Asin Thottumkal [????? ???????????)]
(born October 26, 1985) is an award-
winning Indian film actress who appears
in various regional Indian movies. She
is among the most popular actresses in
the film industry.
Making her acting debut in Sathyan
Anthikkad’s Narendra Makan Jayakanthan
Vaka (2001), Asin had her first
commercial success with Amma Nanna O
Tamila Ammayi in 2003, and won a
Filmfare Award for the Best Telugu
Actress for the film. She was widely
recognized with her performance as a
the murdered teacher in Gautham Menon’s
hit Gharshana (2004), and following
this went on to demonstrate her
versatility and flexibility as an
actress, portraying a diversity of
different characters, which were
usually distinct from typical roles
played by Indian actresses at that
point of time, and introduced a new
image of a South Indian film heroine.
After a number of critically and
commercially successful films, she
received her second South Filmfare
Award for Best Actress for her
performance in her second Tamil film,
Ghajini (2005). She played the lead
female roles in two consecutive top
grossers, Ghajini (2005) which is her
biggest commercial success to date, and
the action comedy Varalaru (2006) and
this way has established herself as one
of the most prominent leading actresses
of South Indian cinema. More recently,
Asin has been making a debut in
Bollywood, in Ghajini, the remake of
its Tamil namesake.
Early life and background.
Asin was a business woman before coming
to the acting career.
Career.
Asin Thottumkal debuted in the
Malayalam film Narendra Makan
Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, directed by
Sathyan Anthikkad. Her breakthrough as
an actress came with her first Telugu
language film when she played the role
of a Tamil girl in the successful Amma
Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi
Teja.
Initially many in the Tamil industry
considered her to be a jinx as the
initial movies she signed in Tamil were
either canceled, delayed or faced
financial problems. Although she signed
Ullam Ketkumae as her first Tamil film,
her first release was M. Kumaran son of
Mahalakshmi which was a remake of her
Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi.
The movie went on to be one of the
biggest hits in 2004 and introduced
Asin to Kollywood.
Her movie Ghajini with Surya, which was
released both in Tamil and Telugu, was
a box office hit in both industries.
She has become famous since then and
went on to win the Filmfare Best
Actress Award South for her role in
Ghajini. Many movies followed and Asin
played opposite some popular actors in
South Indian Cinema, among them Surya,
Vijay, Vikram and Ajith, with whom she
starred in Pokiri with Vijay, Gharshana
with Venkatesh, and Varalaru& Aalwar
with Ajith Kumar.
Asin is also brand ambassador for
various products including Fairever,
Tanishq, BIG 92.7 FM, Spinz, Parachute,
Colgate and Mirinda. She was also a
part of Mani Ratnam’s stage show,
Netru, Indru, Naalai alongside many
other co-stars.
She rejected Surya’s Sillunu Oru
Kaadhal even after being offered three
songs as she thought her role in the
movie had not much scope. Her part went
to Bhumika Chawla. She had previously
opted out of Madhavan’s Thambi due to
tight scheduling.
Her next movie for release Dasavatharam
opposite Kamal Haasan and it will be
dubbed in 8 languages including
Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Bhojpuri,
Marathi and Hindi.
Personal.
She started her schooling in Naval
Public School, Kochin. She has
completed her B.A. English Literature
at St. Teresa’s College, Kochi. She has
shifted from her home town Kochi to
Chennai, where she stays on Harrington
Road. Before becoming an actress, she
was a part-time model and a
businesswoman.
