Early roles, career struggles (2007-2014) Rasika has been appearing in Hindi cinema since 2007. She first appeared in the film
Anwar (2007) in a
small role. Then she appeared in various films but in a minor role namely
No Smoking (2007),
Hijack (2008),
Tahaan (2008),
Agyaat (2009),
Kshay (2011) and
Aurangzeb (2013). Along with films, she appeared in television shows like
Powder (2010),
Rishta.com (2010),
Kismat (2010), and
Upanishad Ganga (2012). None of her roles failed to leave an impact.
Critical acclaim (2015-2017) In 2015, she starred in the critically acclaimed film
Qissa in the role of Neeli. The film received praise from the critics as well as the audience. The critic's consensus was "A masterpiece that lovers of parallel cinema would thoroughly enjoy. This unconventional and heart-breaking folk tale captures human emotions unlike any other recent Indian film." She also did a
Malayalam language film
Kammatti Paadam (2016), starring
Dulquer Salmaan in the lead. She also played a recurring role in the
Barun Sobti starrer
Tu Hai Mera Sunday (2016). She also appeared in television series like
Dariba Dairies (2015) in the role of Zeenat Bano and
P.O.W.- Bandi Yuddh Ke (2016) in the role of Shobha Thakur. She turned host on the show
Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik. She also appeared in
The Viral Fever web shows like
Permanent Roommates (2016),
Humorously Yours (2016-2019), and
TVF Couples (2017).
Recognition and commercial success (2018-present) In 2018, she made a small appearance in the
Netflix anthology film
Lust Stories in
Zoya Akhtar's segment. Then she appeared in
Nandita Das's biographical movie
Manto (2018). The movie was about the life of playwright
Saadat Hasan Manto, Rasika played the role of his wife Safia. Her performance was praised by the critics, for which she received her first nomination at the
Screen Awards in the category of
Best Supporting Actress. After
Manto, she appeared in the critically acclaimed film
Hamid (2018) co-starring
Vikas Kumar and Talha Arshad Reshi, directed by Aijaz Khan. The film won many accolades including
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Urdu at the
66th National Film Awards and Rasika Dugal won the Best Actor Award for her role in the film
Hamid at Rajasthan International Film Festival. She then starred in the
Amazon Prime Video original series
Mirzapur. She portrayed the role of Beena Tripathi. For her role in
Mirzapur, she was nominated in the
Indian Television Academy Awards in the category of
Best Actress - Web Series. She also appeared in an episode of
Zoya Akhtar's web series
Made in Heaven, she portrayed the role of Nutan Yadav, the daughter of an ambitious politician willing to sacrifice his daughter's dreams for his political career. The show was released on
Amazon Prime on 8 March 2019. Subsequently, she played the main role in
Hotstar original series
Out of Love (2019-2021), playing the role of Dr. Meera Kapoor. The show was renewed for a second season which was released on 21 May 2021. She portrayed the role of a young IPS officer named Neeti Singh in the TV series
Delhi Crime released on
Netflix on 21 March 2019 which won the International
Emmy Award for Best Drama Series. She also starred in supporting roles in web series such as
A Suitable Boy (2020) and
OK Computer (2021). In 2020, her two films were released namely
Lootcase and
Darbaan. In both of the films, her performance was praised by the critics. She also did a podcast titled
Uncovidable (2020) which was released on
Audible. It was created by Vekeana Dhillon. Rasika was roped in for an international comedy audio series
The Empire written by
Anuvab Pal. She will be next seen in
Srijit Mukherji's
Sherdil which also stars
Neeraj Kabi and
Pankaj Tripathi in key roles. ==Personal life==