Aaditi Pohankar is an Indian actress who has worked in the Hindi, Marathi and Tamil film industries. After making her acting debut with Love Sex Aur Dhokha, she made a breakthrough with her role along Riteish Deshmukh in Lai Bhaari.
Early life
Aaditi Pohankar was born to Sudhir and Shobha Pohankar. Her father was a former marathon runner, while her mother was a former national level hockey player. Her grandmother Susheela “Tai” Pohankar was a classical vocalist of Kirana Gharana, while classical vocalist Ajay Pohankar is her uncle. Abhijit Pohankar is her cousin.
Career
As an aspiring theatre actress, Aaditi became acquainted with Satyadev Dubey in 2010, who asked actor Makarand Deshpande to mentor her career as a performer in stage plays in Mumbai. She simultaneously tried for acting roles in films and made her film debut with a small role in the Hindi anthology filmLove Sex Aur Dhokha. Aaditi then worked on Rekha Saray's small budget Marathi film, Kunasathi Kunitari, alongside veteran actors Ashok Saraf, Smita Jaykar and Poonam Dhillon, with the film having a limited release. In 2012, Aaditi signed on to appear in a Malayalam film directed by M. S. Anil and had briefly moved to Kerala to learn the language, before the project was stalled. Aaditi was spotted by director Nishikant Kamat when he saw Makarand's play Time Boy in Mumbai, where the actress starred as a seven-year-old boy. Kamat made Aaditi go through two days of screen tests for a role in his Marathi film Lai Bhaari and cast her opposite Riteish Deshmukh after being impressed with her temperament. Aaditi revealed that during the shoot, Kamat gave her the liberty to do what she wanted as an actress and to get into her character, she visualised herself as "an evil person". Lai Bhaari opened to positive reviews, with Aaditi's villainous character of Nandhini drawing critical acclaim. The film went on to become the most profitable Marathi film of all time upon release. In late 2016, Aaditi Pohankar made a return to acting after a brief sabbatical by signing two Tamil language films. She replaced actress Anandhi in the multi-starrer comedy filmGemini Ganeshanum Suruli Raajanum starring Atharvaa in the lead role to feature alongside three other actresses, Regina Cassandra, Pranitha Subhash and Aishwarya Rajesh. Aaditi then signed Selvaraghavan's romantic drama filmMannavan Vanthanadi, where she will feature opposite SanthanamDelayed Since 2017.
Other work
Alongside her acting work in films and theatre, Aaditi has worked as a model and walked the International Film Festival of Indiared carpet in Goa in 2014. She has done more than twenty brand ads and commercials including for Cadbury Munch, Godrej AER, Airtel, Lenkart and Samsung, in which she was directed by Shoojit Sircar. Aaditi has also been a supporter of the Celebrity Cricket League franchise, Veer Marathi, and has attended the team's matches.
