Rajshri Deshpande

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Rajshri Deshpande
Rajshri Deshpande at media meet of 'Angry Indian Goddess'.jpg
Rajshri Deshpande, 2015
Born
Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India
OccupationActress
Years active2011–present

Rajshri Deshpande is an Indian actress and activist.[1] She gained international recognition with her portrayal of Laxami in Pan Nalin's Angry Indian Goddesses. This was followed by the titular role of Durga in Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's Sexy Durga, which won the Hivos Toger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival. She also plays the role of Manju in BBC One's McMafia. Deshpande received critical acclaim for her performance as Subhadra in the Netflix series Sacred Games, directed by Anurag Kashyap. She played the role of Ismat Chughtai in Nandita Das's film Manto.

Early life[edit]

Rajshri Deshpande was born in a working-class family in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. She is the youngest of three siblings. She has an undergraduate degree in law from Symbiosis Law School and a postgraduate degree in advertising from Symbiosis International University. She got into the advertising industry to support herself but soon found her calling in acting. She also has a diploma in filmmaking from Whistling Woods International in Mumbai.[2]

Career[edit]

Deshpande made her Bollywood debut in 2012 with a small role in the Aamir Khan starrer Talaash.[3] She then moved to television and appeared in Kuch Toh Log Kahenge and 24: India in 2013. She returned to the big screen with a small role in Salman Khan's Kick. She also appeared in the Malayalam film Haram[4] in 2015, where she had a double role. In Hindi cinema, it was the portrayal of Laxami in Pan Nalin's Angry Indian Goddesses that provided her with a bigger platform.[2] The film received the 1st Runner Up – People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival[5] and the People's Choice Award at the Rome Film Festival.[6] Deshpande played the leading role[7] in Sanal Kumar Shashidharan's film Sexy Durga in 2017. The film won the Hivos Toger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival.[8]

She made her digital debut with BBC One's McMafia, directed by James Watkins, in January 2018.[9] Deshpande was also seen in the Netflix show Sacred Games, directed by Anurag Kashyap.[10][11] In it, she played the character of Subhadra and was praised for her role as the wife of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character.[12] A scandal arose when she was accused of being a porn star by some viewers, as the show included a nude sex scene. The actress replied that she hadn't done anything wrong.[13] She later portrayed Ismat Chughtai[14] in Nandita Das's Manto.

Social service[edit]

Deshpande has devoted time to a number of humanitarian causes. In 2014 after the Nepal earthquake, she worked with an international NGO at one of the villages. In 2015, she adopted a drought-prone village in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra called Pandhari and organized a rainwater harvesting project, built toilets, conducted health checkups and community motivation camps, and built an eco-sensitive school in the same village.[15] Encouraged by the success and social participation in the first village, she adopted one more village in the region. In 2018, she created the Nabhangan Foundation to broaden her efforts towards sustainable village development. In the past few years, she has been a core member of Citizens for Tomorrow, actress Juhi Chawla's NGO against plastic pollution.[16]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Language Ref
2012 Talaash Priya Hindi
2014 Kick Mrs. Sharma
2015 Haram Ameena Malayalam
Angry Indian Goddesses Laxmi Hindi
2016 Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani? Ganga Marathi
Hindi
English 		[17]
Mumbai Central Gauri Hindi
2017 Sexy Durga Durga Malayalam
Mom DK's wife Hindi
2018 Manto Ismat Chughtai Hindi
Urdu 		[18]
2019 Nirvana Inn Mohini Hindi
The Sky Is Pink Anita Tandon Hindi
Kanpuriye Kohinoor Hindi [19]
2020 Choked Neeta Hindi
2021 Collar Bomb TBA Hindi [20]

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2012–13 Kuch to Log Kahenge Suhasini
2013 24 Agent Veena
2018 McMafia Manju British television series
2018 Sacred Games Subhadra Netflix series
2019 Parchhayee Vaishali Web Series by ZEE5

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "Rajshri Deshpande". IMDb. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Female Idol Blog Series – A Rendezvous With Rajshri Deshpande". WMF. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  3. ↑ Kagti, Reema (30 November 2012), Talaash, Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Rani Mukerji, retrieved 19 January 2018
  4. ↑ "Rajshri Deshpande". outlookindia.com/. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "'Angry Indian Goddesses' wins runner-up award at TIFF". The Indian Express. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Rome Film Fest: 'Angry Indian Goddesses' Wins People's Choice Award". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Rajshri Deshpande in a Malayalam erotic satire – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Sasidharan's Sexy Durga wins a coveted award at Rotterdam Film Festival". hindustantimes.com/. 6 February 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Lookhar, Mayur. "Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajshri Deshpande make digital debut in McMafia". Cinestaan. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  10. ↑ "Sacred Games actor Rajshri Deshpande defends sex scenes: I am not dancing to a derogatory song". 18 July 2018.
  11. ↑ "S Durga Actor Rajshri Deshpande All Set to Shake off Her Small Town Days". News18. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  12. ↑ "India Netflix actor Rajshri Deshpande 'disgusted by porn star label'". BBC News. 19 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "India Netflix actor Rajshri Deshpande 'disgusted by porn star label'". BBC News. 19 July 2018.
  14. ↑ Iyengar, Shriram. "Ismat Chughtai is in me: Rajshri Deshpande on playing the fearless feminist in Manto". Cinestaan. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  15. ↑ "Rajshri's River of Hope". superaalifragilistic. 28 May 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  16. ↑ BollywoodLife. "Vidya Balan, Milind Soman, Nana Patekar and Rajshri Deshpande – Indian celebrities who have stood up for bringing a change in the society". Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "Rajshri back to Mollywood". The Times Of India. Kochi, India. 3 October 2015.
  18. ↑ "Manto biopic: Rajshri Deshpande eager to enter the world of Nawazuddin Siddiqui". Hindustan Times.
  19. ↑ "Aparshakti relives days of struggle with Kanpuriye". Outlook India. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  20. ↑ "Jimmy Sheirgills crime thriller film Collar Bomb to premiere on Disney + Hotstar in July". Outlook India. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.

External links[edit]

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