Shweta Basu Prasad

Shweta Basu Prasad (born 11 January 1991) is an Indian actress known for her works in television, Hindi cinema, Telugu cinema and Tamil cinema. She won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for her role in Makdee (2002). After Iqbal (2005), she transitioned to adult roles and found success with Kotha Bangaru Lokam (2008), The Tashkent Files (2019), and OTT platform films and web series such as Serious Men (2020), Criminal Justice (Season 3, 2022), India Lockdown (2022), Jubilee (2023) and Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper (2024).

Shweta Basu Prasad
At a restaurant launch in Mumbai, 2017
Born	(1991-01-11) 11 January 1991 (age 33) Jamshedpur, Bihar, (present-day Jharkhand), India
Occupation(s)	Actress, film maker
Years active	2002 – present
Spouse	Rohit Mittal ​ ​ (m. 2018; div. 2019)​
Awards	section on awards

Shweta has also worked in Bengali language films. She made a documentary on Indian classical music, and has produced and written for short films. She made her directoral debut with the short film Retake in 2023.

Education and early career

Shweta Prasad was born on 11 January 1991 in Jamshedpur, in Bihar (now in Jharkhand).^[1][2] She migrated to Mumbai with her family while still a child.^[3] Basu is her mother's maiden name and Prasad is her father's surname.^[4] In her earlier films she was credited as Shweta Prasad; later, she added her mother's maiden name to her screen name.^[5]

Shweta studied commerce at the R. N. Podar High School, Santacruz, Mumbai, and completed her graduation in mass media and journalism. She has written columns for The Indian Express.^[6]

President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presenting the Best Child Artist Award for the year 2002 to Shweta Prasad (right) for her role in Makdee at the 50th National Film Awards

Shweta made her film debut in 2002 with a double role in Makdee for which she got the National Award for Best Child Actress. She then got offers from television series Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii and Karishma Kaa Karishma. In 2005, director Nagesh Kukunoor 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.^[7][1]

She took a break after Iqbal and continued her studies.^[8] She is a graduate in Journalism and Mass Media, and after her studies, she made a documentary Roots, 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 personalities like Shubha Mudgal, A R Rahman, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Vishal Bhardwaj, Amit Trivedi and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. 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.^[9] During the time, she worked as a script consultant at Phantom Films for an year.^[10][11]

Television and later film career

Shweta made her debut in Telugu cinema in 2008, with the film Kotha Bangaru Lokam.^[12] She has also done movies in Tamil and Bengali.^[2][1]

She played the leading role of Nandini, wife of Chandragupta Maurya, in the television series Chandra Nandni (2016–2017). She said that this marked her comeback to television.^[13]

Her next Hindi film outing was Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017) by Dharma Productions.^[14]

Shweta played a rookie journalist and central protagonist in The Tashkent Files (2019), a suspense drama thriller based on the death of India's second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. She received critical praise and acclaim from critics and audiences alike.^[15] The film was received well commercially and was hailed as a surprise box office success of 2019,^[16] after successfully making a 50-day Box Office run.

Shweta has worked on OTT films and series, Serious Men,^[17] Comedy Couple,^[18] and High^[19] in 2020, Ray (2021),^[20] Jamun (2021),^[21] Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach (season 3, 2022),^[22] and Jubilee (2023).^[23]

Shweta has acted in short films Interior Café: Night, which she also produced,^[24] Visa, Chubhan, and The Lovers. She made her directorial debut with the short film Retake, that she wrote as well. The film has Anupam Kher in the lead, and made its American premiere in the short films category at the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) in May 2023.^[25][26]

