Rajshri Deshpande

Rajshri Deshpande is an actor and activist.[1] Her portrayal of Laxami in Pan Nalin's Angry Indian Goddesses which got her international recognition. This was followed by the titular role of Durga in Sanal Kumar Sashidharan'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. She received critical acclaim for her performance as Subhadra in the Netflix Original 'Sacred Games-1', directed by Anurag Kashyap. She played the role of Ismat Chughtai in Nandita Das's film 'Manto'. Her upcoming projects are 'Gormint' (an Amazon Original) and 'Nirvana-Inn', a film which will be having its World Premiere at the Busan International Film Festival and SAREGAMA produced 'Kanpuriye' with Vijay Raaz. Rajshri dedicates her time extensively to humanitarian causes.

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


Early life

Rajshri Deshpande was born in a working-class family in Aurangabad in Maharashtra. She is the youngest of three other siblings. She has an undergraduate degree in Law from Symbiosis Law College and a post-graduate degree in Advertising from Symbiosis College. She got into the advertising industry to support herself but soon found her calling in acting. She also did a diploma in film-making from Whistling Woods International in Mumbai.[2]

Career

Rajshri made her Bollywood debut in 2012, with a small role in the Aamir Khan starrer Talaash.[3] She then moved to TV 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 appeared in 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 which provided her with a bigger platform.[2] The film received 1st Runner Up – People's Choice Award in TIFF (Toronto)[5] and People's Choice Award in Rome Film Festival.[6] She played the leading role[7] Durga in Sanal Kumar Shashidharan's film Sexy Durga in 2017. The film won Hivos Toger Award at Rotterdam Film Festival.[8]

She made her digital debut with BBC One's McMafia directed by James Watkins in January 2018.[9] Rajshri was also seen in Netflix Originals Sacred Games which was directed by Anurag Kashyap.[10][11] Rajshri played the character of Subhadra, and was praised for her role of the wife of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character.[12] She is also portraying role of Ismat Chughtai[13] in Nandita Das's Manto. In a controversy, she was accused of being porn star by some viewers of the Sacred Games for her performance in a nude sex scene to which she replied that her intentions were right and she didn't do anything wrong.[14]

Filmography

Films
YearTitleRoleLanguageRef
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		 [15]
Mumbai Central Gauri Hindi
2017 Sexy Durga Durga Malayalam
Mom DK's wife Hindi
2018 Manto Ismat Chughtai Hindi
Urdu		 [16]
2019 Nirvana Inn TBA Hindi
Kanpuriye Kohinoor Hindi [17]
2020 Choked Hindi

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
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

Social Service

Rajshri dedicates her time extensively to 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 single-handedly executed a rainwater harvesting project, built toilets, conducted health check-up and community motivation camps and built an eco-sensitive school in the same village.[18] Encouraged by the success and social participation, she adopted one more village in the region. In 2018, she created the Nabhangan Foundation (www.nabhanganfoundation.org ) to broaden her efforts towards sustainable village development Since the last three years, she has been a core member of Citizens For Tomorrow, actress Juhi Chawla's NGO against plastic pollution. She believes in motivating people to become self-sustainable.[19]

References
  1. "Rajshri Deshpande". IMDb. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  2. "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. Iyengar, Shriram. "Ismat Chughtai is in me: Rajshri Deshpande on playing the fearless feminist in Manto". Cinestaan. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  14. "India Netflix actor Rajshri Deshpande 'disgusted by porn star label'". BBC News. 19 July 2018.
  15. "Rajshri back to Mollywood". Kochi, India: The Times Of India. 3 October 2015.
  16. "Manto biopic: Rajshri Deshpande eager to enter the world of Nawazuddin Siddiqui". Hindustan Times.
  17. "Aparshakti relives days of struggle with Kanpuriye". Outlook India. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  18. "Rajshri's River of Hope". superaalifragilistic. 28 May 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  19. 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.
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