Sanjjanaa Galrani is an Indian model and actress who made her film debut in the 2005

Telugu film Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

Soggadu. She is known for her role in the

Kannada film Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...

Ganda Hendathi ''Ganda Hendathi'' () is a 2006 Indian Kannada-language erotic thriller film, directed by Ravi Shrivatsa and produced by Shailendra Babu. The film stars newcomers Vishal Hegde, Sanjjanaa and Thilak Shekar. The film is a remake of Hindi hit fi ...

'' (2006). She played a supporting role in the 2008 Telugu film '' Bujjigadu'' starring

Prabhas Uppalapati Venkata Suryanarayana Prabhas Raju (born 23 October 1979), known mononymously as Prabhas (), is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. One of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema, Prabhas has featured in '' F ...

. In 2017, she played Chandri in the Kannada crime drama ''

Dandupalya 2 ''Dandupalya 2'' is a 2017 Indian Kannada-language crime thriller directed by Srinivas Raju and produced by Venkat. Based on the infamous dacoit gang from Dandupalya, the film is a sequel to the 2012 film '' Dandupalya''. The film stars Pooja ...

''.

Early life

Brought up in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

, Galrani is of Sindhi origin. When she was doing her PUC, she received her first modelling offer. She continued her studies while working as a part-time model. She appeared in over 60 television advertisements, the most notable being a Fastrack advertisement with

John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations. After modelling for advertisements and companies, ...

. She has a sister, Nikki Galrani, who is also an actress.

Career

Debut (2005)

After appearing in advertisements and as child artist in roles in the films ''Soggadu'' and ''Panduranga Vittala'', she got her first starring role in ''

''. Her first release, however, was the Tamil feature film, ''

Oru Kadhal Seiveer ''Oru Kadhal Seiveer'' is a 2006 Indian Tamil language romantic thriller film directed by Ravi Bhargavan. The film stars Santhosh, Archana Galrani and Krishna, with Chandrasekhar, Sabitha Anand, Ilavarasu, Jothisha, Meenakshi, Sundari and K ...

''. S R Ashok Kumar of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' noted that Galrani, then credited under her birth name, was "very beautiful but has to work on her acting". ''

'', a Kannada remake of the Hindi film '' Murder'' (2004), itself an adaptation of the Hollywood film '' Unfaithful'' (2002). The film was released in Telugu as ''Mogudu Pellam O Boy Friend''. While

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...

wrote, "Sanjjanaa has made a decent debut and she is extremely daring and does justice to her role". In 2008, she made her official Telugu film debut in

Puri Jagannadh Petla "Puri" Jagannadh (born 28 September 1966) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who works primarily in the Telugu film Industry. He made his directorial debut with the Telugu film '' Badri'' starring Pawan Kalyan, Renu ...

's '' Bujjigadu'', in which she played the role of Kangana alongside

and

Trisha Krishnan Trisha Krishnan (born 4 May 1983), known mononymously as Trisha, is an Indian actress and model, who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu films. She was noticed after winning Miss Chennai contest (1999), which marked her entry into the fil ...

. Although this was a supporting role, it gained her considerable attention and popularity. In 2010, she was seen in the Telugu film ''

Police Police ''Police Police'' is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language buddy cop film directed by Manmohan Challa and produced by Chandu, Mohan Rao Kalyan Patil and Bhaskar Kandagatla. The film stars Srikanth (Tamil actor, born 1979), Sriram, Prithviraj Sukumaran ( ...

'', which was followed by a

cameo role A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

in ''

Huduga Hudugi ''Huduga Hudugi'' is a 2010 Kannada-language comedy film written and directed by Indrajit Lankesh. The film features Dhyan and Lekha Washington in the lead roles, whilst other noted actresses play roles in the film. The film was launched in 2008 ...

''. Her final release of that year was ''

Mylari ''Mylari'' ( kn, ಮೈಲಾರಿ) is a 2010 Kannada film that has Shiva Rajkumar and Sadha in the lead and is directed by R. Chandru of ''Taj Mahal'' (movie) fame. Cast * Shiva Rajkumar as Mylari * Sadha as Anitha * Sanjjanaa Galrani ...

'' with Shivrajkumar, in which she played a journalist and was featured in a special song opposite

Shivrajkumar Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy (born 12 July 1962) known by his screen name Shiva Rajkumar, is an Indian actor, producer and television presenter, predominantly works in Kannada cinema.

. The film's success gained her offers in Kannada cinema. She won the Bangalore Times Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role Female in 2012 for ''

I Am Sorry Mathe Banni Preethsona ''I Am Sorry Mathe Banni Preethsona'' is a 2011 Kannada language romance film directed by Ravindra H P Das . It stars Prem Kumar and Karishma Tanna in lead roles. The music is composed by Anoop Seelin . Vinay Narkar has jointly produced the f ...

