Raai Laxmi

Lakshmi Rai, professionally credited as Raai Laxmi,^[1][2] is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi languages.^[3][4]

Raai Laxmi
Laxmi in 2017
Born	Lakshmi Raibagi Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Occupations	Actress model
Years active	2005–present

Early life

Raai Laxmi was born in Bangalore, Karnataka to Ram Rai and Manjula Rai. Her family relocated to Belgaum.^[5][6][7]

Acting career

Early career (2005–2010)

In 2005,^[8] Laxmi made her film debut in the Tamil-language film Karka Kasadara.^[9] Subsequently, she appeared in a number of Tamil films, including the comedy film Kundakka Mandakka (2005) opposite R. Parthiban, Perarasu's action-masala flick Dharmapuri (2006) and the romance film Nenjai Thodu (2007). Valmiki (2005), opposite Shiva Rajkumar, marked her maiden film in Kannada.^[10]

In 2008, she began working in more serious films such as the drama film Velli Thirai, in which she played herself, and the action thriller Dhaam Dhoom, directed by Jeeva. She received positive feedback for her portrayal of a lawyer in the latter. A review from Behindwoods wrote: "The latter (Raai Laxmi) sizzles even as she is supposed to play the court professional who is caught in the web of smuggling drugs".^[11] She won her first Filmfare Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category.

She made her debut in Malayalam in 2007, starring in Rock n' Roll, opposite Mohanlal. She followed it up with several successful films such as Annan Thampi (2008), 2 Harihar Nagar (2009),^[12] Evidam Swargamanu (2009) opposite Mohanlal, and Chattambinadu (2009) opposite Mammootty. She appeared in three Tamil films in 2009, Muthirai, Vaamanan and Naan Avanillai 2.

In Vaamanan (2009), she played a glamorous supermodel.^[13] In 2010, she was seen in three films. She made special appearances during song sequences in two of them, In Ghost House Inn and Pen Singam and portrayed a cowgirl in the Tamil film Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam.^[13]

Public recognition and success (2011–2014)

Laxmi at the CCL season 2 in 2012

Laxmi's first 2011 release was Christian Brothers. Her next two films were Tamil projects, the comedy horror Kanchana and the Venkat Prabhu-directed action thriller Mankatha, starring Ajith Kumar. She played a negative character in the latter, which was received positively by critics.^[14] Following Kanchana's success, she was signed on to reprise the role in its Kannada remake, Kalpana (2012).^[15] Her 2014 films were Irumbu Kuthirai, Aranmanai in Tamil and RajadhiRaja in Malayalam.

Recent work (2016–present)

Laxmi at the premiere of Welcome Back in 2015

In 2016, she signed two Tamil films, Bangalore Naatkal and Sowkarpettai.^[16][17] After a brief gap, she performed her second item number opposite Pawan Kalyan in his Telugu film Sardaar Gabbar Singh (2016).^[18] She debuted in the Hindi film Akira.^[19]

She signed to perform her fourth item number with Chiranjeevi in his 150th film Khaidi No. 150 (2017),^[20][21] and later in Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva (2017) in Tamil with Raghava Lawrence.^[22] Raai Laxmi portrayed the lead role in her second Hindi film Julie 2 (2017).

In 2018, she made her comeback to Malayalam cinema with the Mammootty starrer Oru Kuttanadan Blog.^[23]

In 2019, she starred in horror movies Where Is the Venkatalakshmi in Telugu then Neeya 2 in Tamil that were failures.^[24][25] She also starred in the Bollywood film, Officer Arjun Singh IPS Batch 2000.^[26]

In 2021, she starred in the Tamil horror movie Cinderella.^[27]

Filmography

Film

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

• Note: She was credited as Lakshmi Rai until 2014.^[28]

