Sayaji Shinde

Sayaji Shinde started his acting career with Marathi Plays in One-Act Plays. He performed in 1987 in the Marathi play called, Zulya which was well received and then went on to gain popularity among the stalwarts of the Marathi theatre. Sayaji later pursued his career through Marathi theatre and acted in one-act plays in Zulya in 1987, One Room Kitchen in 1989 and Amchya Ya Gharat in 1991.

From the theatre, he moved to Marathi cinema and started acting in other language films. In Marathi Filmfare Awards for Best Actor, he won for the Marathi film Aboli in 1995 for reprising the debutant role of Sayaji.

His co-actor Manoj Bajpayee saw an article of the actor in one of the leading daily and had recommended him to Ram Gopal Varma for his action crime film Shool. Sayaji got his breakthrough in Hindi Cinema with Shool where he acted as Bachoo Yadav in the film. He acted in Gnana Rajasekaran’s 2000-year Tamil film Bharathi where he played the role of Subramania Bharati, the popular poet and writer of Tamil Nadu. He then appeared in Hindi films like Vaastu Shastra in 2003, Sarkar Raj in 2008 and in Sanju in 2018.

Sayaji Shinde has acted in a wide range of films in which he has portrayed diverse characters including that of villains, in supporting roles and occasionally in a comic role or a cameo. Sayaji Shinde joined the Ajit Pawar who led the Nationalist Party (NCP) on 11th October 2024 by Maharashtra legislative Assembly Elections.