Urmila Bhatt (1 November 1933 – 22 February 1997) was an actress of

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

. She started acting in Drama Theatre. She joined Sangeet Kala Academy in

Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of ...

as a folk dancer and singer. It was during that time that her famous Gujarati drama ''Jesal Toral'' ran to more than a thousand performances. She acted in more than 75 Gujarati films and also in 15 to 20 Rajasthani movies. She had also played character roles in Hindi films for over two and a half decades (1960s to early 1990s). She had also acted in various television serials. She also learnt Bharatnatyam under renowned Guru Shri Kubernath Tanjorkar. She had also been honoured with numerous awards by the government of Gujarat.

Hindi films

After her success in theatre, she started doing Hindi films. In the late 1960s she did ''Gauri'' (1968), ''

Sunghursh ''Sunghursh'' is a 1968 Indian Hindi film directed and produced by Harnam Singh Rawail. It is based on a short story ''Layli Asmaner Ayna'' in Bengali language by Jnanpith Award-winning writer Mahasweta Devi, which presents a fictionalised accou ...

'' (1968) and '' Hamraaz'' (1967). A few other popular films done by her are '' Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se'' (1978), '' Geet Gaata Chal'' (1975), '' Besharam'' (1978), '' Ram Teri Ganga Maili'' (1985), '' Balika Badhu'' (1976), '' Dhund'' (1973) and ''

Alibaba Marjinaa ''Alibaba Marjinaa'' is a 1977 Bollywood film directed by Kedar Kapoor. The film stars Prem Krishen as Alibaba and Tamanna as Marjina. Plot The movie is loosely based on the Arabian Nights tale of Alibaba and 40 Thieves but takes only a fe ...

'' (1977). Other than these films, she had done several other films. In most of her movies she played supporting characters. She had acted in 125

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

s. On television, she also played the role of Sita's mother "Maharani Sunaina in Ramanand Sagar's historic blockbuster serial Ramayan and that of Sharda Sharma in Rajshri Productions' TV Serial Paying Guest (1985). Apart from these two, she made episodic appearances in Shyam Bengal's Bharat Ek Khoj in 1989 and in Zee TV's Zee Horror Show in 1996.

Death

Bhatt was found murdered at her residence in Juhu on 22 February 1997. Officials suspected that robbery was the motive behind her murder.

Filmography

Television

References

External links