Nayanthara

Some Lesser Known Facts About Nayanthara

• Nayantara is a popular Indian actress and film producer who has worked in over 75 films. She is an actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India who made it to the Forbes India, Celebrity 100 list.

• She was bought up in a Christian family in Southen, India, and did her schooling in various cities of the country, including Delhi, Gujarat, and Jamnagar.
  

  

  In her college days, Nayanthara also worked as a part-time model. In 2003 she made her film debut in Malayalam films when Sathyan Anthikkad, a director saw her modeling assignments and offered her a role in his movie Manassinakkare. She said no to this offer as she didn’t want to become an actress. Later she agreed and decided that she will just be doing this one film. Destiny had other plans for her and Manassinakkare was a success, after which she received many acting offers. ^[16]BookMyShow

  

• In 2004, she worked in two films; one was Natturajavu which was directed by Shaji Kailas. In this film, she played the role of the protagonist’s adopted sister. The second one was Vismayathumbathu, which was a psychological thriller that was an Ammu International film, directed by Fazil. In this film, she was opposite Mohanlal and was highly praised for her performance in the film.

• She made her Tamil film debut in 2005 when she accepted the offer to work in director Hari’s film Ayya. This film was received well, and she became one of the leading actresses in Tamil cinema after her performance was widely praised. She signed up for another project while working in Ayya, and this was a comedy horror film by P. Vasu. P.Vasu was seeking an actress for his film, and his wife saw Manassinakkare and recommended Nayanthara to him. This film was Chandramukhi which was released on 14 April 2005 ^[17]BookMyShow and was a huge success. This film made her the leading Tamil actress after it ran in theaters for over 800 days. ^[18]The Times of India

• In the same year, she worked in a Malayalam film Thaskara Veeran directed by Pramod and Pappan. This film was released on 27 May 2005. She also worked in Rappakal costarring Mammootty and Sharada. In the same year, she played a supporting role in A R Murugadoss’s film Ghajini which was released on 29 September 2005. After this, she did an item number in Sivakasi, a film directed by Perarasu.

• In 2006, she appeared in director Tamilvannan’s film Kalvanin Kadhali which was released on 17 February 2006 and became a hit. In that year, she made her Telugu film debut with Lakshmi after which she appeared in Boss, I Love You. In the same year, she worked in three Tamil films, which were all released in 2006 around Diwali. The first one was Vallavan, in which she starred with Silambarasan TR, Premgi Amaren, and others. In this movie, she played the role of a lecturer who fell in love with her student. Sify, a popular film review platform, wrote about Nayanthara’s performance,
  

  Nayanthara virtually walks away with the film and has never looked so beautiful. She looks gorgeous especially in songs and does justice to her well-etched out role”.

  The second movie was E which was directed by S. P. Jananathan. This was a science fiction film in which Nayanthara played the role of a bar dancer. Her performance was positively reviewed by platforms such as Indiaglitz and Rediff. The third film was Thalaimagan, in which she played the role of a news reporter but didn’t receive positive reviews for her performance.

• In the same year, she met Simbu while shooting for Vallavan, after which they fell into a relationship that lasted until 2014, when their intimate pictures were leaked and went viral all over the web.

  

• After this, she was signed up for Billa, which was a gangster film, directed by Vishnuvardhan. The film was a remake of a 1980’s Tamil film and was released on 14 December 2007. This film was a big success, and Nayanthara was praised for her performance in her glamourous role as Sasha. Sify wrote positive reviews for her performance and termed her a show stopper. The review reads,
  

  Nayanthara has gone full throttle to look her sexiest best. She has a beautiful body which she flaunts daringly and is also able to bring out the cold aloofness and bitterness of her character.’

• The following year, she appeared in five successful films that were released during different months of the year. The first one was Yaaradi Nee Mohini which was directed by Mithran Jawahar and released on 4 April 2008. This was a family entertainment movie for which Nayanthara was praised. She was positively reviewed by Sify and Nowrunning.com. Another platform Behindwoods reviewed her and wrote,
  

  Nayan dispels her bombshell act and proves that she can do more than just that. She breaks into tears when needed, shows vicious contempt when rubbed the wrong way in the name of love, and looks endearing in songs.’

  This release was followed by other movies such as Satyam, Kuselan, and Aegan in the same year. For Yaaradi Nee Mohini, she won the Vijay Award for the Favourite Heroine category for the second time and was nominated at the 56th Filmfare Awards South for the Best Actress Prize.

• In 2009, she had two releases which were Aadhavan and Villu, which both received mixed reviews.

• In 2010, she had six releases, out of which five were successful, featuring her in a lead role. All these films came out to be a big success at the box office, bringing Nayanthara both popularity and commercial success. The first release was a Telugu action comedy film named Adhurs that was released on 13 January 2010. The second one was a Malayalam film, Bodyguard which was released on January 23, 2010. Her third success of the year was Simha, a Telugu movie which released on 30 April 2010. The fourth one was Boss Engira Bhaskaran, a Tamil film that was released on 10 September 2010. The fifth one was Super, her debuting Kannada film that was released on 3 December 2010.

• Her sixth movie of the year was Elektra which was a Malayalam film by the director Shyama Prasad. The film was screened at the International Film Festival of India and the Dubai International Film Festival. Nayanthara received positive reviews from critics.

• That year, she won the Asianet Award for Best Actress for her role in Bodyguard. For her performance in, Boss Engira Bhaskaran, Simha, and Super, she was nominated for the best actress award at Filmfare in four languages including Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Kannada. ^[19]IMDb

• In 2011, she had a single release. She got her breakthrough role as Goddess Sita in the film Sri Rama Rajyam by director Bapu.
  

