Early life
His mother, Nirmala Devi, was a classical vocalist,dancer and actress who hailed from Banaras. His father, Arun Kumar Ahuja, an actor in the 1940s, was a Punjabi settled in Maharashtra. Arun was notable for acting in Mehboob Khan's Aurat (1940). Arun and Nirmala first met during the making of the film Savera, in which they were cast opposite each other. They married in 1941.
The only film Ahuja ever produced was a flop. Unable to bear the loss, his health failed. The family, living in a bungalow on Mumbai's upmarket Carter Road, was forced to move to Virar -- a far- flung semi-rural Mumbai suburb, where Govinda was born. The youngest of six children -- his pet name Chi Chi means little finger in Punjabi, the language they speak at home. Since his father was unable to work, Nirmala Devi brought up the children through hard times in Mumbai.
Personal life
Govinda's father Arun Ahuja was an actor in the 1940s and his mother Nirmala Ahuja was also an actress as well as a singer. His brother Kirti Kumar is an actor, producer and director. His sister Kaamini Khanna is a writer , music director, singer, anchor and founder of Beauty with Astrology. Govinda has six nephews and two nieces in the entertainment industry: actors Vinay Anand, Krushna Abhishek, Aryan, Arjun Singh, Ragini Khanna, Amit Khanna, Aarti Singh and director Janmendra Kumar Ahuja. Govinda's brother-in-law Devendra Sharma has also acted in a few Hindi Films.
Govinda's maternal uncle Anand Singh , who was assistant to director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, launched him in his movie Tan Badan.Anand Singh's wife's younger sister Sunita fell in love with Govinda during the 'Mahurat' of Tan Badan.They got married on 11 March 1987.Their marriage was a closely guarded secret for the initial four years.
It was rumored that Govinda initially wanted to marry actress Neelam with whom he had made many films but eventually gave up and married Sunita according to his mother's wish.
The couple have two children, Narmada and Yashvardhan.
Govinda had a narrow escape from death on January 5, 1994. While travelling to a studio for the shooting of Khuddar (1994), the actor's car hit another car, resulting in him sustaining injuries to his head. Though bleeding profusely, Govinda did not cancel the shooting. After visiting a doctor, he shot for the film till midnight.
Age Dispute
Govinda's year of birth has been cited as both 1958 and 1963. According to Govinda's parliament member profile on Loksabha.nic.in, the Official Government website of Lok Sabha,his date of birth is listed as December 21, 1963. The profile is compiled from government records.Personal Information of parliament members are obligatorily scrutinized and affirmed at the time of submitting nominations for candidacy.
The year of birth has also been stated as 1958 in numerous web portals.This probably originated from an unverified entry on his IMDb page. Various web portals like Rediff which referred IMDb as a source,featured articles on the actor celebrating his 48th birthday on the eve of Bhagam Bhag's release in December 21, 2006.
