Asin Thottumkal | Pride of South Indian Cinema

Asin Thottumkal is an Indian actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam films for several years. She began working in Tamil Industry initially, later came to Hindi Cinema. Asin has received various awards, recognitions and Titles for her wonderful performance in the film, Ghajini, Ready, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi, Sivakasi, Varalaru and many more. Apart from that, she is a trained dancer of the Bharatnatyam dance form. Online Portals of 2007 referred to her as the “Queen of Kollywood”

Early Life

Born on October 26, 1985, Asin Thottumkal is the daughter of Joseph Thottumkal, and Ex-CBI officer and Seline Thottumkal, a surgeon. She attended Naval Public School up to the 10th standard. Following this, she began studying at St. Teresa’s School in Kochi to appear for Kerala Higher Secondary Examination Board. Her mother shifted with her everywhere from Kochi to Chennai to Mumbai. Later, Asin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature.

Asin married Rahul Sharma; the couple tied the knot last year on January 19 in a Christian wedding ceremony followed by Hindu rituals near Delhi.

Career

The very first assignment that Asin Thottumkal got was for an advertisement of BPL mobile. Following which She debuted with Malyalam film Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka, at the mere age of 15. After this, she took a break to complete her studies and returned with a film that made her breakthrough, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi. For her performance, she won Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress. The same year, she was awarded with Santosham Best Actress Award for her second film Shivamani.

TAMIL CINEMA: Breakthrough and Stardom

After appearing in Blockbuster films, Ghajini, Sivakasi, Varalaru and Pokkiri, Asin became the leading actress in the Tamil film industry. Among these, Ghajini proved to be the reason for her breakthrough. It was a 2005 action thriller in which the actress starred in the lead role. Over the budget of 7 crores, it made a collection of 50 crores. As a result, Asin earned Tamil Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Up next, On Diwali in the same year, Asin appeared in two films Sivakasi and Majaa.

Next Year, Asin appeared in her long-delayed film Varalaru, an action thriller. With a collection of 25 crores, it was a major box office success. The Hindu wrote for Asin, “looks lustrous and sails through her role smoothly”. Subsequently, she made appearances in Annavaram in 2005, Aalwar and Pokkiri in 2007. Her final work was for the film Vel, By Hari. It became the third successful film which released during Diwali season in three years.

HINDI CINEMA : Debut

Asin made her Bollywood debut with the film Dasavathaaram opposite actor Kamal Haasan. Her performance in the film was widely appraised and portrayals were called , “best-to-date”. This made her win her first ITFA Best Actress Award. As a result, the film became one of the blockbusters.
Established as a successful Tamil Actress, Asin recreated her film Ghajini in Hindi Language alongside Actor Aamir Khan. On being released, both the film and Asin gained wonderful reviews. It collected 232 crores over the budget of merely 65 crores. As a result, Ghajini became the highest-grossing film of 2008 and the sixth highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time. Critic Taran Adarsh wrote for Asin, “She looks fresh and photogenic and acts her part brilliantly”.

Awards

Firstly, in the 2008 Anandalok Puraskar Awards, Best Actress (Ghajini, Dasavathaaram, Shivmani). In 2009 Kalaimamani Award. Later, in the 2012 Annual Award by Kerala Government. The consecutive year 2009-2013 won GR8! Women Achiever Award in Cinema.

Further Success

Subsequently, in 2011, Asin appeared in the film Ready, a comedy-drama, with actor Salman Khan. The film gained positive reviews and earned 180 crores at the box office. The chemistry between Asin and Salman was very praised by critics as well as the audience. As a result, Ready became the second highest weekend grossing Bollywood film, after Dabangg. And continuing to get fame, it become the fifth film in Bollywood history to cross the coveted ₹1 billion (US$13 million) mark in the domestic market.

The following year, Asin made appearance in the multistarrer comedy film Housefull 2. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was commercially very successful. Asin was praised well for her performance. Taran Adarsh wrote, “amongst the female leads, Asin has the meatiest role and gives a decent account of herself”. The same year, she worked with Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan in thr Rohit Shetty film Bol Bachchan. It also received mixed reviews.

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