Blockbuster Bollywood debut, four 100 cr films: Asin’s impressive film journey

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Here’s a brief on her filmy journey so far.

Born in a Syro-Malabar Catholic Nasrani family, Asin was born and raised in Cochin, where she completed her schooling and graduated in Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.

Asin first made her onscreen debut in a Malayalam film, ���Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka’ in 2001 at the young age of 15. She then took a break for a year to complete her education, after which she appeared in ‘Amma Nanna O Tamila Anmayi’, which was a Telugu film. The film was a big hit and Asin was honoured with the Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress. That same year, she also won the Santosham Best Actress Award for her performance in her second Telugu film, ‘Shivamani’. Her next two Telugu films, ‘Lakshmi Narasimha’ and ‘Gharshana’ saw Asin play the role of the love interest of police officers.

Asin then moved on to Tamil cinema, where she first acted in ‘M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi’ with Jayam Ravi. She later reprised her role for the remake of ‘Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammari’. The film did very well, making Asin a known name in the Tamil film industry as well. After a short spell with Telegu films, Asin was part of a college love story, ‘Ullam Ketkumae’, directed by Jeeva and went on to become a box office success.

Read: Asin to tie the knot with Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma soon

But, it was ‘Ghajini’ in 2011 that paved the way to success for Asin. Directed by A. R. Murugadoss, the film starred Suriya and earned Asin the Tamil Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She had two Diwali releases that year – ‘Sivakasi’ and ‘Majaa’.

Asin’s 2006 release, ‘Varalaru’ opposite Ajith Kumar was also a box office success. Next came ‘Annavaram’ by Pawan Kalyan, which was a remake of ‘Thirupaachi’. The following year Asin was seen onscreen with Ajith Kumar in ‘Aalwar’ and Vijay in ‘Pokkiri’. However, while the latter did well, ‘Aalwar’ and Asin’s performance in it were criticized. Her last film for the year was ‘Vel’ opposite Suriya, which became Asin’s third successful Diwali release in three years.

After securing a strong foothold in South cinema, Asin then decided to test the Bollywood waters. She made her debut with a remake of ‘Ghajini’ opposite Aamir Khan. The film received good reviews, garnering Asin much praise for her performance, while it became the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2008.

Her next Bollywood outing was ‘London Dreams’ with biggies Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn. Directed by Vipul Shah, Asin played the role of a south Indian girl who is an ambitious dancer.

Year 2011 saw Asin in ‘Kaavalan’, which ended up being both a commercial as well as a critical success, thanks to the chemistry between Asin and Vijay. Asin also went on to win the prestigious SIIMA Award for Best Actress.

In Pics: Asin to marry Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma soon

Asin then reunited with Salman Khan for ‘Ready’, which became the second highest weekend grossing Bollywood after ‘Dabangg’. The chemistry between Asin and Salman was said to be the highlight of ‘Ready’, which went on to become the fifth film in Bollywood history to cross Rs. 1 billion in the domestic box office.

The following year, Asin returned to Bollywood screens with Akshay Kumar in Sajid Khan’s multistarrer , ‘Housefull 2’. Though the film opened to mixed reviews, it did well and Asin once again was praised for her performance. It is said that during ‘Housefull 2’, Akshay Kumar introduced her to Rahul Sharma, co-founder of Micromax. Asin has confirmed reports of taking a sabbatical from films to focus on her personal life.

The same year, Asin then shared screen space with Ajay Devgn and Abhishek Bachchan in Rohit Shetty’s ‘Bol Bachchan’, which was declared a super hit. In 2012, Asin once again worked with Akshay Kumar for ‘Khiladi 786’, which did not receive very good reviews, but performed well.

Asin will now be seen in Umesh Shukla’s ‘All is Well’ opposite Abhishek Bachchan, along with Rishi Kapoor and Supriya Pathak.

When she’s not busy with her film commitments, Asin does find time for social work. Asin is said to have funded the education of about six-seven orphaned girls. During the shoot of ‘Ready’ in Sri Lanka, Asin set up an eye check-up camp for the Sri Lankan Tamil people affected by the Civil War.