Sai Hemanth
Finding success as an actor in any film industry is no cake walk. Let alone one fraternity, to shift base into an unfamiliar territory, battling with different approaches of filmmaking and acting in an alien language can’t be easy by any stretch of imagination. However, the list of actors I’m going to list down not only won over audiences in their own language but also managed to find success in other.
Before going forward, let me make it clear that these actors are of South Indian origin and acted in South Indian movies before finding success in Bollywood. Hence, Bollywood actors who were born in South India, such as Rekha, Vidya Balan and Aditi Rao Hydari are not taken into consideration. And also, these actors pursued majority of their careers in South India, either before or after their Bollywood debuts. So, actors like Aishwarya Rai and Deepika Padukone are not considered. So, here are 10 South Indian Actors who found success in Bollywood.
10. Asin Thottumkal
Aamir Khan’s ‘Gajini’ featured Asin, who played the same role in the original Tamil version, as “Kalpana”. The importance of her character in the story is extremely high. Her character’s personality and fate are the emotional core of the movie. And as she did in the Tamil version, Asin made everyone watching the movie believe that she is “Kalpana”. She went on to star in few famous movie like ‘Ready’ and the second installment of ‘Housefull’ franchise.
9. Ileana D’Cruz
She was one of the most successful actresses in Tamil and Telugu cinema before she made her Bollywood debut in ‘Barfi!’. A film that would catapult her overnight to top brass of Bollywood actresses. And for good reason! Her performance in ‘Barfi’ is exceptional. It also helped that the film itself is quite great. It is unfortunate that she has stopped working in South Indian movies because of her Bollywood success.
8. Rana Daggubati
We can say Rana had popularity in Bollywood before ‘Baahubali’. In fact, it was Rana who lured Karan Johar to acquire the rights of the franchise. But with ‘Baahubali’, we can say he has successfully made a mark. The well built heartthrob’s fame among females and fitness enthusiasts is very high Despite his big movie ‘Department’ tanked horribly, he will definitely come up with better and impacting roles in the future.
7. Mohanlal
If there’s one word that could aptly describe Mohanlal, it would be “legend”. He redefined Malayalam Cinema for decades, and continues to do so. And in that process, he managed to become the face of Malayalam Cinema. His appearances in Bollywood movie have been limited, however he found success nonetheless. His noted part could be in Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Company’. But he’s trying to spread his wings into other languages these days. And if things go well, Bollywood might witness him in a path breaking role in the near future.
6. Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj is probably one of the best actors in the country, period. His stellar filmography is a standing example of his range and calibre. He acted in all South Indian movies before spreading his wings to Bollywood. Although, his impact on Bollywood till date is negligible when his talent is considered. All his roles in Bollywood have been stereotypical. However, it’s only a matter of time before he delivers a stand out performance and wins over Bollywood.
