Asrani

Govardhan Asrani (1 January 1941 – 20 October 2025), known professionally and mononymously as Asrani, was an Indian actor and film director. His career in Indian cinema spanned over five decades, during which he appeared in over 350 Hindi and Gujarati films. Asrani worked in lead, character, comedic, and supporting roles. He is particularly noted for his role as the Jailor in Sholay, caricaturing Hitler, and Amadavad no Rikshavaro and for his appearances in 25 films with Rajesh Khanna as the lead actor between 1972 and 1991.

In the Vinony graph

Within Vinony's link graph, Asrani is referenced by 495 other articles, and connects out to Sholay, Kyon Ki and Fakira.

It sits within the topics 1941 births, 2025 deaths and 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights.

Its subject is documented across 22 Wikipedia language editions.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1924
Works: 6

Top works

B̤ārani lāʼi ṭolu, vad̤ani lāʼi vindura
Kalijug̈ī shāstaru
Siyāṇo Birbalu
Sindhu jī Sītā
Siyāṇī sasu

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Govardhan Asrani (1 January 1941–20 October 2025), popularly known simply as Asrani, was an actor in Indian films whose Bollywood career has spanned over 35 years. Description above from the Wikipedia article Govardhan Asrani, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Bhooth Bangla — Shantaram2026
Haiwaan — Hussain2026
Ikkis — Asghar2026
Hum Angrezon Ke Zamane Ke Jailor Hai — Inspector Dev2026
Saugaat2026
Deda2025
Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2 — Father Anthony2025
Dream Girl 2 — Yusuf Ali Salim Khan2023
Baap No Bagicho2022
Khalli Balli2022

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Country: India
Active from: 1941
Active to: 2025

Member of

Manna Dey & Asrani

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Wikipedia views (30d)

48,256 total

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Key facts

Person.name: Asrani
Person.image: Asrani (cropped).jpg
Person.caption: Asrani in 2012
Person.birthname: Govardhan Asrani
Person.birth_place: Jaipur, Jaipur State, British India (present-day Rajasthan, India)
Person.death_place: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Person.alma_mater: Rajasthan College; FTII, Pune
Person.years active: 1967–2025
Person.spouse: Manju Asrani
Person.awards: 2 awards, 11 nominations Filmfare Award for Best Comedian

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Gender: male
Citizenship: India
Place of birth: Jaipur
Place of death: Mumbai
Occupation: film producer
Educated at: Film and Television Institute of India
Languages spoken: Hindi
Award: Filmfare Awards
Image: Asrani (cropped).jpg

Show 6 more facts

Commons category: Asrani
date of birth: 1941-01-01
start of work period: 1966-00-00
date of death: 2025-10-20
end of work period: 2025-00-00
name in native language: असरानी

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~19 min read

Encyclopedic overview

10 sections

Contents

Early life
Career
Death
Selected filmography
As actor
As director
Songs
Awards and nominations
References
External links

In Hindi cinema, he appeared in several comic roles from 1966 to 2014 and frequently portrayed the close friend of the lead actor in films between 1972 and 1995. He appeared in multiple films directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Priyadarshan. In some Hindi films, including Chala Murari Hero Banne and Salaam Memsaab, he played the lead role. In Gujarati films, he acted as the lead from 1972 to 1984 and performed character roles from 1985 to 2012. He directed six films between 1974 and 1997.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Asrani” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.