  

  Her performance was not much praised and received mixed reviews by Sify and Rediff. A Rediff reviewer wrote,

  Nayanthara is the surprise package of the film. As Sita, she too has played the role of her lifetime. She gave a fine understated performance conveying a kaleidoscope of emotions.’

  This film was praised in the media as her last film before marriage. It was also reported that she will quit acting after her marriage.

• On 7 August 2011, before the release of Sri Rama Rajyam, she adopted Hinduism at Arya Samaj temple in Chennai. She was made to perform a ritual called Shuddhi Karma which is done for Vedic purification, and did a Havan in which she was made to chant the Gayatri Mantra and hymns from Veda as directed by the priest. She also received a certificate of her conversion to Hinduism, and her actress name Nayanthara became her official name. The media reported that she did this to marry Prabhu Deva, with whom she was in a relationship for a while. ^[20]Hindustan Times

  

• She took an 11-month sabbatical, and in 2012, she made a comeback with Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, a film directed by Krish Jagarlamudi. In this film, she played the role of a journalist and received positive reviews for her acting and her chemistry with Rana.

• In 2013, she won both Vijay Award and Filmfare for Best Actress category for her performance in Raja Rani, which was directed by Atlee. In this movie, she played the role of a wife stuck in an unhappy marriage. Behindwoods.com reviewed it as her best performance to date and marked it as a great comeback. Her next film of this year was Arrambam which was released on 31 October 2013. In this film, she starred with Ajith Kumar, Arya, and Taapsee Pannu. Her performance in this movie was reviewed by critics who praised Nayanthara for her acting skills.

  

• In 2014, she was chosen for a female-centric lead role in a South Indian movie. She played a leading role in Anaamika, a film produced by Deepak Dhar and Sameer Gogate film, and directed by Sekhar Kammula. This film was a remake of a Bollywood film, Kahaani which was released in 2012. In this film, Nayanthara plays the role of a wife who shifted to Hyderabad to find her missing husband. The film did extremely well on Box office, and her performance in this movie was reviewed by Sify, the reviewer wrote,
  

  a one-woman show by her in a difficult role… she nails the character perfectly whether it in the initial scenes showing her anguish or in the stunning climax, where she takes a brave decision.’

• In 2015, she played a lead role for the second time in a Tamil horror film, Maya. The film was written and directed by Ashwin Saravanan, The film was a story of a single mother who has a mysterious past. This film bought immense commercial success to the makers, and Nayanthara won praises for her performance and her choice of playing such characters.

• She also began working in comedy and action films like Bhaskar the Rascal, which was released on 15 April 2015, and Thani Oruvan which was released on 28 August 2015. She also played the female lead role of a deaf girl in Vignesh Shivan’s movie Naanum Rowdy Dhaan which was released on 21 October 2015. This film ran into controversy after a clip of the movie became viral on social media. In this clip, Nayanthara was buying liquor from a shop. The Hindu Makkal Katchi, an Indian Nationalist party in Tamil Nadu demanded this scene to be removed from the movie and showered Nayanthara’s picture with beer bottles as an act of protest. Nayanthara spoke in response and stated that it was just for the film scene, but her statement didn’t make any impact. ^[21]Deccan Chronicle

  

•  In 2016, her first release was Puthiya Niyamam, in which she starred opposite Mammootty. In this film, she played the character of a rape victim. The film was released on 12 February 2016 and was positively reviewed by International Business Times India, the reviewer wrote,
  

  Nayantara’s role as Vasuki Iyer is one of her career’s best until now and her decision to dub in her own voice for her character is worthy of appreciation.’ ^[22]International Business Times

  This hit was followed by three releases in various genres. One was Thirunaal which was released on 5 August 2016; in this movie, she played the role of a village school teacher. The next one was Iru Mugan which was released on 8 September. In this film, she starred with Vikram and Nithya Menen. The third one was Kaashmora, a horror film that was released on 28 October 2016.

• In 2016, Nayanthara confirmed her relationship with film director, Vignesh Shivan at an award ceremony in Singapore. The duo met on the set of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan and became friends, after which they began dating each other. In May 2022, they announced their wedding to be held on 9 June 2022. ^[23]NDTV

  

• In 2017, she again played the lead in the horror thriller Dora and a political drama thriller Aramm. She played the role of a district collector in Aramm and won her third Filmfare Award for this film in the Best Tamil Actress category. ^[24]IMDb

• The following year, her first release was Jai Simha, in which she acted as the female lead, and this was followed by a black comedy film Kolamaavu Kokila and a thriller film Imaikkaa Nodigal.

• In 2019, she did several films in different languages and won the Best Actress Award for her performance in Viswasam. In 2020, she played a supporting role in the film Darbar starring Rajinikanth. She also played the lead in Mookuthi Amman and played the role of a Hindu goddess.

• In 2021, she worked in the film Annaatthe, starring Rajnikanth. This year she also worked in a crime thriller Netrikann which was a remake of a South Korean film. She with her boyfriend Vignesh Shivam launched their own production company named Rowdy Pictures. In the same year, she launched another business venture with famous dermatologist Dr. Renita Rajan, named The Lip Balm Company. With this venture, she made her way to the beauty retail space by offering gender-neutral lip care products. ^[25]The New Indian Express

• Her upcoming projects include a Malayalam film, Gold, a Telugu film named Godfather, a Tamil film named Connect, and an untitled Hindi film with which she will make her Bollywood debut. ^[26]The Times of India

• In 2023, she joined Instagram and in just 10 hours, she gained 1 million followers, making her the fastest Indian actress to get such number of followers on the platform. ^[27]The Times of India