Raashi Khanna Biography – An Indian Actress and Playback Singer

Raashi Khanna (born 30 November 1990) is an Indian actress and playback singer who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil language film industries. She made her acting 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).

She has appeared in several 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), Aranmanai 3 (2021) and established herself as one of the leading actresses in Telugu and Tamil cinema. Khanna started her career as a playback singer with the film Joru (2014) and went on to sing for several other films.

Early life (Raashi Khanna Biography)

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 studio and us, geek during her schooling and college days. When Khanna was young, she wanted to become a singer but as she grew up, she was more interested in studying and aspired to become an IAS officer. Khanna claims that she neither had an interest in modeling nor thought of becoming an actress; it was her destiny that made her an actress. She was a copywriter for advertisements before she ventured into acting in various advertisements before films.

Career (Raashi Khanna Biography)

Debut and rise in Telugu cinema (2013–2015)

Khanna made her on-screen debut with a supporting role in 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 crores.

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 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 the Telugu 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 that 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 critics. In early May 2015, she was signed for the film Shivam alongside Ram Pothineni. The film received negative reviews from critics and performed poorly at the box office.

Success and further venture into other languages (2015–present)

Her next release was Bengal Tiger opposite Ravi Teja directed by Sampath Nandi. The film opened to mixed reviews but was commercially successful at the box office. It grossed ₹405 million (US$5.3 million) globally and became the 8th highest grossing Telugu film of 2015.

In 2016, her first release was Supreme, in which she starred alongside Sai Dharam Tej, and was a commercial success, with critics praising her comic-timing in her performance as Bellam Sridevi, a cop who gets into hilarious situations. Her next release was Hyper, opposite Ram Pothineni for the second time which opened to mixed reviews and was an average grosser at the box office.

In 2019, Her first release was Ayogya opposite Vishal, which was an official remake of the 2015 Telugu hit, Temper which received generally positive reviews from audiences and critics. The film did considerably well at the box office. Her next release was Sangathamizhan opposite Vijay Sethupathi which opened to mixed reviews, but Khanna received praise for her performance. In December 2019, She had two releases, Venky Mama opposite Naga Chaitanya and Venkatesh which received mixed reviews, and Prati Roju Pandage marking her second collaboration with Sai Dharam Tej, which received generally positive reviews with critics praising her comic-timing in her performance as “Angel” Aarna, a highly self-obsessed girl from the village town, Rajahmundry. Both the films were commercially successful at the box office.

Her only release in 2020 was World Famous Lover opposite Vijay Deverakonda which opened to negative reviews and did not perform well at the box office.

In 2021, Her first release was Tughlaq Durbar marking her second collaboration with Vijay Sethupathi. The film did not opt for a theatrical release and had its direct television premiere prior to an OTT release. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. In October 2021, Khanna had two of her movies released. The first release was Bhramam opposite Prithviraj Sukumaran which had a direct OTT release only in India and an overseas theatrical release. The film was a Malayalam remake of the 2018 Hindi film Andhadhun. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Her next release in the same month was Aranmanai 3 opposite Arya which received mixed reviews from critics and becomes a commercial success at the box office.

In 2022, Khanna’s first release was Rudra: The Edge of Darkness alongside Ajay Devgn, which also marks her digital streaming debut. It is an adaptation of the British TV show Luther. The web series opened to highly positive reviews from critics.

Upcoming projects

As of April 2022, Khanna has completed shooting for her Telugu films Pakka Commercial opposite Gopichand and Thank You opposite Naga Chaitanya. She is currently shooting for her Tamil films Sardar starring Karthi and Thiruchitrambalam starring Dhanush and a Hindi film Yodha starring Sidharth Malhotra. Khanna is also starring in another web series titled Farzi, which is directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. of The Family Man fame, alongside Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi.

She is due with the release of Shaitan Ka Bachcha opposite Siddharth.

Filmography (Raashi Khanna Biography)

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Films

List of films and roles

Year	Title	Role(s)	Language(s)	Notes
2013	Madras Cafe	Ruby Singh	Hindi
2014	Manam	Prema	Telugu	Cameo appearance
	Oohalu Gusagusalade	Sri Sai Sirisha Prabhavati	Telugu
	Joru	Annapoorna	Telugu
2015	Jil	Savithri	Telugu
	Shivam	Tanu	Telugu
	Bengal Tiger	Shraddha	Telugu
2016	Supreme	Bellam Sridevi	Telugu
	Hyper	Bhanumathi	Telugu
2017	Jai Lava Kusa	Priya	Telugu
	Raja the Great	Herself	Telugu	Special appearance in the song “Tummeda”
	Villain	Harshitha Chopra	Malayalam
	Oxygen	Shruti	Telugu
2018	Touch Chesi Chudu	Pushpa	Telugu
	Tholi Prema	Varsha	Telugu
	Srinivasa Kalyanam	Rudraraju Sridevi a.k.a. Sri	Telugu
	Imaikkaa Nodigal	Krithika “Krithi” Rao	Tamil
	Adanga Maru	Anitha	Tamil
2019	Ayogya	Sindhu	Tamil
	Sangathamizhan	Kamalini	Tamil
	Venky Mama	Harika	Telugu
	Prati Roju Pandage	“Angel” Aarna	Telugu
2020	World Famous Lover	Yamini	Telugu
2021	Tughlaq Durbar	Kamatchi	Tamil
	Bhramam	Anna Simon	Malayalam
	Aranmanai 3	Jyothi	Tamil
2022	Pakka Commercial	Lawyer Jhansi	Telugu	Completed
	Thank You	TBA	Telugu	Completed
	Thiruchitrambalam	Anusha	Tamil	Completed
	Sardar	TBA	Tamil	Filming
	Yodha	TBA	Hindi	Filming
TBA	Shaitan Ka Bachcha	TBA	Tamil	Delayed

Web series

List of web series and roles

Year	Title	Role(s)	Language	Notes
2022	Rudra – The Edge of Darkness	Dr. Aliyah Choksi	Hindi
	Farzi	TBA	Hindi	Post-production

Discography

Awards and nominations

Source Url