Ragini Nandwani

Ragini Nandwani
Ragini Nandwani at the Audio release of Dehraadun Diary
Born	Sheena Nandwani (1989-09-04) 4 September 1989 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Ethnicity	Sindhi
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2005 - present

Ragini (Rageeni) Nandwani (born 4 September 1989) is an Indian film and television actress. She became popular after playing the lead in the Hindi soap opera Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein (2011–12).^[1] She made her Bollywood debut with the crime thriller film Dehraadun Diary (2013) which was based on a real murder case. The film was a box office flop.

Nandwani recently made her debut in Tamil film industry with the action thriller film Thalaivaa (2013), directed by A. L. Vijay. She played a supporting role in the film^[2] and earned critical acclaim for her role in the film. The film also marked her debut in Telugu cinema as it was also dubbed in Telugu and released as Anna - Born to lead.

She is currently working in a Marathi film Krupa Swaminchi. She has also signed a Bollywood film which will be officially announced soon.^[3]

Early life

Nandwani was born on 4 September 1989 in Mumbai. She did her schooling from Jai Hind School and received a Masters degree in Arts from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.

Career

Nandwani started her career with small supporting roles in television shows like Ye Meri Life Hai & Thodi Khushi Thode Gham. But the actress didn't gain much popularity and went unnoticed.

In 2011, Nandwani came into limelight with Zee TV's daily soap Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein. Nandwani played the lead role of ‘Lovely Kaushik’, an unconventional daughter-in-law and earned a good name for herself. Meanwhile, the actress was approached for a Hindi film. She auditioned for the film and got selected.^[4] Nandwani then chose to opt out of the TV show in October, 2012 and was replaced by another actress.^[5][6]

Ragini then started shooting for the Hindi film which was later titled as Dehradun Diary. Her co-stars in the film were Adhyayan Suman, Ashwini Kalsekar, Rati Agnihotri, Neelima Azeem & Rohit Bakshi. The film was based on a real murder case.^[7][8] The film was released on 4 January 2013 but didn't prove to be a commercially successful film and was a box office flop.^[9] The film also received mixed to negative reviews from the critics. On Nandwani's role in the film, The Times of India stated that, "Ragini lacks the screen presence to play a lead actress, in fact, she has a long way to go".^[10] Despite the film's failure, Nandwani managed to get many film offers.

The actress got her first major break in the Tamil flick Thalaivaa opposite Vijay, who is a big star in the Tamil film industry.^[11] The film is an action thriller film directed by A. L. Vijay and Nandwani has a key role of a North Indian in the film, which basically features Amala Paul as the female lead.^[12] Nandwani stated in an interview that all of her film sequences were shot in Mumbai over 25–30 days.^[13] The film was released worldwide on 9 August 2013 except in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, where it was delayed due to some controversies but finally released on 20 August 2013. The film received good response from the audience as well the critics, but the film suffered severe loss commercially due to its late release in Tamil Nadu. ^[14]

Nandwani's performance in Thalaivaa was well received by the audience. She has been offered more South Indian films but she is first brushing up on her Tamil and Telugu before taking any big project.^[15][16] She will now be seen in a cameo role in a Marathi film Krupa Swaminchi, which is based on the life of Shri Swami Samarth.^[17] She is also looking forward to work simultaneously in Hindi films and television shows as well.^[18]

Filmography

Films

Television

Awards and nominations

References

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