Shraddha Das

Early life

Shraddha Das was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra to Bengali parents. Her father is a businessman, who hails from Purulia, her mother is a housewife. She was brought up in Mumbai, where she completed her studies. Shraddha graduated from University of Mumbai at SIES College of Commerce and Economics with a Bachelor of Mass Media degree in journalism.

While doing her graduation she worked in theater and attended workshops conducted by National School of Drama artists like Piyush Mishra, Chittaranjan Giri and Salim Shah. She also acted in print advertisements like McDowells, Aristocrat and over 400 catalogues before training at the Gladrags academy.

Career

Shraddha Das' debut release was the 2008 Telugu film Siddu from Sikakulam, although she had first auditioned for the Telugu film Target. She was told that she played the female lead in Siddu from Sikakulam, but she had only a minor supporting role as the lead actress' cousin. Although unhappy with her character she continued filming for the project as she did not want to be branded as unprofessional by leaving her first film midway. The film was negatively reviewed, and Das in a later interview told that she was "very upset for doing such a bad film". After Target and Sidhu from Srikakulam, she quickly signed four more Telugu films within six months: 18, 20 Love Story, Diary, Adhineta and Sukumar's Arya 2, which was her first high profile project. Excluding Arya 2, all films proved to be critically and commercially unsuccessful.

In 2010 she made her Bollywood debut in Sai Om Films' maiden venture Lahore, directed by Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan. Lahore was the first film Das acted in; she shot for the film during the last year of her college, but delays meant that several other of her films released earlier. Shraddha played a Pakistani psychiatrist in the film and received critical acclaim for her performance. The film, which focuses on India–Pakistan relations, was released in March 2010 and won awards at the 42nd WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival and the 57th National Film Awards. Her other three releases of the year, A. Karunakaran's Darling, Maro Charitra produced by Dil Raju, the remake of the 1978 film of the same name, and P. Vasu's Nagavalli, saw her playing supporting roles. Due to her appearances in the sequels of Arya (Arya 2), Mantra (Diary) and Chandramukhi (Nagavalli), Shraddha Das acquired the nickname "sequel queen". Her second Hindi film was Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji that released in 2011. In the next two years she appeared in one film each, Hosa Prema Purana and Dracula 2012 which were her Kannada and Malayalam debut, respectively.

After a year without any releases, she made her Bengali debut with The Royal Bengal Tiger (2014). Later that year, she had two Hindi releases, the romantic comedy Lucky Kabootar and the widely publicised Vivek Agnihotri erotic thriller Zid; both films opened to negative to mixed critical response, although Das stated that she benefited from Zid and received more offers from Bollywood after its release. Prior to the release of Zid, she made the headlines when she accused her co-star Mannara of injuring her during the shooting.

She has completed three Telugu films, Rey, Bandipotu and Superstar Kidnap. In Rey, she plays an American pop singer and she has stated that her role in the film "is almost on par with that of the hero" and that "There's a certain amount of eccentricity in my character". Superstar Kidnap will see her in the role of a "powerful goon", while Bandipotu will feature her in an item number. She has completed filming a Bollywood film, too, Chai Shai Biscuit, which she had signed before the release of Zid. As of early 2015, she is filming for two bilingual horror films, Ouija, made in Telugu and Kannada, and Haunting of Bombay Mills, made in Telugu and Hindi. She has also been roped to feature in Great Grand Masti.