90's dream girls stealing the show

With lady superstar Vijayashanti making a comeback with a powerful role in 'Sarileru Neekevarru,' to join the bandwagon of 90's divas who are ruling the roost these days.

After Ramya Krishna and Nadiya, the yesteryear glam girls are stealing the show right under the nose of Telugu superstars. "If not for Vijayashanti's stature, the role of a professor with principles, whose life is in danger, wouldn't have carried such weight.

She showcased a gamut of emotions and Mahesh Babu should be appreciated for giving her enough screen space and Anil Ravipudi for roping her for a crucial role. Her hard-earned righteous woman image elevated the role to the next level," says seasoned director B Gopal, who worked with her in 'Rowdy Inspector'.

Similarly, B-town actress Tabu also hogged the limelight in 'Ala Vaikuntapurramloo' with a restrained and nuanced performance. "Tabu is very talented actress and she showcased traces of her acting brilliance in 'Ala…'.

Actually, she hasn't done much in Telugu, whereas in Hindi she had match-winning performance in films like 'Andhadhun' and 'Dhrishyam.' Earlier, ace director Trivikram gave well-etched and dignified roles to Nadiya in 'Atharintikki….' and 'Aa Aa,' while his role for yesteryear diva Kushboo in 'Agnyathavasi' went unnoticed.

Trivikram Srinivas always sketches meaty roles for women in his movies and more divas are going to shine bright in his upcoming movies," says director Chandra Siddharth.

Few years ago, it was Ramya Krishna, the glam girl of 80's, who revived the respect and stature for 'character' roles with a sterling performance in 'Bahubali' franchise and her role remained etched in the minds of Telugu viewers along with Prabhas and Satyaraj. "Actually, Rajamouli wanted to rope in legendary Sridevi for the role of Sivagami Devi but things didn't fall in place.

Hence, he kept his faith on Ramya Krishna, who pulled off a swashbuckling performance as a fearless Rajamatha and stole the limelight in the magnum opus," says producer Bogavalli Prasad, who also refers to the performance of much younger heroine Bhumika Chawla in 'MCA" with Nani. "Bhumika made a right comeback with a decent role which matched her girl-next-door image.

She proved her acting mettle in films like 'Okkadu' and 'Kushi' and now doing films that tap into her acting chops," he adds. Along with Southern divas, now it is the turn of B-town girl Bhagyasree of 'Maine Pyar Kiya' fame to play mother to reigning star Prabhas in his upcoming period movie.

"Divas of 80's and 90's are arriving in T'wood to mint money as they are paid anywhere between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore per film." concludes producer C Kalyan.