Aditi Rao Hydari

Aditi Rao Hydari is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. She made her film debut with the Malayalam film Prajapathi (2006). She went on to have supporting roles in several Hindi films, including the musical drama Rockstar (2011), the horror film Murder 3 (2013), the thriller Wazir (2016), and the period drama Padmaavat (2018). Hydari made her Tamil film debut with Mani Ratnam's Kaatru Veliyidai (2017), for which she won the SIIMA Award for Best Debut Actress - Tamil. She received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her starring role in Sammohanam (2018). She has since starred in other Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films such as Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018), Sufiyum Sujatayum, Maha Samudram (2021) and Hey Sinamika. Background and family Aditi Rao Hydari was born in Hyderabad to Ehsaan Hydari and his wife Vidya Rao. Aditi's father, who died in 2013, was a Sulaimani Bohra Muslim. Aditi's mother, Vidya Rao, is a practicing Buddhist who was born the daughter of a Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin father from Mangalore and a Telugu mother. Hydari is thus of mixed lineage whether in terms of religion (Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist), community (Bohra, Brahmin, Telugu) or language (Konkani, Telugu, Kannada, Urdu). Both of Hydari's parents belong to the nobility of erstwhile Hyderabad state. Aditi's father, Ehsaan Hydari, was the grandson of Akbar Hydari, sometime Prime Minister of Hyderabad state, and the nephew of Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, former Governor of Assam. Aditi's mother, Vidya Rao, is a classical singer accomplished in the thumri and dadra genres of Hindustani music. Her mother (Aditi's maternal grandmother), Shanta Rameshwar Rao (not to be confused with the writer Shanta Rama Rao), was the founder of Vidyaranya High School in Hyderabad and chairperson of the publishing house Orient Blackswan (owned by her father, the Raja). Vidya is the daughter of J. Rameshwar Rao, last ruling Raja of Wanaparthy. He was one of the four highest-ranking nobleman in the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad. His ancestral Jagir, Wanaparthy, was one of the four largest feudal estates under Hyderabad state; the holders of these estates held the title of "Maharaja." Indian film producer, screenwriter, and director Kiran Rao, ex-wife of actor Aamir Khan, is Aditi's maternal first cousin.