Aditi Rao Hydari

Aditi Rao Hydari (born 28 October 1978) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. A trained Bharatanatyam dancer, she moved into acting in the mid-2000s and has since worked across several languages, from supporting parts in Hindi films to leading roles in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema and prominent streaming series. Her honours include a Screen Award, an IIFA Award and a SIIMA Award.

Family and early life

Hydari was born in Hyderabad to Ahsan Hydari, an engineer, and Vidya Rao, a classical singer known for the thumri and dadra forms of Hindustani music. Both sides of her family come from the nobility of the former Hyderabad state: her father was a grandson of Akbar Hydari, a former Prime Minister of Hyderabad state, and her mother is the step-daughter of J. Rameshwar Rao, the last ruling Raja of Wanaparthy. The filmmaker Kiran Rao is her maternal first cousin. She uses both of her parents’ surnames.

Her parents separated when she was two, and she grew up with her mother between Hyderabad and Delhi. She attended Rishi Valley School and later graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.

Dance

Hydari started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of five and became a student of the dancer Leela Samson. As part of Samson’s dance group, Spanda, she taught students and performed at stage events in India and abroad.

First films

Her first acting project was the Tamil film Sringaram, completed in early 2004, in which she played a devadasi, a 19th-century temple dancer. Director Sharada Ramanathan cast her after seeing her dance at a conference. The film travelled to international festivals, won three National Film Awards and, on its limited Indian release in October 2007, drew good reviews for her performance.

Her first film to reach cinemas, however, was the Malayalam film Prajapathi (2006), with Mammootty, in which she played an orphan; critics felt the part gave her little to do. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, impressed by her work in Sringaram, then cast her in a supporting role in the Hindi ensemble drama Delhi-6 (2009).

Hindi films

Her role as the wife of a former convict in Sudhir Mishra’s Yeh Saali Zindagi (2011) won her the Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress and brought her much wider attention. She then played an impulsive television reporter in Imtiaz Ali’s musical drama Rockstar (2011), although much of her part was trimmed before release.

Wanting to move on from secondary parts, she took her first Hindi lead in Anu Menon’s London, Paris, New York (2012), opposite Ali Zafar, playing Lalitha. She also made her singing debut on the film’s soundtrack. Later Hindi work includes the horror film Murder 3 (2013), the thriller Wazir (2016) and the period drama Padmaavat (2018), a commercial success that earned her an IIFA Award.

Southern cinema

Hydari’s profile in South Indian cinema grew with Mani Ratnam’s Tamil romantic drama Kaatru Veliyidai (2017), which won her a SIIMA Award. Her performance in the Telugu film Sammohanam (2018) brought her a Filmfare nomination for Best Actress – Telugu. She has continued to work in the south in films such as:

• Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018)
• Sufiyum Sujatayum (2020)
• Maha Samudram (2021)

Streaming work

In Hindi, she has appeared in the anthology film Ajeeb Daastaans (2021) and in the series Jubilee (2023) and Heeramandi (2024).

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.