Pooja Gandhi

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Pooja Gandhi
Born
Sanjana Gandhi

(1983-10-07) 7 October 1983 (age 40)
Occupations
Known forMungaru Male and Dandupalya
Political party
Spouse
Vijay Ghorpade
(m. 2023)

Pooja Gandhi (born Sanjana Gandhi in 1983)

Banglore Times placed her in the list of "25 Most Desirable Women of 2012".[13][14]

Gandhi made her acting debut in 2001 with the Hindi film

Budhivanta (2008), Anu (2009), Gokula (2009), Dandupalya (2012), Dandupalya 2 (2017) and Dandupalya 3 (2018).[16] Following the success of a series of films, she established herself as one of the leading actresses of Kannada cinema.[17][18]

In 2016, Gandhi received an honorary

KEISIE International University - South Korea, for her contribution to the Kannada film industry.[4][19]

She became a member of the

BSR Congress party. She contested the Karnataka assembly elections from Raichur constituency,[21] but failed to win a seat.[22]

Early years and personal life

Gandhi was born in

Punjabi family. Her father, Pawan Gandhi, is a businessman and her mother, Jyothi Gandhi, is a housewife. She studied at Sophia Convent and Dewan Public School in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. She has two younger sisters – Radhika Gandhi, who is also an actress in Kannada films, and Suhani Gandhi, a tennis player.[23][25] Gandhi started her career as a model by acting in advertisements and television series with Awaz (a remake of Lost in Hindi language) and a serial Zameen Se Aassman Tak, directed by Aruna Irani.[24]

Gandhi got engaged in November 2012 with industrialist Anand Gowda but ended the relationship the following month.[26][27]

In 2023, Gandhi married her longtime friend and Bangalore-based businessman Vijay Ghorpade, as per Kuvempu's Mantra Mangalya concept.[28]

Career

Debut (2001)

Gandhi during shooting of Tamil film Kokki in 2006

Gandhi started her career by acting in TV

Hindi film Khatron Ke Khiladi released in 2001. Later appeared in Bengali film Tomake Salam in 2003, she moved to the South Indian film industry with the Tamil film Kokki (2006). The film earned moderate reviews and had a successful run at the box office.[25]

Initial success and fame in Kannada (2006–08)

Gandhi during shooting of Mungaru Male film in 2006

Gandhi debut in the

Kannada film industry.[citation needed
]

In 2008, she starred in the financially successful

Budhivanta alongside Upendra. It became the highest grossing Kannada film of 2008 and completed 100-days in main centres of Karnataka.[38]

Series of commercial failures (2009–2011)

Gandhi went on to act in more than dozen of films in several languages including

Kannada film industry, most of them went on to flop at the box office.[39]

In 2010, Gandhi made her Telugu debut through the Mukkanti film opposite Nandamuri Taraka Ratna, along with Poorna. Which went on to become a financial failure at the box office.[40]

In 2011, she acted her third film in Hindi with I Am, together with Juhi Chawla. "I Am" received mainly positive reviews from critics and audience upon the theatrical release. The Times of India called it "an important and intelligent film"[41] and The Film Street Journal named it "a must watch".[42]

In 2012 I Am won the

National Award for Best Hindi Film and Best Lyrics.[43]

Critical acclaim and box office success (2012–18)

Gandhi during inauguration of hotel spa in Bangalore in 2015

In 2012, Gandhi made a comeback through the female oriented film Dandupalya, which went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of Kannada industry[44] and completed 100 days theatrical run in both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.[45][46][47][48] And it collected over ₹40 crore[45][citation needed] against budget of ₹3 crore.[49][50] Gandhi received Filmfare Award for Best Kannada Actress and Suvarna Fimfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in Dandupalya.[44] The film was dubbed in Telugu and released as Dandupalyam. It was well received in Andhra Pradesh.[51][52][53][54] A Tamil dub titled Karimedu was produced by Rama Narayanan's Sri Thenandal Films and released on 24 May 2013 to critical acclaim. it was hit in Tamil Nadu.[55][56] The film was dubbed in Malayalam and was titled as Kuruthikalam.[57] Critics heaped praise on Gandhi for her performance.

DNA's critic wrote that "viewers should not miss out on Pooja's performance."[59] Business Standard's critic stated that "Pooja Gandhi as the leader of the gang is brilliant and extremely confident in her role. While some may typecast her performance as cheap and unwelcoming, I believe it takes guts for a regular heroine to shed her image and agree to play such a gritty part. She definitely deserves special mention for proving cliches wrong."[60] The Times of India's critic stated that "Pooja Gandhi walks away with full honours."[61]

In 2013, Gandhi made her debut in Malayalam film with Maad Dad (2013) together with Lal and Meghana Raj.[62] Then she becomes Item number for the Mata fame Guruprasad's directed Kannada film Director's Special (2013). According to sources said that Gandhi had rejected a request to do a special song in Devarane film, following days Pooja accepted this offer only because director Guruprasad wrote this song keeping me in mind. That makes it special, she appears in the song as Chanchal Champakali.[63][citation needed] In 2015, she starred and produced a film Abhinetri, also she introduced as Producer.[64]

