Southern sirens
Here's a look at some bombshells who are making a splash down south.
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Anjali: Model-turned-actress Anjali has acted in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies. She made her acting debut with the Telugu movie Photo in 2006. After doing a few Telugu films she moved to Tamil cinema, her first Tamil movie was Kattradhu Thamizh (2007). Anjali has also won the Filmfare Best Debut award for the same movie.
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Ankitha: Ankitha is the cute little girl who had won hearts by saying "I Love You Rasna" on national television years ago. Now an actress, Ankitha made her acting debut in the Telugu movie Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo in 2002. The movie went on to be come a huge hit and Ankitha signed many films with the top actors.
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Anushka Shetty: A graduate in Computer Applications actress Anushka Shetty is also a yoga instructor. She first appeared on the silver screen in 2005 in the movie Super. Anushka gave her first hit in 2006 with the movie Vikramarkudu, after which she got recognition in the Telugu film industry. She also starred in Astram, the Telugu remake of the Aamir Khan starrer movie Sarfarosh. Anushka made her debut in Tamil movie opposite R Madhavan in the action flick Rendu.
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Asin: Asin made her acting debut in the Malayalam movie Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, but her first commercial success came after two years with Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi in 2003. Asin even won a Filmfare Award for the Best Telugu Actress for the movie. The pretty actress is also famous for her role in the Tamil film Ghajini in 2005. She also worked in the Hindi remake of the same film opposite Aamir Khan and even won the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award.
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Bhanushree Mehra: A model by profession, Bhanushree Mehra made news when she was cast as the main lead opposite Allu Arjun in Gunashekhar's Telegu movie Varudu, which released recently. The movie failed to click with the audience, but Bhanushree did manage to get good feedback not so much for her acting, but for her glamour.
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Bhoomika Chawla: A model by profession, Bhoomika made her acting debut with the Telugu movie Yuvakudu in 2000. She has acted in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Bhojpuri and Punjabi movies as well. Bhoomika has had the chance of working with all the top actors down south including Chiranjeevi, Surya, Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu to name a few.
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Charmi: Charmi made her acting debut at the age of 13 in the Telugu movie Nee Thodu Kaavali in the year 2002. The actress has mostly done Telugu movies and has also had the oopoprtunity to work with actors like Venkatesh, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Jr. NTR, Prabhas, Siddarth and Ravi Teja to name a few. Charmi has also starred in many women-oriented in movies like Anukokunda Oka Roju, Mantra, Manorama, Kavya's Diary in Telugu and Laadam in Tamil.
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Gajala: Gajala was launched in Telugu films in 2001 and later in Tamil and Malayalam films too. According to reports, the actress will soon be tying the knot with actor Allari Naresh, the son of EVV Satyanarayana, a popular comedian of Tollywood. Both had acted together in Telugu film Rambabu Gadi Pellam (2008).
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Genelia: After having had a not-so-impressive stint in Bollywood, Genelia decided to try her luck in the south India film industry. He first release down south was the Tamil movie Boys, which went on to become a hit and Genelia started receiving Telugu film offers. The actress had done a number of Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies before shifting her focus again towards Bollywood.
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Hansika Motwani: Hansika started-off her acting career as a child artist in the television series called Shakalaka Boom Boom. She also appeared in the Hrithik Roshan starrer Koi Mil Gaya. But as she turned a teenager, she made her debut as a lead heroine in the Telugu movie Desamuduru opposite Allu Arjun in 2007.
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Ileana D'Cruz: Ileana D'Cruz made her debut with the Telugu movie Devadasu in 2006. Since then, this pretty lady has emerged as one of the most successful actresses in the Telugu film industry. Ileana has given many box office hits like Devadasu, Pokiri, Jalsa and Kick.
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Kajal Agarwal: Not many know that Kajal made her acting debut in 2004 with the Aishwarya-Vivek starrer movie Kyun Ho Gaya Na, where she played Ash's friend. Just three years later Tamil director Bharathiraja offered her the lead role in the movie Bommalattam. She has done many Tamil and Telugu films, but Kajal got recognition as an actress for the Telugu movie Magadheera in which she had a double role.
