Yagna Shetty is an Indian actress known for her work in

Kannada cinema 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'' directed ...

. She made her debut in the 2007 film ''Ondu Preethiya Kathe'', following which she appeared in ''

Eddelu Manjunatha ''Eddelu Manjunatha'' ( kn, ಎದ್ದೇಳು ಮಂಜುನಾಥ, ''Wake Up Manjunatha'') is a 2009 Indian Kannada language cult black comedy film written and directed by Guruprasad, and produced by journalist and director V. Sanath Kum ...

'', a performance that won her a

Filmfare Special Award The Filmfare Special Award or Special Performance Award or Special Mention or Special Jury Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. It acknowledges a special and unique performance and encoura ...

. She got noticed for her performances in ''

Sugreeva ''This character is about the vanara, in the Ramayana.'' Sugriva ( sa, सुग्रीव, , ) is a character In the ancient Indian epic Ramayana. He is the younger brother of Vali, whom he succeeded as ruler of the vanara kingdom of Kish ...

'' (2010) and ''Allide Nammane Ille Bande Summane'' (2011). Known for portraying deglamorous and serious roles, she went on to appear in other critical and commercial successes such as ''

Love Guru Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...

'' (2009), '' Kalla Malla Sulla'' (2011) and ''

Ulidavaru Kandanthe ''Ulidavaru Kandante'' (English: As Seen by the Rest) is a 2014 Indian Kannada-language neo-noir hyperlink gangster film written and directed by debutant Rakshit Shetty. Shetty appears in the lead role, along with Kishore, Tara, Achyuth Kumar ...

'' (2014). She made her television debut in 2016 with ''Vaarasdaara''.

Early life

Yagna Shetty was born to Umesh Shetty and Jayanti Shetty, into the Tuluva community in

Kudremukh Kudremukha(ಕುದುರೆ ಮುಖ) is a mountain range and name of a peak located in Chikkamagaluru district, in Karnataka, India. It is also the name of a small hill station iron ore mining town situated near the mountain, about 20 kilo ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. She has three siblings – Mahalaxmi, Gayatri and Ashwini. She completed her schooling at the Kendriya School in

Panambur Panambur is one of the localities in Mangalore famous as a tourist spot and also a major industrial area. Panambur is also the site of Karnataka's only major port New Mangalore Port. Other major industries, namely Mangalore Chemicals & Fertil ...

Bachelor of Business Management Bachelor of Business Management (BBM), sometimes known as a Bachelor of Management Studies, is an undergraduate program of four years. The BBM degree is designed to teach students the skills necessary to perform leadership roles in the business and ...

(BBM) course at the SDM College in

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

and later pursued

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(MBA) in Finance at the

Manipal University Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) is a private deemed university located in Manipal, India. The university also has campuses in Mangalore, Bangalore and Jamshedpur in India , and global campus in Dubai and Malacca (Malaysia). As of ...

Career

Debut–2013

Shetty auditioned for her debut role in the 2007

Kannada language Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native sp ...

film ''Ondu Preethiya Kathe'' in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

due to her non fluency in Kannada at the time. She was cast as the female lead opposite Shanker Aryan. The film received positive reviews from critics, with Shetty's performance receiving praise. ''

Rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

'' in its review called it a "promising debut". In 2009, she starred in two films, ''

'' and ''

'', and received critical acclaim for her performances in both the films. For her portrayal of Gowri in the comedy film ''Eddelu Manjunatha'', the wife of Manjunatha (played by

Jaggesh Jaggesh is an Indian politician, actor, director and producer, who mainly works in the Kannada film industry. He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka since 2022 and the spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnata ...

), a hard working woman struggling to make ends meet, she received the

. For her performance in the latter film, received a

Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by '' Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. Although the Filmf ...

nomination. Shetty had two releases in 2010. Her first role was in ''

'', in which she was cast opposite

Shiva Rajkumar 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.

as his wife and of a mother to a wannabe

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

. ''Rediff'' called her performance in the film "convincing". In her next release ''

Kari Chirathe ''Kari Chirathe'' ( kn, ಕರಿ ಚರಿತೆ) is a 2010 Indian Kannada-language film directed by K Madesh, starring Duniya Vijay, Sharmila Mandre, Yagna Shetty and Rangayana Raghu in lead roles. Cast * Duniya Vijay as Madha * Sharmila ...

'', she played the role of Bharathi, who falls in love with a mentally unstable person (played by

Duniya Vijay B R Vijay Kumar, who is professionally known as Duniya Vijay and Duniya Viji, is an Indian actor who appears in Kannada films. He began his career playing small roles until he got his big break in '' Duniya'' (2007). He is noted for his perform ...

). 2011 saw three releases of Shetty, among which was the comedy film '' Kalla Malla Sulla'', a performance for which she received critical acclaim, playing the role of the wife of a media baron (played by

Ramesh Arvind Ramesh Aravind is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada films and television. In a career of over 34 years, Aravind has been appeared in over 140 films including several Tamil and T ...

2014–present

Shetty's first release of 2014 was ''Kwatle'', a film that was received largely negative reviews from critics. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' in its review called her performance "a complete failure". In her next film, she starred in a supporting role as Sharada, a fishwife and the love interest of Munna (played by Kishore) in ''

'', a critical success but however failed to perform commercially. In her final release of 2014, she played Yagna in ''Sadagara'', which received mixed reviews from critics. As of March 2015, Shetty has the delayed project ''Love Junction'', ''H/34 Pallavi Talkies'' and ''Octopus'' up for release. She is currently filming with ''Ramabai'', playing the titular role, a biographical film on the life of Ramabai, the first wife of social reformer

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

and

Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...

's ''

Killing Veerappan ''Killing Veerappan'' is a 2016 Indian Kannada-language biographical crime film directed by Ram Gopal Varma, who co-wrote the film with K. Balaji. The film is based on the events leading to Operation Cocoon to capture or kill Indian bandit Veer ...

'' as

Muthulakshmi Muthulakshmi is the widow of Veerappan, sandalwood smuggler who was killed by Special Task Force police in 2004. She lived in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. She was born in Neruppore village, Dharmapuri District to a farming family. Wife of Veerappan ...

, the wife of slain forest brigand,

Veerappan Koose Munisamy Veerappan (18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004) was an Indian bandit turned domestic terrorist who was active for 36 years, and kidnapped major politicians for ransom. He was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching o ...

. In 2016, Shetty made her debut in television with the soap opera, ''Vaarasdaara''. Dealing with the issue of

female infanticide Female infanticide is the deliberate killing of newborn female children. In countries with a history of female infanticide, the modern practice of gender-selective abortion is often discussed as a closely related issue. Female infanticide is a ma ...

, she plays the role of a mother in the soap.

Personal life

Yagna Shetty married Sandeep Shetty on 30 October 2019 in Mangalore.

Filmography

Films

Television

* ''Vaarasdaara'' (2016–2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shetty, Yagna Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema People from Chikkamagaluru district Tulu people Living people Filmfare Awards South winners Indian film actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Manipal Academy of Higher Education alumni Indian television actresses Actresses in Telugu television Year of birth missing (living people)