Chitrangada Singh

2.1. Childhood and education

Singh's father, Colonel Niranjan Singh, was an officer in the Indian Army. Her schooling included attending Sophia Girls' School in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, which was the last city where her father was posted. Following her schooling, she pursued higher education at Lady Irwin College in New Delhi, where she completed her graduation in Home Science, specializing in food and nutrition. Her brother, Digvijay Singh Chahal, is a professional golfer.

3.1. Breakthrough and struggles (2005-2010)

After completing her graduation, Singh began her career as a model. She has openly discussed facing challenges in the modeling industry, revealing that she lost assignments due to her dusky complexion. She gained initial recognition through appearances in music videos, including Sunset Point by renowned lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar, and another music video with singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya.

Her film debut came in 2005 with Sudhir Mishra's crime drama Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. The film received significant critical acclaim, though it performed averagely at the box office. In the film, Singh portrayed Geeta, a college student and social worker, opposite actor Kay Kay Menon. Critics praised her performance, with Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com stating that Singh was "definitely someone to watch out for" and a "complete natural who zaps the camera with a passionate performance." John Pancake of The Washington Post noted that she imbued her character with "a deep sense of dignity and decency."

Her subsequent release, Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow, proved to be both a critical and commercial failure. Following this, Singh took a three-year hiatus from acting. She returned to films in 2008 with Onir's Sorry Bhai!, co-starring Sanjay Suri. However, the film's release coincided with the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which significantly impacted its box office performance, leading to its failure. This setback resulted in another two-year break from the industry for Singh.

3.2. Commercial films and fluctuations (2011-2020)

Singh resumed her acting career in 2011 with Sudhir Mishra's Yeh Saali Zindagi, in which she played Priti Shirodkar, a club singer, opposite Irrfan Khan. Despite receiving positive reviews, the film was an average grosser at the box office. Film critic Rajeev Masand commented that Singh "uses her smoldering looks to create a mysterious character whose motivations and actions are unclear."

Later in 2011, she appeared in Rohit Dhawan's romantic comedy Desi Boyz, where she portrayed Tanya Sharma, an economics professor, opposite Akshay Kumar. While Taran Adarsh noted that Singh looked "stunning and acts well," he found her character unconvincing. The film achieved moderate success. In 2012, she made a special appearance, performing a dance number in Shirish Kunder's film Joker.



In 2013, Singh had three releases. She first appeared as a prostitute named Ritu in the short film Kirchiyaan. She then reunited with Sudhir Mishra for Inkaar, playing Maya Luthra, an ambitious character, opposite Arjun Rampal. The film, which addressed themes of sexual exploitation, received positive reviews but was an average performer at the box office. Rachit Gupta of Filmfare praised her performance and her on-screen chemistry with Rampal. Her final release of 2013 was Kapil Sharma's I, Me Aur Main, where she played Anushka Lal, a career woman, opposite John Abraham. This film was a box office failure.

Following these roles, Singh made special appearances in several films, including a dance number in the Tamil film Anjaan (2014) for the song "Sirippu En," and in Gabbar Is Back (2015) for the song "Aao Raja." In 2017, she had a cameo appearance as a judge of Dancing Star in the film Munna Michael.

In 2018, Singh expanded her career by venturing into film production. She produced the biographical sports drama film Soorma under her own banner, C.S. Films. The film was well-received by critics and audiences. That same year, she starred as Suhani, a mistress, opposite Sanjay Dutt in Tigmanshu Dhulia's Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3, which failed at the box office. Her final film of 2018 was Gauravv K. Chawla's Baazaar, where she played Mandira Kothari, a businessman's wife, opposite Saif Ali Khan. In 2018, she also made her television debut as a judge on the reality show DID Li'l Masters 4. After no film releases in 2019, she made a cameo appearance in Ghoomketu in 2020.

3.3. Career expansion (2021-present)

In 2021, Chitrangada Singh appeared in Diya Annapurna Ghosh's Bob Biswas, portraying Mary Biswas, an assassin's wife, opposite Abhishek Bachchan. Anuj Kumar of The Hindu noted that Singh "gets a solid part as the ravishing wife of Bob," and despite not always shedding her "uber-chic baggage," her character Mary "shines among the wimpy men around her."

In 2022, Singh expanded her work into the digital space with the anthology web series Modern Love Mumbai. In the "Cutting Chai" episode, she played Latika, an aspiring novelist, opposite Arshad Warsi.

In 2023, Singh starred as Rukmani Singh Gaikwad, a royal queen, alongside Vikrant Massey in the mystery thriller Gaslight. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV commented that Singh "plays a woman whose allure lies in her ability to mask her desires and secrets behind a benign facade. She pulls it off for the most part." Following this, Singh made a cameo appearance as Kadambari Kapoor in Khel Khel Mein in 2024. She is also slated to appear in the upcoming films Housefull 5 (2025), which is in post-production, and Raat Akeli Hai 2 (2025), which is currently filming. Additionally, she is filming for the television series Khakee: The Bengal Chapter.

6.1. Films

6.2. Television