''. In January 2012, she played one of the lead female roles in ''

Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

'', her maiden Malayalam venture. Reportedly the costliest Malayalam production of all time, and co-starring

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically app ...

and

Shriya Saran Shriya Saran Bhatnagar (; born 11 September 1982) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi-language films. Although Saran aspired to become a well-known dancer, she became an actress with her film debut in 2001 ...

, the film saw Galrani portray a

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

dancer. Director

Rosshan Andrrews Rosshan Andrrews (born 6 January 1975) is an Indian film director who mainly works in Malayalam cinema. Biography Rosshan Andrrews was born to Moolakuzhi Nedumparampil Andrews and Burney. He attended St. Aloysious Thrissur and Cochin College, E ...

signed her for the particular role, since she was trained in salsa. Her last release is her second Malayalam film, the

Shaji Kailas Shaji Kailas (born 8 February 1965) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works in Malayalam cinema. Shaji got a breakthrough with the comedy film '' Dr. Pasupathy'' (1990). He is best known for his action films with ma ...

directed '' The King & the Commissioner'', co-starring

Mammooty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, H ...

and

Suresh Gopi Suresh Gopi (born 26 June 1958) is an Indian actor, politician, playback singer and television presenter. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in some Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bollywood films. Suresh made his acti ...

. Later in 2012 she appeared in films including ''

Narasimha Narasimha ( sa, नरसिंह, lit=man-lion, ), sometimes rendered Narasingha, is the fourth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is regarded to have incarnated in the form of a part-lion, part-man being to slay Hiranyakashipu, to end rel ...

'', ''

Ondu Kshanadalli ''Ondu Kshanadalli'' ( kn, ಒಂದು ಕ್ಷಣದಲ್ಲಿ) is a 2012 Indian Kannada romantic drama film starring Tarun Chandra, Sanjjanaa and Bhama in the lead roles. The Story, screenplay, dialogues and Direction is by Dinesh Babu. ...

'', '' Sagar'', all of which being Kannada projects, and ''Yamaho Yama''. In 2013 she appeared in ''Jagan Nirdoshi'' in Telugu which was made under Padmalaya Films and in ''Mahanadhi'' in Kannada, which was her first heroine-centric film. She was then seen in '' Nenem…Chinna Pillana?'' She is currently filming for a Telugu film, ''Saradha'', directed by RP Patnaik.

Controversy

Galrani was arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Karnataka Police on 8 September 2020 in connection with the investigation into the drug racket involving the Kannada film industry. She is the second actor to be arrested by the CCB after

Ragini Dwivedi Ragini Dwivedi (born 24 May 1990) is an Indian actress and model who works primarily in Kannada films. She made her entry to filmdom with ''Veera Madakari'' (2009). She rose to fame starring in successful Kannada language films, ''Kempe Gowda' ...

. Her bail application was denied several times by the courts, with the CCB claiming that she has admitted to being part of the drug racket. She was later granted bail after spending 3 months in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

Personal life

She secretly married a Bangalore-based vascular surgeon Azeez Pasha in intimate function.

Filmography

Film

Web Series

*2020 : ''Shit Happens'' (Telugu) *2019: ''Aivar'' (Tamil)

Television

* Sanjana was a contestant on ''

Bigg Boss Kannada ''Bigg Boss Kannada (BBK)'' is the Kannada version of the reality TV show Bigg Boss which is broadcast in India through Colors Kannada Channel. The show is produced by Endemol Shine India, who owns the global format of Big Brother. Kiccha ...

'' in its debut season. * Smart Show (Malayalam game show) * Swarna Khadgam/Illayathalapathy as Queen Mahadatri. Produced by

Arka Media Works Arka Media Works is an Indian film production and trans-media company based out of Hyderabad, known for their works in Television and Telugu cinema. Founded in 2001 by Shobu Yarlagadda, and Prasad Devineni Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devin ...

and directed by Yata Satya Narayana. * Galrani was a contestant of the Hindi reality TV show ''

Mujhse Shaadi Karoge ''Mujhse Shaadi Karoge'' ( Will you marry me?) is an Indian reality television series that premiered on 17 February 2020 on Colors TV. Hosted by Gautam Gulati (formerly Manish Paul), starring Paras Chhabra and Shehnaaz Kaur Gill who try to find ...

''.

Awards

* Best Actor in a Negative Role Female for ''Mathe Banni Preethsona'' – The Bangalore Times Film Awards 2011 * In 2015, she entered into the ''Limca Book of World Records'' by cycling for 104 hours. * She was given the Celebrity Social Media Icon 2016 award by GMASA.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Galrani, Sanjjanaa 1983 births Living people Actresses from Bangalore Female models from Bangalore Sindhi people Indian film actresses Indian television actresses Indian web series actresses Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Telugu television Bigg Boss Kannada contestants Salsa dancers Indian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of India 21st-century Indian actresses