Jeetendra Madnani as Jeet is a towering figure in the Indian film industry and is one of the most celebrated successful actors and producers mainly in the Bengali film industry. He is often referred to as ‘ Boss’ as he spent over two decades defining the modern action hero archetype in West Bengal.J .. Read More
Jeetendra Madnani as Jeet is a towering figure in the Indian film industry and is one of the most celebrated successful actors and producers mainly in the Bengali film industry. He is often referred to as ‘ Boss’ as he spent over two decades defining the modern action hero archetype in West Bengal.
Jeet’s journey in the film industry began in the mid 1990’s with the modelling assignments and television serials like Bish Briksha and Janai. He had a brief sting in Mumbai and had appeared in videos and minor roles in the show Aahat after which he had returned to Kolkata and got his first break through.
Jeet has had an illustrious career. With his decision to act in films, he moved from Kolkata to Mumbai along with his good friend Nirmal to pursue his passion for acting and taking it up as a full-time career in Bollywood. He started his life in Mumbai by staying in co-op housing society named Saathi in Andheri, a suburb of Mumbai where he met a choreographer named Arif. On his suggestions Jeet featured in several music videos that included the Kucch Kucch, and Bewafa Tera Masoom Chehra from the albums Loriyaan and Bewafa Tera Masoom Chehra in the year 1997.
In the same year, he played a role in B. P. Singh’s Series Aahat as a police officer. A horror thriller series with a segment called Raaz. Thereafter he made a cameo appearance in Jai Hanuman in 1997 during the time Jeet also appeared with Kim Sharma in a Pepsi commercial featuring Shah Rukh Khan.
He was cast as the protagonist in Suraj Dhalne Ke Baad which never saw the light of the day. In 1998 the same year, Jeet returned to Kolkata being disappointed and began assisting Tapan Sinha for his horror comedy Ajab Gayer Ajab Kotha . He had also started theatre act in Proscenium Art Centre and got appreciated for his performances in the George Bernard Shaw play, Arms and The Man. The time spent in the theatre, helped Jeet to shape up his craft and re-kindled his attraction to makeup for the lost time.
Inspired by veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Uttam Kumar in his childhood. Jeet began his career in modelling assignments and did several ad films out of which many were coordinated and recommended by Mrs. Anita Raj Israni’s model coordination company, a banner of Israni Communications in Andheri in Mumbai.
In 1994, he starred in an advertisement of Nawab Ganj under the production of Doordardarshan Bangla which gave him an opportunity to star opposite Sudipta Chakraborty in the television series Brish Briksha in 1994-1995. The series was based on Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s celebrated Bengali novel Bishabriksha.
His portrayal of Taracharan in the series and as Anil in Janani in 1995. He started off with minor roles in the serials Bhabna in 1995, Sei Raate Raat Chhilo and in 1995, Jeet assisted Tapan Sinha in his Hindi Anthology film Daughters of This Century. He starred in two of the film’s segments with Shabana Azmi and in Champiya with Deepa Sahi.
He acted in a string of roles in television, however, his big screen debut Chandu on August 31st 2001 in Telugu language romantic drama, which he got through his connection through Anita and Raj Israni, a notable entrepreneur in the entertainment industry. The film was written and directed by Veeru K and produced by Manepalli Manikyala Rao. His cinematic debut was alongside Preethi and Archana in the lead roles. Jeet thereafter, transitioned to the Bengali film Industry where he emerged as one of the leading stars.
One of his lead roles in Sathi in 2002 went on to become a highest grossing Bengali film of all time. He portrayed a young man caught in a tragic romance that earned him a widespread acclaim and several awards including that of the Bengal Film Journalists Association (BFJA) Award for the Best Actor category. In 2002 Jeet got his first big breakthrough and he shot to stardom overnight with the film Saathihara. He has had a career span of two decades in the Bengali cinema and through the years he has been receiving critical acclaim and has had commercial success for his ventures such as Nater Guru in 2003, Sangee in the same year, Shubhodrishti in 2005, Jor in 2008, Dui Prithibi in 2010, Josh in 2010, Awara in 2012, Fighter in the same year, followed by Boss: Born to Rule and Deewana in 2013, Bachchan and Game in 2014 , Badsha -The Don in 2016, Boss 2: Back to Rule in 2017, Raavan in 2022, Chengiz in 2023 which went on to become the first Bengali film to have simultaneously got commercial success in Hindi release and his most recent is Boomerang released in 2024.
