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Plain Jane turns star
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Nayantara's career graph is set to soar, what with five films ready for release
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Nayantara
Nayantara epitomises the new spirit of the South Indian film industry. She is a fighter with an indefatigable spirit. Not only is she beautiful, she is talented, professional and determined to make it to the top. Today, she is bracketed among the top three heroines in the South and her rise in the last one year has been phenomenal.
At the moment, Nayantara is doing three Tamil films (Vallavan, E, Thalaimagan) and two Telugu films with Nagarjuna and Prabhas. No one ever thought that this plain Jane from small town Tiruvalla in the Central Travancore area of Kerala would make it big in the glitzy world of cinema.
In fact, Diana Kurien was hand picked by veteran director Satyan Anthikkad, re-christened Nayantara and cast opposite Jayaram in Manasinakkare. Later, she played the ghost who falls in love with hero Mohanlal in Fazil's Vismayathumbathu.
She made her Tamil debut with Sarathkumar in Hari's Ayya. But it was the role opposite superstar Rajnikanth in Chandramukhi that skyrocketed her to stardom. Says Nayantara, "Everybody told me it was a tricky proposition to do a film with senior actors but I owe my popularity, especially in the B and C centres, to Chandramukhi and I believe it was my first big break."
Today, Nayantara has an aura around her as she is said to be elusive and inaccessible, does not make public appearances and prefers to do her work silently without being dragged into any controversy. She says: "I think an actor should be a bit elusive and in my case I never had the time. I was too busy with work and shuttling between my home in Tiruvalla and the sets. Moreover, I have no godfathers, managers or parents to take care of my career. I take decisions on my own and I am proud to say that whatever I am today is just due to hard work and God's blessings."
Luck is important
Nayantara agrees that luck played an important role in her rise to stardom as she was part of two blockbusters Chandramukhi and Ghazini, and the hit Kalvanin Kathali. Her Lakshmi is the first big hit of 2006 in Telugu and the item song with Vijay in Sivakasi made her a hit with the masses.
Today, Nayantara is a brand by herself. Now, she wants to be more careful with the films she signs and goes through scripts with a fine-toothed comb.
However, recently she refused an offer from a leading Hindi director as she found that the role was too glamorous and has declined to do an item number in a big Telugu film.
On how she lost a lot of weight, Nayantara is quick to reply: "I had been working round the clock for the last few weeks and was on a strict diet which helped me shed the extra kilos."
SREEDHAR PILLAI
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