Gauri Pradhan Tejwani (née Pradhan) is an Indian actress and former model who works in Hindi television. She is best known for playing the roles of Gauri Pratham Mittal in Sony TV's Kutumb, Nandini Karan Virani in Star Plus's Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Dr. Deepika Ghosh in Special Squad and Anita Sharma in Colors TV's Tu Aashiqui.

Gauri Pradhan Tejwani
Tejwani in 2017
Born
Gauri Pradhan

NationalityIndian
Occupations
  • Businesswoman
  • model
  • actress
Years active2000–2010; 2014–2015; 2017–2019; 2023–present
Known forKyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi
Kutumb
Left Right Left
Tu Aashiqui
Spouse
(m. 2004)
Children2

Early life and education

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Pradhan was born in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India in Marathi family. Her father Major Subhash Vasudeo Pradhan is a retired Indian Army Officer and her mother Asha is a homemaker. Pradhan is the second of three siblings; her elder brother Bharat, is a petrochemical engineer, while her younger sister Geetanjali, is a M.D. Pradhan is the only one in her family to have pursued modelling and acting as a career.[1]

Her childhood was spent travelling throughout the country owing to the nature of her father's job. As a result, she studied in different schools, one of them was the Carmel Convent School in Udhampur. After her father's retirement, the family settled in Pune (Maharashtra), where she attended Sir Parshurambhau College for a course in BSc (Electronics).[2] Later she enrolled for a course in psychology from an institute affiliated with London University.[citation needed]

Personal life

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Gauri with husband Hiten Tejwani at an event in 2012
 
Gauri with daughter Katya at the launch of Disney Princess Academy in 2012

Gauri met her husband Hiten Tejwani in Hyderabad while shooting for a commercial for Breeze soap. Later on, they met on the sets of tele-series Kutumb and were coincidentally cast as the lead pair. The onscreen chemistry led to the brewing of romance between them and they started dating.[3] While playing the characters of star crossed lovers Karan and Nandini in another daily soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, they decided to get married.[4]

After two years of courtship, they got married as per Maharashtrian customs at a private ceremony in the Sun-n-Sand Hotel in Pune on 29 April 2004, with about 40–50 guests in attendance. Soon after they went to Ko Samui in Thailand for honeymoon. Their reception was held at Juhu's Army Club on 9 May 2004, with over 400 guests.[5][6]

On 11 November 2009, they became parents when Pradhan gave birth to twins, a son and a daughter, at the Lilavati Hospital, Bandra, Mumbai.[7]

Career

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Pradhan's modelling stint commenced at age 18, primarily in Pune. In 1998, while still in her second year of a BSc course she moved to Mumbai to take part in Femina Miss India. She along with Smriti Irani are those contestants who reached great stardom on TV. Dipannita Sharma was also a contestants and made it to top 5.[8][9][10] She did a lot of ramp shows and has done television commercials for many well known companies such as Sprite, Bru, Dabur, Pond's, Santoor, Colgate, Philips, Breeze, etc.[11]

Pradhan made her acting debut with the historical tele-series Noorjahan which was telecasted in Doordarshan in 1999. She never thought of becoming an actor, but when Cinevistaas offered her the lead role in Noor Jahan, she decided to give it a shot.

She also appeared in three music videos (which were Talat Aziz's Khubsoorat, Hans Raj Hans's Jhanjar, and Sonu Nigam's Yaad) during the year 2000 to 2001.

In October 2001, Pradhan rose to fame with tele-series Kutumb on Sony TV where she played the lead role of Gauri Agarwal Mittal. The show ended in 2002, but the channel & production house brought the second season of the show, Kutumb, with the same leads. Soon after in 2003, she did an episodic role as Shweta in Krishna Arjun on Star Plus, and she then appeared in another family drama named Naam Gum Jayegaa on Sony TV as the female lead Priyanka Singh. In 2003, she also appeared as Mayuri / Gauri in the horror tele-series Kya Hadsaa Kya Haqeeqat. In 2002, she participated in one of the episodes of the singing reality show Kisme Kitna Hai Dum on Star Plus along with other television actors.

After a string of cameos and a short series, Pradhan was approached in 2004 to play the lead as Nandini Thakkar in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi on Star Plus. In the same year, she appeared in Isse Kehte Hai Golmaal Ghar that aired on Sahara One channel as the main lead opposite Manav Gohil. The series premiered on 30 October 2004, and aired every Saturday at 8:30 p.m. IST.

In March 2005, she entered the show Special Squad on Star One as the Forensic Expert and Special Squad head Dr. Deepika Ghosh. Pradhan has also made special appearances in other Indian series like Rihaee and Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin on Sony TV.

In 2006, she participated in reality shows such as Nach Baliye 2 (a celebrity couple dance reality show) and Jodee Kamaal Ki (a celebrity couple game show) on Star One along with her husband Hiten Tejwani, and played the part of Kanan in the romantic drama-series Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai.

In May 2008, she entered the youth oriented show Left Right Left (that aired on SAB TV) as Captain Shona Das, an army consultant.[citation needed] In that vary year, she along with her husband Hiten Tejwani appeared as contestant in two reality shows; Kabhi Kabhii Pyaar Kabhi Kabhii Yaar and Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?. In 2008, Pradhan and her husband also hosted some of the episodes of the celebrity couple dance reality show Nach Baliye 4 on Star Plus.

In 2009, Pradhan did a long cameo in Star Plus's afternoon long-running hit show Kumkum  – Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan as Aditi Kapoor along with her husband.

