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 Govinda

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Govinda Arun Ahuja (born December 21, 1963 in Virar, Maharashtra India), popularly known simply as Govinda, is an actor in Hindi films. Starting with his debut in 1985, he has acted in over 120 Hindi films. In 2004, he joined politics, winning a parliamentary seat from Mumbai (formerly "Bombay").

Personal life
Govinda was born to Arun Ahuja and Nirmala Arun Ahuja. He studied at Annasaheb Vartak College in Vasai, Maharashtra. He married to Sunita Govind Ahuja on 11 March 1987. The couple has two children, a son and a daughter.

Acting Career
Govinda's first film was Ilzaam in 1986. He did a string of movies, after that, none of them was a major success. From 1986 to 1992 he often played serious roles in family dramas such as Dariya Dil, Karz Chukana Hai and Jaise Karni Waise Barni. Finally, Hatya in 1988, directed by his brother Kirti Kumar proved to be successful. He then did several movies directed by David Dhawan, most notably Shola Aur Shabham (1992) and Aankhen (1993), which were not only successful, but also pulled Govinda towards comic roles. He then made countless comedy films throughout the 90s often paired with actresses such as Karishma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon.

Raja Babu, Coolie No. 1, Saajan Chale Sasural, Hero No. 1, Deewana Mastana, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Haseena Maan Jaayegi were some of the movies that the David-Govinda combination did.

In 2000, he played for the first time a negative role in Shikari, and though the movie was not commercially successful, it was critically acclaimed for Govinda's surprisingly convincing portrayal of a rare villain. After that many of his movies flopped one after the other.

He decided to move to politics in 2003 and did not released any movies from 2004 and 2005, apart from his delayed films Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen and Ssukh in 2005 which also failed at the box office.

In 2006 Govinda is set to make a comeback and will release two new movies: A comedy, directed by David Dhawan, and Nikhil Advani's multi-starrer Salaam E Ishq: A Tribute To Love. Today Govinda has the largest number of movies that is waiting up for release.

Political career
In 2004, Govinda joined the Congress party, and was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower House of Parliament from Mumbai with a thumping majority of beating the 5 time sitting MP by over 50,000 votes.

In a run up to the polls, Govinda had announced that his agenda will be awaas (housing), prawaas (transportation), swasthya (health) and gyaan (education).

During the first ten months of his tenure as an Member of Parliament (MP), Govinda did not spend any money from his MP Local Area Development Fund of Rs. 20 million. He started utilizing his fund only when newspaper reports brought this to notice. According to the Thane district collectorate sources, Govinda committed Rs 7.5 million to construct anganwadi, samaj mandirs and resolve drinking water problem of Vasai and Virar residents. However, work on these projects did not begin (as of August 2005), because administrative approval was being awaited. Govinda also took credit for 80% of the quadrupling of Borivli-Virar section on Western Railway (India).

His maiden speech in the Parliament, made during "zero hour", had to be stopped by the speaker, after he started ranting problems in North Mumbai.

During his tenure as an MP, Govinda embarrassed his party, Congress, by coming out in open to support actor Shakti Kapoor, who had been caught in an sting operation, asking for sexual favours from a television reporter posing as a Bollywood aspirant[2]. He also opposed the ban on dance bars, which embarrassed the Congress-NCP led Democratic Front Government, which had proposed the ban.

As an MP, Govinda has been criticized for being inaccessible to the people of his constituency, especially during the terrible rains (beginning July 26, 2005) that left around 450 dead in Mumbai. After the rains, while speaking to a TV channel, Govinda claimed that he had got Rs 150 million sanctioned for his flood-hit constituency after speaking to Sonia Gandhi. However, his own party colleagues contested the claim. Mohan Adhikari, the president of Palghar Congress Unit went on record saying that "not a single paisa" had been received.

In October 2005, a private TV channel telecast footage (believed to be 10-15 years old) showing him with the members of the underworld gang D-Company. Govinda has stated that he had no links with the gang and that he, along with other Bollywood personalities was pressured to meet with the gang and perform.