Nayanthara recently released her documentary, Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale, which explores her rise in Tamil and Telugu cinema as well as her fairytale wedding to director Vignesh Shivan—a romance that began on the sets of the 2015 movie Naanum Rowdy Dhaan. The documentary includes interviews with celebrities such as Nagarjuna Akkineni, Rana Daggubati, Taapsee Pannu, and Atlee, among others. The first half of Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale delves into her early career, highlighting the highs and lows, and the films she took on during those formative years. ‘Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale’ Review: Nayanthara’s Inspiring Career Story Meets a Superficial Wedding Special.

As Nayanthara and her directors discuss her initial projects in Malayalam, Tamil, and beyond—such as Manasinakkare, Vismayathumbathu, Ayya, and Chandramukhi—she points out one film that she considers the 'lowest point' of her career: AR Murugadoss's 2005 Tamil hit Ghajini, which starred Suriya and Asin in lead roles. Nayanthara played Chitra, a medical student who aids the amnesiac hero in his quest for revenge.

Nayanthara was deeply affected by the media and fan reactions to her appearance. The documentary highlights news articles that were particularly harsh, fat-shaming her and critiquing her look in the item song "X Machi."

Watch the Song 'X Machi' From Ghajini:

Nayanthara spoke about how these reactions impacted her mental state at the time, but she channelled the negativity into determination. She had said, "There were days when I used to see all these comments, ane people were like, 'why is she acting in this film? Why is she even there in the film?'. Like 'she is so... she's so fat!' You can't say such things, you know. You can talk about the performance part of it. Maybe I was not good. But I was doing exactly what my director told me to do. I mean, I was a newcomer so I never had a say in it. So that's when you know all the boydyshaming and everything happened." ‘Rakkayie’ Teaser OUT: Intense Nayanthara Shines in MovieVerse Studios’ New Action-Packed Film (Watch Video).

Nayanthara went on to prove her admiration wrong  with her iconic bikini-clad appearance in Vishnuvardhan's 2007 film Billa, starring Ajith in the lead.

Interestingly, when AR Murugadoss remade Ghajini in Hindi in 2008 with Aamir Khan as the male lead, Asin and Pradeep Rawat (who played the main antagonist) were retained. However, Nayanthara's role was recast and played by the late Jiah Khan.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 18, 2024 08:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).