Not many would know this but along with Kareena, the names Asin, Priyanka, and Vidya Balan were considered for the project before Kareena insisted that they cast her no matter what. What are your thoughts?
With Toxic and Hi, it looks like Nayanthara attempted to recreate the time she juggled both Billa and Yaradi Nee Mohini around the same time. Back in 2007, her look in Billa was a real image makeover for her from her more homely girl next door roles with some glamour in songs. While it was not a performance oriented role, Nayanthara maintained the attitude with aplomb. As for Yaradi Nee Mohini, it is one role that explored her ability to emote and be a boss woman, which she did very well.
However, with Toxic and Hi, I felt that it did not work. While she was good in Toxic, the movie did no justice to her aura and screen presence. On the other hand, with Hi, she seemed to be a total miscast as the exuberant girl from the village.
In terms of looks, we know this is something Nayanthara can pull off, but the question is what is next from her? Hopefully, like how she had a reinvention with Billa and then Sri Rama Rajyam, Nayanthara will come up with a film that explores something fresh or appropriate for her capabilities, maybe something like what Keerthy is doing with Dorothy where she can make an impact with very little screen time.
Just a post to talk about some heroines I feel had the onscreen qualities to be a leading actress or even commercially successful but were not celebrated or given the bigger opportunities they deserved.
Priyamani: A national award winning actress and a very deserving one. On top of that, she looks beautiful, can be glamorous, and is an excellent dancer, but it did not put her on the top of the list. Interestingly, even after an award winning performance like Paruthiveeran, Tamil cinema did not offer her the same level of roles but rather gave her glamorous roles in small or medium budget movies.
Bhavana: One of the most talented performers of her time who emotes effortlessly, looks beautiful, and can dance. However, it did not get her the big films that she deserved other than Asal, which turned out to be a flop.
Sadha: If there was someone who was close to Shriya’s and Asin’s screen presence, the name that comes to my mind is Sadha. She looks pretty, can act well, can dance, and had Anniyan and Unnale Unnale to her credit, but shifting over to Kannada and Hindi films lost her position in the industry. Eventually coming back with poor films also did not help.
Vedhika: Other than the Kanchana series, she does not have a solid hit in the industry. However, she has critically acclaimed performances in Paradesi and Kaaviya Thalaivan. She looks cute and dances like there is no tomorrow but did not get the projects her talent deserved.
Regina Cassandra: She is actively working in the industry with a lot of films and versatile roles but it did not get her the appreciation she deserves. She is hot, she can act, she is bold enough to take up daring roles, and dances well, but did not get the right commercial venture to put her on top.
Sridivya: When she debuted, her craze was insane. I would say she and Nazriya had a huge fanbase at her peak. However, we have not really got the chance to see her in bigger films other than the Sivakarthikeyan and Karthi ventures. She is cute, dances well, acts adequately, and has a large fanbase, but it is not resulting in the opportunities.
Priya Anand: I found her career to be interesting. She is one such actress who was blessed with some of the biggest chartbusters in Tamil cinema and has worked as a heroine for some of the biggest names in the industry today during their earlier days like Sivakarthikeyan, Anirudh, Gauri Shinde, Krithiga, R. J. Balaji, T. J. Gnanavel, and Dhruv, and been a part of Sridevi’s and Prashanth’s comeback films. She had the so called luck factor, the looks, the screen presence, dubbing, and dance but it still did not put her on the map. Maybe if she did Thuppaki things may have turned differently.
Shruti Haasan: Probably the only heroine from this list who had some of the biggest projects and worked with the biggest superstars, but somehow the box office results hampered her standing in the industry. Otherwise, she should have been just as popular as Samantha.
Any other heroines you think deserved better or you believe had more potential as a leading commercial heroine?
As most of Tamil cinema’s mainstream audience consists of men who want to see men like themselves winning the modelesque women, they would not want to encourage actors they do not relate to or get intimidated by in real life, hence such men eventually fade out as heroes and transition into more character roles playing a sidekick to the normal looking hero or the corporate villain that the hero overtakes in the climax.
