Shweta, known by her stage name Rakshita, is an Indian television personality, film producer and former actress known for her work in

Kannada cinema Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...

Early life

Rakshita was brought up in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

. Her father

B. C. Gowrishankar B. C. Gowrishankar (25 February 1950 – 16 November 2004) was an Indian cinematographer and an occasional film director and screenwriter who worked primarily in Kannada cinema. He was known for his unorthodox style as a cinematographer and wa ...

was a cinematographer and mother Mamatha Rao, an actress, both of whom worked in Kannada films. Rakshita underwent an acting course under Krishnamurthy Kavathar's tutelage for about 15 days before entering films. Pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer applications (BCA) from Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College in Bangalore at the time, she discontinued during the first year before enrolling in a correspondence course for a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in 2001. During this time, she was signed to play the lead opposite

Puneeth Rajkumar Puneeth Rajkumar (17 March 1975 – 29 October 2021), colloquially known as Appu, was an Indian actor, playback singer, television presenter, and producer, who worked in Kannada cinema. He was the youngest son of actor and matinee idol Dr. Raj ...

in '' Appu'' (2002) by producer

Parvathamma Rajkumar Dr.Parvathamma Rajkumar (6 December 1939 – 31 May 2017) was an Indian film producer and distributor. She was the wife of veteran Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar. She produced successful films featuring Rajkumar and their sons Shiva Rajkumar, Pune ...

who gave her the name Rakshita.

Career

Actor

Rakshita started her career with the Kannada movie '' Appu'' with

. She also acted in remakes of the same movie in Telugu titled ''

Idiot An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. 'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot ...

'' and in Tamil titled '' Dum'' alongside

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar, nicknamed as Simbu or his initials S. T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker and musician in Tamil cinema. He began his acting career by playing roles as a child artist in films directed by his father T. Rajendar, b ...

. She became a top Kannada heroine when ''

Kalasipalya Kalasipalya is a locality in the central part of Bangalore, Karnataka, India, and one of the older and most congested places in the city. The locality is home to landmarks such as Bangalore Fort and Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace. The area is know ...

'' became a big hit. Apart from

, she formed a successful pair with all the top Kannada heroes of the time -

Upendra Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ' is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the Vamana avatar) was born sub ...

Sudeep Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, television presenter and singer, who primarily works in Kannada films. He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. He i ...

, Darshan and

Aditya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a ...

. She has also acted with big time heroes such as

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu, as well as some fil ...

, Nagarjuna Akkineni,

Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality, and philanthropist who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in more than 25 films, and won several accolades including, eight Nandi Awar ...

, Jr NTR,

Jagapathi Babu Veeramachaneni Jagapathi Rao Chowdary (born 12 February 1962), professionally known as Jagapathi Babu (), is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in a few Tamil, , Kannada and Malayalam films. ...

, Vishnuvardhan,

V. Ravichandran Veeraswamy Ravichandran (born 30 May 1961), known mononymously as Ravichandran, is an actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor in the Kannada Film Industry. He is the son of film producer N. Veeraswamy. As producer, Ravi ...

Shivarajkumar Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy (born 12 July 1962) known by his screen name Shiva Rajkumar, is an Indian actor, producer and television presenter, predominantly works in Kannada cinema.

, Vijay,

Ravi Teja Bhupatiraju Ravi Shankar Raju (born 26 January 1968), known professionally as Ravi Teja, is an Indian film actor and producer who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. He is known for his roles in action comedy films. He is one of the highes ...

, and

After her marriage to director Prem, she cut down on her acting assignments and took over film-making. She turned producer for the prestigious ''

Jogayya ''Jogayya'' is a 2011 Indian Kannada-language action drama film written and directed by Prem. starring Shiva Rajkumar in his 102nd film. It was produced under the banner of Prem Pictures. Rakshita Prem, who is married to the director Prem, is ...

'' directed by Prem, starring

Shivarajkumar Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy (born 12 July 1962) known by his screen name Shiva Rajkumar, is an Indian actor, producer and television presenter, predominantly works in Kannada cinema.

in the lead (100th movie).

Politics

Rakshita announced that she had joined the Badavara Shramikara Raitara (BSR) Congress in March 2012, after politician B. Sriramulu announced of founding it, which eventually happened in 2013. She served as the President of the women's wing of the BSR Congress till April 2013, when she quit the party citing differences with the party members over contesting elections from a constituency of her choice at the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. In the same month, she joined the Janata Dal (Secular). She again had differences with the party over its ignoring her plea for a ticket to contest from

Mandya Mandya is a city in the state of Karnataka. It is the headquarter of Mandya district and is located from Mysore and from Bangalore. Sugar factories contribute to the major economic output. It is also called Sugar city (which in Kannada mean ...

at the 2014 general election, and quit in March 2014, joining the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

(BJP). Following this, she became subject to media and public ridicule, and was called a "party-hopper", having changed 3 political parties in two years.

Personal life

She is married to film director Prem since 2007.

Filmography

As producer

As actress

Television

* 2010 – Swayamvara – host(Suvarna TV Kannada) * 2014 – '' Thaka Dhimi Tha Dancing star'' – Judge (ETV Kannada) * 2015 – ''Putani Pantru Season 2'' – Judge (Suvarna TV Kannada) * 2017 – ''Comedy Khiladigalu'' – Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2017 – ''Dance Karnataka Dance- Family War'' -Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2018 – ''Comedy Khiladigalu Season 2'' -Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2018 – ''Dance Karnataka Dance Little Masters'' - Judge (

Zee Kannada Zee Kannada is an Indian Kannada pay television GEC that was launched in the year 2006 and owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It is also being as the first mainstream satellite channel in Kannada. History Zee Kannada was launched in 2006 ...

) * 2018 – ''Comedy Khiladigalu Championship'' -Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2019 - ''Dance Karnataka Dance'' - Family War (Season 2) - Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2019 - ''Comedy Khiladigalu Season 3'' - Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2020 - ''Comedy Khiladigalu Championship Season 2'' - Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2021 - ''Dance Karnataka Dance Season 5'' - Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2022 - ''Dance Karnataka Dance Season 6'' - Judge (Zee Kannada) * 2022 - ''Comedy Khiladigalu Season 4'' - Judge (Zee Kannada)

As dubbing artist

Amy Jackson Amy Louise Jackson (born 31 January 1992) is a British actress and model known for her work in Indian films, predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu languages. A former Miss Teen World, Jackson has appeared in over fifteen films. She made he ...

('' The Villain'')

References

External links

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Rakshita
at Instagram {{authority control Living people Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Kannada film producers Actresses from Bangalore Indian actor-politicians Indian film actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Politicians from Bangalore Businesswomen from Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka BSR Congress politicians Janata Dal (Secular) politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Film producers from Bangalore Actresses in Kannada television Indian television actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Women members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly