Shriya Saran also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has acted in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada.
Saran was born in Dehradun and spent most of her childhood in Haridwar. In 2001, her dance master gave her the opportunity to appear in Renoo Nathan's debut music video "Thirakti Kyun Hawa", which ...Shriya Saran also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has acted in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada.
Saran was born in Dehradun and spent most of her childhood in Haridwar. In 2001, her dance master gave her the opportunity to appear in Renoo Nathan's debut music video "Thirakti Kyun Hawa", which brought Saran to the attention of many Indian filmmakers.
Although Saran aspired to become a well-known dancer, she was offered a leading role. Thus, Saran made her film debut in 2001 with the Telugu Ishtam and had her first commercial success with Santhosham (2002).
She subsequently appeared in several more Telugu films, while making in-roads in the Hindi and Tamil industries. In 2007, Saran starred in Sivaji, the highest-grossing Tamil film at that time. She also gained critical acclaim for her role in the 2007 Bollywood film Awarapan. In 2008, Saran played the lead role in her first English film, the American-Indian co-production 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 2012, she was cast in the British-Canadian film Midnight's Children under the direction of Deepa Mehta, based on Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, for which she received international critical acclaim. She 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 she received accolades for her performance.
Shriya Saran Bhatnagar was born on 11 September 1982 in the Haridwar in Northern India, to 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.
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 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.
In 2004, Saran acted in two Telugu and two Hindi films, including Nenunnanu, where she played a student in classical singing. She had ten 2005 releases, nine of which were Telugu films, the most notable for her being Chatrapathi. There she appeared opposite Prabhas and earned her first nomination for the Filmfare Best Telugu Actress Award. A reviewer for Moviebuzz said that as an action film, Saran's character of the lead's love interest was not well developed and that she was there primarily for the songs. Meanwhile, she tried to make her comeback in Tamil with Mazhai, a remake of the Telugu film Varsham. Neither the movie nor her performance were received well. Also in 2005, she appeared as one of only three characters in the film Mogudu Pellam O Dongodu, which was about a married couple's first night together, and made a guest appearance in a children's film called Bommalata, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. Saran's only lead role in 2006, excluding three special appearances, was in the Tamil film Thiruvilayadal Arambam.
