Ruthika

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

There have been quite a few instances where an actor has not been able to make it big in Bollywood but simultaneously found tremendous success in regional language films. South actors like Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Vishnuvardhan, Mammooty, etc didn’t pursue a great career in Hindi but are considered God down South. Similarly, Ravi Kishen who was considered a flop actor in Bollywood, became the Bhojpuri superstar. After a lukewarm career in Bollywood, Chunky Pandey became super successful in our neighbouring country Bangladesh.

Our today’s forgotten gem started her career in Hindi movies. While she had a forgettable career in Bollywood in the ’90s, she made a mark in Telugu and Kannada movies from 2000s to 2010s. You can say Bollywood’s loss was South Cinema’s gain. Yes, we are talking about Rutika Singh or just Ruthika as she was credited in most movies.

Born on 19th August, 1979 as Reema, not much is known about Ruthika’s childhood except for the fact that she started her acting career as a child with the family drama Jaaydaad, which released in 1989. She took up modelling assignments in her teens itself while studying for her graduation.

Ruthika’s next Bollywood release was the delayed Bhagyawan (1993) starring Govinda and Juhi Chawla in the lead. Ruthika had a small role of villain Ranjeet’s daughter in it. Bhagyawan was a box office flop and nobody noticed Ruthika in it.

It was around this time that she signed Mahendra Shah’s Sarhad with Deepak Tijori as her hero. The film was loosely inspired from Ghayal (1990) and Ruthika, still in her teens, was introduced as the main heroine in it. Unfortunately, Sarhad faced censor trouble and was finally released in October 1995 with an A certificate and certain cuts.

Despite being a decent actioner, the film bombed badly at the box office. The failure of Sarhad impacted the still to be adult Ruthika’s prospects in Bollywood. Nevertheless, she managed to get lead roles in some movies like Billa No. 786 (2000), Khatron Ke Khiladi (2001) and Arjun Devaa (2001). All these films had veteran Mithun Chakraborty in the lead role with Ruthika and were part of his low budget Ooty productions.

These movies were primarily targeted for semi-urban and rural audience, who loved to watch Mithunda beating up twenty men together. Naturally, Ruthika’s work in these films went unnoticed and she rightfully decided to shift southwards.

In the early 2000’s, Ruthika signed her first Telugu film titled 6 Teens (2001), which was a sex comedy. This film turned out to be a surprise hit at the ticket windows. Expectedly, Ruthika was flooded with offers and her career in Telugu film industry took off.

Over the next decade, Ruthika appeared in many Telugu movies like Santosham (2002), Girlfriend (2002), Sivamani (2003), Xtra (2004), Vikramakudu (2006), Premabhishekam (2008), Blade Babji (2008), etc. Her uninhabited exposure in Xtra, which was an adult romantic drama, attracted a lot of attention. Ruthika also got a chance to work with the celebrated writer- director S.S. Rajamouli in his film Vikramakudu. She played an honest lady cop in this blockbuster hit.

Besides Telugu Cinema, Ruthika made a name for herself in Kannada movies as well starting with Friends (2002), which was a remake of her Telugu hit 6 Teens (2001). Ruthika reprised her much appreciated role from the original. Her other well-known Kannada movies include Katthegalu Saar Katthegalu (2003), Ananda (2003), Laali Haadu (2003), Rakshasa (2005), Navashakthi Vaibhava (2008) and Jolly Days (2009).

While Ruthika’s Bollywood journey was a failure, she made it big in South language cinema and enjoyed a decade long innings there. She played the main lead as well as pivotal supporting characters in more than fifty films down South across Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam language. She was a rare actress, who could pull off both ethnic as well as western attire with grace and élan. Sarhad as well as her first few films in South like 6 Teens and Xtra involved considerable exposure, which she gracefully pulled off in style without looking vulgar.

Post 2010, Ruthika shifted base permanently to Chennai and settled down there in marital bliss. She is a cricket enthusiast and her favourite holiday spot is London. She prefers to keep a strict low profile far away from the film industry and is not on social media as well.

Bollywood has long forgotten her but we hope someday, Ruthika makes a comeback in this industry through films or OTT and replicates her South success. Cheers to that!!