Rakshita

Rakshita
Born
Shweta

Occupations
  • Television personality
  • film producer
  • actress
Spouse
(m.  2007)
Children 1
Parents

Shweta, known by her stage name 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 films.

Early life

Rakshita was brought up in Bangalore. 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 degree in 2001. During this time, she was signed to play the lead opposite Puneeth Rajkumar 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 Puneeth Rajkumar. She also acted in remakes of the same movie in Telugu titled Idiot and in Tamil titled Dum alongside Silambarasan. She became a top Kannada heroine when Kalasipalya became a big hit. Apart from Puneeth Rajkumar, she formed a successful pair with all the top Kannada heroes of the time - Upendra, Sudeep, Darshan and Aditya. She has also acted with big time heroes such as Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR, Jagapathi Babu, Vishnuvardhan, V. Ravichandran, Shivarajkumar, Vijay, Ravi Teja, 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 Shivarajkumar 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 at the 2014 general election, and quit in March 2014, joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (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

Year Title Language Notes
2011 Jogayya Kannada
2014 DK Kannada
2022 Ek Love Ya Kannada

As actress

Year Title Role Language Notes Ref.
2002 Appu Suchitra Kannada
Idiot Suchitra Telugu
Dhumm Preethi Kannada
2003 Dum Suchitra Tamil
Pellam Oorelithe Raji Telugu
Nijam Janaki
Sivamani Pallavi
Gokarna Pooja Kannada
Vijayasimha Baby
2004 Love Ganga
Lakshmi Narasimha Dancer Telugu Special appearance
Andhrawala Rakshita
Madhurey Anitha Tamil
Avale Nanna Gelathi Amrutha Kannada
Kalasipalya Priya
2005 Yashwanth Chitra
Ayya Suchitra
Kashi From Village Parvathi
Andarivaadu Cheetila Chinni / Janki Telugu
Jagapathi Lavanya
Deadly Soma Jyothi Kannada
2006 Suntaragaali Manjula
Neenello Naanalle Siri
Mandya Parvathi
Odahuttidavalu Gowri
Hubli Priya
Tananam Tananam Vanaja
2007 Ee Rajeev Gandhi Alla Shravya
Thayiya Madilu Deepa
2022 Ek Love Ya Herself Special Appearance

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)
  • 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