Raashi Khanna
Raashi Khanna (born 30 November 1990) is an Indian actress and singer who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil language films. She made her debut in a supporting role with the Hindi film Madras Cafe (2013) and subsequently made her debut as a female lead in Telugu with Oohalu Gusagusalade (2014), in Tamil with Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018) and in Malayalam with Villain (2017).
Raashi Khanna appeared in many commercially successful films like Bengal Tiger (2015), Supreme (2016), Jai Lava Kusa (2017), Tholi Prema (2018), Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018), Venky Mama (2019), Prati Roju Pandage (2019) and established herself as one of the leading actresses in Telugu and Tamil cinema.
Khanna made her debut as a singer with the film Joru (2014) and also sang for films Villain (2017), Balakrishnudu (2017), Jawaan (2017), Oorantha Anukuntunnaru (2019) and Prati Roju Pandage (2019).
Raashi Khanna was born on 30 November 1990 and hails from Delhi. She did her schooling at St. Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School, Delhi and completed her graduation in B.A. English (Hons.) at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi.
According to Khanna, she was an academic topper who was extremely studious, geek during her schooling and college days. When Khanna was young, Raashi Khanna wanted to become a singer but as she grew up, she was more interested into studying and aspired to become an IAS officer. Khanna claims that she neither had interest in modelling nor thought of becoming an actress and it was her destiny that made her an actress. She was a copywriter for advertisements before she made her venture into acting in various advertisements prior to films.
Raashi Khanna made her debut with the 2013 Hindi political spy thriller film Madras Cafe directed by Shoojit Sircar, where she played the role of Ruby Singh, the wife of an Indian intelligence officer portrayed by John Abraham, who was also the producer. She had to undergo acting workshops before taking up the role.[The film — particularly the story and direction — impressed most Indian critics.Reviewing the film, Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV stated that Khanna “makes an impact in a brief but significant appearance”. Madras Cafe was a box-office hit grossing more than ₹100 crore.
Telugu debut
Impressed with her performance in Madras Cafe, actor Srinivas Avasarala approached her for the female lead role in his directorial debut Oohalu Gusagusalade, which also featured himself and Naga Shaurya in the lead roles,which she signed in late October 2013 after considering many other south films, adding that the scope of performing made her sign the film. Khanna initially felt that it would be more of a dancing role with little scope for acting when approached for narration, but found her character practically in every scene in the film.She called her character Prabhavati as a grey, stubborn, arrogant girl but in a lovable way, which she claimed to be very different from what she was in real life except for the fact that she hails from Delhi.
Khanna confirmed in early April 2014 that she appeared in a small role in theTelugu film Manam, which had its theatrical release before Oohalu Gusagusalade. Oohalu Gusagusalade opened to positive reviews from critics and Khanna received praise for her work. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu called her an “actor with potential”, while Hemanth Kumar of The Times of India stated that she gave a “commendable” performance which helped the movie to some extent. The film was a commercial success at the box office.
Rise through the ranks
Her next Telugu film was Joru, directed by Kumar Nagendra opposite Sundeep Kishan, which she signed after Madras Cafe and while shooting for Oohalu Gusagusalade. She played the role of Annapurna, whom Khanna described as a “modern yet traditional” girl who “is highly emotional and cries at the drop of a hat”, which she called the exact opposite of the character of Prabhavati she played in her previous film. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu stated that she provides solace along with Kishan, Brahmanandam and Saptagiri in a film which was “let down by incoherent writing and amateurish execution”. Joru was a commercial failure at the box office.
Khanna’s next was Jil, directed by Radha Krishna Kumar opposite Gopichand, which she signed in early July 2014 after the makers approached her considering her performance in Oohalu Gusagusalade.The film received mixed reviews from the critics. In early May 2015, she was signed for the film Shivam alongside Ram Pothineni. The film received negative reviews from the critics and performed poorly at the box office.
