Rati Agnihotri

Rati Agnihotri is a well known actress, who after a successful stint in South Indian films, moved to Bollywood.

Rati

Rati Agnihotri was born on 10th December 1960 in Mumbai, India. Though she was born into a conservative Punjabi family she modeled for the first time as a ten year old. Her family moved to Chennai, Tamil Nadu where she studied at the Good Shepherd's Convent School.

She wed Anil Virwani, an entrepreneur and architect, in 1985. Her father passed away soon after and Rati decided to quit acting. Anil and Rati have a son Tanuj.

The couple owns the Virwani Plaza in Pune. The store Om to Home - Candles and More in the Mall stocks many products which are designed by Rati.

Quick facts

Rati is a reiki healer.

Rati speaks Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English.

Atul Agnihotri, an actor turned director, is her cousin.

Rati is actively involved in social causes like cancer and AIDS.

Her sister Anita was a Miss India contest winner and currently lives in Poland where she runs a restaurant called Bombay.

Films

Rati Agnihotri was part of a school play and the Tamil director Bharathiraja liked her performance and offered her a chance to act in Pudhiya Varpukal (1979). The film was a hit. She worked with Bharathiraja again in Niram Marada Pookkal (1979).

One of her biggest hits in Telugu was Marocharithra (1979) with Kamla Hasan. It was a story of two young lovers who try to be together despite their family's disapproval. The film was remade in Hindi as Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981).

She acted in films like Shaukeen (1981), Coolie (1983) and John Jani Janardhan (1984).

She quit acting soon after her marriage but came back to acting with Kuch Katti Kuch Meethi (2001), in which she played Kajol's grandmother. Since then she has been seen in films like Yaadein (2001), Kaante (2002), Hum Tum (2004) and Ru Ba Ru (2008).