Shilpa Shirodkar – Bollywood actress of Kishen Kanhaiya and Gopi Kishan fame

Shilpa Shirodkar is a former Bollywood actress who was active in the era of 1990s, and owns a few hit films to her credit. She played lead and parallel lead roles in several multi-cast films like Kishen Kanhaiya, Aankhein and Gopi Kishan. Her supporting role as Inspector Heena Ranveer Singh in Amitabh Bachchan starrer Khuda Gawah was also well received, for which she received her single nomination of her career, when she was nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. She said goodbye to films in year 2000 after her marriage with the banker Aparesh Ranjit, and made a comeback through television in 2013 appearing in the TV soap, Ek Mutthi Aasmaan.

Shilpa Shirodkar was born in Mumbai in 1961 into a family with filmy background. Her grandmother Meenakshi Shirodkar, mother Gangu Bai and younger sister Namrata Shirodkar acted in movies. In fact Namrata had a successful modelling career in the 1990s, and was adjusted as Miss India 1993, first runner-up of Miss Asia Pacific 1993 and also sixth position at Miss Universe 1993. By that time Shilpa was an established star in Bollywood working with leading actors like Anil Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Govinda and Mithun Chakraborty.

Bhrashtachar in 1989 marked her film debut where she played a blind girl. The following year she was casted opposite Anil Kapoor in Kishen Kanhaiya. Madhuri Dixit also played lead role in the film which had Anil in a dual role. The film was a super hit, and from there on she received numerous offers from Bollywood. Khuda Gawah, Raghuveer, Aankhein, Gopi Kishan, Hum Hain Bemisaal, Bewafa Sanam etc are some of the roles she played on screen later.

Shilpa Shirodkar – Some interesting and less-known facts

On the film sets of Kishen Kanhaiya

1. Her grandmother Meenakshi Shirodkar was a glamorous actress of Marathi cinema who stunned the country when she appeared in a swimsuit in 1938. Her mother Gangu Bai also worked in a few movies.

2. She was also a photo model, apart from a successful actress of 1990s.

3. Among all actors, her pairing with Mithun Chakraborty was appreciated most. They worked together in 9 movies. Her pairing with Suniel Shetty for movies like Gopi Kishen, Raghuveer was also got noticed.

4. Despite getting frequent offers from Bollywood in the 1990s, increase in weight was the main factor which deteriorated her career in Bollywood.

5. The iconic train song, Chayya Chayya of Dil Se was initially offered to Shilpa, and she was asked to shed a few pounds. It didn’t happen and the item song was later done by Malaika Arora.

6. She mostly played traditional girl and woman wearing sari for Bollywood movies.

7. She played second lead/supporting roles in Madhuri Dixit starrer Gaja Gamini, Kishen Kanhaiya and Mrityudund.

8. Her health issues and thyroid problems resulted in increase of weight, and she missed several Bollywood roles for that.

9. Her last theatre release was Barood in 2010. She was paired with Suniel Shetty in the movie, originally shot in the 1990s. Otherwise Gaja Gamini in 2000 was her last theatre release.

10. She played lead role in one Tamil film opposite Mammootty – Arasiyal in 1997. Interestingly her sister has also done one Malayalam film opposite Mammootty – Ezhupunna Tharakan in the late 1990s.

11. She played protagonist’s mother in TV shows – Silsila Pyar Ka and Savitri Devi College & Hospital.

12. South Indian superstar Mahesh Babu, married to her younger sister Namrata. Thus she is related to famous south Indian actor Krishna, and his filmy family.

The very popular ‘Dil Tera Deewana’ song from Raghuveer filmed on Suniel Shetty and Shilpa