Rathod was born on 11 January 1981 in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She is a graduate of Mithibai College in Mumbai. She is a relative of Bollywood villain Amjad Khan.^{[citation needed]}

She first started appearing in Hindi pop song albums in late 1990s which caught the attention of Hindi movie producers. She made her first film appearance as Monishka in the film Yaadein. The film was a major box office flop. After a few sporadic appearances in minor films, she moved down south where she appeared in a number of successful Tamil films including Gemini with Vikram, Anbe Sivam with Kamal Hassan, Villain with Ajith Kumar, Winner with Prashanth, and Diwan with Sarath Kumar. Her appearance in films like Villain, Winner, Diwan and New were well received by the Tamil Nadu audiences.

She made a comeback in 2009 in the film Naalai Namadhe portraying the role of a prostitute, Sarasu, however the film went largely unnoticed. Despite this She continued to appear in supporting roles in several successful films such as Jaggubhai, Kevvu Keka and Aambala.