Mukta Barve Indian Actress Born 1979 in Chinchwad

Early life

Mukta Barve was born on 17 May 1979 in Chinchwad, an industrial township next to Pune in Maharashtra, India. She took part in school plays and, once she finished the tenth standard, decided to pursue acting as a profession. She completed her eleventh and twelfth standards at Sir Parashurambhau College in Pune and later graduated from Savitribai Phule Pune University, where she studied theatre. After her studies she moved to Mumbai to concentrate on her acting career.

Career

Barve's first professional steps came on stage and on Marathi television. Her first acting role was in the play Ghar Tighancha Hava, and in 2001 she appeared in her first commercial play, Aamhala Vegle Vhayache. Her television debut dates to 1998 with the serial Ghadlay Bighadlay, followed by small parts in several other serials of that period. Among her early screen credits on record are Quest and Shevri, both from 2006.

Theatre remained central to her work through the 2000s. She was seen in the plays Final Draft and Dehbhaan, and in Kabaddi Kabaddi in 2008, in which she played a young woman who wants to become a kabaddi champion. In 2006 she took the title role in the Marathi serial Agnishikha.

A turning point came with the 2009 film Jogwa, in which she played Suli, a young woman bound into service to a local deity. To prepare, she studied the life of a Jogtin through photographs and by watching everyday rural behaviour. Films such as Sumbaran and Ek Daav Dhobi Pachhad, both from 2009, also belong to this period. In 2010 she starred opposite Swwapnil Joshi in the romantic film Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai, which later produced sequels in 2015 and 2018. She also appeared in Aaghaat, directed by Vikram Gokhale, and played Manjula Agnihotri in the television serial Agnihotra.

Her television work continued with Eka Lagnachi Dusri Goshta in 2012, in which she played an artist who agrees to a contract marriage. The same year she appeared in Badam Rani Gulam Chor. In 2013 she was in Lagna Pahave Karun, as a wedding planner, and in Mangalashtak Once More. In 2015 she played an insurance agent in the film Double Seat. Later film credits include Hrudayantar in 2017, Aamhi Doghi and Ranangan in 2018, and Smile Please in 2019, in which she played a photographer. She also acted in the thriller serial Rudram. Devi, a 2020 short film about nine women from different backgrounds, is the title the records list as the one she is best known for. In 2022 she appeared in Aapdi Thaapdi, in which her character is married to a farmer played by Shreyas Talpade. In all, twenty screen credits are on record from 2006 to 2022.

Recognition

Barve has received seven Maharashtra State Film Awards, one for Best Debut and six for Best Actress across films and plays. The best actress honours include recognition for Jogwa in 2009 and for Double Seat, for which she also won Best Actress in a Lead Role at the Marathi Filmfare Awards in 2016. In 2009 the Sangeet Natak Akademi gave her the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for her achievement in Marathi theatre. Other honours include Best Actress at the Pune International Film Festival in 2011 for Aaghaat and a Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year award in the theatre category in 2016. She also earned Best Actress at the Maharashtra State Film Awards in 2019 for her work in Bandishala.

Public roles

In 2013 Barve turned producer with her own company, Rasika Productions, named after a friend. Under it she produced the plays Chhapa Kata, Lovebirds, Indira, Deepsthamb and Codemantra, acting in several of them. The proceeds from performances of Codemantra were given to the Indian army's welfare fund. In 2014 she produced Rang Nava, a poetry-based theatre programme with the composer Milind Joshi, in which she recited her own verse.

She has also worked in broadcasting. In 2010 she hosted the game show Amhi Marathi Pora Hushar, in 2012 she hosted the Zee Gaurav Puraskar alongside Swwapnil Joshi, and in 2015 she judged a season of Jhakaas Heroine. In 2017 she began a radio programme, The Mukta Barve Show, focused on women's concerns.

Personal life

Barve has said that she was socially reserved as a child. She lives and works in Maharashtra and remains active in Marathi film, television and theatre.