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
2002	Makdee	Chunni / Munni	Hindi	Dual role; Child actress
2005	Iqbal	Khadija	Hindi	lead actress
	Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!	Shweta
2006	Darna Zaroori Hai	Ashu	Hindi
2008	Ek Nadir Galpo	Anu	Bengali	Bengali Debut
	Kotha Bangaru Lokam	Swapna	Telugu	Telugu Debut
2009	Ride	Rani	Telugu
	Kasko	RJ Krishnaveni
2010	Kalavar King	Shruti	Telugu
2011	Raa Raa	Gayathri	Tamil	Tamil Debut
	Priyudu		Telugu
	Genius			Item song "Dibiri Dibiri"
2012	Mai		Tamil	[citation needed]
2013	Chandhamama	Mary	Tamil
2014	Interior Café: Night	Young girl	Hindi	Short film[27]
2017	Badrinath Ki Dulhania	Urmila Shukla Bansal	Hindi
	Visa	Tejaswini	Hindi /English	Short film[28]
2018	Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota	Aai (mother)	Hindi
	Vijetha		Telugu
	Megalopolis	Svetlana	Hindi
2019	The Tashkent Files	Raagini Phule	Hindi
	Chubhan	Meghna		Short film
2020	Shukranu	Reema	Hindi	ZEE5 film
	The Lovers	Nitya		Short film[29]
	Serious Men	Anuja Dhavre	Hindi	Netflix film[17]
	Comedy Couple	Zoya Batra		ZEE5 film[18]
2021	Jamun	Chetna	Hindi	Eros Now release[21]
2022	India Lockdown	Mehrunissa	Hindi	ZEE5 film

Television

Year	Work	Role	Network	Notes
1998	X Zone	Young Anu	Zee TV	Episode 94
2000-2008	Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii	Young Shruti Aggarwal	Star Plus	2 episode
2001- 2003	Kutumb	Vanshita	Sony TV	250 episode
2002	Koshish - Ek Aashaa	Kajal's Daughter, 2002)	Zee TV	1 episode
2003-2004	Karishma Kaa Karishma	Sweety	Star Plus	65 episode
2003	The Magic Make-Up Box	Maya	Zee TV	33 episode
2015 2016	Darr Sabko Lagta Hai	Pangkhuri	&TV	1 episode
2016- 2017	Chandra Nandini	Nandini Maurya	Star Plus	Main role
2018	Gangstars	Aishwarya	Amazon Video	Telugu series
2019	Flip			Mini series
2019- 2020	Hostages	Shikha Pandey	Disney+ Hotstar	Main role, season 2
2020	Dr Donn		ALTBalaji
2020–present	High	Dr. Shweta	MX Player	[19]
2021	Ray	Maggie	Netflix[20]	episode: "Forget Me Not"
2022	Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach	Lekha	Disney+Hotstar	[22]
2023	Jubilee	Ratna Das	Amazon Prime Video	[23]
2024	Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper	Shobha Pathak	Netflix

Personal life

In September 2014, Shweta was arrested from a hotel in Hyderabad after a police raid. She was detained by the police on charges of prostitution, and sent to a rescue home,^[30] where she was held for two months.^[31][32] In December 2014, the Metropolitan Sessions Court, Nampally, Hyderabad, withdrew all charges against her. After her release, she issued an open letter to the media clarifying as false and misleading, a statement attributed to her by a journalist at the time of the arrest.^[30] In the letter, she said during the time of the arrest, she was attending the Santosham Film Awards event and staying at the hotel arranged by the organizers.^[33]

She married filmmaker Rohit Mittal on 13 December 2018.^[34] She announced their separation on Instagram on 10 December 2019.^[35][36]

Awards

Year	Film	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2003	Makdee	50th National Film Awards	Best Child Artist	Won	[37]
2006	Iqbal	Zee Cine Awards	Best Actress (Critics)	Won	[38]
		Screen Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Won	[citation needed]
		51st Filmfare Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated	[39]
2007		5th Karachi International Film Festival	Best Supporting Actress	Won	[7]
2009	Kotha Bangaru Lokam	56th Filmfare Awards South	Best Actress – Telugu	Nominated	[40]
2009		Santosham Film Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	[citation needed]

