Kruttika Desai is an Indian film, theatre and television actress. In the 90s, she gained initial fame in the serial Buniyaad and later for her role of Vishkanya in popular fantasy series Chandrakanta, and later in the next 2 decades, she went on to earn huge recognization for portraying a wide range of characters in television soap operas like Kismet, Dewaar, Noorjahan, Junoon, Lipstick, Tumhari Disha. She also hosted many shows like Mansi, Superhit Muqabla, and Superhit Hangama. She is the first television actress to go bald for a show, Uttaran. She is widely known for her role in Pandya Store.^[1]

Acting career

Kruttika started her career with theatre, Modelling (Surf, White line, Reliance) and moved onto television in its earliest stages with Airhostess, Ek Kahani, and Ramesh Sippy spotted her and cast her as Mangala in Buniyad. Later she was involved in "Akansha",^[2] a theatre workshop for street children and directed their musical extravaganzas. She has also acted in some Gujarati plays and monologues. She has done over 40 serials and later in her career went on to shave her head for the serial Uttaran, making her the first woman to go bald in the history of Indian Television.^[3] Kruttika played many popular roles in Indian soap operas, most notably Noorjehan, A mouthful of sky, (only English serial made in India), Kussum, Chandrakanta, Betal, Black, Junoon, Ram Milaayi Jodi, Uttaran. She also did India’s first count down show, Superhit Muqabala where she covered the Micheal Jackson show in Bangkok, and many chat shows like Mansi and game shows like Surf Dhamaka. In 2015, she played the pivotal role of Shanti Devi in the Star Plus serial Mere Angne Mein which became one of the most successful and long-running shows. The show ended in August 2017 after a successful run of 2 years.^[4] She has done some international films like Turn left for this world, Au bout du Monde and Bengali films and a few Hindi films like Section 375, Blurr, Kiya, Sarpanch Lajoji.

Personal life

Kruttika’s was married to Imtiaz Khan who was a talented and avant-garde film and serial director and actor having done many movies and series. Imtiaz died on 15 March 2020.^[5] The couple have an adopted daughter named Ayesha Khan who is a model.^[5] Their nephews Seemaab Khan and Shadaab Khan are actors in the industry. Kruttika is a pure vegetarian.^[6]

Filmography

Films

Television

Web series