The South Indian film industry is as big if not bigger than Bollywood itself. The South Indian audience is known for their dedication and the abundant love that they shower their actors with. They idolize movie stars and treat them with a lot of respect. Similarly, some actresses originating from North India have found immense success in the Tollywood industry:
1. Kriti Kharbanda:
You might recognize the actress from movies like, ‘Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana’, ‘Housefull 4’, ‘Raaz Reboot’ and such. Even though her career in Bollywood is not as star-studded she has a long history with the South Indian industry. With more than a decade in Tollywood, she started in 2009 with a Telugu movie, ‘Boni’.
2. Kajal Aggarwal:
Kajal made her silver screen debut in 2004 with the movie, ‘Kyun! Ho Gaya Na….’ in which she played Aishwarya Rai’s sister. Although she found minimal success in Bollywood and turned to Tollywood where she found immense success. With over 50 films under her belt, the actress earned gold stars with her roles in movies like, ‘Chandamama’, ‘Thuppakki’ and ‘Magadheera’ which went on to be huge successes.
3. Bhumika Chawla:
Bhumika Chawla is still remembered for her role in ‘Tere Naam’ alongside Salman Khan. But beyond that there is nothing more that highlights her career in the Bollywood industry however, she found success in Tollywood. With her 20 years long career she has worked in more than 50 films ranging from Telugu, Malayalam, and Tamil. Now she has also stepped into the world of producing with the 2010 release, ‘Thakita Thakita’.
4. Shalini Panday:
Shalini previously worked as a theatre artist before making her big-screen debut. Her first film in Tollywood, ‘Arjun Reddy’ went on to be a huge blockbuster. It was such a big phenomenon that it even got a Hindi remake titled,’ Kabir Singh’ which stars Shahid Kapoor. Reportedly she is also set to debut in Bollywood with, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’.
5. Jyothika Sadanah Saravanan:
In 1998, Jyothika starred in Priyadarshan’s ‘Doli Saja Ke Rakhna’ which till date is her only Hindi film. She did extremely well for herself in the South Indian industry with multiple movies in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. Few of her critically acclaimed movies include, ‘Snegithiye’, ‘Perazhagan’, and ‘Chandramukhi’.
6. Charmee Kaur:
You might recognize her as the dancer of the opening bit of ‘Gandi Baat’, in the Shahid Kapoor starrer ‘R.Rajkumar’. However, she is an item number performer but an extremely successful actor of the South Indian industry with a whopping 17-year long run. She is also seen in ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge’ which is a Hindi film.
7. Hansika Motwani:
Hansika started her career when she was pretty young and bagged many gigs as a child actor. Her first big successful role was in the Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta starrer, ‘Koi Mil
Gaya’. Years later she was cast opposite Govinda and Himesh Reshammiya who were twice her age at the time. After odd pairings as such, she tried her hand in South Indian movies and that turned out to be for good. Her debut film, ‘Desamuduru’ bagged her the Filmfare Best Female Debut.
8. Taapsee Pannu:
Taapsee is one of the few actresses who made it big both in Bollywood as well as Tollywood. Her defining role in ‘Pink’ was critically acclaimed but even before starring in the movie she already had the experience of multiple movies in the South. She was pursuing a degree in Computer Science Engineering from Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology when she decided to make her acting debut, which was in 2010 with the movie, ‘Jhummandi Naadam’.
9. Tamannah:
Tamannah Bhatia made her acting debut at 15 years old in a Telugu film, ‘Sri’. In the same year her Hindi film, ‘Chaand Sa Roshan Chehra’ did extremely badly at the box office. But she was received well in ‘Happy Days’, a Telugu movie and it did well in the box office as well. Since then there is no looking back for the actress and has made her way to becoming one of the most successful actresses of her generation with films like, ‘Baahubali’ under her belt.
10. Rakul Preet Singh:
The actress was discovered by Divya Khosla Kumar who was at the time working on her directorial debut with, ‘Yaariyan’. But before ‘Yaariyan’ Rakul had already appeared in multiple movies in the South in 6 years. She is now frequently seen in both Bollywood and Tollywood movies.
