After a hiatus, few actresses are trying to make a comeback of sorts in Tollywood to revive their past glory. For instance, Hansika Motwani returned with ‘My Name Is Sruthi’, Avika Gor is returning with a film with producer Bekkam Venugopal. Followed by Mehreen with ‘Spark’ and Trisha is looking for a Tollywood stint. Even Anu Emmanuel tried her luck with ‘Japan’ but it didn’t give the much needed relief for her in Telugu movies, while Anjali is banking on 'Geetanjali Mali Vachindi'. “Few divas can’t regain their old position,” says producer Lagadapati Sridhar and adds, “Actresses below 27 years will have more chances while divas over 30-plus divas will have to work much harder,” he adds.
Actually, actresses like Hansika Motwani, Avika Gor and Anu Emmanuel had a good stint in Telugu films. Hansika had hits like ‘Desamaduru’ and ‘Dhenikaina Ready', while Avika Gor became a household name in Telugu states following hits like ‘Uyyalla Jumpala’ and ‘Lakshmi Raave Maa Intiki’. Although Anu Emmenual shared screen space with big stars Allu Arjun (Naa Peru Surya.) and Naga Chaitanya (Shailaja Reddy Alludu) box office success eluded her.
“Few actresses tried to make a mark in Bollywood but had to return empty handed. The adage of out of sight and out of mind definitely works for actresses since a new breed of actresses spruce up in between,” says producer Abhishek Nama who reminds the meteoric rise of Rashmika, Sreeleela and Mrunal Thakur. "Making it difficult for a comeback divas," he adds.
However, actresses like Shruti Haasan who returned to Telugu movies with ‘Krack’ proved her mettle and delivered two more hits ‘Veerasimha Reddy’ and ‘Waltair Veerayya '. "Shruti is selectively working with senior heroes and it is paying off well. She is on a hattrick in Telugu movies but such cases are quite an exception," adds Nama, who talks about comeback girl Illeana. "No doubt, Ileana ruled the roost in Tollywood before moving to Bollywood and lost her space in Tollywood,” he points out.
However, actress Poorna who returned with ‘Akhanda’, defended the gap, saying, “I don’t like the term comeback because we were always around. I had hits in Telugu like ‘Seema Tapakai’ ‘Avunu’ and ‘Raju Gari Gadhi’. When we get plum offers in Tamil and Malayalam we will pick them and go about our work. It is a bane for multilingual actresses and we are always marked as ‘comeback’ divas in Tollywood which is unfortunate,” she points out.
Summing up the comeback trend, director Teja who is trying to rope in pretty actress Laasya who was seen in films like ‘Chirunavvu’ and “Preminchu’ says, “Actresses have the freedom to move around and expand their fan base. Actors don’t have an expiry date until they keep improving themselves. If they have learnt something new from Bollywood or Kollywood filmmakers which enhances their acting skills, nothing wrong with it. Actresses have to look for greener pastures to extend their careers, so this comeback business is just a myth,” he concludes.
