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.