Ankita Lokhande

Ankita Lokhande (born 19 December 1984) is an Indian actress who earned fame with her debut award-winning role in Balaji Telefilms’s daily show Pavitra Rishta on Zee TV.[2] She was one of the highest paid television actors until she retired in 2018 to foray into films.[3]

In 2019, Lokhande began her film career as Jhalkaribai in the historical periodic movie Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi.[4] She then appeared in 2020 action thriller Baaghi 3, which was directed by Ahmed Khan.[5]

After a two year gap from acting and her separation from Rajput, there were reports that Lokhande was set for a movie debut with a role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period drama Padmaavat (2018).[15] However she left the movie, replying that she was not ready for film.[16]

The following year, speculation spread that she had been signed for Girish Malik’s film Torbaaz along with Sanjay Dutt.[17] However, rumours proved to be untrue after Malik stated that Lokhande was not going to be involved with the film.[18]

In 2018, she announced she would appear in the role of Jhalkaribai, a warrior in Krish and Kangana Ranaut’s joint directorial venture Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, an epic drama based on the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai. The film received a theatrical premiere during the eve of Republic day 2019 and did quite very well at the box-office, becoming her first commercial success.[19]

Lokhande next starred in Sajid Nadiadwala’s action packed production Baaghi 3 (2020), the third part of the Baaghi trilogy, alongside Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh, in the role of Kapoor’s elder sister married to Deshmukh’s character. The film was released prior to the shut down of theatres owing to Coronavirus pandemic in India, which affected the box office performance.[20][21]