Shriya Saran Bhatnagar (pronounced [ʃrɪja səɾən] born 11 September 1982) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films.

After marking her Hindi debut with Tujhe Meri Kasam (2003), she gained critical acclaim for her role in Awarapan (2007).

[2] In 2012, Saran starred in Midnight's Children, an English adaptation of novel of the same name, for which she received international critical acclaim.

Shriya Saran Bhatnagar was born in a Kayastha family[3] on 11 September 1982[4][5] in Haridwar,[6] Uttar Pradesh, (now in Uttarakhand).

[10] She later studied at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi[5] and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature.

[7] While in her second year at the LSR College in Delhi, Saran got her first opportunity to appear in front of the camera for a video shoot.

Following her dance teacher's recommendation, she was invited to appear in the music video of Renoo Nathan's "Thirakti Kyun Hawa".

[13] She followed it with her Tamil film debut in Enakku 20 Unakku 18, alongside Tarun and Trisha Krishnan,[14] which was simultaneously shot in Telugu as Nee Manasu Naaku Telusu, in which she played a football coach.

In 2004, Saran acted in two Telugu and two Hindi films, including Arjun and Nenunnanu, where she played a student in classical singing.

Meanwhile, she tried to make her comeback in Tamil with Mazhai,a remake of the Telugu film Varsham, where she reprised the role done by Trisha in the original.

[21] During this phase of her career, she made several special appearances in item numbers, including in the films Devadasu, Munna, and Tulasi.

[23] Sanjay Ram, writing for Business of Cinema, gave the film 2.5 of 5 stars and said that Saran provided a brief, compelling performance.

[26] She played the role of Priya Sethi, who works as a telephone operator in an Indian call centre, while acting alongside Jesse Metcalfe,[27] Anupam Kher and Tara Sharma.

[28] John Anderson, writing for Variety magazine, said it was "a winning Stateside debut for beautiful Indian actress Shriya Saran.

[38] The film broke the record in Malayalam cinema for opening week gross income,[39] though it was not received well critically.

[40] She then enacted her first lead role in a Telugu film after five years, in the commercially successful action-comedy Don Seenu opposite Ravi Teja, where she plays the sister of a mobster.

[50][51] She then was seen in the critically average comedic Telugu film Nuvva Nena, with actors Allari Naresh and Sharwanand,[52] followed by Sekhar Kammula's much delayed Life is Beautiful.

[citation needed] Saran has starred in Deepa Mehta's long delayed English project Midnight's Children,[53] which is based on Salman Rushdie's highly acclaimed novel of the same name.

[citation needed] Her bi-lingual film Chandra, directed by Roopa Iyer, was simultaneously made in Kannada and Tamil languages.

[62] She appeared opposite Ajay Devgan in Drishyam, a remake of the Malayalam film of the same name, which turned out to be a box office success.

[66] She was a part of Tamil director Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai, an event which sought to raise funds for "Banyan", a voluntary organisation which rehabilitates homeless women with mental illness in Chennai.

[67] She was one of the guests alongside actor Surya Sivakumar at the season 3 finale of TV dance show Maanada Mayilada.

[76] Saran was also signed as brand ambassador along with actor Saif Ali Khan for Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea.

[79] In 2013, Saran was appointed as brand ambassador for Colgate Active Salt Healthy White toothpaste, along with Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor.

Editor Anup Kutty said: "We had been thinking of getting someone who bridges this strange divide we have between the North, South and the West ... Shreya fit the bill perfectly.

[92] She is also associated with an NGO called World Vision that finds parents for deprived kids, and works for Apollo's RDF to raise funds for underprivileged children.

[99] Rahul Nanda of Filmfare termed her a "showbiz siren" who has "more than three dozen films" in South Indian and Hindi cinema to her credit.

"[101] Zaral Shah of Verve noted, "Shriya is a star who has earned her share of the spotlight and continues to live life on her own terms.

"[102] On working in different language film industries in India, Saran stated: "I don't consider Kollywood or Bollywood as separate entities.

For me, there's only a single category, the Indian film industry, which is extremely rich owing to its diverse genres and languages.