Raashi Khanna

Khanna made her debut with the 2013 Indian political spy thriller film Madras Cafe, where she played the role of Ruby Singh, the wife of an Indian intelligence officer Vikram Singh, portrayed by John Abraham, who was also the producer.She had to undergo acting workshops before taking up the role.The film—particularly the story and direction—impressed most Indian critics.Reviewing the film, Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV stated that Khanna "makes an impact in a brief but significant appearance".Impressed with her performance in Madras Cafe, actor Srinivas Avasarala approached her for the female lead role in his directorial debut Oohalu Gusagusalade, which also featured himself and Naga Shourya in the lead roles,which she signed in late October 2013 after considering many other south films, adding that the scope of performing made her sign the film.Khanna initially felt that it would be more of a dancing role with little scope for acting when approached for narration, but found her character practically in every scene in the film.She called her character Prabhavati "grey, stubborn, arrogant but in a lovable way", which she claimed to be very different from what she was in real life except for the fact that she hails from Delhi.Khanna confirmed in early April 2014 that she made a cameo appearance in the Telugu film Manam,which had its theatrical release before Oohalu Gusagusalade,Oohalu Gusagusalade opened to positive reviews from critics and Khanna received praise for her work. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu called Khanna an "actor with potential",while Hemanth Kumar of The Times of India stated that she gave a "commendable" performance which helped the movie to some extent.The film was a commercial success at the box office.Her next Telugu film was Joru, directed by Kumar Nagendra opposite Sundeep Kishan, Priya Banerjee and Sushma Raj, which she signed after Madras Cafe and while shooting for Oohalu Gusagusalade. She played the role of Annapurna, whom Khanna described as a "modern yet traditional" girl who "is highly emotional and cries at the drop of a hat", which she called the exact opposite of the character of Prabhavati she played in her previous film.Khanna received moderate reviews from critics. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu stated that she provides solace along with Kishan, Brahmanandam and Saptagiri in a film which was "let down by incoherent writing and amateurish execution".A reviewer from IndiaGlitz opined that Khanna "looks fine is a glam role but looks less than glamorous compared to her previous outing".Jor was a commercial failure at the box office.