Ashwini Kalsekar

Ashwini Kalsekar’s been all over the place—Marathi, Hindi, TV, films, you name it. She finished her B.A. in Mumbai back in ’91 and pretty much plunged straight into theater. From there, she got mentored by Neena Gupta for a bit and also learned from Mohammed Vakil. Her TV debut happened with Shanti in 1994, but people really started noticing her as Inspector Asha in C.I.D. Honestly, who didn’t watch C.I.D. at least once growing up? Then came Mr Gayab, a comedy serial, and she really broke out as Shalaka Catwoman in Shaktimaan. Anyone who grew up in the ’90s remembers that—she was basically the OG Indian Catwoman. Kalsekar totally nailed the negative roles too, like Jigyasa Walia in Kasamh Se, which bagged her a bunch of awards. She kept popping up in all sorts of stuff—reality shows, period dramas like Jodha Akbar (where she played Maham Anga and just crushed it), and supernatural series like Kavach. She’s done her fair share of movies as well. Started with Marathi films, moved to Bollywood with roles in Khakee, Apaharan, Golmaal Returns, Johnny Gaddaar, and worked with pretty much every big director you can think of—Rohit Shetty, Ram Gopal Varma, Sriram Raghavan. She’s even done Tollywood with Badrinath. Lately, she’s been popping up in OTT series like Rudra and Chargesheet and has kept up with film roles in flicks like Badlapur, Simmba, Andhadhun, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and Cirkus. Married to Murli Sharma, and still going strong.