Sayaji Shinde was born on January 13, 1959, in Satara, Maharashtra, India. He is currently married to Vandana Shinde. Over the years, he has built a diverse career as an actor across multiple film industries, including Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada. Sayaji began his journey in acting in the late 1970s with Marathi one-act plays and gained significant recognition with his performance in the play "Hijada" in 1987. His breakthrough in cinema came with the Bollywood film "Shool" in 1999, where he portrayed Bacchu Yadav. This role earned him critical acclaim and a Filmfare nomination for Best Villain. He further solidified his status with the Tamil film "Bharathi," where he played the role of Subramanya Bharathi, earning the Tamil Nadu State Award for his performance. With over 80 films to his credit, Sayaji is known for his versatility and often portrays negative characters.