Manju Asrani

Manju Asrani is a Bollywood supporting actress who acted even with Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Jurmana’ as a call girl. Manju Asrani was cast in this Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film that released in 1979, and she was appreciated a lot. Her character in this film ‘Jurmana’ had been handled with dignity and not vulgarly at all. Perhaps this is the best role for her career, and she was given an opportunity to showcase her acting skills. It had given her scope to perform and experiment.

Earlier, Manju had acted in another film of Rajshree Productions ‘Tapasya’ where she played actor Asrani’s wife, and Asrani had played the brother of actress Rakhee Gulzar. In this film, she played a rich girl whose father allures a young, educated lad and makes him marry Asrani. Asrani is made a ‘ghar-jamai’ in this film. Manju portrayed the role with amazing restraint and conviction. This actress made her debut with the movie titled ‘Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar’ that hit the screens in 1973. She did the role as a supporting actress which had Radha Saluja, Asrani and Kiran Kumar in important roles. In this movie, Asrani played as Champak Boomia/Amit Desai and Manju played the role of Kesari Desai and for this role Asrani won Filmfare Award for Best Comedian. It is said that Asrani and Manju fell in love while shooting for this film and continued in their relationship till ‘Tapasya’ was released. Later, the couple acted in ‘Hum Nahin Suhhrenge’, a production of Asrani, which hit the silver screens in 1980. The actress got to play a supporting role in 1970’s and 80s’ and later quit acting abiding by her choices. In 1973, she also acted in another Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film ‘Namak Haram’ as Rama Pandey’s assistant.

She also appeared in film likes ‘Deewaangee’, ’Chandi Sona’, and ‘Chor Siphaee’. Later Manju Asrani made her debut in TV series. She had directed three TV series to her credit. They are ‘Rishtey: Rang Di Chunaria’ (1995), ‘Maa Ki Mamta’ (1989) and ‘Bhoothnath’ (1989). Manju and Asrani have a son Naveen Asrani, who is a dentist by profession.

Asrani Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)