The 58th National Awards have just been announced and we found many Marathi films and Marathi artistes among the award winners in different categories. Some of them did expect the awards, but for some of them the prestigious award was unexpected. This happened in the case of Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar, the leading lady of Marathi film ‘Babu Band Bajaa’, who went on to win the National Award for best actress in Indian cinema.

Mitalee Jagtap
The film ‘Babu Band Bajaa’ which also won an award in a special category, had made its mark earlier at the Pune International film festival, when the Jury had acclaimed this film. Mitalee played a challenging role of a Mother in this film, who goes through hardship while bringing up her children.

Born in Nanded, Mitalee completed her school education through Sharda Mandir Girls High School and later acquired her degree in Arts from Vasantrao Naik College. Mitalee received good support from her family before entering this field of glamour. Her father being a writer, always supported her every move. With the blessings of her parents, Mitalee finally made up her mind to enter the filed of acting. But, it was not an easy decision. Not everyone is lucky to
attain success immediately and those who attain success quickly also come down with that speed.
Luckily for Mitalee, she had some experience of acting, having played as a child artiste while she was in 3rd standard, in the film ‘Devki’ and had also studied a course in Theatre Arts simultaneously while doing her degree course in college. She further learnt Bharat Natyam till she became technically perfect. This certainly came to her advantage. When Mitalee shifted to Mumbai, she joined a theatre Group ‘Ashwatha’ and performed at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai, which is known for experimental plays. Thus began her acting career through stage.

Very soon, she got an opportunity to perform in Hindi TV serials like ‘Kkusum’, ‘Kalire’, ‘CID’, ‘Hakikat’, ‘Kagaar’ and later went on to perform in Marathi serials like ‘Aakash Peltana’, ‘Vadalvaat’, Tikala Te Political’, and ‘Pimplepaan’. She also performed in films like ‘Vitthal Vitthal’ and ‘Aag’. Mitalee married Cameraman Sandeep Varadkar and thus became Mitalee Varadkar. Thereafter she had taken a break, but with ‘Babu Band Bajaa’ she made a comeback with a bang, by winning this prestigious award at the national level.
Marathi Movie World congratulates this talented actress and wishes her a grand success in years to come.