ਮਾਹੀ ਗਿੱਲਮਾਹੀ ਗਿੱਲ

Mahie Gill is a Chandigarh-born Indian actress who works in Hindi and Punjabi cinema. Trained in theatre at Panjab University, she broke through as Paro in Anurag Kashyap's Dev.D (2009), a modern retelling of the classic Devdas story, and went on to build a career of bold, layered roles across films and streaming series.

ਮੁੱਢਲਾ ਜੀਵਨ

Mahie Gill was born Rimpy Kaur Gill on 19 December 1975 in Chandigarh, into a Punjabi Jat Sikh family. She completed a master's degree in theatre at Panjab University, Chandigarh, in 1998, training that shaped her reputation as one of the most instinctive actors of her generation. Before films, she worked in theatre, and the stage remained her first school of acting. Early in her career she was sometimes billed under her birth name, as in Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat (2009), credited to Rimpy Gill.

Punjabi beginnings

Gill began her screen career in Punjabi cinema. Her first break came with Hawayein (2003), a film set against the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, in which she played Lali. She also appeared in the Punjabi film Khushi Mil Gayee (2004), and she went on to appear in Mitti Wajaan Maardi (2007) and Chak De Phatte (2008). She made her Hindi debut around the same time with a small role as a starlet in Khoya Khoya Chand (2007). These early years were a slow apprenticeship, regional films, minor parts, and the patience to wait for a role worthy of her training.

Dev.D and the breakthrough

Everything changed in 2009. Director Anurag Kashyap cast her as Parminder ‘Paro’ in Dev.D, his radical modern reworking of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novella Devdas, after noticing her at a party. Gill’s Paro, sensual, modern, and utterly in control of her own story, was unlike anything Hindi cinema had offered. The performance won her the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress, the IIFA Star Debut Award, and the Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Critics singled out her fearlessness; audiences remembered a face that refused to play the victim.

The Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster era

In 2011 she played Madhavi Devi, the scheming, sensual wife of a fading royal, in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster. The role brought her a Filmfare Best Actress nomination and became her signature, she reprised Madhavi Devi in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns (2013), winning the BIG Star Entertainment Award for Most Entertaining Actor in a Thriller – Female, and again in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3 (2018). The first film, released on 30 September 2011, paired her with Jimmy Sheirgill and Randeep Hooda.

Versatility across industries

Between the Gangster films, Gill built one of the most varied filmographies of her generation. She played Indira, the wife of the athlete-turned-bandit, opposite Irrfan Khan in Paan Singh Tomar (2012); appeared as Nirmala in Dabangg (2010) and Dabangg 2 (2012); and made a special appearance in the item number “Don’t Touch My Body” in Bullett Raja (2013). She headlined Ram Gopal Varma’s Not a Love Story (2011) as Anusha Chawla, in a film based on the 2008 Neeraj Grover murder case,, played Mona Darling in the Zanjeer remake (2013), shooting its Telugu version Thoofan simultaneously, and took roles in Gulaal, Family of Thakurganj, Durgamati, and Doordarshan. In Punjabi cinema she returned for Carry On Jatta (2012), Shareek (2015), and Aatishbazi Ishq (2016), which she also produced, earning a Filmfare Punjabi nomination for Best Actress. She played Prajakta Deshpande in the psychological thriller Posham Pa (2019), and Rajveer Randhawa in the Punjabi film Jora: The Second Chapter (2021).

Web series and recent work

As streaming rose, Gill moved into long-form storytelling: Apharan (2018), as Madhu Tyagi, Fixerr (2019), where she played Kesar Maalik opposite her future husband Ravi Kesar, 1962: The War in the Hills (2021), as Shagun Singh, and Your Honor season 2 (2021), as Yashpreet,, reuniting with fellow Punjabi actor Jimmy Sheirgill. Her most recent listed film credit is Naam (2024).

Personal life

Gill keeps her private life guarded. In 2019 she revealed she was a single mother to a young daughter, Veronica. In 2023 she confirmed to the Hindustan Times that she had married her long-time partner, Fixerr co-star Ravi Kesar, after a relationship of more than a decade. The couple is based in Goa. Bollywood Hungama reported in April 2023 that she had settled in Goa with her daughter Veronica and had kept the wedding itself entirely private, sharing no details or photographs.

What is Mahie Gill famous for?

How is Mahie Gill regarded as an actress?

Gill is one of the theatre-trained actors who carried unconventional, morally grey women into the centre of popular Hindi films. Her reputation rests on two signature roles: Paro, who refused to play the victim in Dev.D, and Madhavi Devi, the scheming royal wife she returned to across a decade of Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster films. She has also stepped behind the camera, producing and headlining the Punjabi film Aatishbazi Ishq (2016).

She is famous for playing Paro in Anurag Kashyap’s Dev.D (2009) and Madhavi Devi in the Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster trilogy, and for a varied career across Hindi, Punjabi, and Telugu cinema.

Which awards has Mahie Gill won?

She won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for Dev.D (2010), the IIFA Star Debut Award (2010), and a Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer; she was also nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress award in 2012.