Urmila Matondkar joins Congress in presence of Rahul Gandhi, likely to contest from Mumbai North

Urmila Matondkar, the 90’s superstar, joined the Congress in presence of Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Wednesday. Speculations are rife that Matondkar is likely to be given a ticket from Mumbai North by the Congress, as reported by news agency IANS. The news agency mentioned that when contacted, Sanjay Nirupam, who was replaced by Milind Deora as Mumbai Congress president on Monday, declined to comment on the matter. Maharashtra Congress spokespersons, as well as Matondkar's family members, refused to make any statement in this regard.

Mumbai's six Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on April 29 along with 17 others in the state's fourth phase of polling. If nominated, Matondkar's formidable rival would be BJP incumbent MP Gopal Shetty in the constituency that was once regarded a saffron party bastion.

Matondkar began her career as a child star aged seven in a Marathi film, Zaakol (1980). She stepped into Bollywood with her role in the Shashi Kapoor-Rekha-starrer Kalyug (1981).

It was the highly-acclaimed Shekhar Kapur-directed film, ‘Masoom’ (1983) that catapulted her to fame as a child actress and significantly boosted her film career.

Later, she worked with some of the biggest actors in major films like ‘Dacait’, ‘Bade Ghar Ki Beti’, ‘Narasimha’, ‘Chamatkar’, ‘Aa Gale Lag Jaa’ (paired opposite Jugal Hansraj, the child co-star of ‘Masoom’), ‘Rangeela’, ‘Indian’, ‘Judaai’, ‘Daud’, ‘Satya’, ‘Kaun’, ‘Mast’, ‘Dillagi’, ‘Khoobsurat’, ‘Jungle’, ‘Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya’, ‘Ek Hasina Thi’, ‘Om Jai Jagadeesh’, ‘Bhoot’, ‘Pinjar’, ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara’ and ‘Speed’.

Besides, she has acted in Marathi and South Indian language films and several television serials.