Rajshri Deshpande is an actor and activist. Her portrayal of Laxmi in Pan Nalin’s ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ got her international recognition. This was followed by the titular role of Durga in Sanal Kumar Sashidharan’s ‘Sexy Durga’ which won the “Hivos Toger Award” at the Rotterdam Film Festival. She made her digital debut with BBC One’s ‘McMafia’ directed by James Watkins. She received critical acclaim for her performance as Subhadra in the Netflix Original ‘Sacred Games-1’, directed by Anurag Kashyap. She played the role of Ismat Chughtai in Nandita Das’s film ‘Manto’. Her upcoming projects are ‘Gormint’ (an Amazon Original) and ‘Nirvana-Inn’, a film which will be having its World Premiere at the Busan International Film Festival and SAREGAMA produced ‘Kanpuriye’ with Vijay Raaz. 

 

Rajshri dedicates her time extensively to humanitarian causes. In 2014, after the Nepal earthquake she worked with an international NGO at one of the villages.

 

In 2015, she adopted a drought-prone village in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra called ‘Pandhari’ and single-handedly executed a rainwater harvesting project, built toilets, conducted health check-up and community motivation camps. Encouraged by the success and social participation, she adopted one more village in the region. In 2018, she created the Nabhangan Foundation ( www.nabhanganfoundation.org ) to broaden her efforts towards sustainable village development and she is currently building an eco-sensitive school in the same village.