Neha Shitole
FinalistNeha Shitole
Bio
Neha Sunil Shitole is an Indian actress born on 27 June in Pune, Maharashtra, into a family of painters - her father Sunil Sahasrabudhe and mother Maneesha Sahasrabudhe are both painters; her mother also runs a marketing firm. She has a younger brother Akshay Shitole. She studied at Jnana Prabodhini Prashala, Pune, and graduated in Economics from Sir Parashurambhau College, Tilak Road, Sadashiv Peth, Pune. Her mother initially wanted her to pursue the IFS, which required Neha to learn Japanese, German, and Sanskrit. However, she joined a theatre group in Pune against her mother's wishes and worked in theatre for nearly seven years before entering the mainstream. She made her film debut in Deool (2011, directed by Umesh Kulkarni), followed by Popat (2011), Disha (2016, directed by Sainath Parab), the Marathi stage play Bye Bye Bayko (2018), Sur Sapata (2019), and Readymix (2019). She has also appeared in TV serials Tu Tithe Me (Zee Marathi, 2014), Kunku, Fu Bai Fu, and Ka Re Durava. Her most notable screen role came in Netflix's acclaimed crime drama Sacred Games (2018), where she played Shalini - the quietly resilient wife of Constable Katekar (Jitendra Joshi). She and Joshi received the scripts in Hindi and collaboratively translated and adapted their dialogue into Marathi on set. She married Marathi actor Nachiket Purnapatre on 5 May 2011. She is a trained classical dancer and a dog lover (her pet is named Sherlock). In 2019, she participated in Bigg Boss Marathi Season 2 on Colors Marathi, hosted by Mahesh Manjrekar. She spent the entire 97 days and emerged as the 1st runner-up on 1 September 2019.
Netflix series Sacred Games (2018) as Shalini Katekar - Constable Katekar's wife; Marathi film debut Deool (2011, directed by Umesh Kulkarni, with Nana Patekar and Dilip Prabhavalkar); Marathi films Popat (2011), Disha (2016), and Sur Sapata (2019); Marathi TV serials Tu Tithe Me (Zee Marathi, 2014), Fu Bai Fu, and Ka Re Durava; Marathi play Bye Bye Bayko (2018); 1st runner-up of Bigg Boss Marathi Season 2 (2019).