Rani Mukherjee
Rani Mukerji (Hindustani pronunciation: [raːni mʊkʰərdʒi]; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a National Film Award and eight Filmfare Awards. Mukerji has featured in listings of the highest-paid actresses of the 2000s.
With multiple commercially successful female-centric films across more than a decade, Mukerji is regarded as one of the few mainstream Hindi film actresses to sustain box office viability with predominantly female-led narratives in contemporary cinema.
Born into the Mukherjee-Samarth family, Mukerji began acting as a teenager by starring in her father Ram Mukherjee's Bengali-language film Biyer Phool and in the social drama Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat (both 1996). Mukerji had her first commercial success with the action film Ghulam and breakthrough with the romance Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (both 1998). Following a brief setback, the year 2002 marked a turning point for her when she was cast by Yash Raj Films as the star of the drama Saathiya.
Mukerji established herself by starring in several commercially successful romantic films, including Chalte Chalte (2003), Hum Tum, Veer-Zaara (both 2004), and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), and the crime comedy Bunty Aur Babli (2005). She also gained praise for playing an abused wife in the political drama Yuva (2004) and a deaf and blind woman in the drama Black (2005). Mukerji's collaborations with Yash Raj Films from 2007 and 2010 produced several unsuccessful films and led critics to bemoan her choice of roles. This changed when she played a headstrong journalist in the biographical thriller No One Killed Jessica (2011). Further success came with the thrillers Talaash (2012), Mardaani (2014) , Mardaani 2 (2019) and Mardaani 3 (2025), the social message-drama Hichki (2018), which emerged as Mukerji's highest-grossing release, and the drama Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway (2023), which earned her the National Film Award for Best Actress.
Mukerji increasingly headlined female-led films. She portrayed a senior police officer in Mardaani (2014), which emerged as a commercial success at the domestic box office. She reprised the role in Mardaani 2 (2019), which grossed over ₹60 crore worldwide and was declared a commercial success. In 2018, she starred in the comedy-drama Hichki, which grossed over ₹200 crore worldwide, including substantial earnings from China, becoming one of the highest-grossing female-led Hindi films. She later appeared in Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway (2023), which grossed over ₹35 crore worldwide against a moderate budget and was reported to be a sleeper hit in post-pandemic era. She returned to the franchise with Mardaani 3 (2026), which crossed ₹50 crore at the domestic box office and ₹75 crore plus at the global box office and was reported as a commercial success.
Mukerji is involved with humanitarian causes and is vocal about issues faced by women and children. She has participated in concert tours and stage shows, and featured as a talent judge for the 2009 reality show Dance Premier League. Mukerji is married to filmmaker Aditya Chopra, with whom she has a daughter.
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