OTTplay Changemakers Awards 2023: Sapthami Gowda wins ‘Rising Star of the Year’ title

Sapthami Gowda, who shot to fame with her lead role in the 2022 Kannada film Kantara, has been awarded the ‘Rising Star of the Year’ title at the inaugural edition of the 'OTTplay Changemakers Awards 2023'. Sapthami's impactful performance as the Forest Guard Leela in Rishab Shetty's won her a lot of praise and even fetched her Bollywood debut in the form of Vivek Agnihotri's The Vaccine War.

The OTTplay Changemakers Awards 2023 was held on Sunday, March 26, at the JW Marriott (Juhu), Mumbai. The awards night was a star-studded affair that saw many noted personalities of the Indian Film Fraternity and the digital space, including Rishab Shetty, Rajkumar Rao, Ayan Mukerji, Regina Cassandra, Tovino Thomas, Guneet Monga, Karthik Subbaraj, Nikhil Siddhartha, and many others.

Sapthami Gowda made her acting debut in 2020 crime drama Popcorn Monkey Tiger and impressed everyone as the boisterous and foul-mouthed Girija. And despite Kantara being only her second film, the young actress exuded a lot of self-assurance and poise in her starring role and established herself as the one to watch out for. Soon enough, she would get a call from the makers of The Kashmir Files and her Hindi debut would come about through The Vaccine War. Vivek Agnihotri's film also includes acclaimed actors Anupam Kher and Nana Patekar along with many others.

Sapthami also has the period love story Kaali (alongside Abishek Ambareesh) and the Hombale Films venture Yuva (alongside Yuva Rajkumar) lined up for release in the coming months.

Kantara, the film, is a unique action thriller set in the heart of Dakshina Kannada and deals with a man v/s nature conflict that envelopes folklore, social oppression and several other aspects. The film was written and directed by Rishab Shetty, who also starred in the lead role of Shiva, with Hombale Films producing it. Kantara is the second-highest Kannada film to date with more than Rs. 400 crores collections.

The Rising Star of the Year award recognises and highlights Sapthami's prominent growth as an actor over the past twelve-odd months. Her award is part of the larger initiative, called OTTplay Changemakers Awards 2023, to honour and celebrate the current trailblazers of the entertainment industry who are creating waves in Indian cinema and OTT through their work.