Govinda : Indian actor and a former politician

Govinda (born 21 December 1963) is an Indian actor and a former politician. Govinda has received five Filmfare Award nominations and four Zee Cine Award, winning two Filmfare Awards including a Special Jury Award.

Making his debut in Ilzaam in 1986, he has appeared in over 120 Hindi films of the Bollywood industry. In June 1999, Govinda was voted as the tenth greatest star of stage or screen of the last thousand years by BBC News Online users. He has collaborated with director and friend David Dhawan in 17 movies.

His earlier films in the 1980s were in a variety of genres such as family drama, action and romantic. In the 1990s he gained recognition as a comedy actor playing a mischievous young NCC cadet in the romantic movie Shola Aur Shabnam (1992) opposite the late Divya Bharti. He played leading roles in several commercially successful comedy films in the 1990s such as Aankhen(1993), Raja Babu(1994), Coolie No. 1 (1995), Hero No. 1 (1997) and Haseena Maan Jayegi (1999). For Coolie No. 1(1995), he acquired him a Filmfare Award for Best Actor nomination. For Haseena Maan Jayegi he earned the Filmfare Best Comedian Award. He has successfully played dual roles in movies like Jaan Se Pyaara (1992), Aankhen (1993), Hathkadi (1995) and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998).

After a period of box office flops in the 2000s, his recent commercial successes have been Bhagam Bhag (2006) and Partner (2007) and Life Partner (2010).

In addition to film acting, he is a member of the Indian National Congress Party. He was elected as the seventh Member of Parliament for the Mumbai North Constituency of Maharashtra, India in the 14th Lok Sabha elections in 2004, after defeating Ram Naik of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the 2009 General Elections, he opted out of politics to concentrate more on films. However he continues to have political favor from Congress Party. His constituency was succeeded by Sanjay Nirupam (also from Congress).

He studied at Annasaheb Vartak College in Vasai, Maharashtra. He graduated in commerce.His father suggested films as he himself was associated with films. Around this time, Govinda saw the film Disco Dancer and dance became his obsession. He practiced for hours and circulated a promo of himself on a VHS cassette. Soon a fertilizer commercial came his way, followed by an Allwyn ad, finally his very first leading role in Tan-Badan, which was to be directed by his uncle Anand. He started shooting for his next film Love 86 in June 1985. By mid-July, he had signed 40 others.

His first released film was Ilzaam (1986), a box office success and the fifth biggest hit of 1986. The film established him as a dancing star. He acted in a string of movies after that with mixed success. Most of the films he appeared in during the 1980s were in the action, romance or family drama genres. He was often paired opposite actress Neelam and together they appeared in several hit films such as Love 86 (1986), Khudgarz (1987) and his brother Kirti Kumar's directorial, Hatya (1988). He had success with family drama films such as Dariya Dil (1988), Jeete Hain Shaan Se (1988) and Hum (1991) as well as action films such as Marte Dam Tak (1987) and Jung Baaz (1989). He worked with David Dhawan for the first time in the 1989 action film Taaqatwar. He also worked with Rajnikant and Sridevi in the hit film that year titled, Ghair Khanooni.

Govinda appeared in several successful films in the 1990s and he was one of biggest superstars of the era. In 1992, he was seen in the critically acclaimed film, Zulm Ki Hukumat, an Indian remake of The Godfather where his performance was appreciated. He then formed a successful collaboration with David Dhawan and went onto act in 17 movies directed by him most of which were comedy films. The most successful films made by their collaboration include, Shola Aur Shabnam (1992), He actually sang for himself in some of his movies like, "Meri Pant Bhi Sexy" from Dulaara and "Gori Gori" from Shola Aur Shabnam. Aankhen (1993), Raja Babu (1994), Coolie No. 1 (1995), Saajan Chale Sasural (1996), Hero No. 1 (1997), Deewana Mastana (1997), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998) and Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999). Aankhen became the highest grossing film of the year and one of biggest all-time blockbusters ever. Dhawan and other directors frequently cast him opposite actresses such as Karishma Kapoor, Juhi Chawla and Raveena Tandon during the 1990s.

His box office graph suffered a setback in the early 2000s following a series of commercially unsuccessful films. He played the role of a villain for the first time in his career in Shikari (2000). Although the movie was not a commercial success, Govinda's convincing portrayal of a sociopath murderer was critically acclaimed. He turned down roles in Taal, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha and Devdas which went on to become successful films. His acting career was further affected when he contested and won the seat for Member of Parliament from Mumbai North in the 2004 parliamentary elections. He did not have any new film releases in 2004 and 2005 although some of his delayed films such as Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen (2005) and his home production Ssukh (2005) were released and turned out to be box office disasters.

Govinda made a comeback to films in late 2006 with the comedy film, Bhagam Bhag, alongside Akshay Kumar which became a hit. His first release of 2007 was the huge multi-starrer Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love. Although a box office disappointment, Govinda was praised for his performance.

His second release of 2007 was the David Dhawan directed comedy, Partner, which co-starred Salman Khan. The film grossed Rs.300 Million in India on its opening week, the second highest domestic opening week gross for an Indian film until then. In 2008, he appeared in the film, Money Hai Toh Honey Hai. The same year, Salman Khan invited David Dhawan and Govinda on his show 10 Ka Dum to celebrate the success of their film Partner. In 2009, he had a successful release titled Life Partner. Govinda got back to the successful trio of David Dhawan, Vashu Bhagnani and himself with the film, Do Knot Disturb, which flopped at the box office.

In 2010, Govinda was seen in Mani Ratnam's bilingual project, Raavan, along with Vikram, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. Govinda played a forest department employee who takes Vikram's character through the forests in search of a wanted criminal. While it was earlier speculated that his character was a contemporary version of Hanuman, Govinda refuted the claim. Despite having a small role in the film, Govinda was appreciated for his performance.

In 2004, Govinda joined the Congress party, and was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower House of Parliament from Mumbai with a thumping majority of beating the five time sitting MP by over 50000 votes. In a run up to the polls, Govinda had announced that his agenda will be prawaas (transportation), swasthya (health) and gyaan (education).

During the first ten months of his tenure as a Member of Parliament (MP), Govinda did not spend any money from his MP Local Area Development Fund of Rs.20 million. He started utilizing his fund only when newspaper reports brought this to notice. According to the Thane district collectorate sources, Govinda committed Rs7 to construct anganwadi, samaj mandirs and resolve drinking water problem of Vasai and Virar residents. However, work on these projects did not begin (as of August 2005), because administrative approval was being awaited. Govinda also took credit for 80% of the quadrupling of Borivali-Virar section on Western Railway (India).