I could only think of Ajith and Suriya who kind of broke the curse, but even then I still believe they did not reach their full potential at the box office.
Currently there is a lot of talk around Mamitha Baiju having an insane run in the Malayalam and Tamil film industry. Before her, if there was a heroine who had a similar run in both industries, the one that comes to my mind is Shalini. Although Shalini spent most of her time as a child actress, she still created a storm with just 12 films as a lead actress. During a period when the glamorous and bubbly heroines started to take over with the likes of Simran, Rambha, Jyothika and Laila, Shalini managed to create a similar impact in more traditional, girl next door based roles.
However, at the peak of her career when she was having an insane run with Niram and Alaipayuthey, she cut short her career to focus on marital bliss.
After she left the industry, the game changed for heroines. It became tough to grab substantial roles that were central to the plot, there was lower funding for female centric movies, a greater focus on mixing glamour with performance, and actresses were often stereotyped into the bubbly trope.
Keeping her image in mind and the way the industry evolved, do you think she still would have been a top tier heroine like Simran and Jyothika in the 2000s, or do you think it would have been difficult for her to keep up the momentum?
I don’t know, I felt that Prabhudeva did the Malayalam version dirty, keeping aside that Vijay and Asin are better dancers. I love Perilla Rajyathe better as a song but the choreo and the expressions looked forced, like a lot of 2K Prabhudeva’s choreographed songs.
Kannathil Muthamittal is a movie that earned Simran the utmost critical acclaim and praise as a performer. Before casting Simran, Mani Ratnam initially approached Soundarya and Bhumika for the role. Although the reasons to why Soundarya did not get the part were unknown, Bhumika did not get the part because they later felt that she looked too young for the role. At last, Simran got the opportunity to explore a different dimension as a performer.
Do you think any of them would have done as much justice to the role? Soundarya would ace the role, but I feel that it wouldn’t have been new to her since she had played emotionally driven mother roles in Telugu cinema. It was fresh to cast Simran for the part and surprise the audience.
Hi was a decent watch overall with nothing too fresh, but the film could have been more impactful if it had a more appropriate casting. This is by far Kavin’s least impressive performance, there were times when his emotional acting crossed the melodrama line while he was okay in the casual scenes. Nayanthara looked lovely but not for the part she was playing in the film. She did well in the emotional scenes as usual but her forced comic timing did not settle well. I think this may have fared better with younger, enthusiastic, and dynamic actors playing the lead.
Edited Note: I’m not talking about the pairing, I’m talking about how convincing the actors were in those characters, they looked dull for what should’ve been a dynamic and energetic leads. When I say I think a younger actor would have done better is because younger actors tend to have that fire in them naturally while matured actors are more calmer and mellow. Otherwise, I really don’t care about their age or age difference.
These photos seem to be resurfacing on social media once again and people are wondering how the film would have fared then. Some assumed it is Anbe Aaruyire but SJ Surya clarified that it’s a fresh script and he’d revive it if he gets the chance.
Simbu definitely had what it needs to be a SJ Suriya’s hero with a peculiar dialogue delivery. Asin too had the energy and overacting abilities to deliver what SJ Suriya wanted like Simran and Jyothika and match Simbu’s vibes. I can only imagine what AR Rahman would have cooked at his peak and the dance to those tunes. Might have missed a fun Tom and Jerry love story in mid 2K.
Both are beautiful and talented but I’m not seeing the connection, do you guys see anything?
He shouldn’t have been given space with a trash movie like Joe. Now with Aan Paavam he think he’s in the space to mansplain what feminism means. Why give clowns like this the space and then complain about not bashing them enough? Somewhere I can see why people would like Pradeep, he looks young and can earn the admiration of the youth. But why this hideous middle aged man with unbearable overacting skills?
Sethu turned out to be a turning point in Vikram’s career. Although the movie didn’t land bigger offers, Abitha was also acclaimed for her performance in the film.
Before finalizing Abitha, Deepa Venkat was supposed to star in the film as the heroine. Prior to getting the offer, Deepa played Vikram’s friend in Ullasam. Director Bala and Vikram were insistent that she play the lead as it’s a homely character but she had to let the offer go at the time. Then Keerthi Reddy was signed to play the part but was replaced.