After having twins, Pradhan took a five-year break from television and decided not to work till her children turned four. During her break, she pursued her passion for porcelain painting. She learned about this form of painting under Sangita Shetty Chowhan. Gauri is also one of the partners of the company called Colours On Fire, owned by Chowhan.[12]

In 2010, Pradhan along with her husband opened a restro-bar named Barcode 053 (a franchise of Crepe Station Café) at Andheri in Mumbai.[13][14]

In the same year she also appeared in one of the episodes of the female celebrity game show Meethi Choori No 1 which aired on NDTV Imagine.

In 2014, after a long hiatus of five years, she made her comeback on television with Ekta Kapoor's show, Meri Aashiqui Tumse Hi (which aired on Colors TV) as Falguni Harshad Parekh.[15]

From 2017 to 2018, she played the role of Anita Sharma on Colors TV's show Tu Aashiqui.[16]

Filmography

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Music videos

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Year Album Song Singer Co-star
2000 Khubsoorat (Venus Video CD) Chera Subah E Banaras Talat Aziz Salil Ankola
2001 Jhanjar (Tips Music) Teri Jhanjhar Kisne Banayi Hans Raj Hans John Abraham
2001 Yaad (T-Series) Humein Tumse Pyar Hai Kaise Kahe Sonu Nigam Vivan Bhatena

Television

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Year Serial Role Notes
2000–2001 Noorjahan Mehr-un-Nissa / Empress Noor Jahan Lead role
2001–2002 Kutumb Gauri Agarwal / Gauri Pratham Mittal
2002 Krishna Arjun Shweta Episodic role
2002–2003 Kutumb Gauri Pradhan / Gauri Pratham Mann / Shweta Chattopadhya Mann Lead role
2003 Naam Gum Jayegaa Priyanka Singh
Kya Hadsaa Kya HaqeeqatKab Kyon Kahan Mayuri / Gauri Episodic role
2004–2005 Isse Kehte Hai Golmaal Ghar Lead role
2004–2008 Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi Nandini Thakkar / Nandini Ansh Gujral / Nandini Karan Virani
2005 Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin Gauri Pradhan Guest appearance
Rihaee Episodic role
2005–2006 Special Squad Forensic Expert Dr. Deepika Ghosh Lead role
2006 Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai Kanan Supporting role
2007 Kasamh Se Mrs. Anupam Kapadia Guest
2008 Left Right Left Captain Shona Das Supporting role
2009 Kumkum – Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan Aditi Kapoor
2014–2015 Meri Aashiqui Tumse Hi Falguni Nitin Joshi / Falguni Harshad Parekh Jatin Sukhadiya
2015 Rishton Ka Mela Neha
2017–2018 Tu Aashiqui Anita Sharma
2023–2024 Pashmina – Dhaage Mohabbat Ke Preeti Suri

Reality Shows

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Year Show Role Channel Notes
2002 Kisme Kitna Hai Dum Contestant Star Plus Reality Show
2006 Jodee Kamaal Ki Contestant Star One
2006 Nach Baliye 2 Contestant
2008 Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain? Guest Contestant Star Plus
2008 Kabhi Kabhii Pyaar Kabhi Kabhii Yaar Contestant Sony TV
2008 Nach Baliye 4 Host Star Plus
2010 Meethi Choori No 1 Contestant NDTV Imagine
2017 Bigg Boss 11 Guest (To Take part in family task) Colors TV
2019 Kitchen Champion 5 Guest Contestant (Episode 4) Cooking show

Web Series

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Year Show Role Platform
2024 Tujhpe Main Fida Tara Rajkishore Amazon Mini TV
2024 Taaza Khabar (S2) Swati Disney+ Hotstar

Films

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Year Film Role
2023 A Winter Tale At Shimla Vaidehi

References

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  1. ^ "Gauri Pradhan Tejwani's Height, Age, Serials, Personal Life, Biography". Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  2. ^ "Biography of Gauri Pradhan:About Gauri". Archived from the original on 17 September 2013.
  3. ^ Keshri, Shweta (30 October 2020). "Kutumb turns 19, Hiten Tejwani and Gauri Pradhan thank fans for all the love". India Today. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  4. ^ "Jodi no 1: Gauri Pradhan and Hiten Tejwani". shaaditimes. Archived from the original on 12 May 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Celeb Love Story: Gauri & Hiten Tejwani". iDiva Trendspotter. 28 December 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  6. ^ "Gauri and Hiten". Archived from the original on 17 December 2014.
  7. ^ "Hiten and Gauri blessed with Twins". Gaea Times. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  8. ^ "Saas-bahu on the ramp – Mumbai Mirror –".
  9. ^ "The Hindu : Metro Plus Chennai / Profiles : Life…on her own terms". The Hindu. 6 June 2009. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  10. ^ "Smriti Irani: From model to Tulsi Virani to HRD minister | Firstpost". Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  11. ^ Kapadia, Arshiya (20 May 2005). "I don't believe in the kind of marriage that changes a person completely". Rediff. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  12. ^ "Porcelain Painting by Actress Gauri Tejwani". buzz in town. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014.
  13. ^ "Bar Review: Barcode 053". Mumbai Boss. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  14. ^ "Crepe Station Café opens Barcode 053 Lounge". Franchise India.com. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  15. ^ "Gauri Is Brilliant: Ekta Kapoor On Her Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi Actress". The Times of India. 17 June 2014.
  16. ^ "Kutumb Actress Gauri Pradhan Says She's 'Prepared For Failure'". NDTV.com. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
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