Rukmini Vasanth

Rukmini Vasanth is an Indian actress who works in Kannada, Telugu, and Tamil films. She made her debut into films with the Kannada movie Birbal. Rukmini had her acting breakthrough with the 2023 two-part Kannada romantic drama Sapta Saagaradaache Ello: Side A and Sapta Saagaradaache Ello: Side B for which she won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Kannada. Her performance in the 2025 film Kantara: Chapter 1 was highly appreciated, with the film eventually becoming her most successful and highest-grossing film to date.

Early life Rukmini Vasanth was born into a Kannada family in Bengaluru. Her father, Colonel Vasanth Venugopal, is Karnataka's first recipient of India's highest peacetime military decoration, the Ashoka Chakra. He was killed in action in 2007 while preventing heavily armed Pakistani terrorists from Pakistan crossing the India-Pakistan border at Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. Her mother, Subhashini Vasanth, is an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer who has set up a foundation, named Veer Ratna, to support war widows in Karnataka.

Rukmini was educated at Army School, Air Force School and Centre for Learning in Bangalore. She obtained an acting degree from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in Bloomsbury, London.

Career Rukmini made her debut with the 2019 Kannada film Birbal Trilogy opposite M. G. Srinivas.

Rukmini played Priya opposite Rakshit Shetty, in the 2023 films, Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side A and Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side B, which found commercial success. A. Sharadhaa of The New Indian Express noted, "Rukmini effortlessly emerges as the luminary, and she doles out a remarkable performance as Priya," For this role, she won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Kannada. The same year, she appeared opposite Ganesh, in Baanadariyalli.

In 2024, Rukmini appeared in two successful Kannada films, Bagheera opposite Sriimurali, and Bhairathi Ranagal opposite Shiva Rajkumar. She also made her Telugu film debut with Appudo Ippudo Eppudo opposite Nikhil Siddhartha.

In 2025, she ventured into Tamil cinema with Ace, playing the role of Rukku opposite Vijay Sethupathi, and co-starring Sivakarthikeyan in Madharaasi, directed by A. R. Murugadoss. Both Ace and Madharaasi failed at the box office, though her performance was well received in both the films. The same year, she returned to Kannada cinema with the film Kantara: Chapter 1, a prequel to the film Kantara (2022). This became her highest grossing and most successful film; in a review of the film for The Hindu, Vivek M.V. stated: "Rukmini Vasanth, in her first role that pushes her abilities since the Sapta Sagaradaache Ello films, stands out with strong dialogue delivery."

She is also a part of the ensemble cast announced for Geetu Mohandas's upcoming film Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, alongside Yash.

Filmography

+ List of Rukmini Vasanth film credits Year Title Role Language Notes 2019 Birbal Trilogy Jahnvi Kannada 2023 Sapta Saagaradaache Ello: Side A Priya Kannada Sapta Saagaradaache Ello: Side B Baanadariyalli Leela 2024 Bagheera Dr. Sneha Bhairathi Ranagal Dr. Vaishali Appudo Ippudo EppudoTaraTelugu 2025 Ace RukkuTamil MadharaasiMalathy Kantara: Chapter 1KanakavathiKannada 2026 Toxic MellisaKannadaEnglishBilingual film 2027 TeluguFilming TamilFilming MalayalamFilming

Awards and nominations