Born on April 4, 1959, one of Hindi cinema's most popular comediennes Guddi Maruti is the daughter of actor, director Marutirao Parab, popularly known as Maruti. Guddi Maruti's real name is Tahira Parab, and Guddi is her nickname. (All photos/Guddi Maruti's official Instagram account and mid-day archives)

Guddi Maruti's mother Kamal was a supporting actress. She appeared in many films in the 50s such as Dashera (1956), Tatar Ka Chor (1955), Garma Garam (1957), Darbar (1955), among others.

Guddi Maruti has two siblings - brother Dara Munawar Ali and sister Vyjanti. While her brother passed away after an attack by members of the Chotta Shakeel gang in 1997, her sister is married to music director Gorakh Sharma.

Guddi Maruti started off as a child artist with the film Jaan Haazir Hain. She was studying in class 6 when Guddi got the film.

Filmmaker Manmohan Desai wanted to change Guddi's name from Tahira Parab to something else. Guddi was 18 then and working in Desai's Naseeb, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha and Rishi Kapoor. She played a Hu Tu Tu player. Manmohan Desai thought Tahira's nickname 'Guddi' was nice enough as her screen name. However, when people on the sets would ask who 'Guddi' is, some would say, 'Marutiji's daughter' as a reference and that's how the name Guddi Maruti stuck.

Guddi Maruti's father passed away in 1981, after which she took the baton in her hand and supported her family.

Guddi starred in films such as Sanam Teri Kasam, Nagina, Aag Aur Shola, Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni, Khiladi, Shola Aur Shabnam, Chamatkar, Balwaan, Dulhe Raja, Biwi No 1, to name a few.

Though Guddi Maruti faced body-shaming right from her school days, it was after she started working in films that she seemed to have had prepared herself mentally. After all, the actress gained fame for playing characters which would primarily crack jokes around her weight.

It is indeed tough to be able to laugh at yourself. But comediennes Tun Tun, Preeti Ganguly, Guddi Maruti and now Bharti Singh are best examples, who excelled at their job! 

Guddi Maruti married businessman Ashok. After appearing in 2006 film Rehguzar, she took a break for almost nine years from the silver screen. 

The couple was planning to start a family but due to certain issues, Guddi, due to the doctor's advice, stopped working. Unfortunately, that didn't help. And Guddi resumed working.

She did appear in television shows such as Agadam Bagadam Tigadam (2007) as Rosie, Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein (2012) as Paddy Aunty, and Doli Armaano Ki (2013) as Bua, but made a comeback of sorts on the silver screen after a hiatus of nine years with the 2015 comedy film 'Hum Sab Ullu Hain'.

In 2017, Guddi Maruti played the role of Dulari Devi in the TV show Hum Paanch Ab Aaega Asli Mazaa, a sequel to the popular 1990s show Hum Paanch. It also featured Jayashree Venkataramanan, Seema Pandey, Ambalika Sapra and Ruchi Tripathi.

In 2019, Guddi Maruti made her debut in theatre with Hello Zindagi, a play about five ladies coming from different backgrounds, living in a house in Mumbai. The play starred Guddi Maruti, Chitrashi Rawat, Minissha Lamba, Delnaaz Irani and Kishwar Merchant and was written by actress Smita Bhansal and directed by Raman Kumar.

Here's wishing a very happy birthday to Guddi Maruti!