Indian actress Amrita Rao was born on June 7, 1981, and her main genre of work is Hindi cinema. Rao, who is well-known for her “quintessential girl-next-door” roles, has been nominated for two Filmfare Awards, won two Stardust Awards, and received an IIFA Award.
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With the 2002 film Ab Ke Baras, Rao made her acting debut and was nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. For her role as a college student in the romance drama Ishq Vishk (2003), Rao received the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Female, marking her first successful box office performance. Her roles in the financially popular masala flicks Main Hoon Na (2004), Vivah (2006), Masti (2004), and Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008) won her recognition. In the latter, she won the Stardust Award for Best Actress. Amrita Rao also garnered appreciation in the comedic thriller Masti (2004).
Following this triumph, the majority of Rao’s motion pictures were box office busts. After that, she starred in the 2013 National Award–winning movie Jolly LLB. Since then, Rao has been in supporting roles in three films: the 2019 biography Thackeray, the political drama Satyagraha, and the action drama Singh Saab the Great (2013). In 2009, Rao made an appearance on the reality series Perfect Bride as the Judge. In the 2016 television film Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hai, she played a singer.
Early years: Rao has never made her birthday public. Her birthdate was given as June 7 by Hindustan Times. Her family is a Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family that speaks Konkani. Rao attended Sophia College in Mumbai to pursue a graduate degree in psychology after finishing his studies at Canossa Girls School in Andheri, Bombay. However, he left the school to pursue a career in modelling. Preetika Rao, her younger sister, is also an actor.
Amrita Rao Career
Launchpad, Breakthrough, and Achievement (2002–2006)
Rao featured in a number of commercials during her college years, costarring with her sister Preetika, before embarking on her career as an actor. Her first public appearance was in the Woh Pyar Mera music video by Alisha Chinai.
Alongside rookie Aarya Babbar, Rao portrayed Anjali Thapar in Raj Kanwar’s fantasy thriller Ab Ke Baras in 2002, marking her first major role. Rao’s character, a girl living in the United States with persistent fantasies of living in India, is the main character of the financially unsuccessful film. Despite this, Rao’s performance earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award’s Best Female Debut. The Legend of Bhagat Singh, a biographical period picture, featured Rao and Ajay Devgn. Amrita Rao portrayed Bhagat Singh’s fiancé, Mannewali, in the film, which tells the story of the Indian freedom fighter. With only ₹129 million (US$2.7 million) at the box office, the movie wasn’t very successful. In their first of many roles together, Rao played a college student opposite Shahid Kapoor in the coming-of-age romantic film Ishq Vishk in May 2003. The movie proved to be a commercial success and marked Rao’s debut. The movie and Rao’s performance were well-received by critics. Rao won the IIFA Award for Female Star Debut of the Year for her performance.
Rao acted in three films in 2004. Her first film of the year was Masti, an adult comedy starring Indra Kumar and Vivek Oberoi. The film featured an ensemble cast (Ajay Devgn, Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Lara Dutta, Tara Sharma, and Genelia D’Souza) and earned roughly ₹34.14 crore (US$4.1 million) worldwide. The movie did well at the box office and garnered mixed reviews from reviewers. Critics praised Rao’s portrayal as the overly protective wife.
Rao then acted with Shah Rukh Khan, Suniel Shetty, Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan, and Farah Khan in a supporting role in her masala flick Main Hoon Na. With approximately ₹84 crore (US$10 million) in earnings globally, the movie became the second highest-grossing Indian film of 2004. Positive reviews for her portrayal as Sanjana (Sanju), the daughter of an army officer, led to her nomination for the Filmfare Award’s Best Supporting Actress. The action drama Deewar by Milan Luthria was her third and last release in 2004. In a small part, Rao played Radhika, the romantic interest of Akshaye Khanna.
