The daughter of a lecturer, actress Urmila Matondkar began her celluloid career as a child artiste with the film Kalyug (1980). Although an average film at the box-office, her next film, Masoom (1983), about a family coping with an illegitimate member, showed her acting talents blossom and she received critical acclaim from both her fans and the film fraternity.Years later, Urmila then made her debut as an adult actress in N. Chandra's Narasimha (1991) opposite Sunny Deol . She then did the fantasy Chamatkar (1992/I) with the then-débutant Shahrukh Khan and Shreemaan Aashique (1993), a comedy on male chauvinism opposite Anupam Kher and Rishi Kapoor. But no matter what films she did, while her contemporaries Manisha Koirala and Madhuri Dixit reached the peak of their popularity with blockbuster after blockbuster, success seemed to elude her.Then she did Ram Gopal Varma's Rangeela (1995), a tale of a girl's journey in the film industry. She gave a magnificent performance, which is no small feat alongside actors Aamir Khan and Jackie Shroff, but what gave the film classic status was A.R. Rahman's music, Asha Bhosle's songs and designer Manish Malhotra, who transformed Urmila from a Maharashtrian middle-class girl into a sexy and glamorous actress. What most actresses hadn't managed even after a dozen hits, Urmila had achieved with only one film. And ever since, she has been associated with Asha Bhosle's sensual voice and of course the image of the sizzling seductress - in fact, she is still known for her and her sizzling sensuality and her stunning looks.However, Urmila is not to be judged only for her looks. She is also an actress of great talent and skill - her performance in Satya (1998) as a modest girl whose boyfriend, the titular character, gets sucked into the Bombay underworld is one of her best ever performances to date. And in 2000, she began to play roles of depth and substance, making an impact most notably in the films Pinjar (2003), a drama based on India's partition, and _ Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005)_ , about a man accused of Gandhi's murder. As of 2006, she has acquired several assignments, both using her talents as an actress and as a seductress - she is doing Shyam Benegal's Chamki (2006) and Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay (2006), the latter of which audiences are eagerly waiting for with bated breath...
|
