Actor-Turned-Politician Amol Kolhe Seeking Second Term From Shirur (image: facebook.com/Dr.AmolKolhe/)

Marathi actor Amol Kolhe gained popularity after his role as Chhatrapati Shivaji in the TV series Raja Shiv Chhatrapati. Then he got involved in politics, and the actor was Shiv Sena“s star campaigner in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

In 2019, he joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), just before the elections. Following, he contested from Maharashtra”s Shirur on a NCP ticket against sitting Sena’s three-term MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil and emerged as the winner. Amol Kolhe secured the seat by defeating the sitting MP by a margin of 58483 votes.

Amol Kolhe”s portrayal of Nathuram Godse, the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, in a short film, Why I Killed Gandhi, has garnered criticism. It was during his Shiv Sena days that he acted in the film, and the Hindu right-wing political party has celebrated Godse as a patriot. However, since the 2017 movie was released in 2022, he was part of the NCP. Meanwhile, Kolhe responded to the controversy by stating that a line between “reel” life and “real” life needs to be drawn.

Amol Kolhe is a doctor-turned-actor-turned-politician. He hails from Pune. Kolhe completed an MBBS from the King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College in Mumbai. Aside from Shivaji, he had also played the role of Shivaji’s son, Chhatrapati Sambhaji, in the Marathi TV series Swarajyarakshan Sambhaji, which added to his fame.

When the NCP split into two factions—the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) and the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction)—in 2023, Amol Kolhe stayed with the former. In the upcoming elections, Kolhe will face NCP (Ajit Pawar) Shivajirao Adhalarao Patil, whom he defeated in the last Lok Sabha polls when the latter belonged to Shiv Sena.

Kolhe belongs to the Mali community, and the constituency constitutes a larger number of voters from the same community. By fielding him, NCP is trying to woo the vote bank again, which worked last time.