Ritu Varma
Ritu Varma (born 1990) is an Indian actress who works in Telugu and Tamil films. After appearing in short films and supporting roles, Varma played the lead in the Telugu film Pelli Choopulu (2016) for which she received Nandi Award for Best Actress and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – South.
Ritu Varma | |
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![]() Varma in 2013 | |
Born | [1][2] | 10 March 1990
Alma mater | Malla Reddy Engineering College |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2013–present |
Early life
Ritu Taran Varma was born and brought up in Hyderabad.[3][4] Her father is from Madhya Pradesh. She is fluent in Telugu and does her own dubbing for her Telugu films.[4]
She did her intermediate from Villa Marie College for Women, Hyderabad and holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Malla Reddy Engineering College.[2] After completing her graduation, she took part in the Miss Hyderabad Beauty pageant and was declared the first runner-up.[5]
Career

Varma rose to fame with her performance in the Telugu short film Anukokunda. The short film won the Best Film award at the 48HR Film Project competition in 2012 and also fetched Varma the Best Actor (Female) award.[6] The short film was later screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner in 2013.[7]
Her first feature film was Baadshah where she played a supporting role named Pinky. She signed her next film as a lead Prema Ishq Kaadhal in which she played the role of a costume designer opposite Sree Vishnu.[8][9] Sebsequently, she appeared in Naa Rakumarudu (2014), which was followed by Yevade Subramanyam,[10] for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Female) award at IIFA Utsavam.[11] Her next release, Pelli Choopulu, was a romantic-comedy Telugu film starring Vijay Deverakonda.[12][7] The film went on to be commercially successful and won the Best Feature Film in Telugu at the 64th National Film Awards as well as the Filmfare Award for Best Film - Telugu.[13] She received critical praise for her performance and eventually won the Nandi Award for Best Actress and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress - Telugu for her performance.[14][15]
Her next release was Keshava along with Nikhil Siddharth.[16] She did an advertisement for Amazon Pongal 2017 alongside Aari. Impressed with her performance in Pelli Choopulu, director Gautham Vasudev Menon chose her as the lead in his upcoming Tamil film with Vikram, Dhruva Natchathiram.[17] She later played the leading role in Desingh Periyasamy's Tamil-language romantic film Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal alongside Dulquer Salmaan (2020) which went on to be commercially successful and critically acclaimed.[18] In 2019, she was signed to star opposite Nani in Tuck Jagadish, marking the second collaboration between the two actors.[19]
In 2021, Varma starred in Ninnila Ninnila alongside Ashok Selvan and Nithya Menen.[20] It had a direct OTT release on ZEE5 and received positive reviews especially for Varma's portrayal. After Tuck Jagadish, which also had an OTT release on Amazon Prime Video, her last release of the year was Varudu Kaavalenu.
In 2022, Ritu's first release was the anthology Modern Love Hyderabad in the segment "Fuzzy,Purple and full of Thorns" which streamed on Amazon Prime Video. Her next release was the bilingual Oke Oka Jeevitham /Kanam, followed by Nitham Oru Vaanam.
In 2023, Ritu Varma is slated to star alongside Vishal in the film Mark Antony[21] and her film Dhruva Natchathiram which has been long pending is said to be released this year
Filmography
![]() |
Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Films
Year | Title | Role | Language | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Baadshah | Pinky | Telugu | ||
Prema Ishq Kaadhal | Sameera | Telugu | |||
2014 | Naa Rakumarudu | Bindu | Telugu | ||
2015 | Yevade Subramanyam | Riya | Telugu | ||
2016 | Pelli Choopulu | Chitra | Telugu | ||
2017 | Keshava | Sathyabama | Telugu | ||
Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 | Anitha | Tamil | Cameo appearance | ||
2020 | Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal | Meera / Madhumitha / Ishita / Jessie | Tamil | ||
Putham Pudhu Kaalai | Khanna | Tamil | Segment: Avarum Naanum-Avalum Naanum | [22] | |
2021 | Ninnila Ninnila | Tara | Telugu | ||
Tuck Jagadish | Gummadi Vara Lakshmi | Telugu | |||
Varudu Kaavalenu | Bhoomi | Telugu | [23] | ||
2022 | Oke Oka Jeevitham | Vaishnavi | Telugu | Bilingual film | [24] |
Kanam | Tamil | ||||
Nitham Oru Vaanam | Subha | Tamil | [25] | ||
2023 | Mark Anthony ![]() |
TBA | Tamil | Completed | [26] |
TBA | Dhruva Natchathiram: Chapter One – Yuddha Kaandam ![]() |
Anupama | Tamil | Post-production | [27] |
Web series
Year | Title | Role | Language | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Modern Love Hyderabad | Renuka | Telugu | Episode 2 | [28] |
2023 | Modern Love Chennai | Tamil | Episode 3 | [29] | |
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Title | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | IIFA Utsavam | Best Supporting Actor - Female | Yevade Subramanyam | Nominated | [30] |
