Janki Bodiwala

She was born in Ahmedabad on 30 October 1995 to Bharat and Kashmira Bodiwala, went to M K Secondary and Higher Secondary School there, and graduated with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the Goenka Research Institute of Dental Science in Gandhinagar. In 2019 she reached the last three of Miss India Gujarat and was ranked fiftieth in The Times Most Desirable Women list.

The acting started in between. Chhello Divas opened on 20 November 2015 across 231 screens worldwide and grossed a reported Rs 18 crore, and she played Pooja in it, alongside Malhar Thakar and Yash Soni. A debut in the film that reopened urban Gujarati cinema is a good hand to be dealt. What she did with the next seven years is the part people skip.

O Taareee, Tamburo and a guest appearance in Daud Pakad in 2017. Chhutti Jashe Chhakka and Tari Maate Once More in 2018. Bau Na Vichar in 2019. Naadi Dosh and Tu Rajee Re in 2022. Nine films across seven years, none of which made her a household name outside Gujarat and all of which kept her in front of directors who were building the industry.

Krishnadev Yagnik is the recurring name. He directed her debut, he directed Naadi Dosh, and he wrote and directed the film that changed everything. Long working relationships in a small industry are not nepotism, they are how anyone gets to be trusted with a difficult part before they have proved they can do it.

Vash released on 17 February 2023, written and directed by Krishnadev Yagnik, with Hitu Kanodia as the father, Hiten Kumar as a stranger who takes control of a family's daughter through hypnosis and black magic, and Bodiwala as Aarya, the daughter. The role is technically brutal: for most of the film she has to play a person acting against her own will, present in every scene and absent from her own decisions.

At the 71st National Film Awards, announced on 1 August 2025 for films certified in 2023, Vash won Best Gujarati Feature Film and Bodiwala won Best Actress in a Supporting Role, shared with Urvashi for the Malayalam film Ullozhukku. The winners were felicitated by President Droupadi Murmu at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 23 September 2025.

Shaitaan opened on 8 March 2024, three hundred and eighty five days after Vash, directed by Vikas Bahl and produced by Devgn Films, Jio Studios and Panorama Studios. Ajay Devgn took the father, R. Madhavan the stranger, Jyothika the mother, returning to Hindi cinema after twenty five years. Every one of the five principal parts was recast except one. Bodiwala was signed to play the daughter again.

It grossed a reported Rs 211.06 crore worldwide on an estimated budget of Rs 60 to 65 crore and ranks as the fifth highest grossing Hindi film of 2024. Reviews singled out Devgn, Madhavan and Bodiwala. She won the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2025 for it and was nominated at the 70th Filmfare Awards. One performance, two languages, two award bodies, thirteen months apart.

Vash Level 2 released on 27 August 2025, set twelve years after the first film, with Bodiwala back as Aarya and Hiten Kumar in a dual role as the original antagonist and his brother. It reached Netflix in Gujarati and Hindi on 22 October 2025. The character is now the through line of a Gujarati horror franchise that has an award, a Hindi remake and a sequel behind it.

The rest of the diary has widened accordingly. Trisha on the Rocks! in 2024, a special appearance in Chaniya Toli in 2025, and Mardaani 3 in 2026 as Fatima Anwar, her second Hindi film and the first she did not arrive at through a Gujarati original. That is the useful measure of what Vash bought her: not fame, access on her own name.