Homely-looking girls score over glam divas

It seems to be the season of homely-looking and performing actresses in T-town. Talented actress Niveda Thomas drawing appreciation for her scintillating performance in recent smashing hit ‘Ninnu Kori’. Earlier, it was Keerthy Suresh in ‘Nenu Sailaja’ and ‘Nenu Local’ who became a sought-after-actress despite wearing simple dresses like chudidars and sarees and swept audience off their feet.

Even actress Sai Pallavi’s bubbly performance in ‘Premam’ and now in the trailer of Sekar Kammula’s next film `Fidaa’, the actress is going places. Not to be left behind Anupama Paremeswaran who impressed with her performance in ‘Premam’ and ‘Sathamanam Bhavati’. Incidentally, all these actresses are from Mollywood where talent scores over skin show.

“A girl can be good-looking even in a chudidar and saree and not just in skimpy outfits. As the adage goes ‘beauty lies in beholder’s eye, Telugu viewers are patronising homely-looking and performers these days,’ says director Bheemaneni Srinivasa Rao, who pats young directors for sketching realistic roles.

“Now-a-days films are made with realisitic themes and characters and these actresses are aptly fitting into the roles of middle-class lover girls with the mind of their own. In fact, Keerthy, Niveda, Anupama and Sai Pallavi are actresses who rely on their talent to make it to the top, without indulging in skin show, that’s the existing phenomenon,” he adds.

However, leading producer Bandla Ganesh says that this phenomenon is not altogether new for T-town since even earlier, top actresses like Suhasini, Soundarya and even to some extent Vijayashanti became a house-hold name among Telugu viewers, against glam divas like Ramya Krishna, Rambha and Naghma, on the strength of their performance and homely roles.

“Suhasini stuck to her acting skills and even Soundarya followed her footsteps and showed that acting chops are more important than svelte figures for an actress to have fans. So every generation gets its own set of girl-next-door actresses,” he adds.

Whereas, director Bheemaneni attributes the rise of talented actresses to changing tastes of new generation audience. “Gen x viewers are looking at actresses as an extension of their self as these actors are playing working women, college-going girls and aspirants of foreign jobs. Unlike a goal-less heroine in a star-studded potboiler, where she has to just sing and dance and provide oomph factor,” he concludes.