Ritu Varma (born 1990) is an Indian actress who works in Telugu and Tamil films. After appearing in short films and supporting roles, Varma played the lead role in the Telugu film Pelli Choopulu (2016), for which she received the Nandi Award for Best Actress and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Telugu.

Ritu Varma
Varma in 2017
Born (1990-03-10) 10 March 1990 (age 34)
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India (now in Telangana, India)
Alma materMalla Reddy Engineering College
OccupationActress
Years active2013–present

Early life

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Ritu Taran Varma was born on 10 March 1990[1][2] and brought up in Hyderabad, India.[3][4] Her family is originally from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. She is fluent in Telugu and does her own dubbing for her Telugu films.[4]

She did her intermediate from Villa Marie College for Women, Hyderabad and holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Malla Reddy Engineering College.[2] After completing her graduation, she took part in the Miss Hyderabad Beauty pageant and was declared the first runner-up.[5]

Career

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Varma rose to fame with her performance in the Telugu short film Anukokunda. The short film won the Best Film award at the 48HR Film Project competition in 2012 and also fetched Varma the Best Actor (Female) award.[6] The short film was later screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner in 2013.[7]

Her first feature film was Baadshah where she played a supporting role named Pinky. She signed her next film as a lead Prema Ishq Kaadhal in which she played the role of a costume designer opposite Sree Vishnu.[8][9] Sebsequently, she appeared in Naa Rakumarudu (2014), which was followed by Yevade Subramanyam,[10] for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Female) award at IIFA Utsavam.[11] Her next release, Pelli Choopulu, was a romantic-comedy Telugu film starring Vijay Deverakonda.[7] The film went on to be commercially successful and won the Best Feature Film in Telugu at the 64th National Film Awards as well as the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu.[12] She received critical praise for her performance and eventually won the Nandi Award for Best Actress and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress - Telugu for her performance.[13][14]

Her next release was Keshava along with Nikhil Siddharth.[15] She did an advertisement for Amazon Pongal 2017 alongside Aari. Impressed with her performance in Pelli Choopulu, director Gautham Vasudev Menon chose her as the lead in his upcoming Tamil film with Vikram, Dhruva Natchathiram.[16] In 2019, she was signed to star opposite Nani in Tuck Jagadish, marking the second collaboration between the two actors.[17] She later played the leading role in Desingh Periyasamy's Tamil-language romantic film Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal (2020) alongside Dulquer Salmaan which went on to be commercially successful and critically acclaimed.[18]

In 2021, Varma starred in Ninnila Ninnila alongside Ashok Selvan and Nithya Menen.[19] It had a direct OTT release on ZEE5 and received positive reviews especially for Varma's portrayal. The film had an OTT release on Amazon Prime Video, and her last release of the year was Varudu Kaavalenu.

In 2022, her first release was the anthology Modern Love Hyderabad in the segment "Fuzzy, Purple and full of Thorns" which streamed on Amazon Prime Video. Her next release was the bilingual Oke Oka Jeevitham /Kanam, followed by Nitham Oru Vaanam.

In 2023, she starred alongside Vishal and S. J. Suryah in the film Tamil film Mark Antony.[20] Her film Dhruva Natchathiram which has been long pending is said to be released in 2024.

Filmography

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Key
Denotes films that have not yet been released

Films

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Year Title Role Language Notes Ref.
2013 Baadshah Pinky Telugu
Prema Ishq Kaadhal Sameera
2014 Naa Rakumarudu Bindu
2015 Yevade Subramanyam Riya
2016 Pelli Choopulu Chitra
2017 Keshava Sathyabhama
Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 Anitha Tamil
2020 Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal Meera / Madhumitha / Ishita / Jessie
Putham Pudhu Kaalai Kanna Segment: "Avarum Naanum-Avalum Naanum" [21]
2021 Ninnila Ninnila Tara Telugu
Tuck Jagadish Gummadi Vara Lakshmi
Varudu Kaavalenu Bhoomi [22]
2022 Oke Oka Jeevitham Vaishnavi Bilingual film [23]
Kanam Tamil
Nitham Oru Vaanam Subhadra [24]
2023 Mark Antony Ramya [25]
2024 Swag Vinjaamara Rukmini Devi / Anubhuti Telugu [26]
TBA Mazaka TBA [27]
TBA Dhruva Natchathiram: Chapter One – Yuddha Kaandam Anupama Tamil Delayed [28]

Television

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Year Title Role Network Language Notes Ref.
2022 Modern Love Hyderabad Renuka Amazon Prime Video Telugu Segment: "Fuzzy, Purple and full of Thorns" [29]
2023 Modern Love Chennai Mallika Tamil Segment: "Kaadhal Enbadhu Kannula Heart Irukkura Emoji" [30]

