Last March, on the eve of the release of Rajinikanth's big-budget Shankar film Sivaji, its heroine Shriya Saran was the toast of Kollywood. All top heroes wanted to sign her up as Shriya mania hit Chennai.
Cut to March 2008 - Sivaji was declared a hit and everybody associated with the film made money and got fame. Post Sivaji, Shriya had signed Azhagiya Tamil Magan with Vijay and Kanthasamy opposite Vikram. ATM released for Diwali 2007 and bombed, causing a setback to the actress.
Shriya could have easily moved on. But she went on to do an item number with the reigning comedian Vadivel in Indiralokathil Na Azhagappan. The film crashed and the actress ended up with egg on her face.
After her song appearance with Vadivel, Kollywood's A team of heroes banished her from their films. She was supposed to do Aegan with Ajit, but the star replaced her at the last minute with Nayanthara. Silambarasan, who was on the look out for a heroine for his Silambattam, preferred Sneha.
From numero uno, Shriya became persona non grata in Kollywood circles, and has just one film Kandasamy in Tamil. And controversies continued to follow her. She was accused of wearing "indecent dresses" at the formal silver jubilee celebration of Sivaji in which Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was present. Though Shriya issued a public apology for her "inappropriate dressing", Kollywood was not willing to forgive.
But Shriya Saran is a fierce and determined young girl, who will move mountains. Her career in Bollywood is merrily chugging along with Ek with Bobby Deol and Mission Istanbul with Vivek Oberoi and Zahid Khan getting ready for release. Shriya has gone global with her Ashok Amritraj connection, and she is doing his Other End of the Line opposite Desperate Housewives hunk Jesse Metcalfe.
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The big surprise was when she signed director Deepa Mehta's new film What's Cooking?. Says Shriya: "The moment I heard the script, I fell in love with the intriguing character that I play. Deepaji's film is teaching me a totally different approach to acting.?
It made her Kollywood competitors eat crow -- They always complained that Shriya could not "emote" and that her success was a fluke. The brave 24-year-old is now fighting a fierce battle to regain her lost turf and we are sure she will come out a winner once again and triumph in Kollywood.
