From Idiot to Andhrawala, 5 movies of Rakshita you shouldn't miss

Rakshita was one of the most beautiful actresses to have graced the screen. She was charming, gorgeous, lively, and expressive and there was something very refreshing about her. Rakshita, born to famous cinematographer BC Gowrishankar, began her career in Sandalwood with the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer Appu (2002), which was a super hit and completed a 200-day run in theatres. The gorgeous actress received many accolades for her terrific performances in films. On her birthday, take a look at some of Rakshita's movies that will always be etched in our memories.

Rakshita made her Tollywood debut with this Ravi Teja starrer in 2002. The story of the movie revolves around a head constable's son, who has a carefree attitude falls in love with the daughter of the city police commissioner after she is saved him by donating blood. The romantic-action drama went on to become a profitable venture at the box office. After a humongous success of this flick, she became one of the most sought after actresses in the industry, and several filmmakers tried to rope in her in their films.

A group of three married men who face many problems after they want to spend time with a prostitute and what happens when their wives come to know about their husbands' lies forms the crux of the story. Rakshita played one of the female leads, and she shared screen space with Venu Thottemputi in the film. The film, which was a remake of Tamil film Charlie Chaplin is considered to be one of the best performances of the actress as she exhibited the same charm and skill that got her noticed in her Telugu debut.

Rakshita plays the role of a middle-class girl in Teja's message-oriented action film Nijam. She had shared screen space with Tollywood superstar Mahesh Babu in the movie, which was part of an experiment designed to combat corruption. A fire officer is killed by the leader of a mafia gang and his innocent son and wife avenge their loss in a planned manner. Released in 2003, Nijam won two Nandi Awards for Best Actor Mahesh Babu and Best Supporting Actress Rameshwari. Even though the movie is a bit stretched, it is worth a watch.

Directed by Puri Jagannadh, Shivamani is the story of a newspaper editor played by Rakshita who finds a mysterious, intriguing and typed love letter in a bottle in the seashore decided to start investigating it. During the process, she comes to know that it's the love story of an honest cop who falls in love with an aspiring singer. The movie portrays an emotional love story between Shivamani and Vasanta. The music was composed by Chakri who had delivered beautiful tunes for this flick. It received mixed reviews from both critics and audiences.

The 2004 action-drama stars Jr NTR as a labour leader from Andhra in Mumbai whose father is killed by a mafia don aware of his past and avenges his father's death. The film starred Rakshita as rich kid Chitra. Who can forget her charming chemistry with Jr NTR in the movie? Though the movie was a disaster, the audience could get enough of her graceful moves and cute performance.