Arun Govil

Arun Govil was born on 12 January 1952, in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.^{[1][2][better source needed]} He spent his teenage life in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He got his formal education at an affiliated college of Agra University situated in Shahjahanpur, where he studied science (BSc degree).^[3] His father wanted him to become a government servant while Arun wanted to do something for which he would be remembered.^[4]

Arun's father, Chandraprakash Govil, was a government officer. Arun is the fourth of six brothers and two sisters. His elder brother Vijay Govil was married to Tabassum, a former child actress and the host of the first Bollywood celebrity talk show on Doordarshan Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan, which continued for 21 years.^[5]

In 1975, he moved to Mumbai to join his brother's business there. After a short while, he found that he no longer enjoyed the work and decided to find something more enjoyable.^[4] After doing dramas in college he decided to start acting. Govil got his first break in Indian cinema in the 1977 film Prashanta Nanda's Paheli, when he was introduced to Tarachand Barjatya by his sister-in-law Tabassum.^[6] Tarachand Barjatya, impressed by Govil's performance in the film, signed him a three-film-deal, for Kanak Mishra's Sawan Ko Aane Do (1979), Vijay Kapoor’s Raadha Aur Seeta (1979) and Satyen Bose's Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin (1979), which shot Govil to stardom. Sawan Ko Aane Do and Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin became major successes at the box office.^[7][8] He made his small screen debut in Ramanand Sagar's Vikram Aur Betaal (1985).^[9] He was then cast as Lord Rama in Sagar's TV series Ramayan (1986), for which he won the Uptron Award in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category in 1988.^[10][4][11] He reprised his role as Rama in Sagar's Luv Kush and Padmalya Telefilms Limited's Jai Veer Hanuman.^[12][13] He featured in Kanak Mishra's Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981).

His role as Rama provided him great exposure and led him to be cast in other roles such as Harishchandra in the TV series Vishwamitra and Buddha in the TV series Buddha. He lent his voice as Rama in Yugo Sako's Indo-Japanese animation film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1992).^[14] He also played the role of Laxman in V. Madhusudhana Rao's Lav Kush (1997).^[15] In the year 2020, he appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show as a guest along with Dipika Chikhlia, Sunil Lahri and Prem Sagar to promote the book An Epic Life - Ramanand Sagar: From Barsaat to Ramayan, a biography of the late Ramanand Sagar.^[16]

Govil is married to actress Shrilekha.^[17] They have two children together, Sonika and Amal. Their daughter in law's name is Divya.^[18]

On 18 March 2021, Arun Govil joined the Bhartiya Janata Party.^[19]

He was nominated as the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for Meerut Lok Sabha constituency from Uttar Pradesh on 25 March 2024, to contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls.^[20] On 4 June 2024, he was elected to the Lok Sabha, representing Meerut Lok Sabha constituency.^[21]

• List of Indian television actors
• List of Hindi television actresses
• List of Indian television actresses