Govinda Biography – an Indian Actor who known for his Slapstick Performances and Dancing Skills

Govind Arun Ahuja (born 21 December 1958) is an Indian former actor, comedian, dancer, and former politician, who has appeared in more than 165 Hindi-language films and established himself as one of the most popular actors in India. Govinda is known for his slapstick performances and dancing skills. He has received 12 Filmfare Award nominations and won two Filmfare Special Awards and one Filmfare Award for Best Comedian. In June 1999, he was voted the tenth-greatest star on stage or screen in the last thousand years by a BBC News Online poll.

Starting as an action and dancing hero in the 1980s, His first film was 1986’s Ilzaam, which was a hit other earlier box-office hits include Love 86 (1986), Hatya (1988), Jeete Hain Shaan Se (1988), Do Qaidi (1989), and Hum (1991). However, Govinda would go on to reinvent himself as a comic hero in the 1990s after his role as a mischievous young NCC cadet in the 1992 romance Shola Aur Shabnam and 1993 action comedy Aankhen in which he played dual roles. Following the success of these films, Govinda had lead roles in several commercially successful comedy films, including Raja Babu (1994), Coolie No. 1 (1995), Saajan Chale Sasural (1996), Hero No. 1 (1997), Deewana Mastana (1997), Dulhe Raja (1998), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998), Anari No.1 (1999), Haseena Maan Jayegi (1999) and Jodi No. 1 (2001). He went on to win the Filmfare Special Award for Saajan Chale Sasural and the Filmfare Award for Best Comedian for Haseena Maan Jayegi.

In the 2000 film Hadh Kar Di Aapne, he played six roles. After a series of several unsuccessful films in the 2000s, his later commercial hits include Bhagam Bhag (2006), Partner (2007), and Holiday (2014), in which he played supporting roles. In 2015, Govinda became a judge on Season 2 of Zee TV‘s reality show, Dance India Dance Super Moms. It received the highest TRP of any reality show opening episode at that time.

Govinda was a member of the Parliament of India from 2004 to 2009. As the Indian National Congress party member, he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Mumbai North constituency of Maharashtra, India in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004, defeating Ram Naik of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Early life and background (Govinda Biography)

Govinda was born on 21 December 1963 to former actor Aroon (alias Arun Kumar Ahuja) and singer-actress Nirmala Devi.

Govinda’s father (Aroon Ahuja) hailed from Gujranwala, Punjab which is now in Punjab, Pakistan, and Govinda’s mother hailed from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. His father came to Mumbai to become an actor in the late 1930s. He is best known for appearing in Mehboob Khan’s Aurat (1940). Aroon’s professional career as an actor lasted for 15 years, from 1939 to 1954. In these years, he worked as a hero in 30 films. He produced one unsuccessful film which caused financial loss. The family, living in a bungalow on Mumbai’s Carter Road, moved to Virar, a northern Mumbai suburb, where Govinda was born. The youngest of 6 children, he was given the pet name “Chi Chi,” meaning “little finger” in Punjabi.

Acting career (Govinda Biography)

1986–89: Debut and breakthrough

After Govinda received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Vartak College, Vasai, his father suggested a career in films. Around this time, Govinda saw the film Disco Dancer (1982); afterward, he practiced for hours and circulated a promotional VHS cassette. He was offered jobs in a fertilizer commercial and an Allwyn ad.

He went on to star in many films of various genres between 1987 and 1989 including the family dramas Khudgarz (1987), Dariya Dil (1988), Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1988), and action and drama films including Hatya (1988), Marte Dam Tak (1987), Jeete Hain Shaan Se (1988) and Jung Baaz (1989). Govinda worked with David Dhawan for the first time in the 1989 action film Taaqatwar and worked with Rajinikanth and Sridevi in Gair Kanooni that same year.

1990–99: Commercial success with comedy films

In 1990, Govinda starred in the cult classic Awaargi, with Anil Kapoor and Meenakshi Sheshadri. Swarg and Maha-Sangram co-starring Vinod Khanna, Aditya Pancholi, and Madhuri Dixit were also successful.

In 1991, he appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth in the hit film Hum.

