Urmila Matondkar, petite and full figured, was a child actress who struggled as an actress until Rangeela saw an overnight transformation. She became more than just a ravishing face as she performed varied roles in the movies that followed.
Urmila Matondkar was born on 4th February, 1973 in Bombay (now Mumbai) in a Maharashtrian family.
Urmila Matondkar was six years old when she started acting. Her first movie as a child actor was in Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug (1980). Her role as Pinky in Shekar Kapur’s Masoom was praised. Baby Urmila, an immaculate little actress, delivered her dialogues with accuracy and knew the right frames and angles of the camera. Shekhar Kapoor, apparently, did not have to explain the shots too much to this little girl. She continued to act in movies like Dacait (1987), Zindagi (1987) and Bade Ghar Ki Beti (1989).
Although her first movie Masoom was 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. She subsequently appeared in a number of films including Dacait (1987), where she plays Sunny Deol's under-aged sister who gets brutally raped.
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| Urmila's child photo |
As a grown up, the director and the camera didn’t scare her. All that she needed was good films.
In 1991, Urmila made her debut as a lead actress in N. Chandra's Narasimha opposite Sunny Deol.
She then did the fantasy Chamatkar (1992) with the then-débutant Shahrukh Khan and Shreemaan Aashique (1993), a comedy on male chauvinism opposite Anupam Kher and Rishi Kapoor and a crime movie Drohi (1992), But no matter what films she did, while her fellow actresses Manisha Koirala and Raveena Tandon reached the peak of their popularity with blockbuster after blockbuster, success seemed to elude her.
After a couple of inconsequential films came Ram Gopal Verma as Urmila's saviour and she never looked back since then.
Verma's Rangeela catapulted Urmila to the status of a glamour queen. Her potential to dance and sex appeal discovered and displayed by Verma in the film made Urmila an overnight star.
She also appeared in several Ram Gopal Verma's Telugu films.
But her performance in films like Kaun, Satya, Pyar Tune Kya Kiya, Pinjar, Bhoot, Tehzeeb etc proved that she was more than a sex symbol and was capable of doing justice with any role. Also, Urmila challengingly took up the role of the other woman in Mere Sapno Ki Rani and Judaai.
The 5 feet 1½ inch (1.56 m) high, Urmila has been perform the item song in the remake of Sholay that was earlier performed by the legendary Helen.
Urmila was nominated for what is popularly called the Filmfare Best Villain Award in 2001, for her work in Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya.
In 2003, Urmila won her first Filmfare Award: Critics Award Best Performance for Bhoot. Her same performance won her recognition in many other award ceremonies as well.
Urmila has been nominated for Filmfare Best Actress Award category four times for films Rangeela in 1995, Satya in 1998, Bhoot in 2003, and Ek Hasina Thi in 2004 but has never won, yet.
Urmila Matondkar is undoubtedly a talented actress, but it is her great body, glamorous look and dance that give the 'oomph girl' an edge in the cutthroat world of films.
Today Urmila is known as one of Bollywood's most versatile actresses. She is an intensely private person and rarley gives interviews. She is a confessed bookworm. Currently single, with the usual rumours of her link with verma.