Komal Mahuvakar, better known by her

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Rupini, is an Indian former actress who has appeared in

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

and Telugu language films during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Early life

Mahuvakar was born in Mumbai into a well educated family. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was a dietitian. She started to learn dancing at the age of four from Lachhu Maharaj in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. She learnt all the forms of classical dances including

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

, Kuchipudi,

Odissi ''Odissi'' (''ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ'') also referred to as ''Orissi'' in old literature, oldest surviving classical dance of India, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern ...

and

Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

in a short span.

Career

She was accidentally spotted by the film-maker

Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his car ...

who offered her child roles in his films such as '' Mili'' (1975), '' Kotwal Saab'' (1977) and ''

Khubsoorat ''Khubsoorat'' () is a 1980 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film, directed and produced by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and written by Gulzar, Shanu Banerjee, Ashok Rawat, and D. N. Mukherjee. The film stars Ashok Kumar, Rekha, Rakesh Roshan and Di ...

'' (1980). Earlier she acted in few Hindi movies, doing character roles under her real name Komal Mahuvakar. She started appearing in lead roles in movies like '' Payal Ki Jhankaar'' (1980), (1980), ''Ghungroo'' (1983), '' Meri Adalat'' (1984) and '' Awara Baap'' (1985). She changed her name to Rupini after taking up acting assignments in South Indian movies like '' Cooliekkaran'' (1987), '' Manithan'' (1987), '' En Thangachi Padichava'' (1988), '' Apoorva Sagodharargal'' (1989), '' Michael Madana Kama Rajan'' (1990) and '' Madurai Veeran Enga Saami'' (1990). Though she shuffled between Bollywood and Kollywood movies but preferred to use both names. She stopped acting after her marriage to Mohan Kumar in 1995. Soon after her marriage, Rupini quit films and concentrated on her family based at Chembur. She started a heart hospital at

Chembur Chembur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ͡ʃembuːɾ is an upmarket large suburb in central Mumbai, India. It belongs on the harbour line of suburban railways and offers the best connectivity with Mumbai Monorail, Santacruz- Chembur Link R ...

for ailing patients and named it Universal Heart Hospital. In 2020, she made her comeback in the Tamil television series '' Chithi 2''.

Filmography

Tamil

Malayalam

Hindi

Kannada

Telugu

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rupini Living people Indian film actresses Indian child actresses 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses from Mumbai Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema 1969 births