mamta kulkarni Biography

Mamta Kulkarni born 20 April 1972 is a former Bollywood Actress. During the 90s, she was part of several commercial successes such as Karan Arjun(1995), Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995), Aashiq Awara(1993), Krantiveer (1994) among others.

Date of Birth

20 April 1972, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 

Birth Name

Mamta Mukhund Kulkarni 

Nickname

Rani 

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m) 

Biography
Mamta Kulkarni was born in a Marathi-speaking household, and lived at Yari Road, Versova, Andheri West, along with two sisters, Mithila and Moulina.

Nothwithstanding Mamta's Marathi accent, and her inability to speak fluent English, she did land several roles in Bollywood flicks, starting in 1992 with Tiranga, and thereafter in Karan Arjun, Sabse Bada Khiladi, Baazi, until the 2002 release of Kahbhi Tum Kabhi Hum. In role in Aashiq Awara opposite Sharmila Tagore's son, Saif Ali Khan, got her an 'New Face' award from Filmfare & Lux.

In most of her films she is shown as a glamorous, sexy, song-and-dance girl. She did try to change this in Raj Kumar Santoshi's Chinagate, but the movie flopped, and this, amongst other misunderstandings, led to souring of relationships between Mamta and Santoshi.

It was during 1993 that Mamta created controversy by appearing topless, albeit with her arms crossed across her breasts, in the September issue of 'Stardust'. This angered several conservative groups, leading to her her arrest, subsequent conviction by the courts in the year 2000 and a fine Rs.15,000/-.

She was involved in another controversy by appearing in Court wearing an Islamic Burkha - incurring the wrath of Islamic groups.

Controversy again followed her when she appeared on a stage show in 1997 at the invitation of a Bihar-based Legislator, who was subsequently arrested for his involvement in a scam. Mamta has denied her involvement in this scam.

Her natural beauty and outspokenness sparked jealousies and fears amongst other leading ladies, thus leading to considerable diatribe between herself and other actresses, Urmila Matondkar in particular.

It cannot be denied that Mamta is breathtakingly beautiful, and deserves a second chance in movies. Although she has re-located in the U.S., she continues to have many fans, who wish her well, and hope she makes a comeback someda

Acting career

Kulkarni made her debut through the Tamil film Nanbargal which was directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. She made her Bollywood debut with the 1992 movie Tirangaa. In 1993 she starred in Aashiq Awara, which won her a Filmfare Lux New Face Award. She went to appear in many other popular films such asWaqt Hamara Hai (1993), Krantiveer (1994), Karan Arjun (1995), Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995), Ghatak: Lethal (1996), Beqabu, Baazi, Gangstar, Chupa Rustam, Qila, Andolan, which did well at the box office.

Things seemed to change when Rajkumar Santoshi, in whose earlier movie Ghatak: Lethal (1996), she had a cameo appearance, cast her as the female lead in his 1998 movie China Gate, an ambitious remake of Seven Samurai. In a glamorized role and sharing screen space with some of Hindi cinemas finest actors, she had the perfect opportunity to showcase her acting talent.

However, things did not go as planned. Relations between Santoshi and the actress soured, and rumours began circulating that Kulkarni was dropped from the movie, and reinstated only after gangster Chhota Rajan intervened on her behalf.^[3] When the movie was finally released, it was also a huge flop. Furthermore, the only song in the movie, the item number Chamma Chamma, was picturised on Urmila Matondkar, even though Kulkarni had built her reputation with such numbers. To add insult to injury, the song turned out to be a chartbuster, and was even used in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!, and greatly increased Urmila's popularity.

Angered at the turn of events, Kulkarni lashed out at Santoshi, accusing him of cutting her screen time because she had refused his advances.^[4] Santoshi denied all rumours related to the movie, and the matter was given a quiet burial. However, this proved to be the death blow to Kulkarni's career. She only appeared in a handful of movies after that, and new offers dried up. She quit movies after her last appearance in the 2002 film Divine Temple Khajuraho. Mamta also did few movies in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam.^[5]

During her career she was offered many other films with Mithun Chakraborty, Ajay Devgn, Bobby Deol,Shahrukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Khanna. She turned down many big films such as Sapoot, Agnaary,Mr and Mrs Khiladi, Bandahan, Aunty No.1, Dulhe Raja, Davaa, Shikari and Hogi Pyar Ki Jeetbecause her role was not substantial.^[

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2002	Divine Temple Khajuraho
2001	Chhupa Rustam: A Musical Thriller	Sandhya
2001	Censor	Nisha (Censor Board Member)
1998	Qila	Neeta
1998	Jaane Jigar	Meenu
1998	China Gate	Sandhya Rajan
1997	Krantikari
1997	Jeevan Yudh	Kajal Choudhry
1997	Naseeb	Pooja
1996	Ghatak: Lethal	Dancer in song Maara Re
1996	Beqabu	Reshmi Kapoor
1996	Raja Aur Rangeeli
1995	Sabse Bada Khiladi	Sunita Das
1995	Baazi	Sanjana Roy, Journalist
1995	Ahankaar	Naina
1995	Andolan	Guddi
1995	Karan Arjun	Bindiya
1995	Kismat
1995	Policewala Gunda
1994	Vaade Iraade	Nikita Sekhri
1994	Dilbar	Priya Verma
1994	Gangster
1994	Betaaj Badshah	Tejeshwani/Guddiya
1994	Anokha Premyudh	Priti
1994	Krantiveer	Mamta
1993	Waqt Hamara Hai	Mamta Vidrohi
1993	Bhookamp
1993	Aashiq Awara	Jyoti	(Won Filmfare Lux Award of the year)
1993	Ashaant	Sonali	Vishnu Vijaya India: Kannada title: dubbed version
1992	Mera Dil Tere Liye	Priya R Singh
1992	Tirangaa	Sandhya