Neerja Bhanot

Neerja Bhanot, AC , was a purser for Pan Am, based in Mumbai, India, who was shot and killed while saving hundreds of passengers on board a Pan Am plane which terrorists had hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 onSeptember 1986. Posthumously, she became the youngest recipient of Indias highest peacetime award for bravery, the Ashok Chakra. Born in a Punjabi family in Chandigarh, she was brought up in Mumbai. Neerja Bhanot had a successful modelling career, simultaneously working as purser at Pan Am. Her life and heroism inspired a biopic in the form of Ram Madhvanis Neerja .

Neerja Bhanot was born in Chandigarh, and brought up in Mumbai in a Punjabi Brahmin family. Bhanot was the daughter of Harish Bhanot, a Mumbaibased journalist, and Rama Bhanot. She had two brothers Akhil and Aneesh Bhanot She received her early schooling at Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh. When the family moved to Bombay, she continued her studies at Bombay Scottish School and then graduated from St. Xaviers College, Mumbai. It was in Mumbai, where she was first spotted for a modelling assignment which began her modelling career. She was a huge fan of actor Rajesh Khanna and used to refer to quotes from his film throughout her life.

Source: Wikipedia