Nayanthara, the smoldering beauty with sparkling eyes and innocent smile epitomizes the new spirit of South Indian film industry. She is a fighter, indefatigable in spirits and mind. Not only is she ravishingly beautiful and photogenic, she is talented, professional and has the determination to make it to the top.

Today she is bracketed among the top three heroines in south and her rise in the last one year has been phenomenal. No one ever thought that this plain Jane from small town Tiruvalla in the Central Travancore area of Kerala will make it big in the glitzy world of cinema. In fact Diana Kurien was hand picked by veteran director Satyan Anthikkad, rechristened as Nayanthara and cast in "Manasinakkare".

Later she did films with top directors and heroes like Mammootty and Mohanlal and then she made her Tamil debut with "Ayya". But it was the role opposite superstar Rajnikanth in "Chandramukhi" that sky-rocketed her to stardom. Today Nayanthara has an aura around her as she is said to be elusive, inaccessible, does not make public appearances and prefers to do her work silently without being dragged into any controversies.

Nayanthara agrees that luck played an important role in her rise to superstardom and she is having the best of both worlds- Kollywood and Tollywood, where she is huge. Though she does not do Malayalam films any longer, she has a huge market in Kerala, where local distributors are buying her Telugu films and dubbing them into Malayalam and minting money.

Today, Nayan 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 comb. Nayan has two films on floors is only focused on her career at the moment and is refusing all the endorsements offers coming her way. The pretty actress says that she does not want to be overexposed.

Nayan’s “Billa” releases in December and she is currently working on “Yaradi Nee Mogini” with Dhanush and “Sathyam” with Vishal.

(source : The offcial website of Nayanthara hosted at sifymax.com)

"Being Nayanthara" published in Times of India on 31 Aug 2008

Brand Nayanthara is becoming bigger. The actress, who played herself in Sivakasi and Kuselan, has now done another cameo as Nayanthara in the Malayalam film 20: Twenty.

Ask Nayanthara and she tells you how staying at the top is harder than getting there. Looking absolutely gorgeous in her new slim avatar, she is unperturbed by hits or flops and is even now referred to as the Queen of Kollywood, despite Kuselan and Satyam bombing at the box-office.

After all, not many actresses have had the privilege of playing themselves in three films. In her special appearance in a song with Vijay in that super hit Sivakasi, she had the Ilaya Thalapathy himself saying, “Nayanthara va?” before they break into the hit number Kodambakkam area...

In Kuselan , where she got a chance to play herself, director P Vasu gave her an introductory song with Rajinikanth.

In 20:Twenty , she makes a cameo appearance as Nayanthara, the actress, again. She is featured with all the top young guns of the Malayalam film industry like Pritviraj and Jayasurya.

Grapevine has it that Mammootty and Mohanlal, who are also acting in the film, did not want to be featured opposite Nayan as they feared she would steal their thunder.

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Nayanthara goes back to her roots!

Nayanthara is going back to her roots! She has signed on the dotted line to do a Malayalam film with Dileep as hero titled Bodyguard to be directed by Siddique (Friends, Engal Anna, Sadhu Mirandal in Tamil).

Nayan told Sify.com : "When Siddique narrated the story of Bodyguard, I fell in love with it. He had a bounded script and after he gave me a scene-by-scene narration, I was hooked to the character I play in the film."

The buzz is that she is going to do Bodyguard for one-fourth of her salary (the highest paid to any actress in Malayalam) in Tamil and Telugu. When asked why she is doing the film at a reduced rate, Nayan shot back: "Money has never been my criteria to do a film. I look at the role and how comfortable I'm with the people I work with. At the end of the day, it is my happiness and comfort level with a particular project that counts."

By signing this Malayalam film, Nayanthara has proved that self-dignity is bigger for her than money. She had the guts to say “No” to Lingusamy & Co when they wanted her back in the project and instead signed up for this Siddique film without wasting her valuable dates. The grapevine has it that Bodyguard is going to be remade in Tamil as Vijay’s 50th film.

Adds Nayan: “Actually I’ve been getting offers from Malayalam for the last two years but being busy with my Tamil projects, I was unable to dole out dates. After I complete this film, I will be doing a big Telugu film, followed by a Tamil venture. It’s too early to reveal the project. Anyway it looks like I will be doing four films next year.”