Priyanka Upendra (née Trivedi) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in

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 ...

films and in a few Tamil and Bengali language films.

Early life

Priyanka was born in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

(now Kolkata). Her mother is from

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

and father from

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. She spent ten years of her schooling life in the US and about three years in Singapore, before graduating with a commerce degree from a college in Kolkata. She described herself as "little introverted, pretty flexible as a person, a good listener and overtly sensitive." She appeared in television commercials for brands such as

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

, Orient Electric and Pillsbury in the late 1990s. During this time, she was cast by director

Basu Chatterjee Basu Chatterjee (10 January 1927 – 4 June 2020) was an Indian film director and screenwriter in Hindi Cinema. Through the 1970s and 1980s, he became associated with what came to be known as middle cinema or middle-of-the-road cinema filmmaker ...

in his first Bengali film, '' Hothat Brishti'' (1998). She went on to make two more films with him, ''Chupi Chupi'' (2001) and '' Tak Jhal Mishti'' (2002).

Career

Beginnings

Priyanka made her silver screen debut in

Prabhat Roy Prabhat Roy (; born 1946 in Jamshedpore) is a former Indian director who is known for his work in Bengali cinema. He received several awards including two National Awards and BFJA Awards. He began his career as an assistant director in the ...

's Bengali film ''Joddha'' (1997). She subsequently moved to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and acted in the Hindi film '' Mujhe Meri Biwi Se Bachaao'' (2001). In 2002, she acted in the Bengali film Saathi, which became one of the highest-grossers of Bengali cinema. She then began receiving offers for South Indian films, and went on make Telugu films '' Soori'' and '' Raa'', the former of which was remade in Hindi as ''

Durga Durga (, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic ...

'' with Priyanka acting in that too; '' H2O'' and ''

Kotigobba ''Kotigobba'' () is a 2001 Indian Kannada-language action film starring Vishnuvardhan, Priyanka Upendra and Ashish Vidyarthi. The film was a remake of Rajinikanth's 1995 Tamil film ''Baashha'' which itself was inspired from the 1991 Hindi movi ...

'' in Kannada; and '' Raajjiyam'', ''

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

'', ''

Kadhal Sadugudu ''Kadhal Sadugudu'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language romance film written and directed by V. Z. Durai and produced by S. S. Chakravarthy. The film stars Vikram, Priyanka Trivedi, Prakash Raj, and Vivek. The music was composed by Deva with ...

'' and '' Jananam'' in Tamil.

2015–present

In 2015, she starred in '' Priyanka'', a film based on a real-life incident involving a murder where a 27-year-old man killed another man whose wife he was in love with. Released in 2016, the film was received well by critics and her performance received praise. S. Viswanath of ''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

'' felt that Priyanka turned in "with a polished show as the doting, Facebook-addicted wife." In her second release of the year, the horror film ''

Mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...

'', Priyanka played a widow and a mother to a young girl and pregnant with a second child, who move in to a haunted villa. Her performance was received well by critics. A. Sharadhaa of ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

'' called the film "technically brilliant" and that "Priyanka carries the film on her shoulders with ease..." In '' 2nd Half'', her only release of 2018, she played Anuradha, a

police constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an police officer, officer within a police ser ...

, who takes it upon herself to solve a case after receiving no support from her superiors. Critic Sharadhaa felt, "Priyanka carries a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. Being the central focus of the film, she has ample scope to perform and does justice to her role." In H. Lohith's crime-thriller ''

Devaki Devaki (Sanskrit: देवकी, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Devakī'') is a character in Hindu texts, Hindu literature, most noted for being the mother of the god Krishna. She is one of the seven daughters of ...

'' (2019), who also directed ''Mummy'', Priyanka played a mother who frantically searches the streets of

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

for her kidnapped daughter (played by real-life daughter, Aishwarya) with the help of a police officer. Vivek M. V. of ''

'' wrote of her performance, "Priyanka is earnest but for the most part, she is in tears. We wonder if she could have brought out other facets like anxiety, fear and the pain of a single mother separated from her daughter. Thankfully, she makes it up in the final scene." In her first release after ''Devaki'', a

period film A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

''1980'', set in the same year as the title, Priyanka played a novelist. The film explored the concept of an alternate universe. It was released on the

OTT platform An over-the-top media service (also known as over-the-top television, or simply OTT) is a digital distribution service of video and audio delivered directly to viewers via the public Internet, rather than through an over-the-air, cable, satell ...

Namma Flix on 15 October 2021. Critic Prathibha Joy wrote for ''Ottplay.com'' that the film lacked "execution" despite having an "intriguing narrative" and " he makers'best efforts, most notably by lead actress Priyanka Upendra..."

Personal life

On 14 December 2003, she married

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 subs ...

, who first starred opposite her in the

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 ...

movie '' Raa'' and then in '' H2O''.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Upendra, Priyanka Indian film actresses Actresses in Tamil cinema Living people Bengali actresses Actresses from Kolkata Actresses in Kannada cinema 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Bengali cinema Year of birth missing (living people)