Shweta, known by her stage name Rakshita, is an Indian television personality, film producer and former actress known for her work in Kannada films, addition to a few Telugu and Tamil films.
Rakshita was brought up in Bangalore. Her father B. C. Gowrishankar was a cinematographer and mother Mamatha Rao, an actress, both of whom worked in Kannada films. Rakshita underwent an acting course under Krishnamurthy Kavathar's tutelage for about 15 days before entering films. Pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer applications (BCA) from Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College in Bangalore at the time, she discontinued during the first year before enrolling in a correspondence course for a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2001. During this time, she was signed to play the lead opposite Puneeth Rajkumar in Appu (2002) by producer Parvathamma Rajkumar who gave her the name Rakshita.[1]
Rakshita started her career with the Kannada movie Appu with Puneeth Rajkumar. She also acted in remakes of the same movie in Telugu titled Idiot and in Tamil titled Dum alongside Silambarasan. She became a top Kannada heroine when Kalasipalya became a big hit. Apart from Puneeth Rajkumar, she formed a successful pair with all the top Kannada heroes of the time - Upendra, Sudeep, Darshan and Aditya. She has also acted with big time heroes such as Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR, Jagapathi Babu, Vishnuvardhan, V. Ravichandran, Shivarajkumar, Vijay, Ravi Teja, and Silambarasan
After her marriage to director Prem, she cut down on her acting assignments and took over film-making. She turned producer for the prestigious Jogayya directed by Prem, starring Shivarajkumar in the lead (100th movie).
Rakshita announced that she had joined the Badavara Shramikara Raitara (BSR) Congress in March 2012, after politician B. Sriramulu announced of founding it, which eventually happened in 2013.[2] She served as the President of the women's wing of the BSR Congress till April 2013, when she quit the party citing differences with the party members over contesting elections from a constituency of her choice at the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. In the same month, she joined the Janata Dal (Secular).[3] She again had differences with the party over its ignoring her plea for a ticket to contest from Mandya at the 2014 general election, and quit in March 2014, joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[4] Following this, she became subject to media and public ridicule, and was called a "party-hopper", having changed 3 political parties in two years.[5]
She is married to film director Prem since 2007.[6]
| Year | Title | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Jogayya | ||
| 2014 | DK | ||
| 2022 | Ek Love Ya | Kannada | [7] [8] |
| Year | Title | Role | Language | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Appu | Suchitra | |||
| Idiot | Suchitra | ||||
| Dhumm | Preethi | Kannada | |||
| 2003 | Dum | Suchitra | |||
| Pellam Oorelithe | Raji | Telugu | |||
| Nijam | Janaki | ||||
| Sivamani | Pallavi | ||||
| Gokarna | Pooja | Kannada | |||
| Vijayasimha | Baby | ||||
| 2004 | Love | Ganga | |||
| Lakshmi Narasimha | Dancer | Telugu | Special appearance | ||
| Andhrawala | Rakshita | ||||
| Madhurey | Anitha | Tamil | |||
| Avale Nanna Gelathi | Amrutha | ||||
| Kalasipalya | Priya | ||||
| 2005 | Yashwanth | Chitra | [9] | ||
| Ayya | Suchitra | ||||
| Kashi From Village | Parvathi | ||||
| Andarivaadu | Cheetila Chinni / Janki | Telugu | |||
| Jagapathi | Lavanya | ||||
| Deadly Soma | Jyothi | Kannada | |||
| 2006 | Suntaragaali | Manjula | |||
| Neenello Naanalle | Siri | ||||
| Mandya | Parvathi | ||||
| Odahuttidavalu | Gowri | ||||
| Hubli | Priya | ||||
| Tananam Tananam | Vanaja | ||||
| 2007 | Ee Rajeev Gandhi Alla | Shravya | |||
| Thayiya Madilu | Deepa | [10] [11] | |||
| 2022 | Ek Love Ya | Herself | Special Appearance | [12] [13] | |