List of Raai Laxmi film credits

Year	Title	Role(s)	Language	Notes	Ref.
2005	Karka Kasadara	Anjali	Tamil	Tamil debut	[29]
	Kanchanamala Cable TV	Sireesha / Kanchanamala	Telugu	Telugu debut	[30]
	Kundakka Mandakka	Roopa	Tamil		[31]
	Valmiki	Lakshmi Deshpande	Kannada	Kannada debut	[9]
2006	Neeku Naaku	Saranya	Telugu		[32]
	Dharmapuri	Valarmathy	Tamil		[citation needed]
2007	Nenjai Thodu	Aishwarya	Tamil		[29]
	Rock n' Roll	Daya Sreenivas	Malayalam	Malayalam debut	[33]
	Snehana Preethina	Lakshmi	Kannada		[34]
2008	Velli Thirai	Herself	Tamil	Cameo	[citation needed]
	Annan Thampi	Thenmozhi	Malayalam		[35]
	Minchina Ota	Lakshmi	Kannada		[36]
	Parunthu	Rakhi	Malayalam		[37]
	Ragasiya Snehithane	Jennifer	Tamil		[38]
	Dhaam Dhoom	Aarthi Chinappa	Tamil		[citation needed]
2009	2 Harihar Nagar	Maya / Christina Honai / Serina	Malayalam		[39]
	Muthirai	Kavyanjali "Kavya"	Tamil		[40]
	Vaamanan	Pooja	Tamil		[citation needed]
	Naan Avanillai 2	Deepa	Tamil		[41]
	Oru Kadhalan Oru Kadhali	Charanya	Tamil		[citation needed]
	Chattambinadu	Gouri	Malayalam		[42]
	Ividam Swargamanu	Adv. Sunitha	Malayalam		[43]
2010	In Ghost House Inn	Serina	Malayalam	Special appearance in the song "Ole Ole"	[44]
	Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam	Pakki	Tamil		[citation needed]
	Pen Singam	Herself	Tamil	Special appearance in the song "Adi Aadi Asaiyum Edupu"
2011	Christian Brothers	Sofia	Malayalam		[45]
	Kanchana	Priya	Tamil		[citation needed]
	Mankatha	Sona	Tamil		[46]
	Oru Marubhoomikkadha	Meenakshy Thampuran, Manasi Thampuran	Malayalam	Double role	[47]
2012	Casanovva	Hana	Malayalam		[48]
	Mayamohini	Maya / Katrina	Malayalam		[49]
	Adhinayakudu	Deepthi	Telugu		[50]
	Kalpana	Priya	Kannada		[51]
	Thaandavam	Geetha	Tamil		[52]
2013	Attahasa	Vijetha Vasisht	Kannada	Guest appearance	[53]
	Onbadhule Guru	Sanjana	Tamil		[54]
	Aaru Sundarimaarude Katha	Fouzia Hassan IPS	Malayalam		[55]
	Balupu	Herself	Telugu	Special appearance in the song "Lucky Lucky Rai"	[56]
2014	Irumbu Kuthirai	Christina	Tamil		[57]
	RajadhiRaja	Radha	Malayalam		[58]
	Aranmanai	Maya	Tamil		[59]
2016	Bangalore Naatkal	Lakshmi	Tamil		[citation needed]
	Sowkarpettai	Maya	Tamil		[60]
	Sardaar Gabbar Singh	Herself	Telugu	Special appearance in the song "Tauba Tauba"	[61]
	Akira	Maya Amin	Hindi	Hindi debut	[citation needed]
2017	Khaidi No. 150	Herself	Telugu	Special appearance in the song "Ratthaalu"	[62]
	Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva	Herself	Tamil	Special appearance in the song "Hara Hara Mahadevaki"	[63]
	Julie 2	Julie / Sumitra Devi	Hindi		[64]
2018	Oru Kuttanadan Blog	Sreejaya	Malayalam		[65]
2019	Where Is the Venkatalakshmi	Venkatalakshmi	Telugu		[66]
	Neeya 2	Malar / Nagarani	Tamil		[67]
	Officer Arjun Singh IPS Batch 2000	Durga Dayal Singh	Hindi		[68]
2021	Mirugaa	Lakshmi	Tamil		[69][70]
	Jhansi I.P.S	Jhansi I.P.S	Kannada		[71]
	Cinderella	Thulasi / Akira	Tamil	Dual role	[72][73]
2022	The Legend	Herself	Tamil	Special appearance in the song "Vaadi Vaasal"	[74]
2023	Bholaa	Herself	Hindi	Special appearance in the song "Paan Dukaniya"
2024	DNA	Rachel Punnoose IPS	Malayalam		[75]

Television

List of Raai Laxmi television credits

Year	Title	Role	Language	Channel	Notes
2009	Anu Alavum Baiyamillai 2	Host	Tamil	Vijay TV	Reality show
2015	Star Challenge	Contestant	Malayalam	Flowers TV
2020	Poison 2	Sara	Hindi	ZEE5	Web series
	Bigg Boss (Telugu season 4)	Guest	Telugu	Star Maa	Reality show
2021	Comedy Stars Season 3	Celebrity Judge	Malayalam	Asianet

Awards and nominations

List of Raai Laxmi awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result	Ref.
2009	Asianet Film Awards	Most Popular Actress	Evidam Swargamanu	Won	[76]
2009	Filmfare Awards South	Best Supporting Actress – Malayalam		Nominated	[77]
2011		Best Supporting Actress – Tamil	Mankatha	Nominated	[77]
2012	South Indian International Movie Awards	Stylish Star of South Indian Cinema	Various films	Won	[78]