Vijayashanti

Early career

Vijayashanti began her acting career at the age of 14 in 1980, playing the leading lady in the Tamil film Kallukkul Eeram (The moisture inside stone / rock), directed by Bharathiraja. In the same year, she debuted in Telugu cinema with the movie Kilaadi Krishnudu, opposite Krishna, directed by Vijaya Nirmala. She was given the screen name "Vijaya Shanthi", which was based on that of her aunt and veteran actress Vijaya Lalitha. She got a role in the Telugu film Satyam-Sivam (1981), the cast of which included N. T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao.

Balance of Glamour and Women-centric roles (1983-1993)

After a couple of inconsequential movies, came Pellichoopulu (1983), directed by P. Sambasivarao, which brought recognition to her as a star. This was a remake of K. Bhagyaraj's Tamil Film Thooral Ninnu Pochchu. If Pellichoopulu got her the much-needed recognition, her breakthrough movie was Neti Bharatam (1983), from there she started acting in women-centric roles, teaming up with T. Krishna. T. Krishna spotted her on the sets of his friend Madala Rangarao's Navodayam. He saw her perform and predicted that she would turn out to be a good actress. In 1985, Pratighatana, a biggest blockbuster of the year from the same director won her accolades and a state Nandi Award for the first time. She delivered a powerful performance in the song "Ee Dhuryodhana Dusshasana", penned by legendary lyricist Veturi Sundararama Murthy and powerfully sung by S. Janaki. It was her association with T. Krishna that catapulted Vijayashanthi to stardom- Neti Bharatam, Desamlo Dongalu Paddaru, Pratighatana, Devaalayam, Vande Mataram and Repati Pourulu. This film was released after death of the movie director T. Krishna.

In 1992 Mondi Mogudu Penki Pellam was a huge success. In that, she played a bold lady speaking Telangana slang and delivered the career-defining song "Laloo Darwaja Laskar". In 1994 it was remade into Hindi as Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin, starring Sridevi in her role. In the 1990s, she was the only actress demanding highest remuneration in India, equal to her co-stars Rajnikanth and Chiranjeevi.^[16] Most of her films with Telugu superstars Chiranjeevi (19 films) and Balakrishna (17 films) were huge hits and her on-screen chemistry with both the actors worked very well at the box office. Be it in K. Viswanath's Swayam Krushi, where she acts as an illiterate woman who falls in love with a cobbler played by Chiranjeevi. Her dialogue Atta Soodamakayya is highly applauded along with her performance in Swayam Krushi. She starred in Sathruvu, Surya IPS and Chinarayudu, along with Daggubati Venkatesh. She starred alongside Tamil superstars Rajinikanth, as the antagonist in the film Mannan, and with Kamal Hassan as an investigative reporter in Indrudu Chandrudu. She acted in two movies with Malayalam superstar Suresh Gopi, being Yuvathurki and Kallu Kondoru Pennu.

Hindi cinema

In 1989, she was introduced to Hindi cinema by K. Viswanath alongside Anil Kapoor in the film Eeshwar, a re-make of his Telugu film Swathi Muthyam. It proved a success and offers poured in, but she did not accept any of them because she felt that the Bollywood industry was dead slow and she wanted to do a lot of films in a year. Her second Hindi film was Muqaddar Ka Badshaah, a remake of the Telugu film Aswaddama. In the Hindi version, she acted with another National award winning actress - Shabana Azmi. Her other starrers are Apradhi, in which she is paired with Anil Kapoor and Tejaswini, a remake of Karthavyam, directed by N. Chandra. Another Bollywood movie of hers is Gundagardi (1997), starring Dharmendra in an action role. In 1996, she is paired opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Zamaanat, directed by S. Ramanathan.^[17]

National Award and Lady-oriented roles (1990-2003)

In a carefully nurtured career, Vijayashanthi since then has reached the status of a "Hero" in box office parlance. In the blockbuster movie Karthavyam (1990), her performance as a tough cop (modelled after the real-life supercop Kiran Bedi) under the direction of Mohan Gandhi won her the National Film Award from the Government of India and an Andhra Pradesh State award for best actress. Actor Ravi Teja was introduced in the film as a side artist. The film, made with a budget of about 90 lakhs and grossed over 7 crores in southern territories alone.^[18] The film is screened at 14th International Film Festival of India in the mainstream section.^[19] She was the third woman from Telugu cinema to win the award after Sharada and Archana. The success of this movie saw her moving away from glamorous roles and limiting herself to lady oriented roles. According to Sify, In a hero-worshipping world of Indian Cinema, to be precise, South Indian cinema, there is one heroine who calls her shots is Vijayashanti.^[20] "There were people who questioned how can a Heroine attain the image of Hero & charge highest remuneration. But, I had overcome all of the hurdles and answered the critics with successful films". Vijayashanti didn't rely on dupes for performing risky stunts in many films. There were times when the Dynamic Actress used to jump for a height of 30 feet and she hardly cared about the injuries.^[21]

In 1990, Karthavyam was dubbed into Tamil as Vyjayanthi IPS and its success brought her actress in Tamil cinema as well. (It was also remade in Hindi as Tejaswini, with herself playing the lead role. This, too, did very well at the Hindi box-office). The film influenced the then 10-year old C. Indhumathi.^[22] Vyjayanthi IPS ran for 50 days in Vetri theater in Chennai and this record was broken by a dubbed version of Baahubali in August 2015.^[23]

A. M. Ratnam, who was Shanti's personal make-up man, turned out to be a money-making producer.^[24] Being an Executive Producer for Vijayashanti, he has made the award-winning Karthavyam under the banner of Sri Surya Movies. In 1993, under the same banner, she produced and acted in Aashayam, a political drama and Police Lockup, in a dual role, which was directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, another superhit, she gained one more Filmfare Award for Best Actress.^[25] After she started concentrating on action roles, something special is her nativity showing. Osey Ramulamma (1997), where she played a downtrodden woman who rose against her oppressors, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao. was the biggest blockbuster of the year, winning her fourth Nandi Award and fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actress,^[26] this film gave her another name, called as "Ramulamma/Ramulakka" by the people. The music of this film, composed by Vandemataram Srinivas, also won the Nandi Award. Later, she appeared in critically acclaimed women oriented movies like Adavi Chukka and Rowdy Durbar, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao. Vijayashanthi has also worked for many commercials like Chandana Bros., and Power Detergent soap. She was the first ever actress to be first featured in a Saree commercial and later many actress followed her in many saree and dress commercials.