Happy Bday Urmila Matondkar!

February 4^th marks the birthday of our very own Rangeela girl, Urmila Matondkar. This gorgeous lady was born in an ordinary Marathi family which had no contacts with the filmworld. She made it big on the silver screen only due to her remarkable acting and courage to portray versatile characters.

Urmila opened her career innings as a child artist with the 1980 movie Kalyug and then at age 9 did Shekhar Kapur's movie Masoom in 1983 which gave her success and recognition. Well, who can forget the popular song 'Ladki ki kathi kathi pe Godha' from this movie which is very much remembered as a children's song even in this day and age! Later, she moved to acting in a few episodic TV series in DD National during 1986 and 1987. Nevertheless, the audience didn't have to wait much to see her onscreen as she made her debut as a lead actress with the 1989 film Bade Ghar Ki Beti.

Her debut film was a failure but she managed to get a few more films, including fantasy film Chamatkar opposite king khan Shah Rukh Khan, and others like Ram Gopal Verma's Drohi in Hindi and Gaayam in Telugu. Her career took an optimistic turn after her 1995 musical hit Rangeela struck the theaters. She even became known as the Rangeela girl Urmila thereafter and won her first Filmfare best actress nomination for her role. Following her RGV projects, Urmila did a long list of films which include Anaganaga Oka Roju, Daud, Satya, Kaun, Mast, Jungle, Pyar Tune Kya Kiya, Ek Hasina Thi, etc. Some of these films were average hits while others failed to impress the viewers.

 Probably another notable role of hers was the one in Judaai which say her alongside Anil Kapoor and Sridevi Kapoor. She won yet another Filmfare nomination for best supporting actress for her outstanding performance in it. Her first Filmfare award for best actress came with the critical and commercial success of the horror thriller Bhoot. This movie gained her many other Bollywood awards including the Rajiv Gandhi award, which is perhaps her biggest achievement till date. She later on starred in 2007's critically acclaimed film Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara for which she received her second Filmfare best actress award.

Urmila continues to be seen in films, but has actually gained more attention for her television appearances, particularly as a judge for several reality shows. BollyCurry wishes Urmila a very Happy Birthday and much luck with her future endeavors!

Author: Siona M.
Editors: Komal P. & Gunia M.
Graphics: Komal P.