Indian actress and film producer Nayanthara works in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam films. She is also referred as Lady Superstar of South Indian Cinema. She made her acting debut with Sathyan Anthikad's Malayalam film Manassinakkare in 2003, post the success she became a popular star in the Malayalam industry. She did two more Malayalam films the following year: Shaji Kailas' Natturajavu, and Fazil's psychological thriller Vismayathumbathu. Nayanthara's first appearance in a non-Malayalam film was Hari's Tamil film Ayya which released in 2005. While shooting for the film, she was cast in another Tamil film Chandramukhi, after its director P. Vasu's wife had seen Manassinakkare and recommended her. The film ran for over 100 days in theatres, eventually turning Nayanthara into one of the most-sought after actresses in Tamil.[1]
Nayanthara made her Telugu cinema debut with Lakshmi in 2006, and followed this with another Telugu film, Boss the same year. She appeared in four Tamil films that year: Kalvanin Kadhali,[1] Vallavan, Thalaimagan and E. Nayanthara received praise for her performance in Billa (2007).[2] The success of that film led to Sify describing her as "the glamour queen of Tamil cinema".[3] Her 2008 release Yaaradi Nee Mohini was her only successful film as a lead actress that year.[4] She had three releases in 2009: Villu, Anjaneyulu and Aadhavan. In 2010, all her releases, which featured her as the female lead, turned out to be commercial successes: she had five box office hits in the four Southern languages – Adhurs (Telugu), Bodyguard (Malayalam), Simha (Telugu), Boss Engira Bhaskaran (Tamil) and the Kannada film Super, which marked her first and only appearance in Kannada cinema. Her performances in Simha, Boss Engira Bhaskaran and Super eventually fetched her nominations for the Filmfare Best Actress Award in the respective languages.[5]
In 2011, Nayanthara portrayed Sita in Sri Rama Rajyam, based on an episode in the Hindu epic Ramayana, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu.[6] Her performance in Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2012) earned her another nomination in the same category. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil for Raja Rani (2013)[7] Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (2015),[8] and Aramm (2017),[9] and was nominated for the same for Iru Mugan (2016).[10] She is also recognised for having made women centric films mainstream in the south Indian industries. She has starred in commercially and critically acclaimed female led films like Maya (2015), Puthiya Niyamam (2016), Aramm (2017), Kolamaavu Kokila (2018), Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018),Mookuthi Amman (2020), Netrikann (2021). She is also known for her Various roles in Rappakkal (2005), Vallavan (2006), Lakshmi (2006),Aadhavan (2009),Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2012) , Arrambam (2013) , Naanum Rowdy Dhaan(2015), Thani Oruvan (2015), Velaikkaran (2017), Jai Simha (2018), Kolamaavu Kokila (2018), Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018), Viswasam (2019), Love Action Drama (2019), Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (2019), Bigil (2019), Mookuthi Amman (2020), Nizhal (2021), Annaatthe (2021), Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal (2022) and Godfather (2022). Nayanthara's highest grossing release came with Jawan (2023), which marked her debut in Hindi cinema.[11] in which She Potrayed NSG Officer her Performance received Critical Acclaim.