Aindrita Ray (born 3 March 1985) is an Indian actress, primarily appearing in Kannada films. She made her acting debut in 2007, starring in Meravanige and went on to appear in several commercially successful films, establishing herself as a leading contemporary actress of Kannada cinema. She is perhaps well known for her critically acclaimed performance as Devika, a mentally challenged girl, in Manasaare.

Early life and background

Aindrita Ray was born as the youngest daughter into a Bengali family in Udaipur, Rajasthan, where she spent her childhood, before moving to Mumbai. With her father, A. K. Ray, being a prosthodontist in the Indian Air Force, she along with her family moved from one place to another, finally settling in Bangalore.Ray studied at Baldwin Girls High School, Bangalore. Later, she joined M. R. Ambedkar Dental College, Bangalore to pursue a bachelor's degree in dental science. While studying, she did part-time modelling, appearing in television advertisements, which paved way for her entry into the film industry. She started acting in Kannada movies, and once in a while appearing in Amateur/Short films.

Acting career

Aindrita Ray trained under fashion choreographer M. S. Sreedhar. She was also seen in a song in the 2006 Kannada movie ''Jackpot'', starring Harsha and Dhyaan.Aindrita Ray began her acting career in the 2008 film ''Meravanige'', playing Nandini, the love interest of the lead actor played by Prajwal Devaraj. The film received a moderate success at the box office, with Rediff.com lauding her performance and her dancing capabilities. Later, in the same year, she made a cameo appearance in ''Mast Majaa Madi'', which had an ensemble cast.In 2009, Ray appeared in ''Vaayuputra'', an action movie, alongside the debutant Chiranjeevi Sarja. This was followed by a brief appearance in the successful film, ''Love Guru'', directed by Prashant Raj. However, she got her biggest break in the film ''Junglee'' and then Turning point movie was Manasaare for her critically acclaimed role of a mentally challenged girl. She received many awards and accolades for her role, which included Suvarna Award for Best Actress and a nomination for Filmfare Awards. This was followed by director Suri's ''Junglee'', which found a moderate success.In 2010, she starred in five films. ''Veera Parampare'' was the only successful movie among ''Nooru Janmaku'', ''Nannavanu'', ''Januma Janumadallu'' and a Bollywood parallel cinema, ''A Flat''. She was nominated by Filmfare for the Best Actress category for ''Veera Parampare''.In 2009, Ray appeared in ''Vaayuputra'', an action movie, alongside the debutant Chiranjeevi Sarja. This was followed by a brief appearance in the successful film, ''Love Guru'', directed by Prashant Raj. However, she got her biggest break in the film ''Junglee'' and then Turning point movie was Manasaare for her critically acclaimed role of a mentally challenged girl. She received many awards and accolades for her role, which included Suvarna Award for Best Actress and a nomination for Filmfare Awards. This was followed by director Suri's ''Junglee'', which found a moderate success.In 2010, she starred in five films. ''Veera Parampare'' was the only successful movie among ''Nooru Janmaku'', ''Nannavanu'', ''Januma Janumadallu'' and a Bollywood parallel cinema, ''A Flat''. She was nominated by Filmfare for the Best Actress category for ''Veera Parampare''.After a series of flops, Ray was cast in the supporting role in the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ''Paramathma''. She was widely acclaimed by the critics for her obsessive character role. She was also noticed by the critics in ''Dhool''. The other films, ''Manasina Maathu'' and ''Kaanchana'', however were failures.In 2012, she starred in ''Parijatha'', opposite Diganth, which found moderate success. Her other films include ''Tony'', with Srinagara Kitty in the lead and ''Rajani Kantha'', with Duniya Vijay.In 2014, she made her Bengali film debut with ''Bachchan'', opposite Jeet and directed by Raja Chanda, which incidentally was a remake of the Kannada movie ''Vishnuvardhana''.In 2017, Ray appeared in Raja Chanda's Bengali film ''Amar Aponjon'', alongside Soham Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar and Subhashree Ganguly.After a series of flops, Ray was cast in the supporting role in the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ''Paramathma''. She was widely acclaimed by the critics for her obsessive character role. She was also noticed by the critics in ''Dhool''. The other films, ''Manasina Maathu'' and ''Kaanchana'', however were failures.In 2012, she starred in ''Parijatha'', opposite Diganth, which found moderate success. Her other films include ''Tony'', with Srinagara Kitty in the lead and ''Rajani Kantha'', with Duniya Vijay.In 2014, she made her Bengali film debut with ''Bachchan'', opposite Jeet and directed by Raja Chanda, which incidentally was a remake of the Kannada movie ''Vishnuvardhana''.In 2017, Ray appeared in Raja Chanda's Bengali film ''Amar Aponjon'', alongside Soham Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar and Subhashree Ganguly.After a series of flops, Ray was cast in the supporting role in the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ''Paramathma''. She was widely acclaimed by the critics for her obsessive character role. She was also noticed by the critics in ''Dhool''. The other films, ''Manasina Maathu'' and ''Kaanchana'', however were failures.In 2012, she starred in ''Parijatha'', opposite Diganth, which found moderate success. Her other films include ''Tony'', with Srinagara Kitty in the lead and ''Rajani Kantha'', with Duniya Vijay.In 2014, she made her Bengali film debut with ''Bachchan'', opposite Jeet and directed by Raja Chanda, which incidentally was a remake of the Kannada movie ''Vishnuvardhana''.In 2017, Ray appeared in Raja Chanda's Bengali film ''Amar Aponjon'', alongside Soham Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar and Subhashree Ganguly.After a series of flops, Ray was cast in the supporting role in the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ''Paramathma''. She was widely acclaimed by the critics for her obsessive character role. She was also noticed by the critics in ''Dhool''. The other films, ''Manasina Maathu'' and ''Kaanchana'', however were failures.In 2012, she starred in ''Parijatha'', opposite Diganth, which found moderate success. Her other films include ''Tony'', with Srinagara Kitty in the lead and ''Rajani Kantha'', with Duniya Vijay.In 2014, she made her Bengali film debut with ''Bachchan'', opposite Jeet and directed by Raja Chanda, which incidentally was a remake of the Kannada movie ''Vishnuvardhana''.In 2017, Ray appeared in Raja Chanda's Bengali film ''Amar Aponjon'', alongside Soham Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar and Subhashree Ganguly.In 2021, she is appearing in Hardik Gajjar's Hindi feature film ''Bhavai'' opposite Pratik Gandhi, releasing in theatres on 1 October.

