Soumya Bollapragada

Soumya Bollapragada
Born26 June 1985[1]
Nagpur, Maharashtra, India[1]
Occupations
  • Film actress
  • model
  • writer
  • director
Years active2005–present
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]

Soumya Bollapragada is an Indian actress, writer, director and a Miss India Finalist. She is the niece of actress Gautami and great-granddaughter of the Indian thinker U.G.Krishnamurti and has acted in Telugu films primarily. She also is related to Nirmala Sitaraman through her mother. Soumya is also the Rakhi sister of Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil the first openly gay Prince in the world; belonging to Rajpipla in Gujarat.[2][3]

Life and career

Her father Divakar[4] was an engineer in the Merchant Navy, her mother a housewife and she has a younger brother Sourabh who did his Masters Degree in CS from Northeastern University, Boston and joined Arista Networks in New Hampshire as a Software Engineer. He currently resides in British Columbia. [1] She graduated from St. Joseph's College for Women.[5] She has studied English Literature and had dreamt of becoming a journalist.[6] Andhra University.[4] She was one of the six finalists in the Miss South India Contest in which girls from Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and AP had participated. Soumya who is 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall[1] secured the Ms Photogenic and Ms Perfect 10 rounds in the contest.[5] She had also won the Ms. Personality round for her height in the Miss Andhra contest held in Hyderabad in January 2005 and the Miss NIFD title organised by the National Institute of Fashion Design in Visakhapatnam in April 2005. She got trained under the famous Koushik Ghosh for this pageant.[5]

She started with modelling in college and got trained under Koushik Ghosh.[4] She modelled for KPL Coconut Oil ad in Kerala and also acted in Sun Flower shopping mall ad, Anarkali Boutique ad and others.[4]

She ran a monthly magazine Evoke for three and half years in Vizag. In addition to this, she has won three International awards in Poetry at the age of 14.[4]

She made her debut in the cross over cult hit film The Angrez. Her character portrayal of Tanya has garnered a huge following for her across the globe. She has a theatre background and that helped her to get into movies.[4] She acted in a play in Andhra University and was spotted by Kuntaa Nikkil, director of The Angrez. This film is still considered a cult classic, having millions of fans across the globe. She also acted in the English film Stalemate and played the role of an assistant surgeon.[7] She made her debut in Tamil in Thozha with the stars of Chennai 600028. She was paired with Vasanth Vijay in this film and she has a remake of the hit song “Oru Naayagan” to her credit in this film.[citation needed] She also played an important role in Ravi Krishna starring Netru Indru Naalai (Ninna Nedu Repu in Telugu).[citation needed] She was part of Mugguru produced by Movie Mogul D Ramaniadu and directed by V N Aditya.[8] She acted in the horror thriller Poga in a very special and stellar role and in [9] Ramadandushe was praised for her performance as a journalist with a strong force.[10]

She is the founder of the theatre group Applause – The Theatre People.[11] She has hosted successful TV shows like Jollywood Express, a comedy show with actor AVS on Gemini TV and Zee Sound Party on Zee Telugu. She was the winner of the country wide contest held by famous author Ashwin Sanghi or Shawn Highins as he is also called as. His contest of Lucky 13 saw Soumya topping the charts as the winner of the Lucky 13 contest. She is a writer for Chhota Bheem, Mighty Raju, Arjun, Chimpoo & Simpoo. [4]

Filmography

Year Film Role Language Notes
2005 The Angrez Tanya Hyderabadi Urdu
2007 Stalemate English
Aa Roje Telugu
2008 Thozha Manisha Gupta Tamil
Netru Indru Naalai Tamil
Ninna Nedu Repu Telugu
Call Center Telugu
2010 Young India Keerthi Telugu
2011 Mugguru Mohini Telugu
2012 Poga Telugu
Ramadandu Telugu
2013 Neenandre Ishta Kano Anjali Kannada credited as Roopanjali[12]
2014 Chandamama Kathalu Telugu Special appearance

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "'Telugu' Actress Soumya : Profile". Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Soumya all set for a comeback". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Chitchat with budding actress Soumya". Archived from the original on 22 December 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Soumya; Our Own Telugu juliet". Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "Successful debutante on silver screen". The Hindu. 7 January 2006. Archived from the original on 11 January 2006. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  6. ^ "Soumya hots up the screen with Poga". Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  7. ^ "Film on life and hope". The Hindu. 6 March 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  8. ^ "Soumya celebrates birthday". Sify. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  9. ^ "Soumya to act in 4-D flick". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  10. ^ "I am happy with my career : Soumya". Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  11. ^ "Contest for budding filmmakers". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Neenandre Ishta Kano Movie Review". The Times of India.

External links