Urmila's life in pics

Urmila Matondkar's transition from child star to RGV's muse and her subsequent fall from grace is the tale right out of a Bollywood movie. We gift her a life-recap on her 37th birthday.

Born on 4th February , 1974 in Mumbai, Urmila had always aspired to be an actress, like any other Bambaiya girl.

Unlike other actresses, Urmila's only reported hookup has been with her director of choice, Ram Gopal Verma. But her sole link up generated reams of print as well as a string of movies both good and bad

Now notable for her absence from the big screen, Urmila still hasn't found Mr Right and has given the marriage and motherhood route a miss unlike most of her contemporaries. She's seen around town on the social circuit, in a series of bizarre outfits and poses

Urmila captured hearts early, as a child star, in Shekhar Kapur's Masoom (1983)

Five years later, she debuted as an actress in Bade Ghar Ki Beti, which entirely passed the box office by and later followed it up with equally pedestrian Narsimha.

Urmila's career making hit was Chamatkar, in which she was romanced by none other than Shah Rukh Khan.

She was soon to become Ram Gopal Varma's favourite leading lady, a move which would render her a force to reckon with in Bollywood.

The dream partnership, rumoured to have been more than professional one, started with the bilingual film Antham, later remade in Hindi as Drohi(1992).

But the biggest RGV-Urmila blockbuster was Rangeela in which Urmila sizzled in skimpy oufits and Aamir worked his magic as a tapori. Rangeela made Urmila B-town's next big thing and she also snagged her first Filmfare nomination.

Urmila wasn't so lucky with directors other than RGV. Aflatoon bombed, though she did get a Filmfare award for Best Supporting Actress for Judaai

She upped the temperatures in RGV's Daud, with Sanjay Dutt when her bold skin show left slapped modesty in the face.

It was back to RGV with 1998's Satya and the old magic worked anew. Satya guaranteed Urmila a top spot in the filmi hierarchy

This was followed by Kaun, which was comparatively only average. Not to be discouraged, the duo tried again with Mast, which failed to impress.

But Jungle's hit run at the box-office showed what the hoo-hah about the two was all about. Opposite Fardeen Khan, Urmila got herself a place in every critics' place.

Her negative performance in Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya sent a chill down the movie-goer's spine, and got the approval of Filmfare and Star Screen awards both. She even managed to grab a Bollywood Movies ‘Most Sensational Actress' award

The year 2004 belonged to the lady. Under RGV's direction, horror flick Bhoot was her most brilliant performance. She won the Filmfare for Critic's Choice, Star Screen Best Actress, Apsara Best Actress, Zee Cine Awards Best Actress , Bollywood Movie Awards Best Actress , Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Awards for Achievement in Bollywood. Wowzers!

Her equally mind-blowing performance in Ek Hasina Thi failed to get her awards the next year, but is very well remembered to date.

Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara is last performance we'd like to remember, following which the talented actress was reduced to working in movies like Karzzz.

Here's wishing the actress a long healthy year and more luck in the industry!