Debut and breakthrough (2008)

Aindrita Ray trained under fashion choreographer M. S. Sreedhar. She was also seen in a song in the 2006 Kannada movie ''Jackpot'', starring Harsha and Dhyaan.Aindrita Ray began her acting career in the 2008 film ''Meravanige'', playing Nandini, the love interest of the lead actor played by Prajwal Devaraj. The film received a moderate success at the box office, with Rediff.com lauding her performance and her dancing capabilities. Later, in the same year, she made a cameo appearance in ''Mast Majaa Madi'', which had an ensemble cast.

Initial success and accolades (2009–10)

In 2009, Ray appeared in ''Vaayuputra'', an action movie, alongside the debutant Chiranjeevi Sarja. This was followed by a brief appearance in the successful film, ''Love Guru'', directed by Prashant Raj. However, she got her biggest break in the film ''Junglee'' and then Turning point movie was Manasaare for her critically acclaimed role of a mentally challenged girl. She received many awards and accolades for her role, which included Suvarna Award for Best Actress and a nomination for Filmfare Awards. This was followed by director Suri's ''Junglee'', which found a moderate success.In 2010, she starred in five films. ''Veera Parampare'' was the only successful movie among ''Nooru Janmaku'', ''Nannavanu'', ''Januma Janumadallu'' and a Bollywood parallel cinema, ''A Flat''. She was nominated by Filmfare for the Best Actress category for ''Veera Parampare''.In 2009, Ray appeared in ''Vaayuputra'', an action movie, alongside the debutant Chiranjeevi Sarja. This was followed by a brief appearance in the successful film, ''Love Guru'', directed by Prashant Raj. However, she got her biggest break in the film ''Junglee'' and then Turning point movie was Manasaare for her critically acclaimed role of a mentally challenged girl. She received many awards and accolades for her role, which included Suvarna Award for Best Actress and a nomination for Filmfare Awards. This was followed by director Suri's ''Junglee'', which found a moderate success.In 2010, she starred in five films. ''Veera Parampare'' was the only successful movie among ''Nooru Janmaku'', ''Nannavanu'', ''Januma Janumadallu'' and a Bollywood parallel cinema, ''A Flat''. She was nominated by Filmfare for the Best Actress category for ''Veera Parampare''.

