Acting career
He studied at Annasahb Vartak College in Vasai, Mumbai, Maharashtra. He graduated in commerce, but failed to find a job. He was not considered for a steward's position at the Taj Mahal hotel because his English wasn't good enough. His father suggested films. Around this time, Govinda saw the film Saturday Night Fever and dance became his obsession. He practised for hours and circulated a promo of himself on a VHS cassette. Soon a fertiliser commercial came his way, followed by an Allwyn ad, finally his very first leading role in Tan Badan which was to be directed by his uncle Anand. He started shooting for his next film Love 86 in June 1985. By mid-July, he had signed 40 others.
His first film to be released Ilzaam (1986) was a box office success and 5th biggest hit of 1986.The film established him as a dancing star. He acted in a string of movies after that with mixed success. Most of the films he appeared in during the 1980s were in the action, romance or family drama genres. He was often paired opposite actress Neelam and together they appeared in hit films such as Love 86 (1986), Khudgarz (1987) and his brother Kirti Kumar's directed Hatya (1988). He had success with family drama films such as Dariya Dil (1988), Jeete Hain Shaan Se (1988) and Hum (1991) as well as action films such as Marte Dam Tak (1987) and Jung Baaz (1989). He worked with David Dhawan for the first time in the 1989 action film Taaqatwar. He also had a hit film that year with Rajini Kanth & Sridevi in Ghair Khanooni
He acted in critically acclaimed film Zulm Ki Hukumat, an Indian remake of Godfather where his performance was appreciated. He then formed a successful collaboration with David Dhawan and went onto act in 17 movies directed by him most of which were comedy films. The most successful films during their collaboration included Shola Aur Shabnam (1992), Aankhen (1993), Raja Babu (1994),Coolie No. 1 (1995), Saajan Chale Sasural (1996), Hero No. 1 (1997), Deewana Mastana (1997), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998), Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999) and Jodi No. 1 (2001). Dhawan and other directors frequently cast him opposite actresses such as Divya Bharati, Karishma Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, and Raveena Tandon during the 1990s.
Govinda played the role of a villain for the first time in his career in Shikari (2000). Although the movie was not a commercial success, Govinda's convincing portrayal of a sociopath murderer was critically acclaimed.
His box office draw suffered a setback in the early 2000s following a series of commercially unsuccessful films.He turned down roles in Taal, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha and Devdas which went on to become successful films. His acting career was further affected when he contested and won the seat for Member of Parliament from Mumbai North in the 2004 parliamentary elections. He did not have any new film releases in 2004 and 2005 although some of his delayed films such as Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen (2005) and his own home production Ssukh (2005) were released but were box office disasters.
Govinda made a comeback to films in late 2006 with the comedy film Bhagam Bhag alongside Akshay Kumar which was a success. His first 2007 release was the huge multi-starrer Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love. Although a box office disappointment, Govinda was praised for his performance.
His second 2007 release was the David Dhawan directed comedy Partner, which co-stars Salman Khan. The film grossed Rs.300 Million in India on its opening week, the second highest domestic opening week gross for an Indian film up until then. His recently released film for 2008 is Money Hai Toh Honey Hai. In 2008 Salman Khan invited David Dhawan and Govinda on his show Dus Ka Dum to celebrate the success of their film Partner.
Govinda has joined Mani Ratnam's Bilingual Project along with Vikram, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Prabhu Ganesan, Karthik Muthuraman, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Ravi Kishan, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Priyamani and Tejaswini Kolhapure.The film is titled Raavan in Hindi and Ashokavanam in Tamil. Govinda plays a forest officer who takes Vikram's character through the forests in search of a wanted criminal.While it was earlier speculated that it was a contemporary version of Hanuman, Govinda refutes the claim. Karthik Muthuraman plays the character in Ashokavanam.
Career As A Television host
He had debuted on Indian television in 2001 as a television host for popular game show Jeeto Chappard Phardke on Sony Entertainment Television.
Political career
In 2004, Govinda joined the Congress party, and was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower House of Parliament from Mumbai with a thumping majority of beating the 5 time sitting MP by over 50000 votes.
In a run up to the polls, Govinda had announced that his agenda will be awaas (housing), prawaas(transportation), swasthya (health) and gyaan (education).
During the first ten months of his tenure as an Member of Parliament (MP), Govinda did not spend any money from his MP Local Area Development Fund of Rs. 20 million. He started utilizing his fund only when newspaper reports brought this to notice. According to the Thane district collectorate sources, Govinda committed Rs 7 to construct anganwadi, samaj mandirs and resolve drinking water problem of Vasai and Virar residents. However, work on these projects did not begin (as of August 2005), because administrative approval was being awaited. Govinda also took credit for 80% of the quadrupling of Borivli-Virar section on Western Railway (India).
During his tenure as an MP, Govinda embarrassed his party, Congress, by coming out in open to support actor Shakti Kapoor, who had been caught in an sting operation, asking for sexual favours from a television reporter posing as a Bollywood aspirant. He also opposed the ban on dance bars, which embarrassed the Congress-NCP led Democratic Front Government, which had proposed the ban.
As an MP, Govinda has been criticized for being inaccessible to the people of his constituency, especially during the terrible rains that left around 450 dead in Mumbai. After the rains, while speaking to a TV channel, Govinda claimed that he had got Rs 150 million sanctioned for his flood-hit constituency after speaking to Sonia Gandhi. However, his own party colleagues contested the claim. Mohan Adhikari, the president of Palghar Congress Unit went on record saying that "not a single paisa" had been received.
During his tenure as the Member of Parliament, he was never played any active role. He was mostly absent while the house was in session. He also did not participate in any debates or raise any queries regarding his constituency.
On Jan 20, 2008, he has decided to quit politics to concentrate on his acting career in Bollywood.
