Biography
Milind Gawali made his Bollywood debut with the film Vartmaan Milind Gawali made his debut in Bollywood with the film Vartmaan (1995), The film had many stalwarts from Bollywood like Kader Khan, A.K. Hangal, Sayeed Jaffrey, Paresh Rawal etc. His second film was with Bollywood legendary filmmaker B.R. Ishara, who brought revolution in Hindi films in 70’s by introducing sex in films like Chetna (1970), Charitra (1971), Zaroorat (1973), Prem Shastra (1974) etc. Milind Gawali acted as a hero in Ishara’s Hindi film Anumati, but alas both Vartmaan and Anumati failed to click at box office. Milind Gawali was rescued by TV After failure in Bollywood Milind Gawali did not lose heart but he changed tracks and sought a career in TV. Fortunately he was signed by TV director Sanjeev Bhatacharya, who making Campus for Zee TV. The serial was a huge hit. It opened floodgates in TV industry and Milind did many popular TV serials like Bollywood legendary filmmaker Vijay Anand’s (who made films like Guide and Johny Mera Naam) crime thriller Tehkikaat on Doordarshan; Balaji Telefilm's Bandhan, Itihas, Kahani Terrii Merrii, famous horror show Aahat and popular detective show C.I.D. directed By B.P. Singh. Milind Gawali soon became a name to reckon in Marathi cinema After the huge success on TV, Milind was noticed by Marathi film’s most celebrated filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar. He offered him Aai (1995). This was followed by Nilambari, Soon Ladki Sasarchi and V.K.Naik’s He Khel Nashibache, which fetched him statewide reorganization as he was nominated for the prestigious Best Actor Award by Maharashtra State. After this he never looked back and became popular as king of rural based Marathi film. His films like ‘Maratha Battalion‘, ‘Devki‘ and ‘Vitthal Vitthal‘ turned out to be hit. Later, he performed in about 40 rural based films, becoming a popular hero in Western Maharashtra. He did more than 100 films like Aar Aar Aaba Aata Tari Thamba (2008) and Chingi (2009) a family drama by Israni Productions, produced by Anita Israni and directed by Raaj Israni. Milind Gawali went on to act in the films Most Wanted (2010), Aai Tujha Aashirwad (2010), Eka Varchad Ek (2012), Aandolan Ek Suruvat Ek Shevat (2014), Than Than Gopal (2015), Laal Ishq (2016) etc
Career & Achievements
Milind Gawali proved his acting prowess in Aamhi Ka Tisre Milind Gawali got a life time opportunity to display is acting prowess in the Marathi film Aamhi Ka Tisre (2012). In this film he played a transgender, who fights for his right. In fact the film is a biopic on the life of living celebrity and eminent transgender Laxmi Tripathi, who has attained celebrity status and is an educated transgender who has been fighting for the rights of the community. To get into the skin of the character Milind met many transgender and spend many days understanding their body language, talking style, their accent, dress code and most important their inner emotions. He also spent many weeks with Laxmi Tripathi. The film brought out the hard fact that Laxmi Tripathi’s parent did not throw her into Kinner community but instead gave her normal upbringing. They educated her with best education. Thus the films question the mindset of society who brings up handicap children with utmost love but when a transgender child is born, they do not bring-up and dump into Kinner community. Milind Gawali portrayed the transgender with such panache that he won many awards including Vishesh Lakshavedi Kalakar by Zee Talkies and Vishesh Lakshavedi Kalakar by Sankruti Kala Darpan. The role has immortalized Milind Gawali in the annals of Indian cinema.
