Raasi (actress)

Raasi (born Vijaya) is an Indian actress known for her work in Telugu and Tamil cinema, with appearances in a few Kannada and Malayalam films. She is credited as Manthra in Tamil and Malayalam films.^[2] Raasi gained recognition for her performances in notable films such as Subhakankshalu (1997), Gokulamlo Seeta (1997), and Pelli Pandiri (1998). She transitioned to television with Telugu soap operas, debuting in Girija Kalyanam (2020) and later appearing in Janaki Kalaganaledu (2021).

Mantra
Born	Vijaya (1980-06-29) 29 June 1980 (age 44)[1] West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, India
Other names	Manthra (Tamil and Malayalam)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1988–2006 2013–present
Spouse	Sri Muni ​ (m. 2005)​
Children	1

Personal life

Raasi was born as Vijaya on 1980 in West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India.^[1] She married film director Sri Muni.^[3]

Film career

At the age of 9, she started acting as a child actress in the 1989 Telugu film, Mamatala Kovella (1989).^[1]

She also worked in the Hindi movies Rangbaaz (1996), Jodidar (1997) and Suraj (1997) with Mithun Chakraborty.

In Telugu, Raasi rose to fame with Subhakankshalu (1997). She was labelled "traditional" after Gokulamlo Seeta (1997). Later, hits like Snehithulu (1998), Pandaga (1998), Gilli Kajjalu (1998), Devullu (2000) and proved her mettle as an actress. When Raasi's career started taking a nosedive, she took to doing item numbers in Telugu films like Samudram (1999).^[4]

She debuted her first Tamil film Priyam. Following a prolific year 1996, she received offers including the Vijay-starrer Love Today (1997) and the Ajith Kumar-starrer Rettai Jadai Vayasu (1997). Some of her other movies in Tamil are Periya Idathu Mappillai (1997), Ganga Gowri (1997), Thedinen Vanthathu (1997), Kondattam (1998), Kalyana Galatta (1998), Pudhu Kudithanam (1999), Kannan Varuvaan (2000), Kuberan (2000) and Simmasanam (2000).

She played a negative character in Telugu movie Nijam (2003), which was directed by Teja.^{[citation needed]}

