By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On Her Birth Anniversary
Urmila Matondkar, the slim trim cutie , made her screen debut in B.R. Chopra’s Rajesh Khanna starrer “Karm “(1977) followed by roles in ‘Kalyug’ (1980) & ‘Masoom’ (1983) ) as a child artist & matured into a well chizelled & shapely dame in ” Narasimha” (1991 ),also featuring Sunny Deol, Dimple Kapadia & Om Puri. In “Rangeela” (1995) the sizzling sway of her hips and body languages in some of he shots were indeed awe inspiring, delighting the audiences in the bargain. The actress was paired with Aamir Khan & Jackie Shroff. The film’s box office success brought her into limelight. The success also came like a shot in the arm to Aamir khan who was looking for such an opportunity. The costume designer Manish Malhotra got instant prominence & so did choreographers including Saroj Khan for dance sequences in “Rangeela Re” & “Tanha Tanha” numbers with music playing its part well. Declared a Blockbuster by the trade pundits & was among the five highest grossing with a net gross of over 20 crore. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Karan Arjun, Raja & Barsaat were the other hits of the year.
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Urmila later proved her versatility as an accomplished actress in other films like- Kaun (1999), Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya (2001), Bhoot (2003) and a vigilante in Ek Hasina Thi (2004).She was nominated for Filmfare Award in “Judaai” (1997) starring Anil Kapoor & Sridevi. Ram Gopal Varma’s “Satya” (1998) was another of her best films.It received critical acclaim and was declared a Blockbuster. Shobhaa De wrote in her review, “Satya spoke the language of the streets-rough, crude, brutal. And yet, did not offend sensibilities. It perfectly captured the savagery of what has become our daily reality while also uncovering the final futility and pathos of mind-less gang wars.”
Dillagi, Khoobsurat, Deewangee, Mast, Lajja, Mere Sapno Ki Rani, Naina, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, Kunwara, Blackmail & Khoobsurat are some of her other films. She dated Mohsin Akhtar Mir, a model, and they tied the knot before long in 2016.
She represented Indian National Congress for some time(March 2019-Septemer-2019).After quitting Congress she joined Shiv Sena in December 2020.
Born this Day in 1974 in a Marathi Hindu family in Mumbai.
