Ashwini Kalsekar is an Indian actress who works predominantly in the Marathi and Hindi television and film industry. She has primarily worked with Sriram Raghavan, Rohit Shetty, Ram Gopal Varma and Ekta Kapoor. After playing a cop in the popular TV show CID, Kalsekar had her first lead role on television in Zee TV's 1999 series Mr. Gayab. She had her breakthrough as the "first Indian Catwoman" in the cult superhero serial Shaktimaan and rose to fame with negative characters in Kasamh Se, Afsar Bitiya, Jodha Akbar, Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar and Kavach. She also featured as a judge in the Marathi reality show "Fu bai fu" in 2011. Kalsekar debuted in Tollywood like her husband Murali Sharma with Badrinath. Since 2019, she focused on OTT with Zee5's series "Chargesheet: The Shuttlecock Murder", in the MX Player web series "Cheesecake" as Chaaru, an animal communicator, which premiered in December 2019, in 36 Farmhouse on Zee5 and in the Hotstar Specials show Rudra: The Edge of Darkness.

Early life

Ashwini Kalsekar was born into a Marathi family in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Her father Anil Kalsekar was a bank employee. Ashwini completed her B.A. from Mumbai and graduated in 1991. She pursued theatre from 1991 to 1994 after her studies. From 1992 to 1993, she was studying under actress Neena Gupta to pursue her dream to become an actress. She also trained under Muzammeel Vakil, a theatre acting coach, from 1992 to 1995. Ashwini is also a trained Kathak dancer.

Personal life

Ashwini married Nitesh Pandey in 1998. They were divorced in 2002 due to undisclosed reasons. In 2009, she married film and television actor Murali Sharma.

Career

In an interview to The Indian Express, she said that Shanti was her first acting project. She then worked in successful television serials such as CID, Anjaane, Siddhant and K. Street Pali Hill. In 1996, Ashwini performed in the Marathi film Tula Jhapar La. This was followed by a number of films in Marathi where she appeared in supporting roles. Her biggest break came when she was approached by Ekta Kapoor to play the antagonist in her soap opera Kasamh Se, where she played the role of Jigyasa Walia. The role fetched her the Indian Television Academy Award for Best Actress in a Negative Role, the Indian Telly Award for Best Actress in a Negative Role, and other major awards. In 2012, Ashwini was again approached by Ekta Kapoor to play the role of Maham Anga, a foster mother of Emperor Akbar in her historical drama series Jodha Akbar. The role fetched her critical acclaim and major awards. She went on to win the Indian Telly Award for Best Actress in a Negative Role, the Boroplus Gold Award for Best Actress in a Negative Role, and other major awards. In 2012, she was a part of a Marathi comedy reality show, Fu Bai Fu. She was the judge of the show, along with Swapnil Joshi and Sanjay Jadhav, for 2 seasons. In 2014, Ashwini performed the role of Pam Khanna in Ekta Kapoor's soap opera Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar.

Filmography

Films

Television

Web series

Awards