In 2017, she starred in the Dandupalya 2,[65] which was the sequel of her previous film Dandupalya. In 2018 her next film was Dandupalya 3 or III, which was simultaneously released in

New Indian Express, stated that "Pooja Gandhi wins over the audience with her powerful performance."[70]

Politics

Gandhi joined the Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) party on 18 January 2012.[71]

She then joined briefly the KJP, but she finally contested the 2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections from Raichur on a BSR Congress ticket. This first attempt at public office proved unsuccessful.[72]

Controversy

Gandhi and Gandhi's film

Bengaluru against the film's "glorification of anti-social activities".[73]

"According to the dictionary, nudity means that you are not covered with a single item of clothing from head to toe. But in this scene, I have worn a sari and I am trying to cover my body, except for my back".

says Gandhi about her controversial scene in the film[74]

Filmography

Key
Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Film Role Language Notes Ref.
2001 Khatron Ke Khiladi Sangeeta Hindi Hindi debut [15]
2002
Dushmani
Pooja [75]
2003 Tomake Salam Ankita Bengali Bengali debut [76]
2006 Kokki Raji Tamil Tamil debut [77]
Mungaru Male Nandini Kannada Kannada debut [78]
2007 Milana Priya [79]
Krishna Pooja Suvarna Film Awards for Best Actress [80]
Manmatha Herself Special appearance
Thottal Poo Malarum Herself Tamil Special appearance in the song "Vaadi Vambu Pennae"
Geleya Herself Kannada Special appearance in song "Hudugi Malebillu" [81]
2008 Vaitheeswaran Sanjana Tamil [82]
Hani Hani Pooja Kannada [83]
Accident Pooja
Kaamannana Makkalu Herself Special appearance in the song "Mungaru Male" [84]
Nee Tata Naa Birla Pooja
Taj Mahal Shruthi Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Kannada Actress [85]
Kodagana Koli Nungitha Lakshmi
Budhivanta
Pooja [86]
Maharshi Manasa Veena
Janumada Gelathi Manjula
Thiruvannamalai Malathy Tamil
Haage Summane Nandini Kannada Special appearance
2009 Anu Anu
Thalai Ezhuthu Pooja Tamil [87]
Iniya
Janaki Kannada
Huchchi Preethi
Ninagaagi Kaadiruve Shweta Nandan
Gokula Leela
2010 Minugu Sanchitha
Sri Harikathe Pooja Krishnamurthy
Naa Rani Nee Maharani Rani /
Pooja Gandhi
Vega herself
Mukkanti Geeta Telugu Telugu Debut [40]
2011 Aptha Anjali Devi Kannada
Nee Illadhe Sharanya
I Am Aparna
Hindi
Hare Rama Hare Krishna Rakshita Kannada
Panchamrutha Prithi
Jogayya Advocate Cameo appearance [88]
Paagal Pooja
2012 Dandupalya Lakshmi
SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Negative Role
Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
[89]
Jaihind Anjali [90]
Hosa Prema Purana Herself Special appearance in the song "sye sye Monika"
2013 Maad Dad Lisa Malayalam Malayalam debut [91]
Director's Special Herself Kannada Item number "Kannalle eshottu kolltiya" [92]
2014 Kalyanamasthu Radha
2015 Abhinetri Sharat Lata / Nanda Also producer [93]
Thippaji Circle Thippajji
2016 Kathe Chitrakathe Nirdeshana Puttanna Herself Guest appearance [94]
2017 Jilebi Jilebi [95]
Dandupalya 2 Kempi Dubbed in Telugu as Dandupalyam 2 [96]
2018 Dandupalya 3 Lakshmi Dubbed in Telugu as Dandupalyam 3 [97]
2022 Thaggedele Lakshmi Telugu Dubbed in Kannada as Hubli Dhaba [98]
Samhaarini Durga Kannada Released directly on television [99]

As producer

Title Year Language Notes Ref.
Abhinetri 2015 Kannada Debut as film producer [100]

Awards and nominations

Totals
Awards won 4
Nominations 6

Awards

Year[a] Category Award Film Result
2008 Best Actress Suvarna Film Awards Krishna Won[80]
2009 Best Actress Filmfare Awards South Taj Mahal Nominated[85]
2010 Most popular Actress Suvarna Film Awards Gokula Won[citation needed]
2013 Best Actress in a Negative Role South Indian International Movie Awards Dandupalya Won[101]
Best Actress in a negative role Filmfare Awards South Nominated[102]
Best Actress Suvarna Film Awards Won[44]
  1. ^ Refers to the year in which the ceremony was held.

Television shows

Year Title Television Notes
2016
Bigg Boss Kannada 3
Colors Kannada Finale contestant

References

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External links