Nayantara was spotted while she was still in college by director Sathyan Anthikkad, who cast her opposite Jayaram in the 2003 Malayalam film Manassinakkare. Later, she co-starred alongside Mohanlal in Natturajavu and in Fazil's Vismayathumbathu. She was also cast with Mammootty in Thaskaraveeran and Raapakal.She subsequently started appearing in Tamil and Telugu films. In 2005, she was cast opposite Sarath Kumar in Hari's Ayya, debuting in the Tamil film industry, and followed it up with Chandramukhi. The comedy horror film, in which she starred alongside Rajinikanth, became one of the most successful Tamil films in history, running for over 800 days in theatres,[8] eventually turning Nayantara into one of the most-sought after actresses in Tamil.[9] Later that year her third Tamil film, A. R. Murugadoss's Ghajini, in which she played a secondary female character, again was a commercially highly successful venture. However, she later disclosed that appearing in Ghajini was a big mistake and the "worst decision" she ever took.[9] She then made her debut in Telugu, starring in Lakshmi, following which she performed in Boss, alongside Venkatesh and Nagarjuna respectively. She regained her star billing in Kollywood acting opposite Ajith Kumar in the Vishnuvardhan-directed Billa. The gangster film, a remake of the same-titled 1980 Tamil film, became a blockbuster success at the box office[10] while Nayantara received many accolades for her performance as Sasha.[11]
In 2008 she had five releases, four of which were in Tamil. Her first release, the family entertainer Yaaradi Nee Mohini was one of the highest grossing Tamil films of the year, besides receiving seven nominations at the 56th Filmfare Awards South, including a Best Actress nomination for Nayantara for her portrayal of Keerthi. Her subsequent releases, however, Kuselan opposite Rajnikanth, Sathyam opposite Vishal and Villu opposite Vijay, were all unsuccessful, while Aegan became an average grosser. Her only successful release in 2009 was Aadhavan, with Surya, which released in October 2009, and became one of the few successes of 2009.
In 2010, all her releases, which featured her in a lead role, Bodyguard in Malayalam as well as Adurs and Simha in Telugu and Boss Engira Bhaskaran in Tamil turned out to be commercially successful. Simha and Boss Engira Baskaran, in particular were exceptionally successful, the former becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year and the latter releasing to highly positive reviews and becoming a blockbuster.[12][13][14] Her upcoming films include acclaimed director Shyamaprasad's Malayalam film Electra. She is also making her debut in the Kannada film industry opposite superstar Upendra in the film Super.
