Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar (Marathi pronunciation: ; born 16 August 1958) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, alongside Marathi, Telugu and Bhojpuri films. He is credited with directing the critically acclaimed films Vaastav: The Reality (1999), Astitva (2000) and Viruddh... Family Comes First (2005). He has won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi for Astitva and two Star Screen Awards. He is also known as host of the reality show, Bigg Boss Marathi since 2018.

Early life
Mahesh Manjrekar was born on 16 August 1958 in Mumbai, Maharashtra (erstwhile Bombay state). He was brought up in a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family.

Career
Manjrekar has acted in several films, including some of his own productions. He was first seen in the Door darshan Marathi series named Kshitij, in which he played a leprosy patient. He first gained acclaim as an actor for his performance in the 2002 film Kaante, and later played negative roles in the Tamil film Arrambam (2013), Telugu film Okkadunnadu (2007) and as the gangster Javed in the film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). He played Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Marathi film Me Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy. He also played the role of Harpeez Dongara in the Aakhri Chunauti series of episodes in the Indian TV series C.I.D.. Manjrekar was acclaimed for the role as inspector D.R. Talpade in the movie Wanted.

He was a MNS candidate from Mumbai North West in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections but lost to Gajanan Kirtikar of Shiv Sena.