Do you think any of these actresses would have also suited the role?
Watching Vishwanath and Sons reminded me of M. Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi. It came across as another version of the same dynamics, with different events that suit the sensibilities and challenges of the privileged in 2026.
Let it be the mother’s relationship with the son, the son’s passion for a sport and his anger towards father’s affair, the mother’s eventual fondness for the heroine and her efforts to connect her with her son for his future, the relationship with his stepmother and step sister, and so on.
Did anyone else feel the same?
Don’t get me wrong, I think Kavin emotes well but when he tries to crack a joke or tries to be cute whether it’s onscreen or offscreen, it kind of seems mokka rather than funny or endearing. Never liked him as a host on television as well.
Winner was a 2003 film best known for Vadivelu’s comedy. It was Prashanth’s last genuine commercial success as a leading hero before he witnessed a career slump. Kiran, who was having a good run by being cast opposite stars like Vikram, Kamal, Ajith, Vijaykanth, and Sarathkumar in Kollywood, was the heroine.
Before Kiran, it was the late Aarti Agarwal who was cast as the heroine. Aarti was a leading heroine in the Telugu film industry of the early 2000s and was meant to make her Kollywood debut with this venture. She shot for a photoshoot and a few days for a song before being replaced because she could not adhere to schedules. Consequently, she was replaced by Kiran, who was then at her peak. Despite being replaced, Aarti’s clips were retained in the Mathapoo song as an uncredited appearance, with both Kiran and Aarti appearing in different frames but with similar styling in different coloured costumes.
Interestingly, both the heroines lost their positions in the Telugu and Tamil film industries as a result of love failures, sudden weight gain, and additional health issues.
Do you think this would have been a good debut for Aarti?
Ghajini turned out to be an all time blockbuster in 2008 making it the first film to cross the 100 crore mark domestically. In addition to Aamir’s performance the role of Kalpana played by Asin turned out to be a huge sensation at its time. Asin played the same role in the original Tamil release in 2005 as well.
It may not be known that when Aamir showed his interest in remaking the movie in Bollywood the producers originally wanted Priyanka Chopra to play the female lead when looking for a leading heroine who could play the part and be a fresh pair for Aamir. However Aamir who watched the original was insistent on retaining Asin for the role and personally called her to inquire about her interest in doing a Bollywood film and how proficient she was with the language to perform in sync sound. After that everything became history.
I think Priyanka would have made a good fit as well to the part. What do you guys think?
His acting, screen presence, and dialogue delivery is hitting new levels of irritating.
Mudhalvan was one of the most iconic films in Shankar’s, Arjun’s, and Manisha’s filmography. Arjun in particular earned much praise for his performance. Before finalizing Arjun, Shankar approached Rajinikanth, who rejected the role. Kamal missed out on the film as he was busy with Hey Ram. You may want to note that around that time Shankar and Kamal were supposed to work on Robot with Preity Zinta as the female lead, which got dropped eventually. Current chief minister Vijay was also approached but missed out on the project. For the lead heroine role, Shankar’s original choice was Meena, but since Arjun was finalized in the film after the previous heroes rejected the project, Shankar did not want to repeat their pairing as they were working on Rhythm around the same time. He then settled for Manisha, who had worked with him previously in Indian.
What do you think of the choices? Do you think any of them would have done just as well or better?
Popped up on my feed and found the choices to be interesting seem to be catered for Tamil audience in particular. Varalakshmi as Surpanakha 🎇
Sai Pallavi seems to be getting a lot of criticism for her appearance in the trailer of Ramayanna. On one side, I feel that the costume designer and the frame grading did not do justice to her or the rest of the cast. Her features are faded out. She looked so divine in Shyam Singh Roy, on the other hand, and it makes me wonder if it is really Sai Pallavi’s fault, if it is the makers, if the audience is being too harsh with their westernized beauty standards, or if she is truly not the right fit for the part of Sita. If you feel that someone else would do better, who would it be?