Preetika Rao is an Indian actress, model and film-columnist who primarily works in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

television and advertisement films. She made her acting debut with the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

film ''

Chikku Bukku ''Chikku Bhukku'' is a 2010 Indian Tamil romance film written and directed by G.K.Manikandan and produced by Sunanda Murali Manohar, starring Arya, debutante Preetika and Shriya Saran, in the lead roles, with Santhanam and Anoop Kumar in suppo ...

'' in (2010). Rao is best known for portraying Aaliya Zain Abdullah in her television debut ''

Beintehaa ''Beintehaa'' () is an Indian romantic television series that premiered on 30 December 2013 on Colors TV. Produced by Farhan Salaruddin under Fortune Productions. The show revolving around Muslim families where the two protagonists have a l ...

'' (2013–14) for which she received several accolades including

Gold Awards The Gold Awards is an annual awards show that honours the best performers in the Hindi-language television industry. The awards are presented in various areas of excellence, such as popular programming, including music programmes, news, ente ...

for Best Debut-Female.

Early life

Rao was born in

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. She comes from a

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

- speaking

Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin Chitrapur Saraswats are a small Konkani-speaking community of Hindu Brahmins in India. They are traditionally found along the Kanara coast and call themselves ''Bhanaps'' in the Konkani language. Susan Bayly says that they were formed from c ...

family. She graduated majoring in history from

Sophia College Sophia College (Autonomous) is an undergraduate women's college established in 1941 by Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The governing body of The Society for the Higher Education of Women in In ...

, while also acquiring a diploma in Advertising and Journalism. She wrote for ''

Bangalore Mirror ''Bangalore Mirror'' is an English-language daily published by The Times Group in Bangalore, India, as a compact newspaper. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English daily in the city. In 2020, as part of its COVID ...

'', ''

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an English-language daily newspaper based in Hyderabad, India. Founded in 1938, it was initially launched as a Weekly newspaper, weekly and later converted into a daily. The newspaper's name reflects its origins in the ...

'' and the ''

Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also pro ...

''. Her elder sister,

Amrita Rao Amrita Rao (born 7 June 1981) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. Known for her quintessential girl-next-door portrayals, Rao is the recipient of several accolades including an IIFA Awards, IIFA Award and two ...

is a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actress. After her acting debut, she moved to the United States for her diploma course in Broadcast Journalism from the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a Private college, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit film school and Drama school, acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles metropolitan ar ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Career

2010–2014

She made her acting and film debut with the

film ''

'' (2010) where she played the lead as Meenal "Ammu" alongside

Arya ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''),Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood i ...

. She then made her

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

debut with the role of Madhu Latha in ''

Priyudu ''Priyudu'' () is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film directed by Shravan and starring Varun Sandesh and Preetika Rao. Cast *Varun Sandesh as Karthik *Preetika Rao as Madhu Latha *Ranadhir Reddy as Vara Prasad *Kota Srinivasa Ra ...

'' (2012) opposite

Varun Sandesh Jeedigunta Varun Sandesh (born 21 July 1989) is an Indian actor known primarily for his works in Telugu cinema. He made his debut with Sekhar Kammula's coming-of-age blockbuster drama ''Happy Days (2007 film), Happy Days'' (2007), and went on t ...

. Rao made the transition from regional cinema in 2013 and made her television debut with ''

'' opposite

Harshad Arora Harshad Arora (born 3 September 1987) is an Indian actor and model who appears in Hindi television. He made his acting debut in 2013 with Colors TV's popular ''Beintehaa'' portrayed male protagonist Zain Abdullah for which he received ITA Awar ...

. She portrayed Aaliya Ghulam Haider/Aaliya Zain Abdullah and received various awards for her performance including Gold Awards Best Debut- Female.

2015–2018

In 2015, Rao made her singing debut with the single "Na Tum Humein Jano". The same year she made her

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

debut with the role of Preetika in ''

Rebel A rebel is a participant in a rebellion. Rebel or rebels may also refer to: People * Rebel (given name) * Rebel (surname) * Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution * American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...

'' alongside

Aditya Aditya may refer to: * Ādityas, a group of Hindu deities * An alternative name for Surya Surya ( ; , ) is the Sun#Dalal, Dalal, p. 399 as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta t ...

. In 2016, she appeared as a Contestant in ''Box Cricket League''. Rao made her comeback to television with ''

Love Ka Hai Intezaar ''Love Ka Hai Intezaar'' ( ''Waiting for Love'') is an Indian Hindi-language television romantic drama series, produced by Siddharth P. Malhotra. It was broadcasting worldwide on Star Plus, Mondays through Saturdays in an afternoon programming bl ...

'' in 2017. She portrayed Mohini Mathur Ranawat/Mohini Ayaan Mehta opposite

Mohit Sehgal Mohit Sehgal (born 3 December 1983) is an Indian television actor. He is known for his roles of Samrat in '' Miley Jab Hum Tum'', Somendra in ''Sarojini - Ek Nayi Pehal'' and Jay in '' Naagin 5''. Career After an unnoticed role in the 2007 f ...

. She then appeared as Priya alongside Yunus Khan in the short film ''Metro Mulaqat''. The same year she released her second single "Yaad Kiya Dil Ne" with

Siddharth Basrur Siddharth Basrur is an Indian vocalist, composer, and playback singer. He began his career in the indie music scene with his first band, Kinky Ski Munky. He is the frontman of Mumbai's progressive metal band, Goddess Gagged. Basrur has contribu ...

. In 2018, She played Mahima "Mahi" Malhotra in ''Laal Ishq'' alongside Priyank Sharma and

Niti Taylor Niti Taylor (born 8 November 1994) is an Indian actress who primarily appears in Hindi television shows. She is known for her portrayals of Nandini Murthy in MTV India's '' Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan'', Shivani Mathur in '' Ghulaam'', and Mannat Kaur K ...

in the episode "Gudiya". She has also appeared in the music videos 'Surilee' with Shaan (2017) 'Tere Vede' (2018) and 'Tenu Bhul Na Pavagi' (2018).

2019–present

Preetika Rao launched her Youtube channel in June 2022 which is running successfully and has marked her career as a content creator and producer on YouTube.( 100k+ Subscribers)

Media image

Rao was felicitated in

Dar Es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

at the Sinema Zetu International Festival for her immense popularity in

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

due to her show ''

''. In 2014, she ranked 6th in ''

Rediff Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

''s Top 10 Television Actresses List.

Filmography

Films

Television

Special appearances

Music videos

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * Preetika Rao o
YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Preetika Living people Indian film actresses Indian television actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Sophia College for Women alumni Actresses in Hindi television Actresses from Mangalore Female models from Karnataka Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Indian actresses