The two decades that followed with Jeet starring in a string of blockbusters including Bandhan, Dui Prithibi, Wanted and Boss franchise which is a high-octane film.
Jeet established his own production houses called the Grassroot Entertainment and Jeetz Filmworks. He produced hit films like Sultan: The Savior and Chengiz in 2023 which was the first Bengali film to have received a simultaneous pan-India release in Hindi.
Jeet debuted as producer in his film 100% Love which was a box office success. He is also recipient of numerous awards including Tele Cine Award, Anandalok Puraskar for the best Actor in 2003, Filmfare Awards East in 2014 Kalakar Award for King of Tollywood in 2014 and for TV9 Bangla Ghorer Bioscope Awards for his contribution towards Bengali cinema, and Bengali Film & Television Award in 2023 and 2024. He also received the Zee 24 Ghanta Award, Ananya Samman in 2024.
Following the success of his film Saathi, Jeet had garnered lot of appreciation for the tragic roles in two of his box office hits. In Sangeet released in 2003 and as a footballer in in Premi in 2004. His next release around the same time was Nater Guru. In 2004 co-starring Raima Sen he had a role opposite her in the film Shakti for which he received the Best Actor Award at Bangla Sangeet Chalacchitra Samman in 2005.
Jeet starred in Odia bilingual film Mastan, a first-time collaboration with the director Ravi Kinnagi and co-starring Swastika Mukherjee. His final release in 2004 was in Bandhar co-starring Koel Mallick. The film was running over 40 weeks in the theatre and the fans gave the pair a new name Jeet and Mallick by addressing them as JeKo.
In this phase of his career, he had the series of romantic tragedies and family dramas that followed and earned him widespread adulation from his fans and audience while he established himself further as the icon of tragedy in West Bengal. His image made him a superstar. Jeet soon became the leading man and gained popularity with the songs featuring on him and sung by Sonu Nigam, Shaan and Babul Supriyo.
Between 2005 and 2008, Jeet had reached the critical and commercial success with his film Yuddho with Mithun Chakraborty and Debashree Roy and Koel Mallick. In the same year he collaborated with Mallic for the film Shubhodristhit and Manik, both of which were directed by Prabhat Roy. Jeet had won the Anandalok Awards for the Best Actor for Manik.
By now Jeet and Koel were doing a lot of films and they were much loved as the screen pair. They acted in two consecutive films Ghatak and Hero. He later played in Raja Sen’s directorial venture Krishnakanter Will with Monali Thakur and Swastika Mukherjee. He acted in a film opposite Hrishitaa Bhatt in the film titled Bidhatar Lekha in which Priyanshu Chatterjee was the main antagonist.
Jeet continued with his success and had a role in the film Partner in 2008 and he collaborated with Varsha Priyadarshini for the film Jor. Between 2009 and 2017, The actor saw further success with Koel Mallick in the films such as Saat Paake Bandha and Neel Akasher Chandni. He starred in Dui Prithibi which went on to become the highest grossing films.
Jeet’s next success came from his films Fighter, a remake of the Telugu Film Lakshyam. He worked with Nusrat Jahan in the action film Shotru helmed by Raj Chakraborty. A remake of Tamil film Songam. Jeet did a film with Priyanka Trivedi in Hello Memsaheb and in 2012 with the movie 100% Love he acted once again with Koel.
In the 2012 film Awara which went on to become the highest grossing film of the year, he appeared with Sayantika Banerjee. Jeet then appeared in the gangster action film Boss with Subhashree Ganguly which was a remake of Mahesh Babu’s Businessman. He was nominated for the Best Actor at the Filmfare Awards East.
Jeet has acted in an extended special performance in Neeraj Pandey’s debut Bengali production venture, The Royal Bengal Tiger produced by Friday Filmworks and by his home venture, Jeet’s Grassroot Entertainment and was distributed by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. He later acted in Baba Yadav’s second directorial venture Game a film based on Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) working in the Indian Army. Jeet in 2014, co-starred Arindrita Ray in her debut Bengaloi film called Bachchan.
Jeet besides the action films, tragic and emotional films and romantic ones, he also co-starred in the action comedy in the 2015 film, Besh Korechi Prem Korechi with Koel Mallick , the pair that is most suited on the screen together. The film included many other prominent actors such as Puneet Issar and Ashish Vidyarthi in the pivotal roles. It was a remake of Telugu movie Loukyam.
In 2016, he starred in the film Power and Badsha- The Don directed by Baba Yadav. Badsha-The Don was an Indo-Bangladeshi action-comedy film he also played a role in the 2017 Abhimaan and then starred in Boss 2: Bact To Rule a sequel of his 2013 film Boss Born to Rule. Jeet had reprised his role of Surya Bhai. It featured the Bangladesh actress Nusraat Farria as the lead role opposite Jeet. It went on to become the fourth highest grossing Bengali films of all times as it grossed over 10.5 crore.
Jeetendra Madnani, Jeet had fluctuation in his career between 2018 and 2021.
Few of his films like Inspector Notty K failed at the box office receiving negative reviews. He then played a titular role in Sultan: The Saviour which is a remake of the Tamil movie Vedalam in 2015. It was a commercial success and followed the next project, Bagh Bandi Khela and the comedy drama Baccha Shoshur in 2019. He co-starrred Shesh Theke Shuru with Koel Mallick. The film was his 50th film after his first film release Chandu in 2001. It marked the collaboration between Koel Mallilc and Jeet. The couple worked together for four years. Their film of 2015 Besh Korechi Prem Korechi and his third film in 2019 Panther: Hindustani Meri Jaan, an action thriller directed by debutant Anshuman Pratyush.
In 2020, Jeet had starred in the film Asur directed by Pavel Bhattacharjee, a tribute to the sculptor Ramkinkar Baji. In 2021 he starred in the film Baazi a film made under his home production Jeetz Filmworks opposite Mimi Chakraborty.
In 2022 Jeet made a come back in a big way with his commercial expansion.
Jeet starred in the film Ravaan filmed under his production Jeetz Filmworks and was released around Eid. In 2023, he starred in the action thriller Chengiz which became the first Bengali film to be also released in Hindi. It went on to become a superhit film and one of the highest grossing Bengali films. His second film in 2023 was Manush: Child of Destiny with Sushmita Chatterjee and Bidya Sinha Saha Mim and Jeetu Kamal. This film was also released in Hindi besides Bengali and had cover of an average box office number.
In 2024, Jeet acted in the first sci-fi comedy film of Bengal, the film that received positive reviews. In 2025 he made his entry into the web series as he debuted in the Netflix series called the Khakee: The Bengal Chapter created by Neeraj Pandey. It also marked his debut in Hindi web series on the OTT and earned him multiple awards.
On Television, Jeet hosted the popular reality shows such as Bigg Boss Bangla and Ismart Jodi. He continues to be a dominant figure in the film industry and is currently serving as the Executive President of the West Bengal Motion Picture Artists Forum.
He has relatively done few small budget ad films for regional brand of men’s underwear and became the brand ambassador for Big Bazaar a unit of Future Group. He also did a special campaign or Durga Puja with the Thums Up that launched Jeet as their brand ambassador from West Bengal. He further launched the Times Food Guide 2012 in Kolkata.
Besides films, television, theatre and modelling, Jeet has also been an ex-captain of the Bengal Tigers in the Celebrity Cricket League. Jeet acquired the Kolkata franchise of the very first multinational 2016 Premier Futsal Season. The team was called the Kolkata 5s as each of these franchises was similarly named in the inaugural season.
