Ravindra Kishan Shukla (born 17 July 1969), popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian actor, politician, film producer and television personality. He currently serves as

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha ( abbreviated: MP) is the representative of a legislative constituency in the Lok Sabha; the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct elections ...

from

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...

. He received a ''Sansad Ratna'' award in 2025 for his performance in parliamentary duties. His film works are predominantly in

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

and

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

, as well as

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...

. He has also appeared in a few

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

films. In 2006, he participated in ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through JioStar Network. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally availabl ...

''. He ended up as the second runner up. He was also a contestant on '' Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 5'' in 2012.

Personal life

Ravi Kishan was born on 17 July 1969 in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He is the youngest of five siblings. He studied up to 12th at Rizvi College Bandra West, Mumbai. His family hails from Kerakat, Jaunpur district,

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, where Kishan lived for about seven years. Ravi Kishan married Priti Shukla on 10 December 1993, and they have four children, one son and three daughters. His daughter, Riva Kishan, made her film debut with '' Sab Kushal Mangal'' (2020). His other daughter, Ishita, who was an NCC cadet, joined the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

in June 2023.

Film career

In June 2008, Kishan was awarded the Most Popular Actor award at the

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television application specification Africa * e.tv, South Africa * ETV (Ethiopia), Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation * ETV G ...

Bhojpuri Cinema Samman 2008 function. Popular reality shows such as ''

'', and more recently '' Ek Se Badhkar Ek – Jalwe Sitaron Ke'' have brought him to the front line of top Indian television actors. In 2008, he started co-hosting the celebrity dance-based reality show '' Bathroom Singer'', ''Naman:Ek Sansani'' and ''Ek Se Badhkar Ek – Jalwe Sitaron Ke'' on Zee. Kishan also hosted the reality show '' Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka'', on NDTV Imagine for two seasons. He worked with film directors Shyam Benegal and Mani Ratnam in 2010. A film starring Kishan, ''Jala Debh Duniya Tohra Pyar Mein'', produced by the American film company PUN Films, was shown in the India Pavilion at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

2010., In 2011 he had a role in the film ''Shraddha In The Name Of God'' directed by Gurubhai Thakkar. In 2013, Kishan was one of the judges on the reality TV show ''Sales Ka Bazigar'', telecast on

. The show aimed to find the best salesperson in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The top ten people who made it to the finales were to be employed by the presenter of the show Su-kam Power Systems. The winner would get a package of ten lakhs per annum, followed by the first runner-up winning a package of six lakhs per annum. This show was the first of its kind to find the best salesperson in India, and saw participation from over 10,000 people from regions across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Kishan made his

debut with the 2014 Telugu film '' Race Gurram''. In 2017 he made his

debut in '' Hebbuli and''

debut with '' Monisha En Monalisa'' in 1999. In 2018, he had a role in the film '' MLA''.

Dubbing

In 2008, Kishan dubbed

Tobey Maguire Tobias Vincent Maguire (born 27 June 1975) is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for starring as Peter Parker (2002 film series character), Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in film#Sam Raimi's trilogy, ''Spider-Man'' tr ...

's role as

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

in ''

Spider-Man 3 ''Spider-Man 3'' is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it was directe ...

'' into

. This is the first

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

blockbuster film to include a Bhojpuri voice dub, along with

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, and Telugu dubs.

Political career

Kishan joined

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

(INC) from Jaunpur constituency in

, and contested in the 2014 general elections where he secured only 42,759 votes or 4.25 per cent of the total votes and finished 6th. In February 2017, Kishan left the Congress Party and joined the BJP. Ravi Kishan was named for

during 2019 General election by

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. He contested the 2019 general elections against Samajwadi party candidate Rambhual Nishad in

constituency of

. Kishan, won against Rambhual Nishad by a lead of over 3,01,664 votes. Ravi Kishan polled 7,17,122 votes, while Rambhual Nishad polled 4,15,458 votes.

Filmography

Films

Dubbing roles

Television

Web series

References

External links

* * *
YouTube Ravi Kishan TV Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kishan, Ravi 1969 births Living people 21st-century Indian male actors Indian male voice actors Male actors in Hindi cinema Male actors in Bhojpuri cinema Male actors in Telugu cinema Indian male film actors Indian male television actors People from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh Indian male actors India MPs 2019–2024 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Indian actor-politicians National Democratic Alliance candidates in the 2019 Indian general election India MPs 2024–2029