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Pooja Gandhi (born Sanjana Gandhi in 1983) is an Indian actress, who mainly works in Kannada, Hindi and Tamil films. After starring in the commercially successful 2006 film Mungaru Male, she became one of the most popular and highest paid actresses in Kannada cinema and also the recipient of several awards, including an honorary doctorate. Gandhi is popularly referred to as Male Hudugi (Rain Girl) in the media and Kannada film industry. Gandhi has acted in over five languages and 50 films in a decade. The Banglore Times placed her in the list of "25 Most Desirable Women of 2012".

Gandhi made her acting debut in 2001 with the Hindi film Khatron Ke Khiladi opposite Raj Babbar. Since then, she has played lead roles in commercially successful films such as Mungaru Male (2006), Milana (2007), Krishna (2007), Taj Mahal (2008), Budhivanta (2008), Anu (2009), Gokula (2009), Dandupalya (2012), Dandupalya 2 (2017) and Dandupalya 3 (2018). Following the success of a series of films, she established herself as one of the leading actresses of Kannada cinema.

In 2016, Gandhi received an honorary doctorate award by the Governing Council of Confederation of International Accreditation Commission (CIAC) in affiliation with KEISIE International University - South Korea, for her contribution to the Kannada film industry.

She became a member of the Janata Dal (Secular) party in 2012, before joining the KJP party, and later, the BSR Congress party. She contested the Karnataka assembly elections from Raichur constituency, but failed to win a seat.

Early years and personal life
Gandhi was born in Meerut and brought up in Delhi into a traditional Punjabi family. Her father, Pawan Gandhi, is a businessman and her mother, Jyothi Gandhi, is a housewife. She studied at Sophia Convent and Dewan Public School in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. She has two younger sisters – Radhika Gandhi, who is also an actress in Kannada films, and Suhani Gandhi, a tennis player. Gandhi started her career as a model by acting in advertisements and television series with Awaz (a remake of Lost in Hindi language) and a serial Zameen Se Aassman Tak, directed by Aruna Irani.

Gandhi got engaged in November 2012 with industrialist Anand Gowda but ended the relationship the following month.