Vaishnavi Mahant

Vaishnavi Mahant
Vaishnavi Mahant at Gold Awards 2013
Born	(1974-09-09) 9 September 1974 (age 42) Mumbai, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1988–present
Known for	Shaktimaan, Miley Jab Hum Tum, Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke

Vaishnavi Mahant is an Indian actress who is best known for playing Geeta Vishwas in Mukesh Khanna's television series Shaktimaan telecast on Doordarshan. She is also known for playing Shilpa Sharma in Miley Jab Hum Tum. She has acted in various Bollywood films such as Bambai Ka Babu opposite Saif Ali Khan, Laadla, and Baabul. She was known as Shail in the Zee TV show Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke. She is now currently enacting the role of Leela Taneja in the television series Tashan e Ishq.

Mahant was born in Mumbai. Her father is a Vaishnav Hindu (the reason she took the screen name Vaishnavi), while her mother is Christian. Raised as a Hindu, she converted to Christianity in the early 1990s. She is currently a born again Christian believer who is more into a relationship with God not religion.

As a child she moved to Hyderabad where she decided to become a scientist. However, while vacationing in Mumbai, she had the opportunity to appear in the Ramsay Brothers' horror film Veerana and decided to pursue acting as a profession. She subsequently appeared in Barsaat Ki Raat, Ladlaa, Daanveer and Oru Mutham Mani Mutham (a 1997 Malayalam film with actor Mukesh).

From 1998 to 2005, she played the female lead Geeta Vishwas in the superhero series Shaktimaan on Doordarshan. The show, as well as her character, got high acclaim and was considered her breakthrough role. When her journalist character Geeta Vishwas was written out of the series, fan protests prompted the producers to bring her back. In 2000, she played the role of ACP Ratna, a daring police officer in a comedy serial Raju Raja Rajasaab on Sahara TV.