Ashwini Kalsekar
Ashwini Kalsekar is an Indian actress who worked mostly in Marathi television and film industry, and later on in Hindi daily soaps. Known mostly for her collaboration with famous directors Sriram Raghavan, Rohit Shetty and Ram Gopal Varma. She was noticed briefly in CID as Asha as a cop. Initially she started her career during 1999 popular science fiction comedy Zeetv serial Mr. Gayab in lead role, best known for her villainous roles as Shalaka Catwoman in kids Superhero serial Shaktimaan considered as first Indian Catwoman, Jigyasa Walia in Ekta Kapoor’s soap opera Kasamh Se,[1] Sikka Thakuriaan in Afsar Bitiya, Maham Anga in Jodha Akbar and Saudamini, an evil witch in Kavach. She also became the judge in Marathi reality show “Fu bai fu”. In 2011, she debuted in Tollywood like her husband with Badrinath. In 2019, she debuted on web platform with Zee5 Webseries “Chargesheet: The Shuttlecock Murder” and Mxplayer Webseries “Cheesecake” as Chaaru an animal communicator which premiered in December 2019. She has been in a part of the Golmaal series since the start. She is seen in Laxmii in 2020.
Ashwini Kalsekar was born in a Marathi family on 22 January 1970 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Her father Anil Kalsekar was a bank employee. Ashwini studied 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 be an actress. She is also trained under Muzammeel Vakil, a theatre acting coach from 1992 to 1995. Ashwini is also a trained Kathak dancer.[2]
In 1996, Ashwini played a role in the Marathi film Tula Jhapar La. This was followed by a number of films in Marathi where she appeared in supporting roles.
She started her television career in the mid-1990s with serials such as Shanti,[4] C.I.D., Anjaane, Siddhant and K. Street Pali Hill.[5]
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,[6] the Indian Telly Award for Best Actress in a Negative Role,[7] and other major awards.
In 2012, Ashwini was again approached by Ekta Kapoor to play the role of Maham Anga,[8] a foster mother of Emperor Akbar in her historical drama series Jodha Akbar. The role fetched her critical acclaim[9][10] and major awards. She went on to win the Indian Telly Award for Best Actress in a Negative Role,[11] the Boroplus Gold Award for Best Actress in a Negative Role[12] 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 whole seasons.
In 2014, Ashwini was offered a very different and modern role as Pam Khanna[13] in Ekta Kapoor’s soap opera Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar.[14]
