Indian actress and film producer Nayanthara works in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She made her acting debut with Sathyan Anthikad's Malayalam film Manassinakkare in 2003, after the success, she became a popular star in the Malayalam industry. She did two more Malayalam films the following year: Shaji Kailas' Natturajavu, and Fazil's psychological thriller Vismayathumbathu. Nayanthara's first appearance in a non-Malayalam film was Hari's Tamil film Ayya which released in 2005. While shooting for the film, she was cast in another Tamil film Chandramukhi, after its director P. Vasu's wife had seen Manassinakkare and recommended her. The film ran for over 100 days in theatres, eventually turning Nayanthara into one of the most-sought after actresses in Tamil cinema.
Nayanthara made her Telugu cinema debut with Lakshmi in 2006, and followed this with another Telugu film, Boss the same year. She appeared in four Tamil films that year: Kalvanin Kadhali, Vallavan, Thalaimagan and E. Nayanthara received praise for her performance in Billa (2007). The success of that film led to Sify describing her as "the glamour queen of Tamil cinema". Her 2008 release Yaaradi Nee Mohini was her only successful film as a lead actress that year. She had three releases in 2009: Villu, Anjaneyulu and Aadhavan. In 2010, all her releases, which featured her as the female lead, turned out to be commercial successes: she had five box office hits in the four Southern languages – Adhurs (Telugu), Body Guard (Malayalam), Simha (Telugu), Boss Engira Bhaskaran (Tamil) and the Kannada film Super, which marked her first appearance in Kannada cinema. Her performances in Simha, Boss Engira Bhaskaran and Super eventually fetched her nominations for the Filmfare Best Actress Award in the respective languages.
In 2011, Nayanthara portrayed Sita in Sri Rama Rajyam, based on an episode in the Hindu epic Ramayana, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu. Her performance in Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2012) earned her another nomination in the same category. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil for Raja Rani (2013) Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (2015), and Aramm (2017), and was nominated for the same for Iru Mugan (2016). She is also recognised for having made women centric films mainstream in the south Indian industries. She has starred in commercially and critically acclaimed female-led films like Maya (2015), Puthiya Niyamam (2016), Aramm (2017), Kolamaavu Kokila (2018), Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018),Mookuthi Amman (2020), Netrikann (2021). She is also known for her Various roles in Rappakkal (2005), Vallavan (2006), Lakshmi (2006),Aadhavan (2009),Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2012), Arrambam (2013), Naanum Rowdy Dhaan(2015), Thani Oruvan (2015), Velaikkaran (2017), Jai Simha (2018), Kolamaavu Kokila (2018), Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018), Viswasam (2019), Love Action Drama (2019), Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (2019), Bigil (2019), Mookuthi Amman (2020), Nizhal (2021), Annaatthe (2021), Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal (2022) and Godfather (2022). Nayanthara's highest grossing release came with Jawan (2023), which marked her debut in Hindi cinema.
Film
+ List of Nayanthara films and roles Year Title Role(s) Language(s) Notes 2003 Manassinakkare GouriMalayalam 2004 Vismayathumbathu Reetha Mathews Natturajavu Katrina 2005 Ayya Selvi Tamil Chandramukhi Durga Thaskara Veeran ThankamaniMalayalam Rappakal Gouri Ghajini Chitra Tamil Sivakasi Herself Special appearance in the song "Kodambakkam Area" 2006 Lakshmi Nandhini Telugu Kalvanin Kadhali Haritha Tamil E Jyothi Thalaimagan Mekala Vallavan Swapna Boss AnuradhaTelugu 2007 Yogi Nandini Dubai Seenu Madhumathi Sivaji: The Boss Herself Tamil Special appearance in the song "Balleilakka" Tulasi Vasundhara Ram Telugu Billa Sasha Tamil 2008 Yaaradi Nee Mohini Keerthi (Komalavalli) Kuselan / Kathanayakudu Herself Bilingual film; guest appearance Satyam / Salute Deivanayaki aka Deiva (Tamil) / Divya (Telugu) Bilingual film Twenty:20 Diana Malayalam Special appearance in the song "Hey Dil Deewana" Aegan Mallika Tamil 2009 Villu Janvi Aadhavan Thara Anjaneyulu Anjali Telugu 2010 Adhurs Chandrakala Simha Gayatri Body Guard Ammu Malayalam Elektra Elektra Alexander Goa New village girl Tamil Guest appearance Boss Engira Bhaskaran Chandrika Super Indira Kannada 2011 Sri Rama RajyamSita / Lakshmi Telugu 2012 Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Devika 2013 Greeku Veerudu Sandhya Ethir Neechal Herself Tamil Special appearance in the song "Local Boys" Raja Rani Regina John Arrambam Maya 2014 Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal Pavithra Anaamika / Nee Enge En Anbe Anaamika Bilingual film 2015 Bhaskar the Rascal Hima Malayalam Nannbenda RamyaTamil Massu Engira Masilamani Malini Thani Oruvan Mahima Maya Maya Mathews, Apsara Naanum Rowdy Dhaan Kadambari Life of Josutty Swapna Malayalam Cameo 2016 Puthiya Niyamam Vasuki Iyer Babu Bangaram SailajaTelugu Idhu Namma Aalu Myla Tamil Thirunaal Vidya Iru Mugan Meera George/ Rosy Kaashmora Rathna Mahadevi 2017 Dora Pavalakkodi Aramm Madhivadhani Velaikkaran Mrinalini 2018 Jai Simha Gauri Telugu Kolamaavu Kokila Kokila Tamil Imaikkaa Nodigal Anjali Vikramadityan 2019 Viswasam Niranjana Airaa Bhavani, Yamuna Mr. Local Keerthana Vasudevan Kolaiyuthir Kaalam Shruthi Lawson Bigil Angel Aasirvaatham Love Action Drama ShobhaMalayalam Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy SiddhammaTelugu 2020 Darbar LillyTamil Mookuthi AmmanMookuthi Amman2021 Nizhal Sharmila Malayalam Aaradugula BulletNayanaTelugu Netrikann Durga/ Nancy Tamil Annaatthe Adv. Pattammal 2022 Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal Kanmani Ganguly O2 Parvathy ConnectSusan Godfather Sathyapriya Jaidev Telugu Gold Sumangali UnnikrishnanMalayalam 2023 Jawan Narmada Rai Hindi Partially reshot in Tamil Iraivan Priya Tamil Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food Annapoorani Rangarajan 2024 Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale Herself Netflix Documentary 2025 TestKumudha Saravanan 2026 Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu Sasirekha Telugu Patriot Adv Lathika Malayalam Toxic Ganga Kannada English Bilingual film HiDevayaniTamil scope="row" Mookuthi Amman Tamil Post - production scope="row" Vidya RudhranMalayalamTamil Bilingual film; Post-production scope="row" RakkayieTamil Filming scope="row" Tamil Completed scope="row" HindiFilming
Producer Year Title Language(s) Notes 2021NetrikannTamilRockyPresenterKoozhangal / Pebbles 2022Kaathu Vaakula Rendu KaadhalConnect2023Shubh YatraGujarati2026Love Insurance KompanyTamil
See also List of awards and nominations received by Nayanthara
Notes
References