In 1992 he appeared in Zulm Ki Hukumat, an Indian version of The Godfather, and David Dhawan’s Shola Aur Shabnam opposite actress Divya Bharti.

His successful collaboration with Dhawan continued with Aankhen, the highest-grossing film of 1993. He and Dhawan would make several successful comedy films which included: Raja Babu (1994), Coolie No. 1 (1995), Saajan Chale Sasural (1996), Banarasi Babu (1997), Deewana Mastana (1997), Hero No. 1 (1997), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998) and Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999). The actor sang in some of his films: “Meri Pant Bhi Sexy” in Dulaara (1994) and “Gori Gori” in Shola Aur Shabnam. Dhawan and other directors frequently cast him with actresses such as Karishma Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, and Raveena Tandon during this decade.

2000–05: Slump and break from films

During this decade, Govinda turned down roles in Taal, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, and Devdas, all of which were highly successful.

The actor took a break from films from 2003 to 2005. He had no new film releases in 2004 and 2005, although some of his delayed films were released during this time, (such as 2005’s Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen and Ssukh— produced by Govinda and directed by his brother, Kirti Kumar and 2006’s Sandwich) which were box-office failures.

2006–09: Comeback

Govinda made a comeback to films in 2006 with the comedy Bhagam Bhag (directed by Priyadarshan), in which he appeared with Akshay Kumar and Lara Dutta. It was Govinda and Kumar’s first film together.

In 2008, Govinda appeared in Money Hai Toh Honey Hai, directed by Bollywood choreographer Ganesh Acharya, which was a box office failure. This was followed by a TK Rajeev Kumar-directed comedy, Chal Chala Chal. Govinda’s performance was praised, and the film was successful. The same year, Salman Khan invited Dhawan and Govinda on his show, 10 Ka Dum, to celebrate the success of Partner.

The following year, he played a lawyer in the hit, Life Partner, and his performance was praised by the critics. Govinda rejoined Dhawan and Vashu Bhagnani for Do Knot Disturb; despite good reviews from critics, it was unsuccessful at the box office,

2010–present

In 2010, Govinda appeared in Mani Ratnam‘s bilingual project, Raavan, with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. He played a Forest Ministry employee who takes Vikram‘s character through the woods in search of a wanted criminal. Govinda denied reports that his character was a contemporary version of Hanuman, and his performance in the minor role was praised.

In 2015 Govinda appeared in Hey Bro, starring Nupur Sharma and Ganesh Acharya.

In 2017, Govinda was seen as a cop in his home production Aa Gaya Hero, which was directed by Deepankar Senapati. The film also stars former Miss World Richa Sharma, Ashutosh Rana, Murali Sharma, Makarand Deshpande, and Harish Kumar. Aa Gaya Hero marks Govinda’s third home production, after Hatya and Ssukh. It was released on 17 March 2017. The film was not successful at the box office. He later starred alongside Varun Sharma in FryDay in 2018. His last theatrical release Rangeela Raja in which he played a dual role in 2019, was panned by critics and audiences and managed to recover only 1% of its budget.

He appeared as a judge in Zee Bangla‘s Dance Bangla Dance in its Grand Finale in 2016 and 2018.

From 22 May he has appeared again as Judge for all episodes in Zee Bangla‘s Dance Bangla Dance.

Political career

In 2004, Govinda joined the Congress Party and was elected to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian parliament) from Mumbai by 50,000 votes over the five-term incumbent.

During the elections, he said his agenda would be prawaas (transportation), swasthya (health), and gyaan (education). In the field of transportation, he claimed 80% credit for the quadrupling of the Borivali-Virar section of the Western Railway zone. According to official sources, he made some efforts in the fields of health and education. The Thane district collector said in an interview that Govinda had committed money from his “local area development fund” (allocated to each MP by the government) to construct anganwadis and solve drinking-water problems in Vasai and Virar but administrative approval was delayed.

