Samanta, Tamannaah to turn crowd pullers

Glam divas Samantha and Tamannaah have a new mission on hand. After sharing space with superstars, these actresses have to pull in crowds on the strength of their name in the days to come. To begin with, Samantha who is a star in her own right, will now be testing waters with her upcoming film ‘U Turn’ as a crowd puller as the much-hyped thriller revolves around her.

“Samantha has been experimenting with such roles and gained the image of a good performer with films like ‘Aa Aa’ and ‘Raju Gari Gadi2’. Now, she has to pull in openings for her upcoming film ‘U Turn’ which has generated a lot of buzz. No doubt, Samantha carved out a niche for herself and post-marriage is doing more author-backed roles. If she is able to pull off, then the lady-oriented film will definitely get a booster shot,” says producer-distributor Ramakrishna

However, it doesn’t look so easy since the Telugu audience didn’t patronise the well-made film “CocoKokila’ starring Nayantara. Although, the tale of a drug peddler minted gold at the box office in Tamil Nadu by collecting more than Rs 8 crore, it failed to make any impact in Telugu. “The taste of Tamil and Telugu film audience is different as chalk and cheese. Particularly, female-centric and realistic films which are having a tough time in T-town. Even Nayantara’s earlier release ‘Karthavyam’ wasn’t a money spinner, though the tale of a District Collector spun box office magic in the neighbouring state. However, the Telugu audience made a true-blue horror movie ‘Mayuri’ a winner, so we can’t take things for granted,” adds distributor Vishnumurthy.

Similarly, Tammanah who is doing her maiden women-centric movie ‘That is ‘Mahalakhmi’, a remake of Hindi blockbuster ‘Queen’, said “I am excited about the film. I feel happy that I am going to give my perspective to it and it will be how I think or perceive of the film. So, I am really looking forward to it.” Not only Tamannaah, even trade pundits are waiting for the release of the film to judge whether Tamannaah will be able to draw crowds to the solo-heroine movie. ‘Tamannaah is known for her glam-centric roles. But for the ‘Queen’ remake, she has gone in for a complete makeover with plain-jain looks that will be watched out for. If she can convince the audience with a scintillating performance, she is bound to pick more author-backed roles and give a new direction to her career,” points out distributor Bharat Bhushan.

Earlier, another pretty actress Tapsee helped her maiden female-centric film ‘Anando Brahma’ to break-even and joined the league of Anushka, Nayantara and others. “Anushka and Nayantara are class apart and stay ahead of their colleagues. Anjali tasted success with ‘Geetanjali’ and Nandita had a hit with ‘Prema Katha Chitram’. No doubt, more heroines should join the bandwagon of lady-oriented films to enable filmmakers to think differently and break the glass ceiling,” concludes distributor Ramakrishna.