Amrita Rao Biography
The cameras love the fresh-faced, delectable Amrita Rao. Numerous ads, ten and odd films and a huge fan base, in a span of ten years stands testimony to this.
A peek into the Amrita Rao’s birthday is on the 7th of June. She was born in 1981 in Mumbai. Her father is Deepak Rao who runs an advertising agency. Her mother tongue is Konkani.
She studied at C.G. High School and later graduated with a degree in Psychology from Sophia College.
Besides working in ads and films, Amrita has to her credit the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. She is also the muse of the bare-footed artist M.F.Hussain.
The face that launched many ads
Her first brush with the cameras was when she worked in the Fairever Face Cream ad while still in college. It was followed by Nestle Bru Coffee, Cadbury’s Perk, Close-Up, Parachute Hair Oil, Domino’s Pizza, Wriggly’s Chewing Gum, Pantene and Clean & Clear facewash, to name a few. She’s also the brand ambassador for D’Damas gold jewelry.It was hardly surprising that she was noticed by Ken Ghosh who offered her a role in Ishq Vishq.
New Roles
Amrita’s debut was with Raj Babbar’s son, Arya Babbar, in Ab Ke Baras which released in 2002 followed by a cameo in The Legend of Bhagat Singh. She shot to stardom in 2003 with the release of Ishq Vishq with Shahid Kapoor, and she won a nomination for the Filmfare Best Debut Award for her role as struck-by-cupid Payal Mehra.
In 2004, she was part of the multi-starrer Main Hoon Na with Shah Rukh Khan, Zayed Khan and Sushmita Sen. She was nominated for the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. Her films in 2005, Vaah! Life Ho Tho Aisi and Shikhar didn’t get a good reception at the box office. Vivah in 2006, with Shahid Kapoor, became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year.
Bollywood didn’t see a lot of Amrita Rao in 2007, except for a brief appearance in a song in Heyy Babyy. She did a Telugu film Athidhi with Mahesh Babu, which was a big success down south.
Her 2008 releases include My Name is Anthony Gonsalves with Mithun Chakraborthy, Lilette Dubey and Nikhil Dwivedi which didn’t do well. Her performance as Kamala in Shyam Benegal’s comedy Welcome to Sajjanpur was praised and the film enjoyed rave reviews.
Her next release is Victory, revolving around cricket with Harman Baweja.
Filmography as Actor
Shortcut (2009) Victory (2009) - Nandini
Welcome To Sajjanpur (2008) - Kamala
Shaurya (2008) - Apecial Appearance
My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves (2008) - Rhea
Athidhi (2007) - Amrita
Heyy Babyy (2007) - special appearance in song
Vivaah (2006) - Poonam
Pyare Mohan (2006) - Priya
Shikhar (2006) - Madhavi
Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi (2005) - Priya
Main Hoon Na (2004) - Sanjana
Deewaar (2004) - Radhika
Masti (2004) - Aanchal
Ishq Vishk (2003) - Payal (as Amrita)
Ab Ke Baras (2002) - Anjali Thapar/Nandini
The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) - Mannewali