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Asin Thottumkal [????? ???????????)]
(born October 26, 1985) is an award-
winning Indian film actress who appears
in various regional Indian movies. She
is among the most popular actresses in
the film industry.

Making her acting debut in Sathyan
Anthikkad’s Narendra Makan Jayakanthan
Vaka (2001), Asin had her first
commercial success with Amma Nanna O
Tamila Ammayi in 2003, and won a
Filmfare Award for the Best Telugu
Actress for the film. She was widely
recognized with her performance as a
the murdered teacher in Gautham Menon’s
hit Gharshana (2004), and following
this went on to demonstrate her
versatility and flexibility as an
actress, portraying a diversity of
different characters, which were
usually distinct from typical roles
played by Indian actresses at that
point of time, and introduced a new
image of a South Indian film heroine.

After a number of critically and
commercially successful films, she
received her second South Filmfare
Award for Best Actress for her
performance in her second Tamil film,
Ghajini (2005). She played the lead
female roles in two consecutive top
grossers, Ghajini (2005) which is her
biggest commercial success to date, and
the action comedy Varalaru (2006) and
this way has established herself as one
of the most prominent leading actresses
of South Indian cinema. More recently,
Asin has been making a debut in
Bollywood, in Ghajini, the remake of
its Tamil namesake.

Early life and background.

Asin was a business woman before coming
to the acting career.

Career.

Asin Thottumkal debuted in the
Malayalam film Narendra Makan
Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, directed by
Sathyan Anthikkad. Her breakthrough as
an actress came with her first Telugu
language film when she played the role
of a Tamil girl in the successful Amma
Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi
Teja.

Initially many in the Tamil industry
considered her to be a jinx as the
initial movies she signed in Tamil were
either canceled, delayed or faced
financial problems. Although she signed
Ullam Ketkumae as her first Tamil film,
her first release was M. Kumaran son of
Mahalakshmi which was a remake of her
Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi.
The movie went on to be one of the
biggest hits in 2004 and introduced
Asin to Kollywood.

Her movie Ghajini with Surya, which was
released both in Tamil and Telugu, was
a box office hit in both industries.
She has become famous since then and
went on to win the Filmfare Best
Actress Award South for her role in
Ghajini. Many movies followed and Asin
played opposite some popular actors in
South Indian Cinema, among them Surya,
Vijay, Vikram and Ajith, with whom she
starred in Pokiri with Vijay, Gharshana
with Venkatesh, and Varalaru& Aalwar
with Ajith Kumar.

Asin is also brand ambassador for
various products including Fairever,
Tanishq, BIG 92.7 FM, Spinz, Parachute,
Colgate and Mirinda. She was also a
part of Mani Ratnam’s stage show,
Netru, Indru, Naalai alongside many
other co-stars.

She rejected Surya’s Sillunu Oru
Kaadhal even after being offered three
songs as she thought her role in the
movie had not much scope. Her part went
to Bhumika Chawla. She had previously
opted out of Madhavan’s Thambi due to
tight scheduling.

Her next movie for release Dasavatharam
opposite Kamal Haasan and it will be
dubbed in 8 languages including
Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Bhojpuri,
Marathi and Hindi.

Personal.

She started her schooling in Naval
Public School, Kochin. She has
completed her B.A. English Literature
at St. Teresa’s College, Kochi. She has
shifted from her home town Kochi to
Chennai, where she stays on Harrington
Road. Before becoming an actress, she
was a part-time model and a
businesswoman.

Back

Diana Mariam Kurien (born in 1984 in
Kerala, India) popularly known as
Nayanthara [???????] meaning “Eyes
like Stars”, is a south Indian actress
and has acted in Tamil, Telugu and
Malayalam movies. Nayantara has
completed her BA Literature. She got an
offer to act in a Malayalam
film “Manasinakkare” directed by
Sathyan Anthikkad in which she paired
opposite to Jayaram. The film was a
great hit in Kerala. This paved the way
for her entry into Tamil Cinema. She is
a self confident person and is always
found calm. Her hobbies are reading
books and listening to music. Her
favorite color is Black. She loves
North Indian and Chinese cuisines. She
is comfortable working with all the
heroes and fully involves herself in
whatever role she does and this
obviously is the reason for her success
in the field.

Career.

She was born on 8th November 1984 as an
Orthodox Syrian Christian in Tiruvalla,
Pathanamthitta District, Kerala. She
did schooling from North India (Delhi,
Bombay, Calcutta, Punjab and Karnataka)
as her father was an Air Force
Official. She joined Balikamadom High
School, Thiruvalla for +2, then joined
Marthoma college in Thiruvalla for her
bachelors degree (English Literature).
She became interested in acting after
getting good exposure from college. She
admits herself that the encouragement
her friend Mahesh Kadammanitta gave,
helped her a lot to improve. While at
college, she was chosen by director
Satyan Anthikkad and was cast opposite
Jayaram in Mansinakkare. After that,
she played a ghost who falls in love
with the hero Mohanlal in Fazil’s
Vismayathumbathu. She played opposite
Sarath Kumar in Ayya. She acted with
Rajnikanth in Chandramukhi. Her later
films are Natturaajavu (Malayalam),
Thaskaraveeran(Malayalam), Vallavan
(Tamil), Gajini(Tamil), Yogi (Telugu)
etc… She is now busy in Tamil &
Telugu film industry. She was admired
by many for her bold acting in the
latest tamil flick Billa.

Personal life

Relationships.
Nayantara’s first relationship created
headlines when publicity posters sprung
up around Chennai of her Vallavan co-
star, Silambarasan and her kissing.
However, despite maintaining a high-
profile relationship, involving the
press, the pair broke up soon after the
film was released citing differences.
Nonetheless, after the break-up,
pictures were released anonymously of
the pair kissing each other at
Nayantara’s apartment. Further
controversy was created when rumours
leaked out that the plot of
Silambarasan’s forthcoming film,
Kettavan, was based on the couple’s
true love story.

Nayantara who emerged as the numero uno
actress of the industry this year is
all set to take up the competition to
the next level with her next project.
Apparently, the actress is believed to
have signed a film opposite Balakrishna
that will be directed by Gunasekhar .
And to add this is the lip-smacking fee
offered to her for the film. This would
be Nayantara’s first film with
superstar Balakrishna and director
Gunasekhar promises to get them
together in a never before kind of
manner.

According to the grapevine, ‘Saadhu -
The Saint Warrior’ is the title that is
being considered for the film. To be
made on an opulent scale with hotshot
technicians, this film will be launched
in January 7th, 2008. Harris Jayaraj
will be composing for it. Last year
Nayantara reigned over the box-office
collections with hits
like ‘Yogi’, ‘Dubai Seenu’ and ‘Thulasi’

She received many compliments from her
costars like Trisha Krishnan.

She has been doing a lot of films with
Superstar Rajinikanth and
coincidentally all the films are a huge
hit. It has been rumoured that this is
why she was signed for Robot. Whatever
the reason, audience love their
combination.