Resignation

Govinda’s film-star status could explain his inaccessibility to his constituents, but not his absence from parliament. During his tenure as the Member of Parliament, Govinda was usually absent when the Lok Sabha was in session and he was severely criticized for inactivity. At the same time, he continued his film career while he was serving as an MP. Indeed, his career witnessed a comeback of sorts in 2007, after the release of Partner. He was pilloried in the press for the combination of continuing to act in films while being generally absent from parliament, and inaccessible to his constituents. On 20 January 2008, Govinda decided to leave politics and concentrate on his Bollywood acting career.

Later Govinda said that he wasted his time by joining politics and it badly affected his films.

Controversy (Govinda Biography)

In January 2008, Govinda slapped a struggling actor, Santosh Rai, on the set of Money Hai Toh Honey Hai at Filmistan Studio in Mumbai which led to Rai filing a complaint against Govinda which reached the Supreme Court after the lower courts didn’t find any evidence against Govinda. In December 2015, the Supreme Court asked Govinda to apologize to Rai for slapping him and settle the whole matter out of the court immediately in two weeks. The actor said that he “respects” the court’s decision, and will decide when he receives it in writing.

Govinda has stated on multiple occasions that he was offered Sam Worthington’s role in the 2009 film Avatar directed by James Cameron. Govinda also stated that he suggested the title of the film to Cameron and that he refused the role because he was unwilling to paint his body blue, even though Avatar relied on extensive CGI and not blue paint. His claims were met with widespread trolling on social media. Neither Cameron, nor any member of the Avatar franchise has confirmed this claim to be true.

Personal life (Govinda Biography)

His brother, Kirti Kumar, was an actor, producer, director and singer. His sister, Kaamini Khanna, was a writer, music director, and singer. Govinda’s uncle Anand Singh (assistant to director Hrishikesh Mukherjee), introduced him in Tan-Badan. Singh’s sister-in-law, Sunita Munjal, fell in love with Govinda at this time, and they were married on 11 March 1987, with their marriage remaining a secret for four years. They have two children: a daughter Tina Ahuja and a son Yashvardhan. Tina made her Bollywood debut in the Second Hand Husband (2015)

Govinda has six nephews and two nieces who are mostly in the Mumbai entertainment industry: actors Vinay Anand, Krishna Abhishek, Aryan, Arjun Singh, Ragini Khanna, Amit Khanna, Aarti Singh and director Janmendra Kumar Ahuja (alias Dumpy). Govinda’s brother-in-law, Devendra Sharma, has appeared in several Hindi films.

Govinda was seriously injured on 5 January 1994 while traveling to a studio for the shooting of Khuddar. The actor’s car collided with another car, and he sustained head injuries. Although he was bleeding profusely, Govinda did not cancel the shoot; after seeing a doctor, he worked until midnight.

Music career and collaborations

Govinda has worked with music directors Anand Milind and Anand Raj Anand and playback singer Udit Narayan. Narayan has sung more than 100 songs for Govinda in more than 50 films, the greatest number of films and songs he has sung for a particular actor. Other singers associated with Govinda include Kishore Kumar, Amit Kumar, Kumar Sanu, Vinod Rathod, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Devang Patel, and Sonu Nigam. Also, his elder brother Kirti Kumar has sung 2 songs for him. In the film Farz Ki Jung (1989), there was a popular song “Phool Ka Shabab Kya, Husn Mahatab Kya…” which was sung by the Late Mohammed Rafi and picturized on Govinda.

His first album, Govinda, was released in 1998. In November 2013, Govinda released his second album, Gori Tere Naina, with actress Pooja Bose. Govinda also wrote lyrics. He is the lyricist of the “I Love You Bol Daal” song in Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999).

Filmography (Govinda Biography)

Films

Television

Awards and nominations (Govinda Biography)

Filmfare Awards

Star Screen Awards

Zee Cine Awards (Govinda Biography)

Videocon Screen Awards

IIFA Awards

Star Gold Awards (Govinda Biography)

MTV Lycra Style Awards

Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards

Stardust Awards (Govinda Biography)

Hiru Golden Film Awards

Honours

In 1999, Govinda was voted the world’s tenth-greatest star of stage or screen in a BBC News Online poll. In July 2016, he was recognized as Actor of the Decade at the India Leadership Conclave in Mumbai.

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