Born on April 29, 1965, Dipika Chikhlia has been living in Mumbai, since childhood. She rose to recognition after playing Sita's role in the cult historical show Ramayana by Ramanand Sagar in the late 80s. (All photos/Dipika Chikhlia's official Instagram account)

Ramanand Sagar directed 'Ramayana' was a popular serial in the late 1980s. The series featured Arun Govil as Bhagwaan Ram, Deepika Chikhalia as Mata Sita and Sunil Lahri as Lakshman. Late Dara Singh portrayed Hanuman and Arvind Trivedi played Ravana. The show was originally telecast from January 25, 1987, to July 31, 1988.

Here are some interesting facts of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan:

Ramayan crossed total viewership of 650 million and has been telecasted in 55 countries, which broke the record in Limca Book as the most-watched mythological series in the Indian History.

Around one million people gathered at 10 Km wide Banaras Ghat just to see the glimpse of Arun Govil, Dipika Chikhalia and Sunil Lahri in the attire of the Shree Ram, Mata Sita and Laxman, during the shoot.

Though the mythological show was an instant hit, the entire Ramayan cast got to know their popularity after three months when they were been called by Rajiv Gandhi to Delhi for felicitation.

There was a time when the cast of Ramayan was approached for sensuous photoshoots! "While we were shooting for 'Ramayan', a lot of renowned magazines approached me and the other cast members to do sensuous photoshoots for them. They were so desperate that they were ready to pay hefty amounts of money for it. But none of us accepted their offers and we believed that our audiences' look up to and rest their faith in us. We could never take the chance of breaking their trust for money," said Arun Govil, who played Ram.

Dipika Chikhlia was a young girl whilst playing the character of Mata Sita. She had confessed that it was quite a challenge to be clad in saree all the time, as she was not used to it. She had to be in saree on and off-screen to maintain the piousness of the character but later got comfortable with it.

Coming back to Dipika Chikhlia, much before she rose to fame as Sita, the actress made her acting debut in the Hindi film industry with 1983 film Sun Meri Laila. Dipika starred opposite Raj Kiran in the film, which turned out to be a successful venture.

However, later she only ended up playing supporting characters in Hindi films, the most notable ones were - Bhagwan Dada (1986), Kala Dhanda Goray Log (1986) and Doorie (1989).

Dipika Chikhlia also played lead actress' role in B-grade horror films - Cheekh (1986) and Raat Ke Andhere Mein (1987). But, they didn't help boost Dipika's career in films as they turned out to be box office duds.

Dipika Chikhlia also starred in TV serials like The Sword of Tipu Sultan and Luv Kush. While her Television stint gave her enough fame, on the silver screen she had faced more failures than success. Dipika's Ghar Ka Chiraag (1989) and Rupaye Dus Karod (1991), both of which had Rajesh Khanna in the lead became huge hits. But her third film with Rajesh Khanna-starrer Khudai (1994) was a flop. 

Dipika even tried her hands in South and Bengali film industry. She made her debut in the Malayalam film industry with the film Ithile Iniyum Varu (1986), which had Mammootty in the lead. She made her Kannada film debut in 1989 with Indrajith, and Telugu film debut with Yamapasam. Her Bengali film Asha O Bhalobasha (1989), opposite Prosenjit Chatterjee, was a blockbuster.

Dipika Chikhlia got married to businessman Hemant Topiwala in 1991. She has two daughters - Nidhi Topiwala (who is a makeup artist) and Juhi Topiwala.

Dipika Chikhlia's wedding reception was attended by her Khudai co-star Rajesh Khanna. The superstar was quite close to Dipika.

Dipika Chikhlia later stepped into politics. She was Member of Parliament in the Indian Lok Sabha from Baroda constituency (1991-1996) as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.

Here's wishing a very happy birthday to Dipika Chikhlia!