Rao featured with Shahid Kapoor in the drama Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! in 2005. Rao received praise for her portrayal of a school teacher despite the film’s unfavourable reviews. In the same year, Rao played the lead part of Madhvi in John Matthew Matthan’s drama Shikhar. After that, she starred in her second picture with Vivek Oberoi, the comedy Pyare Mohan (2006), which was based on the American film See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989). Critics gave the film varying reviews; Rajeev Masand stated that Amrita “hit career lows, producing the low-fashion chemistry.”
Rao portrayed the lead female character in the 2006 romantic film Vivah by Sooraj R. Barjatya. The movie followed two people from their engagement to marriage. In her fourth film project with Shahid Kapoor, Rao played the role of Poonam, a young lady brought up conventionally. Despite receiving a mixed reception from critics, the movie went on to become one of the year’s highest grossing movies and Rao’s biggest box office hit to date. “Amrita Rao gets a new lease of life with Vivah,” commented Taran Adarsh. She portrays the role flawlessly and is amazing throughout.” Rao’s performance in the movie earned her a nomination for the Screen Award for Best Actress.
Career progression, obstacles, and growth (2007–2016)
Mahesh Babu and Rao were paired for the 2007 Telugu action movie Athidhi. Surender Reddy co-wrote and directed the movie. Reviews for her were largely favourable, with reviewers appreciating Rao and Mahesh Babu’s chemistry. Rediff.com’s Radhika Rajamani wrote, “Amrita Rao, who makes her debut in Telugu films, makes a mark.”
“Moviebuzz” for Sify stated that Amrita Rao possesses both beauty and glamour. She has demonstrated that she is capable of becoming another Tollywood local girl. Amrita Rao had good movement and believable histrionics appropriate for the Telugu cinema.
In 2008, Rao had two significant releases: the comedy picture Welcome to Sajjanpur, directed by Shyam Benegal, and the drama My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, starring Nikhil Dwivedi, a newbie. My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves did not do well at the box office and was met with mostly negative reviews. Some commentators commended Rao for her portrayal of an orphan leading a middle-class life; OneIndia Entertainment observed, “Amrita Rao looks gorgeous, but her role isn’t substantial enough.” Rao portrayed Kamala in the film Welcome to Sajjanpur, a woman who is frantic to hear from her husband Bansiram (Kunal Kapoor), a worker at a Mumbai dockyard. The film was a commercial success, garnering favourable reviews from reviewers and collecting ₹20 million (US$240,000), which made it the second highest-grossing picture in Rao’s career. As mentioned by Hindustan Times, “Amrita Rao is sweetness personified. For her role in the movie, she was given the Stardust Award for Best Actress. Rao appeared as Nirja Rathore in the courtroom drama Shaurya as a guest in the same year.
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refer to caption Rao during Lakme Fashion Week, walking the ramp for Archana Kochar 2012 During the 2009 season of Perfect Bride on television, Rao made her appearance as a judge. Alongside Malaika Arora and Shekhar Suman, she served as a judge on the show. Her subsequent role was in the 2009 movie Victory alongside Harman Baweja. The movie didn’t perform well because it was up against films like Raaz 2 and Dev.D. Despite having a large budget, it barely made ₹1 crore (US$120,000) and Boxoffice-India deemed it a failure.
In the same year, Neeraj Vora and Anil Kapoor produced the comedy-drama Short Kut: The Con is On, in which Rao played the major part opposite Akshaye Khanna. Rao plays Akshaye’s character’s girlfriend, Mansi, in the movie. Negative reviews were written about the movie and Rao’s performance by critics: Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express said, “Everything is loud and plastic, and the actors all chant their lines at the top of their voices.”The Times of India’s Gaurav Malini said, “Amrita Rao tries too hard to look hot but lacks oomph in every possible angle”. Despite making its budget back, it was regarded as a financial letdown.
Love U…Mr. Kalakaar!, Rao’s lone 2011 release, marked her second partnership with Rajshri Productions. The film was a commercial failure and received generally bad reviews. Critics did, however, commend her portrayal of a businessman’s daughter. “Amrita Rao at best, but the film is so predictable and so long, it loses impact,” The Times of India’s Nikhat Kazmi observed. Rao later appeared in the romantic-comedy Life Partner (2007), the comedy-drama Heyy Babyy (2007), and the science fiction romance Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (2010).
