4th June 2023,Mumbai: On July 3, Satya celebrated its 25th anniversary since its debut. Ram Gopal Varma’s groundbreaking movie featured important performances by Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpayee, Shefali Shah, and JD Chakravarthy. In a recent tweet, Urmila—who played the character of Vidya in the movie—shared character stills and discussed how she was passed over for awards that year.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Urmila poked fun at award shows and mentioned how she had a role in Satya that was polar opposite to the glamourous roles she had previously performed and yet she was still passed over for awards. “25 years of Satya and of playing simple naïve chawl girl Vidya at the peak of a scintillating glamorous career But NO what did that have to do with ‘acting’… so no awards and not even nominations. So sit down and don’t talk to me about favouritism and nepotism… just saying.”, she tweeted
When Satya was released in 1998, it garnered numerous accolades, particularly for Manoj Bajpayee and the production team. Six Filmfare Awards were given out for it, including Best Film (Critics), Best Actor (Critics) for Manoj Bajpayee and Shefali Shah, Best Background Score (Sandeep Chowta), Best Editing (Apurva Asrani and Bhanodaya), and Best Sound Design (H. Sridhar). A National Award for Best Supporting Actor went to Manoj Bajpayee for his portrayal of Bhiku Mhatre in the film. For her roles in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dushman, Kajol received the majority of the Best Actress prizes at various award shows that year.
In March 2019, Urmila joined the Indian National Congress and ran for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Later that year, after losing the election, Urmila went on to resign from Congress citing ‘internal politics.’ In December 2020, she joined Shiv Sena.
A verbal spat between Urmila and the star Kangana Ranaut also surfaced in 2020. Before making accusations against Bollywood, Urmila had requested Kangana to reflect on the drug culture in her own Himachal Pradesh. In response, Kangana wrote, “Even Urmila, she is a soft porn actress. It wouldn’t be too tough for me to secure a ticket to run for office. I am aware of how overt it is. She isn’t, however, well renowned for her acting. What is her reputation? To perform soft porn, correct? Why won’t I receive a ticket if she does? Blackmail from 2018 was the last time viewers saw Urmila.
-by Kashvi Gala