Sunday, Oct 13, 2024 | Last Update : 09:37 PM IST
Mamta Kulkarni made her Bollywood debut in 1992 the movie Tiranga and the movie was quite successful. She later appeared in several successful Bollywood movies. She is fondly remembered for movies like Sabse Bada Khiladi (opposite Akshay Kumar), China Gate, Baazi (opposite Aamir Khan) & Karan Arjun (Opposite Salman Khan). Mamta got some of the best songs in Bollywood when she was at the pinnacle of her career. We fondly remember her for two songs; the first one being the Hindi-Marathi Love Rap song from Krantiveer and the second one from Ghatak called "Koi Jaye To Le Aaye". The latter song was perhaps the best in her career. Ghatak: Lethal was released in 1996. Ghatak was directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. Santoshi signed Mamta for his next project titled China Gate. Relations between Santoshi and the actress soured, and rumours began circulating that Kulkarni was dropped from the movie, and reinstated only after gangster Chhota Rajan intervened on her behalf. The movie turned out to be a huge flop. Furthermore, the only song in the movie, the item number "Chamma Chamma", was picturised on Urmila Matondkar, even though Kulkarni had built her reputation with such numbers. To add insult to injury, the song turned out to be a chartbuster, greatly increased Matondkar's popularity and was even used in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!.
Angered at the turn of events, Kulkarni lashed out at Santoshi, accusing him of cutting her screen time because she had refused his advances. Santoshi denied all rumours related to the movie, and the matter was given a quiet burial.
Mamta Kulkarni's fight with Rajkumar Santoshi destroyed her career. Offers dried up and she was seen in just a few movies post China Gate in 1998. Her last movie was Kabhie Tum Kabhie Hum (2002), directed by Roop Dutta Naik. The movie was a big flop. Mamta disappeared from the Bollywood scene after this movie. It was rumoured that she got marrie to Vikram Goswami in 2013. In June 2016, the Thane Police named Kulkarni as one of the accused involved in supplying ephedrine for illicit manufacture of methamphetamine to a ₹2000 crore international drug racket and gangster, intended for trafficking. Kulkarni along with her partner Vicky Goswami and other co-culprits attended a meeting in an international drug ring in Kenya in January 2016. The crime branch of Thane police, which is investigating an international ephedrine supply racket, on 25th June 2017 issued a notice of 'proclaimed offender' to her and her partner and drug lord Vicky Goswami. A team of crime branch officials went to Kulkarni's house at Sky Enclave in Versova, suburban Mumbai, and pasted a notice on the door, as the actress' whereabouts are not known. A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court has declared Kulkarni and Goswami as proclaimed offenders and ordered attachment of their properties.
In February 2017, International drug lord Vicky Goswami has was deported to US from Kenya by Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) along with three associates, one of whom was Pakistani. Vicky Goswami was tracked down from Mombasa in Kenya. He was arrested from a gold court and then brought to US for further investigation. Goswami, son of a police officer from Gujarat, began as a bootlegger in the 80's. Trying out his hand in smuggling mandrax, he fled to Mumbai while he was on bail after he was arrested in a drug bust. Over the last two decades, he expanded his network to Dubai and Africa. In India, he was recently linked to the massive seizure of raw materials for methamphetamine from a Solapur pharma unit
Mamta was recently interviewed by a TV Channel. Here is the video: