Asha Rani, also known as Niveditha, is a former South Indian actress. She was born into a highly artistic family, to the renowned Kannada film and theatre actor Vidyasagar, better known by his stage name Rajesh.

Rani herself is remembered for starring in the Kannada language film titled Ratha Sapthami (1986). The film, directed by M S Rajashekar under the banner of S A Govindaraj’s Bhagavathi Combines, is a romance-musical adaptation of a novel by Vidyullatha Sasanoor. Ratha Sapthami (1986) was Rani’s first film, and she acted opposite the prominent actor, producer, and singer Shiva Rajkumar – who also began his career the same year.

Though the film was well received and was a commercial success, Asha Rani did not take her acting career forward. Soon after Ratha Sapthami, Rani married actor and director Srinivasa Sarja, better known as Arjun Sarja. The couple has two daughters together, Aishwarya and Anjana, and the former, is also an actress, and made her debut in with Boopathy Pandian’s Tamil action film Pattathu Yaanai (Royal Elephant, 2013).

While Rani has not been seen in acting in any new films recently, she has not altogether given up the performing arts. She is a trained Indian classical dancer, and has until 2013, been dancing on stage in public.