2017 | Nandi Awards | Best Actress | Pelli Choopulu | Won | [14] |
Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress (Critics) – South | Won | [31] | ||
Best Actress – Telugu | Nominated | [32] | |||
IIFA Utsavam | Best Actress – Telugu | Nominated | [33] | ||
South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actress – Telugu | Nominated | [34] | ||
2021 | Best Debut Actress – Tamil | Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal | Won | [35] |
References
- "On Ninnila Ninnila star Ritu Varma's birthday, fans pour love and special wishes". Zoom Entertainment. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- "I got caught when i bunked: Ritu Varma". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- Kavirayani, Suresh (6 August 2016). "Rituaj Varma: A star in the making". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- Ritu Varma Special Interview | Diwali Special | Telugu News | TV5 News, 30 October 2016, retrieved 18 February 2020; From 7:21 to 8:00
- "The hunt for go-getting Hyderabadi girls is on". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "'Anukokunda' wins best 48-Hour Film award". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- Kavirayani, Suresh (17 August 2016). "Pellichoopulu director Tharun yet to make up his mind". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "Prema Ishq Kadhal to be aired on TV soon". The Times of India. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- "Ritu Varma excited about her Telugu debut". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- "Ritu Varma to romance Nani". The Times of India.
- "Nominations 2016".
- Hooli, Shekhar H. (27 July 2016). "'Pelli Choopulu' movie review roundup: Vijay-Ritu starrer bags positive verdict, rich ratings from critics". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "Pelli Choopulu bags two national awards; is 'best film' in Telugu - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- Vasireddy, Amrutha (15 November 2017). "Nandi awards: Nandi Awards Winners List: AP government announces Nandi awards for 2014-2016". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "Filmfare Awards South 2017: Complete List Of Winners". NDTV.com. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "Keshava box office collection: Nikhil Siddhartha-starrer mints Rs. 11.4 crore in three days". The Indian Express. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "VIP 2 Review: Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 Theatrical Response & Rating". QuintDaily. 11 August 2017.
- "[VIDEO]Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithal trailer out! Dulquer Salmaan as the lover boy will instantly win you over". www.timesnownews.com. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "Nani to romance his 'Yevade Subramanyam' actress in Shiva Nirvana's next? - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- "Ashok Selvan to make his Telugu debut". The Hindu. 19 October 2020.
- "Vishal, SJ Suryah's 'Mark Antony' begins shoot; Ritu Varma plays the female lead - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
- Scroll Staff. "'Putham Pudhu Kaalai' trailer: Tamil anthology film is set during the Covid-19 lockdown". Scroll.in. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- "Naga Shaurya And Ritu Varma HD Stills From Varudu Kaavalenu Movie". Social News.
- "Sharwanand's next titled Oke Oka Jeevitham". Cinema Express. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
- "Ashok Selvan, Ritu Varma team up again". The New Indian Express. 8 February 2022.
- "Vishal and SJ Suryah's 'Mark Antony' revolves around twisted time travel! Watch the teaser". The Times of India.
- "Chiyaan Vikram's long pending 'Dhruva Natchathiram' patchwork completed, film to release soon". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- "Modern Love Hyderabad Trailer: Six heartwarming stories of love & life that will touch your heart". Pinkvilla. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
- "Modern Love Chennai to premiere on Prime Video on May 18. See poster". India Today. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- "four emerging tollywood heroines who are finding their way top". www.thenewsminute.com. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "Winners of the 64th Jio Filmfare Awards (South)". Filmfare. 17 June 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
- "Nominations for the 64th Jio Filmfare Awards (South)". filmfare.com. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- IIFA Utsavam 2017 Awards Full Event Telugu - South India IIFA Awards Full Show, 24 October 2017, retrieved 29 July 2019
- "SIIMA Nominations: Theri, Janatha Garage, Maheshinte Prathikaram and Kirik Party lead". The Indian Express. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- "SIIMA: Soorarai Pottru, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo win big, K Viswanath honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award". The Indian Express. 20 September 2021.
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External links
- Ritu Varma at IMDb
- Ritu Varma on Twitter
