Mahima was born on September 13th 1973 in Canada as Ritu Chauhdary. Later, her family moved to Delhi. Mahima started of as a model and her first claim to fame was a TV commercial for Pepsi with Aamir Khan and Aishwarya Rai. Mahima also hosted a road game show for a couple of years.

In 1997, Mahima auditioned for Subash Ghai’s ‘Pardes’ and got selected for the lead despite stiff competition. Subash Ghai whose lucky letter  is ‘M’, rechristened Ritu to Mahima. In ‘Pardes’, Mahima was paired opposite the superstar Shahrukh Khan and the movie was a big hit and Mahima became a star.

Mahima also signed a contract with Subash Ghai’s Mukta Arts that she would exclusively work only for them. Mahima however; had a fallout with her godfather Subash Ghai when he casted Aishwarya for ‘Taal’ instead and the two parted ways.
 
Mahima had a tough time getting roles after her face-off with mentor Subash Ghai. After two years, she finally bagged a role in Devgan production ‘Dil Kya Kare’ and her co-stars were Kajol and Ajay Devgan. Next was ‘Daag -the fire’ for Mahima, but both the movies failed at the box-office thus, leading to a downfall in her career. Mahima started accepting character and second fiddle roles and was casted only in multi-starrer.

Mahima started dating Indian tennis Superstar Laendar Paes, who had a clandestine affair with Rhea Pillia when she was married to Sanjay Dutt.

Mahima has worked in over 40 movies in her career span of 10 years, but has not made it to the A list. Mahima is currently; engaged to an India entrepreneur from Florida and plans to settle down with him in the US.