Rati Agnihotri

Agnihotri was born on 10 December 1960 in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, in a conservative Punjabi Brahmin family.^[1][2] She is a cousin of actor-director Atul Agnihotri.^[1]

She began modelling at the age of ten.^[3] Agnihotri's first film roles were in the Tamil language films Puthiya Vaarpugal and Niram Maaratha Pookkal (1979).^[4]

In the 1980s, she also starred in a number of Hindi films. She received a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for the 1981 film Ek Duuje Ke Liye, which was a Hindi remake of the Telugu film Maro Charitra from 1979. Other Hindi films from this period included Farz Aur Kanoon (1982), Coolie (1983), Tawaif (1985) which also led to her being nominated for the Filmfare award, Aap Ke Saath (1986), and Hukumat (1987).

After a 16-year absence, she returned to acting in 2001, in the Hindi film Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi^[5] and the Tamil film Majunu. She made her Malayalam debut in Anyar (2003), English debut in An Ode to Lost Love (2003), and Bengali debut in Aaina-te (2008).^[6]

She has also acted on the stage, in plays such as Please Divorce Me Darling (2005),^[5] and television serials, such as Sixer (2005). Agnihotri spends a lot of time in Poland, where she owns an Indian restaurant with her sister Anita.^[7][8]

Agnihotri married businessman and architect Anil Virwani on 9 February 1985,^[9] This, coupled with her father's death, convinced her to leave Hindi films.^[10] In 1986, the couple's son, Tanuj Virwani, was born. He is an actor working in Hindi films and television.^[11]

• 1982: Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Ek Duuje Ke Liye
• 1986: Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tawaif^[12]