Richa Gangopadhyay

In August 2007, Gangopadhyay won the Miss India Michigan pageant and in December of that year, was crowned Miss India USA 2007 at the 26th annual Miss India USA pageant, held at Royal Albert's Palace in New Jersey.[6] Gangopadhyay also secured the title of Miss Photogenic. She represented the U.S. in the 17th Annual Miss India Worldwide Pageant held in Johannesburg, and secured a place in the Top 10.[7]

Gangopadhyay left the U.S. in 2008 for Mumbai, India to embark on a career in films. She subsequently graduated with a diploma in acting from Anupam Kher's acting school, Actor Prepares, and completed her portfolio, earning offers for work in fashion shows and for modeling. In early 2009, Gangopadhyay featured in a commercial for Dabur Vatika Almond Hair Oil alongside Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, while also appearing in several print ads and TV commercials for Peter England People, Pepe Jeans, Malabar Gold and Kalaniketan.[8]

Gangopadhyay debuted with Rana Daggubati and Priya Anand in 2010 Telugu film Leader, produced by AVM Productions and directed by Sekhar Kammula. She was recommended to an assistant director of Leader, who in turn recommended her to Sekhar Kammula. Gangopadhyay went to Hyderabad to audition for the film on her birthday. She was selected instantly and the shooting started 2 days later.[8] In the film, she played the role of Archana, a news reporter, daughter of a politician and love interest of the title character, played by debutant Rana Daggubati. The film opened in theatres worldwide to positive reviews and did well commercially, with Gangopadhyay's performance described as "pretty and charming" and "good in a performance oriented role" by critics.[9][10] After the success of the film, director P. Vasu signed her up to appear in Nagavalli, a sequel to his 2005 film Chandramukhi. The film featured an ensemble cast of Venkatesh, Anushka Shetty, Shraddha Das and Poonam Kaur. The film opened to mixed reviews, with Gangopadhyay's portrayal of a girl psychologically possessed by the ghost of Nagavalli, leading to critics dubbing her as "impressive" and "convincing".[11][12]

Her first release in 2011 was the action film Mirapakaay, starring opposite Ravi Teja for the first time. She was signed after the director of the film, Harish Shankar, who had noticed her at the success party of her previous film Leader. He initially offered her the role played by Deeksha as she was an NRI, but when they met to review the script, he was convinced that Gangopadhyay would do justice to the character of Vinamra, a traditional Telugu Brahmin girl.[13] The film opened to good reviews with Gangopadhyay's performance being described as "good and just about hold her own in the dance sequences" by critics. Gangopadhyay was next seen in two Tamil films; the first being Mayakkam Enna, a drama film featuring Dhanush and directed by Selvaraghavan, which earned her tremendous positive reviews and appreciation from all over. She then appeared alongside Silambarasan in Dharani's Osthe, the Tamil remake of the 2010 Hindi film Dabangg, winning critical acclaim for her role as Neduvaali. In 2012, she made her debut in Bengali, her mother tongue, through the film Bikram Singha : The Lion Is Back, opposite the prolific Prosenjit Chatterjee, a remake of the Telugu film Vikramarkudu.[14] She also featured in the Telugu films Sarocharu,[15] Mirchi and Bhai opposite actors Ravi Teja, Prabhas and Nagarjuna, which were released in 2012 and 2013.