Season 2 of Amazon Prime’s Mirzapur brought a new wave of violence, an old tale of revenge, and a whole set of new players to the game.
And one of the most striking new players in the game, apart from Robin (Priyanshu Painyuli), of course, was Madhuri Yadav played by Isha Talwar.
One of the few new female characters, Madhuri Yadav is CM Surya Pratap Yadav’s widowed daughter, who goes on to marry Munna Tripathi, and becomes the new CM.
While she too is a victim of fate’s cruel twist, she also showcases the ability to control her own destiny. After all, she tricks her own father-in-law, Kaleen bhaiya, into helping her become the new CM – a position he thought he was in the running for.
However, it’s not just the way the character has been developed, but also the way Isha Talwar played Madhuri that made her an instant favourite with the audience, even in the presence of crowd favourites from S1 like Kaleen bhaiya, Guddu bhaiya, and others.
Isha Talwar, who debuted in the film industry with the 2012 Malayalam romantic drama Thattathin Marayathu, started her acting journey with commercials for products like Pizza Hut, Kaya Skin Clinic, Dulux Paints, etc.
Her debut film turned out to be a Box Office hit, immediately earning her widespread recognition as the new ‘girl-next-door’ on the silver screen, and winning her the 2013 Asianet Film Award for Best Star Pair.
She went on to star in various Tamil and Telugu-language movies, like Thillu Mullu, Raja Cheyyi Vesthe, etc. before making her Hindi-language debut with Salman Khan in Tubelight.
Though technically, Isha’s actual debut remains the 2000 romantic-drama Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, where, as a child actor, she played Preeti’s (Aishwarya Rai) younger sister.
Despite the BO failure of Tubelight, she continued to experiment with different roles, working in the black comedy Kaalakandi, the crime-drama Article 15, and the drama Kaamyaab.
In each film, she had a minor but impactful role. In fact, one of her latest releases, the 2019 psychological-drama Roam Rome Mein with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, premiered at the Busan International Film Festival.
An alumna of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, Isha Talwar is a trained dancer, who studied under choreographer Terence Lewis at his dance school in 2004.
Daughter of filmmaker Vinod Talwar, Isha was also one of the few celebrities who lent her voice to the “Save Aarey” protest in Mumbai, the city she grew up in.
Along with experimenting in movies, Isha continued to star in web series like Home Sweet Office, Parchhayee, and the latest, Mirzapur season 2.
From Nivin Pauly, Parvathy to Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi, Isha has, in just a short span of time, shared screen-space with some of the finest actors of our generation, and yet, managed to command the attention of the audience.
And that certainly makes her an actor to look out for! She will next be seen in Toofan, starring alongside Farhan Akhtar.