From supporting star to Lady Superstar: How Nayanthara formed her own kingdom in the South

If there could be one star who made her re-entry to the entertainment industry, our Lady Superstar Nayanthara did it like a boss. Talking about her career in the film industry, she had taken a round in almost all south Indian languages and has a strong base in Kollywood. In fact, she is the only female actor in the south entertainment industry to gain the status of ‘Superstar’. Here is the journey of Nayanthara in the entertainment industry and how she managed to occupy a huge space in our hearts.

Debut film

Our beloved star Nayanthara made her acting debut in the year 2003 with the Mollywood film- Manassinakkare, in which she shared the screen space with Jayaram. With her mesmerizing performance and striking looks in the film, she had a lineup of movies after her first movie in other languages too. The film Manassinakkare was received well by the audience and critics alike, and for her first film, she executed a great performance. After Manassinakkare, she slowly started creating her fan base and we can still watch the film like it was the first time.

Entry to other languages

Following the success of Manassinakkare, she got signed up in Tamil and Telugu movies Ayya and Lakshmi, respectively. However, what took her career graph to a peak was her role as a Rajinikanth’s romantic interest in the film Chandramukhi. The film, directed by P Vasu, also had Jyothika and Prabhu as the lead actors. After her starring in Chandramukhi, she received wide attention by Kollywood fans, so much so that her saree from the song, ‘Kokku Para Para’ became very vamoose in Tamil Nadu. Her role as the second female lead in Suriya and Asin starrer Ghajini was critically acclaimed.

Past breakups

Her career took a huge dip after the news of her relationship with STR aka Simbu surfaced. At the time when the news surfaced, Simbu’s previous alleged breakup with Rajinikanth’s daughter Aishwarya was also making the rounds. Later, following many problems in her relationship with Simbu, she broke up with him. Again, her relationship with choreographer, director, and actor Prabhudheva gave a huge blow in her career. She was not seen in any movies and at a time when Nayanthara was almost forgotten by the people, her role as Sita in a Telugu movie became the talk of the town.

Small appearances

Nayanthara started making guest appearances in big movies. She has also made appearances for songs in different movies. Though her appearances were short, those movies had her role as the main marketing strategy. She again paired up with Rajinikanth in the film Kuselan, in which she appeared as a top actress. This film was yet another curve in her career and she started getting many roles in several films. However, she did not take up any of those roles and made a re-entry with amazing body transformation.

Re-entry

Her re-entry to Kollywood was marked in her film with Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, directed by her beau Vignesh Shivan. The film had Vijay Sethupathi as the lead actor and Radhika Sarathkumar was seen in a key role. The romantic comedy turned out to be a megahit film and the film still has a huge fan base. Nayanthara’s comic performance as a physically challenged person, along with Vijay Sethupathi and RJ Balaji’s witty responses to her dialogues worked out very well, that one would be laughing throughout the film.

The formation of Lady Superstar

After Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, she acted in many movies which brought back her fan base with a boom. Films like Boss Engira Bhaskaran took her to another lever and she became the Lady Superstar with her role as officer Anjali in Imaikka Nodigal, made her the lady Superstar. Her role as a ruthless CBI officer and the way she handled a cold hearted villain played by Anurag Kashyap, was lauded by the fans. Now, in her recent film Darbar, she acted with Superstar Rajinikanth yet again. Her next film is also with Rajinikanth titled as Annaatthe directed by Siruthai Siva. Other than Annaatthe, she has a bunch of films in her kitty including Mookuthi Amman, Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kaadhal.