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The heartthrob of Kollywood

With five films getting ready for release, Nayantara's career graph is set to soar

HARD WORK PAYS Nayantara in a scene from "Vallavan"

Nayantara epitomises the new spirit of the South Indian film industry. She is a fighter with an indefatigable spirit. Not only is she beautiful and photogenic, she is also 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 top heroes such as 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."

Nayantara agrees that luck played an important role in her rise to stardom as she was part of two blockbusters Chandramukhi and Ghajini, 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. She says: "And when Vijay himself gives an introduction before the song where I play myself, `Nayantara vaaa?', it registered in the mind of the audience which really did wonders to my popularity."

Today, Nayantara is a brand by herself and she is one of the few leading ladies in Tamil who commands an opening. Now, she wants to be more careful with the films she signs and goes through scripts with a fine-toothed comb. She says: "I want to do good films and language is no barrier for me." 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.

Nayantara is all excited about her new film Vallavan in which she shares screen space with two other heroines, Reema Sen and Sandhya. Says Nayantara: "I don't mind how many heroines there are in a film but it is my character that matters most. Even in Chandramukhi, there were two heroines but ultimately it is the manner in which the director projects you that matters. Simbu, my director and hero in Vallavan, is a talented person and his energy level and passion for cinema are something to be admired."

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." Nayantara says she is only focussed on her career at the moment and is refusing all the endorsement offers coming her way. Concludes the pretty actress with her infectious smile: "I don't want to do ads and get overexposed. People should pay money and come and watch me and my films in theatres."

SREEDHAR PILLAI

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