Nitish Bharadwaj Biography

Nitish Bharadwaj is one of the most popular and successful faces of the Indian entertainment industry. He became household name after playing the role of Lord Krishna in B.R. Chopra's epic television series Mahabharat (1988).

Nitish Bharadwaj was born on 2 June 1963 in Marathi Brahaman Bhardwaj gotra, to Janardan C. Upadhye, a Senior Advocate of Bombay High Court and a veteran labour lawyer. He was also a close aide of George Fernandes in the labour movement in the 60s and 70s. Bharadwaj's mother, Sadhana Upadhye, was the Head of the Marathi Literature department of Wilson College, Mumbai. She was an exponent of the Bhagavad Geeta and Dnyaneshwari, the knowledge of which she imparted to Bharadwaj from childhood.

Nitish Bharadwaj is an Indian television and film actor, director, screenwriter, producer, veterinary doctor, and former Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha. He is best known for his role as Lord Krishna in B. R. Chopra's television series Mahabharat, as well as for his portrayal of several Avatars of Vishnu in some of Chopra's other great works, such as Vishnu Puran. He played the role of the great god Vishnu. His debut directorial film in Marathi titled Pitruroon has won him accolades from both the audiences and critics and he now focuses on his film career entirely through screenwriting, directing, and acting.

In 1991, Bharadwaj married Monisha Patil, daughter of Vimla Patil, then editor of Femina. They have two children, a son, and daughter and divorced in 2005. Monisha now lives in London with their children. Bharadwaj married Smita Gate, an IAS officer (1992 batch) from Madhya Pradesh cadre, in 2009 and they have twin daughters.

Before coming into the field of acting, Bharadwaj was a professional veterinary surgeon and had worked as an assistant veterinarian at a racecourse in Mumbai; however, he left the job considering it a monotonous one. He started his art career with his training in Marathi theatre as a director. He then moved on to professional Marathi theatre and later shifted to Hindi theatre on sound advice from his friend Ravi Baswani. Baswani was instrumental in getting Bharadwaj from Marathi to the nation-wide Hindi arena and Bharadwaj has always acknowledged Baswani's contribution to his life.

In 1988 Bharadwaj was selected to play the lead role of Lord Krishna in B. R. Chopra's classic television series Mahabharat. He played the role at the age of 23 and became an overnight star. His performance was loved and appreciated by the audience. He also did a cameo in the show Buniyaad's episode 51. He directed a philosophical TV series titled Gita Rahasya, Apraadhi for Star TV, and a few documentary films. In 2000, Bharadwaj appeared in B.R. Chopra's another mythological show Vishnu Puran, where he played the role of Lord Vishnu and his various incarnations. In 2002 he played the role of Rama in Chopra's Ramayan.

Bharadwaj starred as the Main Lead in many Marathi movies such as Khatyal Sasu Nathal Soon, Nasheebwan, Anapekshit, Pasanta Ahe Mulgi, Trishagi, and the highly acclaimed Malayalam movie Njan Gandharvan, (1991) directed by P. Padmarajan. After Njan Gandharvan, Padmarajan was planning a film with Mohanlal and Bharadwaj in lead roles, but he died before it could materialise. In a later interview in 2019, Bharadwaj said that, if that film had happened, he might have settled in Kerala. He judged a Marathi dance reality show on ETV Marathi; Jallosh Survanayugacha, with Sudha Chandran and Ramesh Deo. Bharadwaj made his film directing debut in 2013 with a Marathi film starring Tanuja, Suhas Joshi and Sachin Khedekar titled Pitruroon. Pitruroon received many nominations and awards, and also gave Bharadwaj the prestigious Maharashtra State Film Award as the second Best Director of 2013. Bharadwaj has also played important roles in movies including Mohenjo Daro and Kedarnath.

Bharadwaj contested the parliamentary elections from Jamshedpur and Rajgarh (in Madhya Pradesh) as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and was elected to Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament from Jamshedpur in 1996, by defeating veteran Inder Singh Namdhari. He lost to Laxman Singh (brother of then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh) in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. He also worked in BJP's organisational unit of Madhya Pradesh and was also its Spokesperson for a while, till he voluntarily retired from active politics.