Shweta Basu Prasad


Shweta Basu Prasad is an Indian film actress. She started her career as a child actress in Hindi films and television series and went on to play lead roles in Bengali, Telugu, and Tamil cinema. For her performance in the 2002 film Makdee, she won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist.

Personal life

Shweta Basu Prasad was born in Jamshedpur on January 11, 1991 in Jharkhand and later migrated with her family to Bombay when she was a child. Her father, Anuj Prasad, is from Bihar, while her mother, Sarmishta Basu Prasad, is from West Bengal.
Shweta's grandfather retired as a chief operating officer in the Intelligence Bureau, New Delhi. Her father is a direction and acting diploma holder from Shreeram Centre, New Delhi. They later settled in Jamshedpur, where he married Shweta's mother, musician and writer Sarmistha, after 1 year's courtship in 1990, and they had Shweta the following year.
Shweta studied commerce in the R. N. Podar High School, Santacruz, Mumbai and completed her graduation in mass media and journalism. She wrote columns for The Indian Express.
She added her mother's maiden name Basu to her screen name, and she married filmmaker Rohit Mittal on 13 December 2018. She announced their separation on Instagram on 10 December 2019.

Career

Shweta began her career at a very tender age. She started in television but soon moved to Bollywood. Her film debut in 2002 was with a double role in Makdee for which she got the National Award for Best Child Actress. After her success on the silver screen, she got offers from television series such as Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii and Karishma Kaa Karishma.
In 2005, her talent was again recognized by director Nagesh Kukunoor and he offered her the film Iqbal , and she became a household name with the role of “Khadija” in the film. She won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 5th Karachi International Film Festival for Iqbal.
Shweta took a break after Iqbal and continued her studies. She is a graduate in Journalism and Mass Media, and after her studies, she made a documentary on Indian Classical Music featuring the legends of the music industry. Shweta spent four years between 2012 and 2016 researching and making this documentary film, which features music giants like Shubha Mudgal, A R Rahman, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Vishal Bhardwaj, Amit Trivedi and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan among many other legends. The film also has a ten-minute animation bit showing a 5000-year history of Indian music. Shweta, who is herself trained in playing the Sitar, is a classical music enthusiast and made this project from her own pocket out of passion, and this documentary film, Roots, is now available on Netflix.
Shweta made her debut in Telugu cinema in 2008, with the film Kotha Bangaru Lokam. She has made eight movies in Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali so far.
Apart from films and television, Shweta has explored behind-the-camera work, and worked as a script consultant at Phantom films.
Shweta has made her grand comeback with the Balaji Telefilms television series Chandra Nandni as leading actress Nandni, and her next Hindi film outing would be Badrinath Ki Dulhania by Dharma Productions.
Shweta was recently seen in Bollywood film The Tashkent Files directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The suspense drama thriller is based on the death of India's Second Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri. Shweta plays a rookie journalist and central protagonist named Ragini Phule. Shweta has received critical praise and acclaim from the critics and audiences alike. The film was received well commercially and has been hailed as a surprise box office success of 2019, after successfully making a 50-day Box Office run.

Filmography

Denotes films that have not yet been released

;Films
YearTitleRoleLanguageNotes
2002MakdeeChunni/MunniHindi
2005IqbalKhadijaHindi
2005Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!ShwetaHindi
2006Darna Zaroori HaiAshuHindi
2008Kotha Bangaru LokamSwapnaTelugu
2008AnuBengali
2009KaskoKrishnaveniTelugu
2009RideRaniTelugu
2010Kalavar KingShruthiTelugu
2011Raa RaaGayathriTamil
2011PriyuduShwetaTeluguCameo
2012Nuvvekkadunte NenakkaduntaHarithaTelugu
2012MaiTamil
2013ChandhamamaMaryTamil
2017Badrinath Ki DulhaniaUrmila Shukla BansalHindi
2018Mard Ko Dard Nahi HotaAaiHindicameo
2019The Tashkent FilesRaagini PhuleHindi
2020ShukranuReemaHindion Zee5

;Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
2002Kahaani Ghar Ghar KiiShruti
2003-2004Karishma Kaa KarishmaSweety
2016Super 2ContestantEliminated on 15th week
2016-2017Chandra NandiniMaharani Nandini / Roopa
2018GangstarsAishwaryaAmazon TV Web Series
2019FlipAuntWeb Series

;Other Works

Awards

;Film
YearAwardCategoryFilmResult
2002National Film AwardsBest Child ArtistMakdee
2002Star Screen AwardsBest Child ActorMakdee
2002IIFA AwardsBest Child ActorMakdee
2002Disney AwardsChildren's ChoiceMakdee
2005Star Screen AwardsBest Supporting ActressIqbal
2005Karachi International Film FestivalBest Supporting ActressIqbal
2005Pogo AwardsChildren's ChoiceIqbal
2005Zee Cine AwardsBest Actress- CriticsIqbal
2005IIFA AwardsBest Supporting ActressIqbal
2008Santosham AwardsBest Debut FemaleKotha Bangaru Lokam
2008Filmfare AwardBest ActressKotha Bangaru Lokam

Controversy

Shweta Basu Prasad was held by Hyderabad police for questioning on August 31, 2014 for being involved in a high-profile prostitution racket.. She completely denied her involvement in the case.As she gave interview about the raid after coming back from the rescue centre, that she was a victim and went to hyderabad to attend an award ceremony.
According to her "I came home on Friday. I've no complaints against anyone except the journalist who during my hour of crisis made up a statement attributed to me. That statement was circulated everywhere. I had no idea about it as I had no access to newspapers or websites for two months. It's only now that I came to know of this," said the actress, and added, "I was in custody. I wasn't allowed to speak to my mother and father, then how would I speak to the media? Whoever made up that statement damaged my reputation by saying that all doors were closed on me - no such thing has happened and the film industry has always been very warm and welcoming to me - and that "people encouraged me to get into prostitution to earn money". These are outrageous lies that I never uttered."