Rao starred in the courtroom comedy-drama Jolly LLB (2013), which won numerous national awards. She portrayed Arshad Warsi’s girlfriend Sandhya in the main part. The movie won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and garnered favourable reviews. Rao got mediocre applause for his meagre effort in the movie. Koimoi’s Mohar Basu made the following observation: “Amrita Rao may have been completely cut out of the movie. Despite her wonderful personality, she doesn’t add much to the movie with her performance.
Her next release was the action drama Singh Saab the Great, directed by Anil Sharma. Rao costarred as journalist Shikha Chaturvedi with Sunny Deol. Although most critics gave the movie a bad rating, Rao’s performance was well received. “Amrita Rao plays a role that feels like something she has already done, all the emotional support,” stated Outlook’s Namrata Joshi. Despite garnering a majority of bad reviews, the picture managed to earn ₹29 crore (US$3.5 million) at the box office, which was above average. Later that year, she starred in Prakash Jha’s political drama Satyagraha opposite Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, and Manoj Bajpai.
The character of Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter-in-law, Sumitra, was portrayed by Rao. Resham Sengar of Zed News highlighted Rao in particular, writing, “Ms Rao has the sweetly cherubic looks.” In the most of the emotional situations, she is convincing. However, she is only capable of mouthing a few key lines in her performance.” The movie did not turn a profit at the box office and garnered negative reviews from reviewers. The movie brought in over ₹60 crore (US$7.2 million) at the Indian box office, despite receiving mixed reviews.
In 2016, Rao made her on-screen debut as the older sister Kalyani Gaikwad on &TV’s Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hai. Three generations of two sisters whose lives centre around music were shown in the story. Deepti Naval portrayed the older version of her character.
Part-time employment (from 2019 onward)
Following a five-year hiatus, Rao returned to the screen in the starring role of Thackeray, a 2019 biopic directed by Abhijit Panse and based on the life of right-wing pro-Marathi politician Balasaheb Thackeray. Meena Thackeray, Balasaheb Thackeray’s wife, was portrayed by Rao. Critics gave the movie and Rao varying degrees of positive to poor reviews. “Amrita Rao, who plays Thackeray’s wife, has the cosmetic role of providing endless cups of tea to visitors and gaze at her husband dotingly,” Reuters’ Shilpa Jamkhandikar wrote.
Next, Rao will play Sandhya again alongside Arshad Warsi in Jolly LLB 3. After a six-year break, she is back in theatres with this flick.
Amrita Rao Individual Life
On May 15, 2016, in Mumbai, Rao tied the knot with her lover of seven years, radio jockey Anmol Sood. On November 1, 2020, she gave birth to a son named Veer. The duo started a YouTube channel called “Couple of Things” and released their book in February 2023.
Amrita Rao In The Media,
Rao is frequently referred to as Bollywood’s “quintessential girl-next-door” because she has been in numerous popular films. Amrita Rao ranked 24th in 2009 and 23rd in 2011 on the Times’ Most Desirable Women list. Rao was referred to as a “darling of the audience” by Femina’s Kalwyna Rathod.
One of Rao’s greatest roles, Vivah is regarded as a major career achievement. Amrita Rao and Shahid Kapoor were ranked among the ten most romantic couples of the decade by Bollywood Hungama. Eleven years after painting Madhuri Dixit and creating multiple paintings devoted to the actress’s performance in Vivah (2006), M. F. Husain declared Rao his second inspiration. Regarding her career, Rao remarked, “I’ve worked on a few memorable films that I think will be relevant for a very long time. It’s possible that a lot of people starting out now haven’t even witnessed the consecutive success I have experienced since the beginning of my profession. Because I had to forge my own way via trial and error, my journey has been both simple and challenging. But there’s nothing sweeter than the flavour of homemade goods.” Rao began writing in 2023 and co-wrote the memoir “Couple of Things” with her spouse.
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