Ashwini Bhave is an Indian model and actress who predominantly works in the Hindi and Marathi entertainment industry. She first gained recognition with the Hindi serial Antariksh and then starred in several Hindi and Marathi films. Her most notable work includes movies such as Golat Ghol (1988),
Henna (1991),
Sainik (1993), and
Kadachit (2007).
Early life
Ashwini was born in a Maharashtrian Kokanastha Brahmin family. She did her schooling from Sadhana Vidyalaya, Mumbai.
Personal life Ashwini got married to Kishore Bopardikar, a software engineer, and has two sons. She moved to the USA post marriage where she pursued a course in Film making and Acting in California.
Television career Ashwini is a known face among the Hindi television audiences. She gained popularity with her appearance in the Hindi Sci-Fi serial Antariksh. Her other notable television work includes the mega-serial Yugpurush.
Movie career Ashwini entered the film industry with the Marathi movie Golat Ghol (1988), directed by
Vinay Laad, in which she starred opposite
Laxmikant Berde and
Vijay Chavan. She followed this up with two movies in 1989 - Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi and Kalat Nakalat. Two years later, the actress made her Bollywood debut with the 1991 film
Henna, as part of the lead cast alongside
Rishi Kapoor and
Zeba Bakhtiyar. The movie, directed by
Randhir Kapoor, was a hit, and gained Ashwini popularity in the Hindi movie industry. In the following year, she starred in lead roles in two movies Meera Ka Mohan and
Honeymoon, both of which were average hits and the latter received mixed reviews. The actress had a string of movies in 1993, but her most popular one was director Sikandar Bhati's
Sainik, in which she starred opposite
Akshay Kumar and
Farheen. She played the wife of Akshay Kumar in the film, and was appreciated for her performance. In another movie
Parampara in the year, Ashwini was part of an ensemble cast including
Aamir Khan,
Sunil Dutt,
Vinod Khanna,
Saif Ali Khan,
Raveena Tandon, and
Anupam Kher, but the movie turned out to be a commercial flop. In her other two releases of the year -
Kayda Kanoon and Vishnu Vijaya too, she shared screen space with Akshay Kumar.
In 1994, Ashwini played the role of Doctor Anita Kedarnath in the
Mithun Chakraborty starrer action movie
Cheetah. Her other film
Chauraha in the year saw her play the sister of Inspector Kailash Mathur (
Jeetendra) and the lover of
Jackie Shroff's character Amar. One more appreciated performance of the actress was in the 1997 action movie
Judge Mujrim, in which she played the role of Inspector Ashwini Sinha. Her next notable performance was seen in the 1998 movie
Bandhan, in which she plays a young woman from a poor family, whom Jackie Shroff's character falls in love with. This movie, which was a remake of Tamil film Pandithurai, was a hit at the box office.
After almost a decade long break, Ashwini made a comeback in the movie industry with
Chandrakant Kulkarni's Marathi film
Kadachit (2007), in which she starred as part of the lead cast opposite
Sachin Khedekar, and
Sadashiv Amrapurkar. Her next release was the drama film
Aajcha Divas Majha, once again under the direction of
Chandrakant Kulkarni. In the movie, she played the wife of Sachin Khedekar's character. Her 2017 release includes the Marathi movie
Manjha, directed by
Jatin Wagle. She plays the lead role opposite
Sumedh Mudgalkar and
Rohit Phalke, whereas
Apoorva Arora,
Shivani Tanksale and Mohan Kapur were seen in significant supporting roles.
As a Producer Ashwini produced the 2007 Marathi thriller drama
Kadachit, in which she starred in the lead role.