Harshika Poonacha

Harshika Poonacha (born 1 May 1990) is an Indian actress. She mainly appears in Kannada language films and has also worked in Telugu, Kodava, Konkani and Tulu language films.^[1] She made her acting debut in 2008, for the film PUC.

Career

Harshika Poonacha was born on 1 May 1990 in Ammathi, a small village in Kodagu district of Karnataka^[2] as the only daughter to her parents.^[3] She acted in her first film PUC when she was 18 years old and doing her PUC at Christ College.^[4][5] After completing her pre-university course in 2007, she took up anchoring television shows for a lark and as a possible alternative career option to spend the two months when she was free before entering a professional course.^[6] She anchored programs like Nimmindha Nimagaagi, Hrudayadinda^[7] and the Sarigamapa television reality show.^[8] She joined Cambridge Institute of Technology, Bangalore's electronic engineering course^[9] and completed her BTech degree in 2011.^[3] During the time, she took a two-month break from her shooting assignments to attend her classes, complete assignments and prepare for exams.^[10] In 2012 she joined 'Maxpro' Software Company and agreed to work for five days in a month while working 21 days in films.^[11] She said: "Getting into films was an accident. I never dreamt of becoming an actress".^[12]

After PUC, she acted in a Kodava film Ponnamma,^[13] a Konkani film Kazar ^[14] and a Telugu film Edukondalavada Venkataramana Andaru Bagundali.^[15] In 2010, Harshika acted in an important role in Jackie, which catapulted her to an instant celebrity status.^[16] She later appeared in Thamassu with Shivrajkumar^[17] for which she won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Supporting Actress,^[18] and played Ramya in Nariya Seere Kadha,^[19] in which Ravichandran played the lead role. She also acted in a film named Cycle opposite Shivarjun.^[20] She played the daughter of a crorepati who gets kidnapped for ransom in the comedy film 5 Idiots.^[6] In 2013, she first had two releases in a row, Cycle and Ale and her third release Managana Kaili Maanikya opposite Ramesh Aravind, which was her first comedy film,^[21] in July.^[22] Her two films, B3 a love story directed by Gana Shyam with Srikanth and Adwaitha an action-based film directed by MB Giriraj which has Ajai Rao in the lead, released both on December 6.^[23]

She has signed her first Tamil film Anandha Thollai.^[24][25][26] She also has a Telugu film titled Panipuri coming up.^[27]

She also appeared in a video album Hoo Manase.^[28] She and her cousin Bhuvaan Ponannaa own a company called Glamgod Fashion and Events and conduct fashion shows and fashion weeks.^[27]

Filmography

References

External links

• Harshika Poonacha at the Internet Movie Database