Padmavati Rao is an actor, writer, director, translator, poet and natural farmer. Her presence in theatre and films spans decades. She speaks many languages but prefers writing in Hindi and is a published poet. As an actor she has worked in Kannada, Hindi, English, Marathi and now even Malayalam and Tamil cinema (recent release being ‘Maara’). 

The Kannada films she has worked in include the still popular ‘Geetha’. Her forays into Hindi cinema include blockbuster films such as ‘Pardes’, ‘TE3N’ (pronounced Teen), ‘Padmaavat’, ‘Raat Akeli Hai’, ‘Tanhaji’ and the recent short film ‘Miniaturist of Junagadh’ which has won the award for the best film at the International Festivals of Pune and Spain. Her solo show titled ‘Kitchen Poems’ was performed at the prestigious Theatre Olympics in 2018. In 2021 she made a short five minute film ‘Journey Of A Butterfly’ which was screened as part of a global project called Theatre From The Streets. She has translated five plays of Girish Karnad and one of Mahesh Dattani into Hindi. 

Padmavati is also a storyteller, painter, puppet maker and puppeteer. Trained in process work as a facilitator, she is on the Governing Council at Foundation for Human Learning and Growth – Aastha. She combines process work and theatre in her work with children and adults. She trains teachers to use theatre in the classroom and has worked with teachers of private and government schools from around the country, in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, in the far off Lakshadweep and communities in the Himalayas too. She has conducted workshops abroad as well.

Padmavati hopes to make theatre more accessible to people of varied age groups across geographies through Sarsayee Foundation For Theatre and Education of which she is the Managing Trustee. Its work has been experienced in the Himalayas, the South of India and the far off Lakshadweep Islands too. These days her focus is on villages just outside Bengaluru for now, where she endeavours to do and promote natural farming, arts and crafts. Her talk on the subject of including all that is immeasurable in life, especially in schools, is on the TED platform on YouTube. Her interest in natural farming, arts and crafts drives her to stay connected and build bridges between people and cultures.