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Title Result Ref.
2016 IIFA Utsavam Best Supporting Actor – Female Yevade Subramanyam Nominated [31]
2017 Nandi Awards Best Actress Pelli Choopulu Won [13]
Filmfare Awards South Critics Best Actress – Telugu Won [32]
Best Actress – Telugu Nominated [33]
IIFA Utsavam Best Actress – Telugu Nominated [34]
South Indian International Movie Awards Best Actress – Telugu Nominated [35]
2021 Best Debut Actress – Tamil Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal Won [36]

References

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  1. ^ "On Ninnila Ninnila star Ritu Varma's birthday, fans pour love and special wishes". Zoom Entertainment. 10 March 2021. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b "I got caught when i bunked: Ritu Varma". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  3. ^ Kavirayani, Suresh (6 August 2016). "Rituaj Varma: A star in the making". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b Ritu Varma Special Interview | Diwali Special | Telugu News | TV5 News, 30 October 2016, archived from the original on 3 August 2022, retrieved 18 February 2020; From 7:21 to 8:00
  5. ^ "The hunt for go-getting Hyderabadi girls is on". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  6. ^ "'Anukokunda' wins best 48-Hour Film award". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  7. ^ a b Kavirayani, Suresh (17 August 2016). "Pellichoopulu director Tharun yet to make up his mind". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Prema Ishq Kadhal to be aired on TV soon". The Times of India. 6 November 2014. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  9. ^ "Ritu Varma excited about her Telugu debut". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  10. ^ "Ritu Varma to romance Nani". The Times of India. 15 January 2017. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Nominations 2016". Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Pelli Choopulu bags two national awards; is 'best film' in Telugu". The Times of India. 8 April 2017. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  13. ^ a b Vasireddy, Amrutha (15 November 2017). "Nandi awards: Nandi Awards Winners List: AP government announces Nandi awards for 2014-2016". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Filmfare Awards South 2017: Complete List Of Winners". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Keshava box office collection: Nikhil Siddhartha-starrer mints Rs. 11.4 crore in three days". The Indian Express. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  16. ^ "VIP 2 Review: Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 Theatrical Response & Rating". QuintDaily. 11 August 2017. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  17. ^ "Nani to romance his 'Yevade Subramanyam' actress in Shiva Nirvana's next?". The Times of India. 30 November 2019. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  18. ^ "[VIDEO]Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithal trailer out! Dulquer Salmaan as the lover boy will instantly win you over". timesnownews.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  19. ^ "Ashok Selvan to make his Telugu debut". The Hindu. 19 October 2020. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  20. ^ "Vishal, SJ Suryah's 'Mark Antony' begins shoot; Ritu Varma plays the female lead". The Times of India. 5 May 2022. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  21. ^ "'Putham Pudhu Kaalai' trailer: Tamil anthology film is set during the Covid-19 lockdown". Scroll.in. 5 October 2020. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  22. ^ "Naga Shaurya And Ritu Varma HD Stills From Varudu Kaavalenu Movie". Social News.
  23. ^ "Sharwanand's next titled Oke Oka Jeevitham". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  24. ^ "Ashok Selvan, Ritu Varma team up again". The New Indian Express. 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022.
  25. ^ "Vishal and SJ Suryah's 'Mark Antony' revolves around twisted time travel! Watch the teaser". The Times of India. 27 April 2023. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  26. ^ Desk, Tupaki (31 July 2023). "Sree Vishnu Arriving With 'SWAG'!". english.tupaki.com. Retrieved 28 February 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  27. ^ "Ritu Varma Cast Opposite Sundeep Kishan In His Upcoming Telugu Movie Majaka". Times Now. 26 October 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  28. ^ "Chiyaan Vikram's long pending 'Dhruva Natchathiram' patchwork completed, film to release soon". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  29. ^ "Modern Love Hyderabad Trailer: Six heartwarming stories of love & life that will touch your heart". Pinkvilla. 27 June 2022. Archived from the original on 3 May 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  30. ^ "Modern Love Chennai to premiere on Prime Video on May 18. See poster". India Today. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  31. ^ "four emerging tollywood heroines who are finding their way top". thenewsminute.com. 19 October 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  32. ^ "Winners of the 64th Jio Filmfare Awards (South)". Filmfare. 17 June 2017. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  33. ^ "Nominations for the 64th Jio Filmfare Awards (South)". filmfare.com. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  34. ^ IIFA Utsavam 2017 Awards Full Event Telugu - South India IIFA Awards Full Show, 24 October 2017, archived from the original on 16 March 2022, retrieved 29 July 2019
  35. ^ "SIIMA Nominations: Theri, Janatha Garage, Maheshinte Prathikaram and Kirik Party lead". The Indian Express. 31 May 2017. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  36. ^ "SIIMA: Soorarai Pottru, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo win big, K Viswanath honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award". The Indian Express. 20 September 2021. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
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