Kimi Katkar - Career

Career

Kimi Katkar made her acting debut in the 1985 film, Patthar Dil as a supporting actress. Later that year, she starred in Tarzan (the English title of the movie being, "Adventures of Tarzan), where she played the lead opposite Hemant Birje. It was one of Katkar's most famous roles. After the film, she continued to work throughout the late 1980s, followed by hits like Vardi, Mard Ki Zubaan, Mera Lahoo, Dariya Dil, Gair Kanooni, Jaisi Karni Vaisi Bharni, Sherdil and Zulm Ki Hukumat.

Her claim-to-fame came in the movie, Hum (1991), where she played the lead actress opposite the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan. In the film, she was cast as Jumma. The song Jumma Chumma De from this movie, sung by playback singers Sudesh Bhonsle and Kavita Krishnamurthy, became an instant hit and brought her stardom. Thereafter, she started restricting herself to limited movies. A few films later, she confined herself to being a conventional dancer, doing purely the song-and-dance routines in films that starred Govinda.

Her last film was Humlaa (1992). During the same time, she refused film offers in Yash Chopra's Parampara and Rakesh Roshan's King Uncle. It's believed that Roshan wanted to cast her opposite Amitabh Bachchan in King Uncle. Later Jackie replaced Amitabh and Anu was signed for the role which was offered to Kimi. In Parampara Ramya replaced her.

Katkar quit the Hindi film industry after her marriage to photographer and ad-filmmaker Shantanu Shorey. She settled in Melbourne, Australia. Before leaving,she went onto make allegations that she would never return to the studios again because of the sheer ennui, alienation, exhaustion and 'exploitation'; justifiably, she mentioned that the thought of being less valued than male actors in a patriarchal country always rankled her.

She is associated with the book Shantaram and is likely to appear playing herself as the colourful Bollywood actress in the Johnny Depp — Amitabh Bachchan starrer, Shantaram, to be directed by Mira Nair.