This heroine made debut as child artist, charged more than the hero, married a Muslim, one decision ruined her career, today she is…
Pay disparity has been a theme in the film industry in India. While it was more prevalent in the earlier days, the industry has evolved too. There days several actresses like Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Bhumi Pednekar, Shefali shah, Lara Dutta and others have spoken about the pay gap.
Earlier, heroes were paid more than the heroines irrespective for the screen time or experience. However, there was one actress who bot just climbed the ladder of success but also reportedly charged more than the heroes. This actress began her career as a child artist, ventured into south cinema and the carved a place for herself in Bollywood. Her name is Urmila Matondkar.
Child Artist to Top Actress
Urmila Matondkar made her screen debut at the age of nine with B.R. Chopra’s Karm that was released in 1977. She further worked in other films including popular works like Shyam Benegal’s crime Kalyug (1980), Shekhar Kapur’s drama Masoom (1983) etc.
However, her first film as the lead actress was not in Hindi cinema but Malayalam movie that was released in 1989. This was T. K. Rajeev Kumar’s Malayalam blockbuster Chanakyan, where she got the role opposite Kamal Haasan. Her Bollywood debut was with N. Chandra’s 1991 action drama Narsimha alongside Sunny Deol and Dimple Kapadia that did become a commercial success.
What shot her to becoming an overnight star was her feature in Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela. Soon, she gave several hit films and rose the career towards success. Reportedly, during the peak of her career, she was one of the actresses who started charging more fees than her male counterparts. While there is no official confirmation on the reports, this was considered a bold movie during that age of cinema.
However, there was one point when she started having her downfall, like any other actor too. Rumours were rife about her relationship with director Ram Gap Varma. Reports alleged the duo also had a fall out which affected her career as well.
She later married Kashmir based businessman and model Mohsin Akhtar Mir in 2016. Unfortunately, the couple headed for a divorce in 2024 after eight years of marriage.
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