Sumeet Raghvan

Sumeet Raghvan is an actor and singer based in Mumbai, India, known for his performances on stage, television, film and Internet. He is famous for his subtle and polished brand of comic acting, exemplified through his iconic role of Dr. Sahil in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai.

Born in 1971 to Tamil-Kannadiga parents and brought up in the prominently Maharashtrian neighbourhood of Kurla in Mumbai, Sumeet has been acting since he was eight years old. He is one of the very few actors who excel in the diverse mediums with equal ease. In his career spanning more than 35 years, Sumeet has appeared on stage, worked in films and ad-films, played roles in television serials, participated in reality singing shows, dubbed for Hollywood movies, anchored live events and hosted an internet show. His versatility is further evident from the fact that he has worked in both Hindi and Marathi languages!

He began his journey as a child artist on television in the 80’s. His portrayal of the adventurous boy Faster Fene won him many ardent little fans (and many old ones too!). He was still vacillating between acting or singing as career, when winning the Most Promising Child Actor award for his first play  ‘Mala Bhet Havi Ho’ sealed the decision in favour of acting. The big break came in form of the popular ‘Rang Umalatya Manache’ (1990) with Pradeep Welankar and Vandana Gupte. This Marathi play produced by the famed Chandralekha of Mohan Wagh was a peak into the mind of an adolescent boy, and Sumeet played the part to perfection. Many successful stage roles followed, amongst them were some with eminent Marathi theatre personalities like Mohan Tondavalkar and Kedar Shinde.

In the first years of the 2000’s, Sumeet shuffled between television and stage, working in popular serials like ‘Had Kar di’, ‘Shubh Mangal Savdhan’ and ‘Sanjeevani’. With the airing of ‘Sarabhai vs Sarabhai’, Sumeet Raghvan became a household name. His effortless delivery of comic punches in this domestic comedy brought him fame and critical acclaim. The iconic ‘Rose Darling’ ad-film added to his popularity amongst television audience. His winning personality has made him a preferred face in witty advertisements and he has appeared in more than 300 ad films. Recently, Sumeet has started hosting a popular Internet show called Jai Hind.

Right from his childhood Sumeet loved singing. He took his lessons in Hindustani Classical Music from the revered Pt. Vasantrao Kulkarni and later from the well known singer Shri. Suresh Wadkar. In the course of his career, acting took precedence over singing, but in 2007 Sumeet participated in a Celebrity singing show Idea Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, putting his musical talents to work. He reached the final, won the hearts of audience and went on to be a part of many more music reality shows like ‘Star ya Rockstar’ and ‘Shava Shava’, of which he was the winner.

His forays into movies began in later half of that decade. In 2008, ‘U Me and Hum’ with Ajay Devgan and Kajol was released and his acting prowess was quickly noticed by Bollywood. He has since worked in four more films, including ‘My Name is Khan’ with Shahrukh Khan and the 2014 thriller ‘Holiday’, in which he plays a dashing cop. He came to Marathi films a little late. His first Marathi film ‘Sandook’, a period drama set in the 1940s, in which he plays a daydreamer is near to release as of July 2014. 

Sumeet feels that with the advent of smaller meaningful movie projects, his kind of actors are sure to find their own space. In 2012 he took a daring decision to take a break from television, where he felt the creativity glaringly missing from the scripts, to go back to stage. His comeback vehicle ‘Lekure Udand Jahli’ is a classic written by the legendary Prof. Vasant Kanetkar. The lead roles are played by Sumeet and his wife Chinmayee, whom he had met 20 years ago while working together for another play ‘Jwalamukhi’. The play has 8 songs and Sumeet has worked very hard to get all the melodies right.

Sumeet and Chinmayee are blessed with two kids. The elder boy Neerad is taking piano lessons and younger daughter Deeya is training in music, when she is not playing mischief with Neerad. Sumeet is a complete family man who plays with his children when he is not shooting- a little too much if Chinmayee is to be believed!