Is Kangana keen on a southern filmi innings?

Among her contemporaries like Taapsee Pannu and Sonakshi Sinha who have spent a decade and more in the Indian film industry, Kangana Ranaut is different. While Pannu started in Telugu co-starring with Manchu Manoj in ' Jummandi Naadham' and slowly drifted to Hindi cinema a few years later, Kangana started in Hindi, took up one Tamil and one Telugu film respectively and stayed rooted to Mumbai filmdom since 2009.

Sonakshi took off in Hindi and on a special arrangement, co-starred with her father Shatrughan Sinha's friend Rajinikanth in ' Lingaa', around five years ago. She too has not been seen in southern films ever since. The field is now open for the Shraddha Kapoors and Alia Bhatts, who are their juniors in Mumbai.

With 'Thalaivi' making a huge splash in her career as it is expected to give her a good positioning in our part of the country, it is being whispered that Ranaut is planning a longer innings in Chennai. The ambience is ideal for her, observers feel. With the 45-something stars of Tamil cinema shaking a leg with 30-something Nayantaras, Kangana at 33 is considered an eligible proposition.

On her part, it seems the ' Manikarnika' heroine is okay with a reduced fee and pairing with not just A-listers but also the younger ones who are potential top star material in Tamil cinema. Of course, it will all depend on how her biopic on Jayalalithaa fares in the local market. After all, her first innings here was a damp squib.