Former glam lead Bollywood versatile actress-dancer Urmila Matondkar knew in advance that it would be an uphill task, but yet she put up a valiant fight against seasoned political titan Gopal Shetty (also the sitting M.P.).
It was not unexpected that Urmila’s charisma did not effectively work the way, her colleague actor Govinda could unleash his massy-connectivity, when he was elected M.P. way back in the past. Interestingly, in Gurdaspur (Punjab) the macho Punjabi puttar macho-Bollywood actor Sunny Deol (as expected) has proved that his legendary ‘dhhaai kilo ka haath’ got the janata ka puraa saath, as he is now the victorious elected M.P.
Incidentally, both Urmila and Sunny co-starred in this movie ‘Dillagi’ (1999) Although Matondkar went out-of-her way to connect with the aam janata, it was not that easy for the public to accept her instantly, as a social maseeha. Known for her awesome screen-performances in hit Hindi movies like Rangeela, Kaun, Satya, Bhoot, Ek Hasina Thi she did not actively get into regular TV reality shows.
The spunky Matondkar joined politics when no-one else had the gutsy confidence in taking on formidable Gopal Shetty. Being a novice, it was a lop-sided battle right from the start for Urmila. Despite the odds she faced as regards her inter-religion marriage and other issues, she went about her ethnic-centric campaign very earnestly, leaving no stone unturned to influence the electorate. What possibly also went against the otherwise charity-samaritan Urmila according to analysts is, that as an actress, she had almost faded from public memory, as she was not seen on the Bollywood screen in new movies over the past decade.