References

1. Ananya Swaroop (11 January 2021). "Shweta Basu Prasad Birthday: Makdee, Iqbal, Shukranu – 5 Films Starring the Actress That You Should Definitely Watch!". Yahoo!. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
2. "Birthday Special: Shweta Basu Prasad turns a year older; posts a picture wishing herself". The Times of India. 11 January 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
3. "Shweta Basu Prasad: A Former Child Star's Fall From Grace". ndtv.com. NDTV. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
4. Sudeshna Banerjee (7 December 2022). "Shweta Basu Prasad on her turn as a sex worker in 'India Lockdown'". The Telegraph (India). Retrieved 27 April 2023.
5. Shweta Prasad's name games. Hindustan Times (26 November 2007). Retrieved 21 June 2012.
6. "Shweta Basu Prasad columns". 19 November 2017.
7. Priyanka Dasgupta (21 January 2006). "An award is like a candy". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
8. "Here's Why Shweta Basu Prasad Took a Break from Acting Despite the Success of Makdee, Iqbal". News18. 19 April 2019.
9. "Makdee star Shweta Basu Prasad makes a documentary about classical music". Hindustan Times. 9 February 2017.
10. Priyanka Bhadani (12 December 2014). "Shweta Prasad Basu associates with Phantom Films as a script consultant". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014.
11. Natasha Coutinho (1 November 2015). "Second coming for Shweta Basu". asianage.com. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
12. Satya B (4 February 2021). "My Divorce Felt More Like A Break Up". gulte.com. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
13. "Ekta Kapoor brings the untold tale of Chandragupta Maurya and his queen Nandini". The Times of India. 22 September 2016.
14. "Shweta Basu Prasad calls prostitution controversy nazar ka kaala tikka of her life". The Times of India.
15. Hungama, Bollywood (12 April 2019). "The Tashkent Files Review 1.5/5 | Film Review". Bollywood Hungama.
16. Hungama, Bollywood (25 April 2019). "The Tashkent Files Box Office Collections – The Tashkent Files continues with good momentum, should find screens in third week too :Bollywood Box Office - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama.
17. "Serious Men teaser: Nawazuddin Siddiqui takes charge of his son's destiny in 30-second video, watch". Hindustan Times. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
18. "Comedy Couple movie review: Saqib Saleem, Shweta Basu Prasad attempt to dial up the funny". Hindustan Times. 21 October 2020.
19. Ritika Handoo (9 October 2009). "High review: The web-series is a trip on the wild side". india.com. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
20. Srivastava, Samriddhi (8 June 2021). "Ray trailer out. Manoj Bajpayee, Ali Fazal lead the cast of Netflix anthology". India Today.
21. "'Jamun' trailer: Raghubir Yadav and Shweta Basu Prasad play father and daughter". scroll.in. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
22. Abhimanyu Mathur (26 August 2022). "Criminal Justice Adhura Sach review: Pankaj Tripathi sleepwalks through this boring, predictable murder mystery". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
23. Ronak Kotecha (7 April 2023). "Jubilee Season 1 Review : An enchantingly dark tale of Bollywood's golden era". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
24. HT Correspondent, New Delhi (19 July 2016). "Remember Shweta Basu Prasad? Watch her new short film with Naseeruddin Shah". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 19 May 2023. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
25. Keerti Kadam (12 April 2023). "Written and directed by Shweta Basu Prasad 'Retake' to be premiered at the NYIFF!". cinebuster.in. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
26. Subhash K Jha (12 April 2023). "Applause Entertainment's Retake to be premiered at The New York Indian Film Festival". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
27. Tatsam Mukherjee (20 July 2016). "Interior Cafe Night review: On Naseeruddin Shah's birthday, a return gift for his fans". indiatoday.in. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
28. Sanya Jain (20 March 2017). "This Short Film Has A Big Message On The Refugee Crisis". ndtv.com. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
29. "Anuraag Malhan shares his interest in skills apart from acting". The Times of India. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
30. Express News Service (9 December 2014). "Well done! You created a mess in my very life, says Shweta Basu Prasad in her open letter to media". The Indian Express. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
31. "When Shweta Basu Prasad slammed those who circulated false statement of her when her name cropped up in alleged prostitution scandal". The Times of India. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
32. Gitanjali Roy (8 December 2014). "Shweta Basu Prasad on Prostitution Scandal: Prove There Were Businessmen With me in Room". ndtv.com. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
33. "I'm a victim in the whole situation: Shweta Basu Prasad on prostitution scandal". India Today. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
34. "Trending Pics From Actress Shweta Basu Prasad's Wedding". NDTV.com. 13 December 2018.
35. "Shweta Basu Prasad Announces Separation from Husband Rohit Mittal in Less Than a Year of Marriage". News18. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
36. "Shweta Basu Prasad talks about divorce with Rohit Mittal: 'We've filed for a legal separation, are perfectly cordial'". Hindustan Times.
37. "50th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
38. Zee Cine Awards 2006 Best Actress Critics Shweta Prasad (video). Zee Cine Awards. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
39. "Filmfare Awards Winners 2006: Complete list of winners of Filmfare Awards 2006". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
40. "56th Idea Filmfare Awards 2008 South: The winners". The Times of India. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2021.

External links

• Shweta Basu Prasad at IMDb 
• Shweta Basu Prasad at Bollywood Hungama