Vedhika Kumar is an Indian actress and model who has established a career in the Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films.^[1]

She started her acting career with the Tamil film Madrasi. She made her breakthrough portraying Angamma in Bala's period film Paradesi (2013), winning critical acclaim and awards for her portrayal. A year later she starred in Kaaviya Thalaivan (2014). In 2016, her Kannada film Shivalinga went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters in Kannada industry.^[2] In 2019, she appeared in the Tamil film Kanchana 3 which became one of the highest grossing Tamil films of the year.^[3] She made her Bollywood debut in 2019, with the film The Body.^[4]

Vedhika was brought up in Mumbai but their family hails from the border areas of Maharashtra–Karnataka states. Her mother tongue is Kannada.^[5]

Early in her career, she was involved in modelling assignments and did a notable advert for biscuits alongside prominent actor Suriya. She was subsequently approached by Arjun to essay the lead role in his production Madrasi and Vedhika accepted the role.^[6] Her role went largely unnoticed due to the film being based around Arjun's action image, with a critic labelling her performance as "adequate".^{[citation needed]} After the release of Madrasi, Vedhika went on to sign a big budget Hindi language film, Jai Santoshi Maa, a remake of the 1975 film of the same name, but the film failed to subsequently materialize and Vedhika continued acting in South Indian films.^[7][8] She went on to feature in Raghava Lawrence's comedy horror Muni, but her role was minimal once again and the film went to become an average grosser commercially.^[9] Her maiden Telugu venture was in Vijayadasami, a remake of the Tamil film Sivakasi, where her performance was described as "okay" and "average" by critics.^[10]

Her first release in 2008, the Silambarasan-starrer Kaalai, received negative reviews and became a commercial failure.^[11][12] However, the film became notable for the dance number, "Kutti Pisase" with Vedhika's dancing being critically appreciated. She went on to appear in a second successive film which was panned by critics and which became a financial failure with a role in Sakkarakatti. The long-delayed film featured Shanthnoo Bhagyaraj making his debut in the lead role and A. R. Rahman providing the soundtrack, however Vedhika's role was described as one of the sole positives from the project.^[13][14] Later that year, she starred in a Kannada film, Sangama opposite Ganesh, and the film fetched her good reviews for her performance.^{[citation needed]} In 2009, she appeared as the radio jockey Anjali in A. Venkatesh's Malai Malai with the film consequently going on to become a success commercially.^[15] The film had little scope for Vedhika and reviews cited her role as "pure eye candy" whilst claiming she was "apt" for the role.^[16] She made a comeback to Telugu films in the same year, with a role in the critically acclaimed Baanam.^[17] Her role won her plaudits, whilst her on screen presence with Nara Rohit was praised with a critic citing she gives "good company as the naïve girl" and it is "refreshing to see them together". After the release of Baanam, Kumar went on a sabbatical and did not sign any other films until, despite making an appearance in a notable advert with Karthi for mobile company Airtel. She signed and next featured in the Telugu film Daggaraga Dooranga opposite Sumanth, which opened to average reviews in August 2011.^[18]