Nitish Bharadwaj | |
|---|---|
 Nitish Bhardwaj | |
| Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
| In office 1996–1998 | |
| Preceded by | Shailendra Mahato |
| Succeeded by | Abha Mahato |
| Constituency | Jamshedpur |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1963-06-02)2 June 1963 (age 62) Bombay,Maharashtra, India |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Residence | Mumbai |
| Occupation |
|
Nitish Bharadwaj (born 2 June 1963) is an Indian television and film actor, director, screenwriter, film and TV programme producer, veterinary science graduate from Mumbai Veterinary college and formerMember of Parliament inLok Sabha.[1][2] He is best known for his role asKrishna inB. R. Chopra's television seriesMahabharat, as well as for his portrayal ofVishnu and severalavatars of Vishnu in some of Chopra's other great works, such asVishnu Puran.[3][4] His debut directorial film in Marathi titledPitruroon won accolades from audiences and critics. He now focuses on his film career entirely through screenwriting, directing and dancing.
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Before coming into the field of acting, Bharadwaj was a professional veterinary surgeon and had worked as an assistant veterinarian at a Race Course in Mumbai; however, he left the job considering it a monotonous one. He started his arts career with his training inMarathi theatre as a director, under stalwarts such asSudha Karmarkar, Dr.Kashinath Ghanekar andPrabhakar Panshikar. He then moved on to professional Marathi theatre with Sai Paranjapye and later shifted to Hindi theatre on sound advice from his friendRavi Baswani. Baswani was instrumental in getting Bharadwaj from Marathi to the nationwide Hindi arena and Bharadwaj has always acknowledged Baswani's contribution to his life. He worked with a thespian of Hindi theatre namedDinesh Thakur and performed in many of his plays till 1987. He later did a Hindi mythological playChakravyuh, in which he reappears as Lord Krishna, the role he mastered in the oldMahabharat.[5] Though the play depicts the story of Abhimanyu's martyrdom, it brings out various issues out of the same story which are relevant to today's times.Chakravyuh was one of the most successful plays of Hindi Theatre in 2015 and has already had around 75 showings across India, including some theatre festivals like theKala Ghoda Festival, Mumbai. Bharadwaj also performed in a musical theatre production titledMoti Roti Patli Chunni (1993), with a renowned theatre in London (UK) named "Theatre Royal Stratford East". This play won the "London Time Out Dance & Performance Award" and toured across Britain and Canada.[citation needed]
Bharadwaj also did 2 radio shows for BBC Radio 4 (London, UK), namelyBhagvad Geeta andRamayan. He was nominated for the "Sony Radio award" forRamayan in the UK in 1995.[6]
In 1988 Bharadwaj was selected to play the lead role of LordKrishna inB. R. Chopra's classic television seriesMahabharat. He played the role at the age of 23 and became an overnight star.[7][8] His performance was loved and appreciated by audience. He also did a cameo in the showBuniyaad's episode 51.
He directed a philosophical TV series titledGita Rahasya,Apraadhi for Star TV and a few documentary films.[9]
In 2000, Bharadwaj appeared in B.R. Chopra's another mythological showVishnu Puran, where he played role ofLord Vishnu and his various incarnations.[10] In 2001 he played the role ofRama in Chopra'sRamayan withSmriti Malhotra Irani.[11]
Bharadwaj starred as the Main Lead in manyMarathi movies such asKhatyal Sasu Nathal Soon,Nasheebwan,Anapekshit,Pasanta Ahe Mulgi,Trishagni (with Nana Patekar) and the highly acclaimedMalayalam movieNjan Gandharvan, (1991) directed byP. Padmarajan. AfterNjan Gandharvan, Padmarajan was planning a film withMohanlal and Bharadwaj in lead roles, but he died before it could materialise. In a later interview in 2019, Bharadwaj said that, if that film had happened, he might have settled inKerala.[12] He judged a Marathi dance reality show onETV Marathi;Jallosh Survanayugacha, with Sudha Chandran and Ramesh Deo.
Bharadwaj made his film direction debut in 2013 with a Marathi film starring Tanuja, Suhas Joshi and Sachin Khedekar titledPitruroon. The film is based on a novella by Sudha Murthy. The film was acclaimed by both the critics and audiences.Pitruroon received many nominations and awards, and also gave Bharadwaj the Maharashtra State Film Award as the second Best Director of 2013. Recently in 2020 he appeared on screen as a Sudarshan Chakrapani in a Marathi web series Samantar which was telecasted on mx player.[3][13][14][15] Bharadwaj has also played important roles in movies includingMohenjo Daro andKedarnath.[16]
Bharadwaj contested the parliamentary elections fromJamshedpur inJharkhand andRajgarh (inMadhya Pradesh) as aBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and was elected toLok Sabha as a Member of Parliament fromJamshedpur in1996 election, by defeating veteran Inder Singh Namdhari.[17] He lost toLaxman Singh (brother of then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh,Digvijaya Singh) fromRajgarh constituency in the1999 Lok Sabha election.He also worked in BJP's organisational unit of Madhya Pradesh and was also its Spokesperson for a while, till he voluntarily retired from active politics to focus on his film career as a screenwriter and film director.
Nitish Bharadwaj was born on 2 June 1963 to Janardan C. Upadhye, a Senior Advocate of Bombay High Court and a veteran labour lawyer. He was also a close aide ofGeorge Fernandes in the labour movement in the 60s and 70s. Bharadwaj's mother, Sadhana Upadhye, was the Head of the Marathi Literature department ofWilson College, Mumbai. She was an exponent of theBhagvad Geeta andDnyaneshwari, the knowledge of which she imparted to Bharadwaj from childhood. He has one younger brother, Rahul Upadhye Bharadwaj and a younger sister Aastha Goswami (née Upadhaye Bharadwaj).
In 1991, Bharadwaj married Monisha Patil, daughter ofVimla Patil, then editor ofFemina. They have two children, a son and daughter and divorced in 2005.[18][19] Monisha now lives in Hounslow, Middlesex with her two children, Arrush and Saayli (now called Indira). Bharadwaj married Smita Gate, an IAS officer (1992 batch) from Madhya Pradesh cadre, in 2009 and they have twin daughters.[20] The couple separated in September 2019, which was confirmed in January 2022.
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