Biography
Archana started her career in Theater. She played the lead role in the hit Marathi Play "Ughadle Swarga che daar" (The Gates of the Heaven Are Thrust Open).
For her first performance in a play, (portrayal of Nandini), Archana received the Best Actress Award, as well as the Critics Award. She did 400 shows of this play within a span of 2 years.
As a result, she was hand-picked for lead roles in both Marathi and Hindi films, where she landed lead roles in five different Indian language movies, (Hindi, Marathi, Oriya, Bangla & Tamil) -
Archana performed in only one Tamil movie, the nationally award-winning film, "Moghmool".
She won the Critic's Award for her performance in the Oriya film, "Suna Chodhei."
Her credits include performances with Aamir Khan, Rajanikanth, Rekha, Shatrughna Sinha and many others.
Archana became a household name portraying lead roles in Hindi TV serials, such as, "Kissa Shanti ka", " Chunoti", and "Karmabhumi." However, she is best known for her role as "Fulwanti", the true-life story based on the 18th Century dancer. This series was commissioned by the Indian Government, and Executive Produced by the well-known musical family, Lata & Usha Mangeshkar. The music for the series was composed by Hridaynath Mangeshkar.
Archana was given the title of "Dance Director" for the series due to her extensive knowledge of Indian Classical Dance and her exceptional talent as a choreographer and dancer. This led to other Director of Dance roles in "Rau" and the Marathi film, "Nivdung.
It is well-known that Archana is one of the premier dancers of the North Indian Classical Dance, Kathak. Her mother was Guru Asha Joglekar, founder of the classical dance school, Archana Nrityalaya (1963). Thus, Archana has extensively performed at the most prestigious music and dance festivals spanning across India, thus extending to Europe and Iceland, where she performed at the Reikyawik International Music and Dance Festival.
Archana has a talent for picking up languages, and has an excellent command of Hindi, Marathi, English, and North Indian dialects.