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Kamalini Mukherjee: Kamalini made her acting debut in Revathi's critically acclaimed movie Phir Milenge. While she was shooting for the film, Kamalini got an offer from Telugu director Sekhar Kammula for his next project Anand in 2004. Post Anand there has been no looking back for her.
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Mamta Mohandas : Born and brought up in Bahrain, Mamta debuted in the Malayalam movie Mayookhan in the year 2002. The actress has done many Tamil and Telugu movie as well. Mamta, is also a trained classical singer and has done playback for many of her movies. She went on to win the 2007 Filmfare Best Telugu Female Playback Singer award for a song in the Telugu movie Rakhee.
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Meenakshi Dixit: Meenakshi Dixit was one of the contestants of Gladrags Megamodel 2008, she has also modelled for leading International brands like Lee Cooper, ESSAR Pvt Ltd, Red Square Energy Drink. She has done a number of Tamil and Telugu movies as well.
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Monika: Monika has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies. She has acted in a lot of movies as a child artist. Monica's first Tamil movie as a leading lady was Azhagi in 2002. Later she acted in lot of other movies including Kadhal Azhivathillai, Bagavathi, Shiva Rama Raju and Otte Ee Ammai Evaru Teleedu to name a few.
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Namitha: Namitha made her acting debut in the Telugu film Sontham in 2002, but the movie failed to impress. The same year she was seen in another Telugu movie Gemini, which became a hit. Despite her movies doing average at the box office, her sizzling screen appearance has made her a well-known name in the Southern film industry.
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Navya Nair: Dhanya Nair, who is known by her stage name Navya Nair, has acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada films. She caught everyone's attention starring opposite Dileep in Ishtam. She is known more for her portrayal of a typical Malayali girl in various movies.
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Nayantara: Nayantara has appeared in several Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. After commercial successes such as Chandramukhi, Ghajini, Billa and Yaaradi Nee Mohini, she has established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses in Tamil cinema. Winner of two Vijay Awards & nominated for a Filmfare for Best Tamil Actress, she is now making a glamorous debut into the Kannada film industry opposite superstar Upendra.
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Nikitha: Actress Nikitha Thukral has appeared in nearly 20 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Known for her Kodana Kodi item number from the movie Saroja, Nikitha made her debut in Malayalam film Kaiyethum Doorathu in 2002 with veteran director Fazil. Described as the future queen of Sandalwood, she also became popular in Tamil cinema with her films Don and Bhadradri.
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Parvati Melton: This 5 feet 9 inches tall Tamil actress and model was born in California to a German father and an Indian mother. A trained Bharatnatyam dancer, Parvati has worked with South Indian superstars like Raja and Mohanlal in huge commercial hits like Vennela and the Malyalam blockbuster Hallo.
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Pooja Gandhi: Pooja Gandhi a.k.a. Sanjana Gandhi, predominantly works in the Kannada film industry who got a kick start with a Bengali film. She also worked in a few Tamil films which were not very successful. She then entered the Kannada film industry with Mungaaru Male which was a big hit in Karnataka. Following this, she got many ad assignments. Pooja has also acted in the Kannada movie Krishna, opposite Ganesh, who was her co-actor in Mungaaru Male.
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Priyamani: Priyamani, is an award-winning Indian film actress and model who has acted in several Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. She is best known for bagging a National Award for Best Actress for her role in the 2006 Tamil film Paruthi Veeran directed by Ameer Sultan. Priyamani is Bollywood actress Vidya Balan's cousin.
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Ramya: Divya Spandana popularly known by her stage name Ramya has predominantly acted in Kannada films and has also appeared in Tamil and Telugu films. She won a Filmfare for Best Actress in Kannada for Thananam Thananam and has also been nominated for the same award for Mussanjematu.
