Shriya Saran

Shriya Saran Bhatnagar (born 11 September 1982) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi films.

Shriya Saran Bhatnagar was born in a Kayastha family on 11 September 1982 in Haridwar in Northern India.

Her parents are Pushpendra Saran Bhatnagar and Neeraja Saran Bhatnagar.

Her father worked for Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and her mother was a chemistry teacher in Delhi Public School, Ranipur in Haridwar and Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi.

Saran completed her schooling from both schools where her mother had taught.

She has an elder brother named Abhiroop who lives in Mumbai.

Saran's mother tongue is Hindi.

Her family lived in the small town of BHEL colony in Haridwar when she was growing up.

She later studied at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature.

Saran is an accomplished dancer.

She was first trained as a child by her mother in Kathak and Rajasthani folk dance, and later trained in the Kathak style by Shovana Narayan.

She was involved with many dance teams in college and with her teacher.

They would incorporate social issues into their dance routines.

While in her second year at the LSR College in Delhi, Saran got her first opportunity to appear in front of the camera for a video shoot.

Following her dance teacher's recommendation, she was invited to appear in the music video of Renoo Nathan's "Thirakti Kyun Hawa".

Shot in Banaras, the video was seen by Ramoji Films who offered her the lead role of Neha in their film Ishtam.

Saran accepted the part and, even before it was released she was signed to four more films, including Nuvve Nuvve, in which she played a millionaire's daughter who falls for a middle-class man.

Although Saran aspired to become a well-known dancer, she became an actress and made her film debut with the Telugu film Ishtam (2001).

Saran had her first commercial success with Santosham (2002).

She is a recipient of one South Indian International Movie Award along with four Filmfare Awards South nominations.

In 2002, she starred in Santosham, co-starring Nagarjuna, Prabhu Deva and Gracy Singh, which was her first commercial success.

The film took the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film and Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu).

Saran played a woman who lets someone she loves go with another, but wins him back later in life.

For her performance, she earned a nomination for the CineMAA Award for Best Actor- Female, giving her a good foothold in the Telugu industry in the early part of her career.

After marking her Hindi debut with Tujhe Meri Kasam (2003), she gained critical acclaim for her role in Awarapan (2007).

Saran marked her Tamil debut with Enakku 20 Unakku 18 (2003) and starred in Sivaji (2007), the highest-grossing Tamil film at that time.

In 2003, Saran acted in a supporting role in her first Hindi film, Tujhe Meri Kasam, starring debutants Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza in leading roles.

She performed as one of the lead female roles in Telugu film Tagore, along with Jyothika and Chiranjeevi which was screened at the International Indian Film Academy Awards, and was a commercial success.

She followed it with her Tamil film debut in Enakku 20 Unakku 18, alongside Tarun and Trisha Krishnan, which was simultaneously shot in Telugu as Nee Manasu Naaku Telusu, in which she played a football coach.

Saran subsequently appeared in several successful Telugu films such as Nenunnanu (2004) and Chatrapathi (2005), alongside Hindi and Tamil films.

In 2008, Saran played the lead role in her first English film, The Other End of the Line.

Her following projects included popular films such as Kanthaswamy (2009) in Tamil and Pokkiri Raja (2010) in Malayalam—roles that established her as one of the leading actresses in the South Indian film industries.

In 2011 she opened a spa employing exclusively visually challenged people.

In 2012, Saran starred in Midnight's Children, an English adaptation of novel of the same name, for which she received international critical acclaim.

Saran achieved further commercial success by starring in films such as Pavitra (2013) and Chandra (2013).

In 2014, Saran starred in the critically acclaimed Telugu film Manam, which brought her accolades for her performance.

Saran has since been part of critical and commercial successes such as Drishyam (2015), Gautamiputra Satakarni (2017), RRR and Drishyam 2 both (2022).

Saran received Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu nomination for her performance in Santosham, Nenunnanu and Chatrapathi.

In addition to her work in films, Saran has been the brand ambassador for brands across India, endorsing beauty and health products.

Among other philanthropic activities, she has volunteered for charity organizations.