Shweta, known by her

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Rakshita, is an Indian television personality, film producer and former actress known for her work in Kannada films, addition to a few Telugu and

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 ...

films.

Early life

Rakshita was brought up in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. Her father B. C. Gowrishankar 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 A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

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

Puneeth Rajkumar Dr. Puneeth Rajkumar (17 March 1975 – 29 October 2021), affectionately known as Appu (by his fans, after his first lead role in the movie Appu (2002 film), ''Appu''), was an Indian actor, playback singer, film producer, television presenter a ...

in '' Appu'' (2002) by producer Parvathamma Rajkumar 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. She became a top Kannada heroine when '' Kalasipalya'' 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 subs ...

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

, Darshan and

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 ...

. She has also acted with big time heroes such as Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna Akkineni,

Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema and has featured in ''Forbes India''s Celebrity 100 list since 2012. He has appeared in more tha ...

, Jr NTR,

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

, Vishnuvardhan, V. Ravichandran,

Shivarajkumar Dr.Shiva Rajkumar (born Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy; 12 July 1962) is an Indian actor, film producer and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, he has worked in over 125 films in Ka ...

, Vijay,

Ravi Teja Bhupatiraju Ravi Shankar Raju (born 26 January 1968), known professionally as Ravi Teja, is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Telugu cinema. Recognised for his roles in action comedy films, he is popularly referred to as ...

, and Silambarasan 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'' directed by Prem, starring

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) {{Infobox Indian Political Party , party_name = Janata Dal (Secular) , party_logo = , colorcode = {{party color, Janata Dal (Secular) , abbreviation = JD(S) , president = H. D. Deve Gowda , founder ...

. 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, Sugar factories contribute to the major economic output. It is also called Sugar City (Kannada: ''Sakkare Nagara'') because sugarcane is a major crop grown ...

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 List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(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 ''Thaka Dhimi Tha Dancing Star'' (ತಕಧಿಮಿತ ಡಾನ್ಸಿಂಗ್ ಸ್ಟಾರ್) is a Kannada dance reality show broadcast by ETV Kannada in 2014. It is an adaptation of Colors TV's '' Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa''. The show format ...

'' – 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) * 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 ('' The Villain'')

References

External links

* * {{authority control Living people Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Kannada film producers Actresses from Bengaluru Indian actor-politicians Indian film actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Politicians from Bengaluru 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 Bengaluru Actresses in Kannada television Indian television actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Women members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly