Acting

Ragini Dwivedi

**Ragini Dwivedi** (born May 24, 1990) is an Indian actress and model who works predominantly in Kannada cinema, along with appearances in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films. Known for her striking screen presence, glamorous persona, and pioneering action-oriented roles, she became one of the leading female stars of Sandalwood during the 2010s. Born to an army family and raised in Bengaluru, Dwivedi began her career in fashion, placing as the first runner-up at the 2008 Femina Miss India South pageant and competing in the national finals. She made her silver screen debut opposite Sudeep in the action entertainer *Veera Madakari* (2009), which became a massive box-office success and earned her the Suvarna Film Award for Best Debut Actress. Her career gained tremendous momentum with major hits such as the cop drama *Kempe Gowda* (2011), which fetched her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Kannada. She went on to win the SIIMA Critics Award for Best Actress for her performance in the action thriller *Shiva* (2012) opposite Shiva Rajkumar. During this period, she also made notable multilingual appearances, including her Malayalam debut opposite Mohanlal in *Kandahar* (2010) and a special appearance in the Hindi film *R... Rajkumar* (2013). Dwivedi carved a unique niche by headlining female-driven commercial action films, most notably the high-octane police drama *Ragini IPS* (2014). Performing her own stunts, her performance won widespread acclaim and another Filmfare nomination. She followed this with action-centric projects such as *Veera Ranachandi* (2017) and the suspense thriller *The Terrorist* (2018), establishing a reputation as a versatile leading star capable of commanding solo box-office action vehicles.