After her marriage, she took a break from acting and made a comeback in character roles.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
1988	Rao Gari Illu	Chitti	Telugu
1988	Kakkothikkavile Appooppan Thaadikal	Young Lakshmi	Malayalam
1989	Mamatala Kovela	Hero's daughter	Telugu
1989	Bala Gopaludu		Telugu
1989	Chettu Kinda Pleader		Telugu
1991	Aditya 369	Kishore's friend	Telugu
1992	Ankuram	Sindhura's sister	Telugu
1994	Palnati Pourusham	Raja Rao's daughter	Telugu	credited as Vijaya
1994	Puttinilla Mettinilla	Lakshmi	Telugu
1996	Oho Naa Pellanta	in a song	Telugu
1996	Priyam	Preetha	Tamil	Debut in a lead role
1996	Angaara	Chutki	Hindi	credited as Vijaya
1996	Rangbaaz		Hindi	credited as Vijaya
1997	Suraj		Hindi	credited as Vijaya
1997	Subhakankshalu	Nandini	Telugu	Debut in Telugu as a lead
1997	Love Today	Preethi	Tamil
1997	Gokulamlo Seetha	Sirisha	Telugu
1997	Periya Idathu Mappillai	Priya	Tamil
1997	Ganga Gowri	Ganga	Tamil
1997	Thedinen Vanthathu	Janaki	Tamil
1997	Rettai Jadai Vayasu	Anjali	Tamil
1997	Pelli Pandiri	Kasthuri	Telugu
1997	Evandi Pelli Chesukondi	Geetha	Telugu
1997	Jodidar	Landlord's daughter	Hindi	credited as Manthra
1998	Kondattam	Vidhya	Tamil
1998	Pandaga	Prameela	Telugu
1998	Vasantha	Vasantha	Telugu	[5]
1998	Suprabhatam	Vasundhara	Telugu
1998	Kalyana Galatta	Pooja	Tamil
1998	Gilli Kajjalu	Sruthi	Telugu
1998	Snehithulu	Mahalakshmi	Telugu
1998	Manasichi Choodu	Yamuna	Telugu
1998	Kalavari Chellelu Kanaka Maha Lakshmi	Roopa	Telugu
1998	Daddy Daddy	Subadhra	Telugu
1999	Neti Gandhi	Bharthi	Telugu
1999	Swapnalokam	Swapna	Telugu
1999	Harischandraa	Nandini	Telugu
1999	Veedu Samanyudu Kadhu	Mythili/Pooja	Telugu
1999	Seenu	Herself	Telugu
1999	Krishna Babu	Shilpa	Telugu
1999	Samudram	Herself	Telugu	Item number
1999	Pudhu Kudithanam	Nila	Tamil
1999	Preyasi Rave	Mahalakshmi	Telugu	Nominated-Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu
1999	Pallavur Devanarayanan	Seethalakshmi	Malayalam	credited as Mantra
1999	AK-47		Telugu
1999	Sneha	Mahalakshmi	Kannada	Debut film
2000	Postman	Sirisha	Telugu
2000	Manasu Paddanu Kaani	Swati	Telugu
2000	Balaram		Telugu
2000	Kannan Varuvaan	Rajeshwari	Tamil
2000	Oke Maata		Telugu
2000	Shivaji		Telugu
2000	Kuberan	Chandra	Tamil
2000	Simmasanam	Manju	Tamil
2000	Moodu Mukkalata	Aliveni	Telugu
2000	Ammo! Okato Tareekhu	Gayatri	Telugu
2000	Devullu	Nirmala	Telugu
2001	Maa Aavida Meeda Ottu Mee Aavida Chala Manchidi	Subhadra	Telugu
2001	Deevinchandi	Lakshmi	Telugu
2001	Cheppalani Vundi	Vani / Rani	Telugu
2001	Akka Bavekkada?	Sowmya	Telugu
2002	Naga Pratista	Naga Lakshmi	Telugu
2002	Raja	Herself	Tamil	Item number
2002	Police Sisters	Ramya	Telugu
2002	2 Much	Geeta	Telugu
2002	Trinetram	Vijaya	Telugu
2002	Jamindaru		Kannada
2002	Sandade Sandadi	Vasundhara	Telugu
2002	Coolie		Telugu
2002	Ninne Preethisuve	Meghamala	Kannada
2003	Nijam	Malli	Telugu
2003	Aalukkoru Aasai	Manthra	Tamil
2003	Raja Narasimha	Mahalakshmi	Kannada
2003	Sriramachandrulu	Sailaja	Telugu
2004	Venky	Herself	Telugu	Special appearance
2004	Oka Pellam Muddu Rendo Pellam Vaddu	Satya	Telugu
2005	Devi Abhayam	Lakshmi	Telugu
2006	Suyetchai MLA		Tamil
2013	Onbadhule Guru	Neelambari	Tamil
2013	Man of the Match		Telugu
2015	Vaalu	Mrs. Stephen	Tamil
2016	Kalyana Vaibhogame	Parimala Devi	Telugu
2016	Kavalai Vendam	Divya's mother	Tamil
2016	Padesave	Swathi's mother	Telugu
2017	Aakatayi	Vikranth's mother	Telugu
2017	Lanka	Rebecca	Telugu

As dubbing artiste

• Keka (2008) for Ishani^{[citation needed]}

Television

• Girija Kalyanam (2020-2021) on Gemini TV
• Janaki Kalaganaledu (2021–2023) on Star Maa

References

1. "ఓహో… అభినయ'రాశి'". NTV (in Telugu). Archived from the original on 12 July 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
2. Prakash, BVS (28 July 2000). "Raasi: An award for Preyasi Raave?". Screen Magazine. Indian Express Group. Archived from the original on 28 April 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
3. kavirayani, suresh (23 April 2017). "Lanka movie review: Raasi's return not a good one!". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
4. "Raasi plays vamp, rockets to the top". Rediff. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
5. "Vasantha film review" (PDF). Zamin Ryot. 1 May 1998. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.

External links

• Raasi at IMDb