Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar (Marathi pronunciation: əɦeːʃ maːɲd͡zɾekəɾ born 16 August 1958) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer who works primarily in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

films, alongside Marathi,

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

and

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

films. He is credited with directing the critically acclaimed films '' Vaastav: The Reality'' (1999), ''

Astitva ''Astitva'' (meaning ''existence, identity'') is a 2000 bilingual film made simultaneously in Marathi and Hindi, written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. The film tells the story of Aditi Pandit, a happily married woman whose husband Srikant bec ...

'' (2000) and '' Viruddh... Family Comes First'' (2005). He has won a

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

for Best Feature Film in Marathi for Astitva and two Star Screen Awards. He is also known as host of the reality show, '' Bigg Boss Marathi'' since 2018.

Early life

Mahesh Manjrekar was born on 16 August 1958 in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, Maharashtra (erstwhile

Bombay state Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding So ...

). He was brought up in a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family.

Career

Manjrekar has acted in several films, including some of his own productions. He was first seen in the Door darshan Marathi series named Kshitij, in which he played a leprosy patient. He first gained acclaim as an actor for his performance in the 2002 film ''

Kaante ''Kaante'' () is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language action-thriller film directed by Sanjay Gupta, written by Milap Zaveri, and starring an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Kumar Gaurav, Sunil Shetty, Lucky Ali, Mahesh Manjrek ...

'', and later played negative roles in the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

film ''

Arrambam ''Arrambam'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Vishnuvardhan. Produced by A. Raghuram and co-written by Subha, the film stars Ajith Kumar, Arya, Nayanthara and Taapsee Pannu, with Kishore, Rana Daggubati, ...

'' (2013),

film '' Okkadunnadu'' (2007) and as the gangster Javed in the film ''

Slumdog Millionaire ''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Pa ...

'' (2008). He played

Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adilsh ...

in the Marathi film '' Me Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy''. He also played the role of Harpeez Dongara in the ''Aakhri Chunauti'' series of episodes in the Indian TV series '' C.I.D.''. Manjrekar was acclaimed for the role as inspector D.R. Talpade in the movie ''

Wanted Wanted may refer to: Law enforcement * Fugitive, a person wanted by the authorities * Wanted poster, a poster put up to inform the public of one or more criminals whom authorities wish to apprehend Film * ''Wanted!'', a 1937 British comedy film ...

''. He was a MNS candidate from Mumbai North West in the

2014 Lok Sabha Elections General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 201 ...

but lost to Gajanan Kirtikar of

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

Filmography

Actor

Film credits

Television

Web series

Production

In 2011, he launched his own production company with Aniruddha Deshpande called Great Maratha Entertainment LLP Productions. The first film made under the banner was the ''

Fakta Ladh Mhana ''Fakta Ladh Mhana'' is a 2011 multistarrer Marathi revenge action thriller film with lead roles by Aniket Vishwasrao, Siddharth Jadhav, Sanjay Narvekar, Santosh Juvekar, Bharat Jadhav, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sachin Khedekar and Vaibhav Mangle. The ...

'' which is one of the most expensive Marathi films.

Awards and nominations

Personal life

Manjrekar was married to Deepa Mehta, a costume designer but they were divorced with whom he has two children. Later, he married

Medha Manjrekar Medha Manjrekar (born 28 April 1967) is an Indian actress and producer in Marathi cinema, known for '' Natsamrat'' (2016), ''Kaksparsh'' (2012) and '' De Dhakka'' (2008). She played lead role opposite Nana Patekar in 2016 Marathi film ''Natsamr ...

. They have a daughter,

Saiee Manjrekar Saiee Manjrekar (born 23 December 1997) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi, Marathi and Telugu-language films. Daughter of actors Mahesh Manjrekar and Medha Manjrekar, she made her acting debut with ''Dabangg 3'' (2019), for which she re ...

, who is an actress. He has a stepdaughter from his wife

's first husband.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Manjrekar, Mahesh 1958 births Indian male film actors 21st-century Indian film directors Film producers from Mumbai Indian male screenwriters Living people Film directors from Mumbai Hindi-language film directors Male actors in Hindi cinema Marathi film directors Male actors in Marathi cinema Candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Maharashtra Navnirman Sena politicians Indian actor-politicians Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Politicians from Mumbai Male actors in Hindi television Hindi film producers Indian television directors Male actors in Telugu cinema Male actors in Tamil cinema Male actors in Bengali cinema Bigg Boss