Recent works

After a series of flops, Ray was cast in the supporting role in the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ''Paramathma''. She was widely acclaimed by the critics for her obsessive character role. She was also noticed by the critics in ''Dhool''. The other films, ''Manasina Maathu'' and ''Kaanchana'', however were failures.In 2012, she starred in ''Parijatha'', opposite Diganth, which found moderate success. Her other films include ''Tony'', with Srinagara Kitty in the lead and ''Rajani Kantha'', with Duniya Vijay.In 2014, she made her Bengali film debut with ''Bachchan'', opposite Jeet and directed by Raja Chanda, which incidentally was a remake of the Kannada movie ''Vishnuvardhana''.In 2017, Ray appeared in Raja Chanda's Bengali film ''Amar Aponjon'', alongside Soham Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar and Subhashree Ganguly.After a series of flops, Ray was cast in the supporting role in the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ''Paramathma''. She was widely acclaimed by the critics for her obsessive character role. She was also noticed by the critics in ''Dhool''. The other films, ''Manasina Maathu'' and ''Kaanchana'', however were failures.In 2012, she starred in ''Parijatha'', opposite Diganth, which found moderate success. Her other films include ''Tony'', with Srinagara Kitty in the lead and ''Rajani Kantha'', with Duniya Vijay.In 2014, she made her Bengali film debut with ''Bachchan'', opposite Jeet and directed by Raja Chanda, which incidentally was a remake of the Kannada movie ''Vishnuvardhana''.In 2017, Ray appeared in Raja Chanda's Bengali film ''Amar Aponjon'', alongside Soham Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar and Subhashree Ganguly.After a series of flops, Ray was cast in the supporting role in the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ''Paramathma''. She was widely acclaimed by the critics for her obsessive character role. She was also noticed by the critics in ''Dhool''. The other films, ''Manasina Maathu'' and ''Kaanchana'', however were failures.In 2012, she starred in ''Parijatha'', opposite Diganth, which found moderate success. Her other films include ''Tony'', with Srinagara Kitty in the lead and ''Rajani Kantha'', with Duniya Vijay.In 2014, she made her Bengali film debut with ''Bachchan'', opposite Jeet and directed by Raja Chanda, which incidentally was a remake of the Kannada movie ''Vishnuvardhana''.In 2017, Ray appeared in Raja Chanda's Bengali film ''Amar Aponjon'', alongside Soham Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar and Subhashree Ganguly.After a series of flops, Ray was cast in the supporting role in the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ''Paramathma''. She was widely acclaimed by the critics for her obsessive character role. She was also noticed by the critics in ''Dhool''. The other films, ''Manasina Maathu'' and ''Kaanchana'', however were failures.In 2012, she starred in ''Parijatha'', opposite Diganth, which found moderate success. Her other films include ''Tony'', with Srinagara Kitty in the lead and ''Rajani Kantha'', with Duniya Vijay.In 2014, she made her Bengali film debut with ''Bachchan'', opposite Jeet and directed by Raja Chanda, which incidentally was a remake of the Kannada movie ''Vishnuvardhana''.In 2017, Ray appeared in Raja Chanda's Bengali film ''Amar Aponjon'', alongside Soham Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar and Subhashree Ganguly.In 2021, she is appearing in Hardik Gajjar's Hindi feature film ''Bhavai'' opposite Pratik Gandhi, releasing in theatres on 1 October.