Hits and misses

The gap created in Telugu cinema by the fade out of local heroines like Jayaprada, Jayasudha, Sridevi and Vijayashanti is now being filled by stars who have migrated from Mumbai and elsewhere. Though most of them do not even have an inkling of the language, patronage from fans has hardly been lacking. 

Fair as a lily, fragile as porcelain, the slim and svelte Tamannaah is one of the leading heroines in Telugu and Tamil cinema today. The leggy lass is currently basking in the glory of the success of her latest Telugu potboiler Rachcha, where she was cast opposite the debonair Ramcharan Tej, son of megastar Chiranjeevi. Tamannaah, who began her career with the Hindi film Chand Se Roshan Chehra caught the eye of Tollywood filmmakers and soon debuted in the industry with Sri in 2005. The Tamil film Kedi produced by A M Rathnam marked her entry into Kollywood and since then, the actress has been dividing her time between Telugu and Tamil films. 
Her career has been interspersed with major hits and colossal flops. Among the flops were Tamil films like Kalloori, a story on campus romance, and Vyapari. But Telugu cinema came to her rescue; she did films like Shekar Kanmula’s Happy Days, which received both critical acclaim and box office success. 100% Love with the young heartthrob Naga Chaitanya also turned out to be a runaway hit. 
The year 2009 saw Tamannaah bouncing back to the top in Tamil cinema with a couple of hits: Padikathavan with Dhanush and Ayan with Surya. Although both these films were hero-oriented and the leading men hogged the frames, Tamannaah too had well-defined roles that enabled her to exude glamour and reveal glimpses of her acting talent. The lavishly mounted Allu Arjun-starrer Badrinath featured Tamannaah in the lead role and though the film did not rise up to expectations, it was by no means a washout. The same fate awaited her film Oosaravelli with NTR Jr. 
Tamannaah who had paired successfully with Surya in Ayan found in his brother Karthi an ideal hero. The two films — Paiyaa and Siruthai —in which they have acted together created magic at the box office. In Paiyaa, she was cast as a spoilt rich girl who loses her heart to a simpleton (who saves her from the villains). Siruthai was an action thriller.
Tamannaah also had the opportunity to reprise the role made famous by Kareena Kapoor in the film Jab We Met in the Tamil remake Kanden Kadhalai with Bharath. The uncanny resemblance she bore to Kareena and her lissome figure enabled her to do full justice to her role. However the film, which was literally a frame by frame remake, did not match up to the original. 
Sura with Vijay and Venghai with Silambarasan alias Simbu did little to further her career in Tamil cinema but again, she managed to get out of the rut with the Jayam Ravi-starrer Thillalangadi, a romantic comedy which fared well at the box office.
In her career so far, Tamannaah has been fortunate enough to have acted with almost all the top heroes in Tamil and Telugu. Tamannaah’s forthcoming films include Endhukante Premanta with up and coming hero Ram and its Tamil version Yen Endraal Kadhal Enben, Rebel with another top hero in Telugu cinema, Prabhas, and Cameraman Ganga Tho Rambabu with Pavan Kalyan. Although she is yet to land roles in heroine-oriented films, the actress is definitely not the kind to chicken out if she were to be offered such roles. Both Tamil and Telugu industries have the habit of typecasting their heroes and heroines and someone like Tamannaah, who has an earthy charm and a grace that is very much visible in the way her nimble feet move in the dance sequences, has been saddled with the glamour tag. It will continue to stay that way as long as she has the capacity to deliver in such roles. Although she made her debut in a Hindi film, she hasn’t thought of getting back to her roots yet. Like most other contemporaries, she too is prepared to bide her time and wait for the right breaks.