Indian movie actress Rohini Hattangadi is a performer with excellent caliber. She is award-winning actress who won many awards in her career. In the year 1971 she joined National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi. In this institution he met her husband Jayadev Hattangadi, who was also in the same batch as hers. They also received training under theatre guru Ebrahim Alkazi together. After graduation in 1974, Rohini was awarded the Best Actress award and also an award for Best all-round student, while Jayadev who was training in direction, won the Best director award. Jayadev and Rohini married the following year. Rohini also received training in Indian classical dance forms, Kathakali and Bharatnatyam for more than eight years. The couple has a son Aseem Hattangadi, who is also a theatre actor and acted in Badal Sircar`s play, `Evam Indrajit`. The play is directed by his father Jayadev Hattangadi. She is basically a theatre personality.

Rohini started her career with Marathi stage. She and her husband started a Marathi theatre group in Bombay, called `Awishkar`, which went on to produced over 150 plays. In 1975 she won the `Best Actress Award` at the Maharashtra State Drama Festival, for her performance in `Changuna` a Marathi adaptation of Federico García Lorca`s Spanish classic `Yerma`, produced by `Awishkar`, in Mumbai. She was a prolific artist in theatre.playing many unusual roles in different plays. Some of the important characters played by her were `Yakshagana` in a folk play from Karnataka titled `Bhisma Vijay`. She was the first woman in Asia to act in a Japanese Kabuki play, Ibaragi, directed of Shozo Sato, a well-known Japanese director. She was famous her acting in `Aparajita` based on a Bengali story by Nitin Sen. This was a landmark performance in her career. Over the years she has played several memorable characters of the stage, like Vimla Pandey of `Mahayagya` to a Hindustani classical singer in `Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum`.

The roles played by her vary from a committed social worker in `Intehaan` to the unlettered and harassed Sakkubai in `Hindustani`. Her work was also widely appreciated in Vijay Tendulkar`s `Mitra Chi Gosht` directed by Vinay Apte, `Hori` based on Premchand`s `Godaan`, produced by IPTA, and most recently in Hindi play, `Kohra`, with Sudha Chandran, and Babul Bhavsar. Jayadev and Rohini Hattangadi, also run `Kalashray`. This is known as a centre for research, education in arts and talent encouragement in Mumbai. This organisation is actively working with the underprivileged and developing tools for powerful communication.

Rohini Hattangadi started her film career with Saeed Akhtar Mirz`s `Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan` in 1978. This film won the National Film Ward for best film. This was followed by his next `Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai` and `Chakra` by Rabindra Dharmaraj, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil in lead roles. Her next big break was an international film Gandhi in 1982. After this film she got international recognition. She also got BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1982 for this film. She was critically acclaimed for many of her roles in different films like Mahesh Bhatt`s Arth in the year 1982, which won her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in 1984. She also worked in Govind Nihalani`s Party in the year 1984 for which she won the 1985 National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. After these achievements she acted in two films as an aging housewife, `Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho` and `Saaransh` with Anupam Kher. By this time she was heavily type-casted by the commercial Hindi cinema in motherly roles, ironically she played her first motherly role as Kasturba Gandhi in Gandhi, when she was only 27 years old, perhaps its critical acclaim went against her in the commercial Hindi cinema. Nevertheless she did break the mould in the commercial with a powerful yet small role in N. Chandra`s Pratighaat. Her excellent comic performances in Pankaj Parashar`s Chaalbaaz and Ladaai were considered as one of the best performances in Bollywood. The Indian art cinema has offered her a space to excel in her own way. She found her due as a powerful actress.

In 1985 she worked with Govind Nihalani in Aghaat with Muzaffar Ali in Anjuman and with G Kasaravalli in Mane and Ek Ghar. All of these were masterpiece by the actress. In 1989 she acted in `Agneepath` as mother`s role of Amitabh. It was a power-packed performance and she got her reward with the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in 1991. In the 90`s she was very much present in Rajkumar Santoshi films, starting with Damini, Ghatak and finally in a well-appreciated comic role, in his 2000 hit, Pukar. Her most recent performance in Sanjay Dutt hit Munnabhai MBBS was widely appreciated. She acted as the mother of the hero in that film. Hattangadi has also played the lead role in a ground-breaking television series on politics in India, where she played the leader of a major political party. She is now playing as an actress in `Ghar ki laxmi bettiyann` as Motti ba. Some of the other prominent serials are as followes `Mahayagya`, `Thoda hai thoda ki Zaroorat hai`, `Teacher` etc. She has done justice with the films as well as her theatre performances and in both the cases she has got excel. Over the last three decades she has acted in over 70 films. She is a powerful actress with lot of versatility in her.

The award winning Rohini Hattangadi has won many awards in her theatre as well as film career. While studying in National School of Drama she got the best actress award from the institution itself. In the year 1982 she has won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her film `Gandhi`, in 1985 she won National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress in `Party`, `Arth` bagged her Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in the year 1984, in 1991: she again won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Agneepath. In 2000 she was nominated for her best performance in a comic role in Pukar. She won the 2004 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution to Indian theatre.