnt, Khushboo had been best known for, well, being wildly popular. Fans built a temple for her in Tiruchirapalli. There was a Khushboo Idli and the Khushboo Saree.
The temple was demolished after she made that comment about pre-marital sex and AIDS in 2005. Political parties got into the fray too and she was forced to make a public apology. Alongside came the cases and the almost five-year-long legal battle.
Born Khushboo Khan in 1970, the actor saw early success as a child artist in Bollywood, acting in successful films like Thodisi Bewafaii and the Amitabh- Bachchan-starrers Laawaris and Kaalia.
She received accolades for her role as a 12-year-old stricken with cancer in Dard ka Rishta and later set feet tapping when she danced with a young Javed Jaffrey to "Bol Baby Bol, Rock and Roll" in Meri Jung. But there were few takers for the grown-up Khushboo in Bollywood and she turned to Tamil films.
She has since acted in over a 100 films in Bollywood and in the Southern film industries, and was the heartthrob of Tamil cinema in the 1990s.
Khushboo acted in Varsham Padhinaru with Karthik, Vetrivizha and Chinna Thambi with Prabhu (Sivaji Ganesan's son) Annamalai with Rajinikanth and Singaravelan with Kamal Haasan.
She has also had success on television. She hosts a popular game show 'Jackpot' on Jaya TV, besides acting in a few Tamil serials and owns a production house.
Khushboo Sundar lives in Chennai with her actor-director husband Sundar C and two daughters.