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Reema Sen: Born in Kolkata, Reema started her career with modelling, she also tried her luck at a few Hindi movies but was not successful. She then turned to Tamil cinema and has now emerged as a successful Tamil actress. In April 2006, she became quite controversial when a Madurai court issued non-bailable warrants against her and Shilpa Shetty for "posing in an obscene manner" in photographs published by a Tamil newspaper. She also won a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award (Tamil) (2000) for Minnale.
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Sada: Sadha Mohammed Syed better known as Sadha, mainly appears in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada films. Her most notable films include Jayam, Anniyan and Unnale Unnale. Anniyan being her most successful movie to date, Sada was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show.
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Sanjana Galrani: Archana Galrani, better known professionally as Sanjana, is a model and film actress, born and brought up in Bangalore. Though she appeared in quite a few Kannada films, it was the 2008 Telugu film Bujjigadu that brought her to limelight.
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Shriya Saran: She began her career acting in music videos, while also attending an acting studio to follow her dream to act. She has appeared in several Telugu films with prominent actors, whilst, also making in-roads in Bollywood as well as the Tamil and Malyalam film industry. She has been nominated the Filmfare for the Best Telegu Actress (2005) as well as Best Hindi Female Debut Award (2007) and has won the Stardust Exciting New Face Award (2008) among many others.
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Sindhu Tolani: Sindhu Tolani started her career with the Telugu movie Aithe. The movie was a low budget hit which first got everyone to notice her. She shot to fame at the age of 20, at her debut in the Tamil movie Sullan. Since then she has appeared in many Telugu, Hindi and Kannada films.
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Sneha: She has acted in several Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films. She debuted in the 2001 Malayalam film Ingane Oru Nilapakshi, directed by Fazil. Sneha has won one Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Unnai Ninaithu (2002) and has been nominated twice for a Filmfare Best Actress Award. She has also received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress twice. She also appeared in so many commercial ads like Saravana Stores, Roobini Oil, Aashirvadh, Idhayam Dots, Jos Aalukkas etc. In 2010, she was announced as the brand ambassador for the Dabur Amla Nelli Hair Oil
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Sneha Ullal: Is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tollywood & Bollywood films. She is best known for her role in the Telugu Super-hit Movie Ullasamga Utsahamga. At college she befriended Arpita Khan, her college mate and the younger stepsister of Bollywood actor Salman Khan. The friendship led to the chance meeting Salman Khan and film offers, like Lucky: No Time For Love
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Sona: Actress Sona completed more than 30 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu. Sona is known more for her appearance as superstar Rajinikanth's fan and Vadivel's wife in Kuselan which is remake of the malayalam film kadhaparayumbol. Today, Sona has started her own production company , Unique Productions and their first movie will be Odu Machi Odu.
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Swetha Basu Prasad: Prasad started her career as a child actress in 2002 at the age of 11. She acted in dual role as Chunni and Munni in her debut film Makdee and got the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for the same. She also acted as a child artist in the Star Plus serial Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki as Shruti, Parvati and Om's daughter.
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Tamannaah: She has appeared in Tamil films as well as Hindi films. She made her acting debut in her only Hindi film so far, Chand Sa Roshan Chehra that released in 2005, before working in the major South Indian film industries, which includes both Tamil and Telegu films. She established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses in the Tamil film industry. She also has experience as a model and has appeared in various television advertisements.
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Trisha Krishnan: Is an Indian film actress and model who has prominently been appearing in Tamil and Telugu films. After her first appearance in the 1998 Tamil film Jodi, as a supporting role character, she won a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for her first lead role in the 2002 film Mounam Pesiyadhe. She later rose to fame and also secured her first South Filmfare Best Actress Award. She will make her debut in Bollywood with the film Khatta Meeta. She started her career as a model, appearing in many TV advertisements including that of Fair and Lovely and Josco Jeweller. She also starred in Falguni Pathak's music album Meri Chunar Ud Ud Jaye.
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Vimala Raman: Vimala Raman is an Indian film actress and model and a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has appeared in Tamil and Malayalam films. She was born and brought up in Sydney. She started practicing Bharatanatyam at the age of five. In 2004 she won Miss India Australia title as well as Miss India Australia cyberqueen title.
