Indian Cinema Series
As promised yesterday, here’s the first in our Indian cinema spotlight series. I’m starting off with a countdown of some of the country’s most beautiful and talented leading ladies, based on the latest buzz. Our pick for top actress of the moment will appear Wednesday, so stay tuned!
‘Asin’ (Asin Thottumkal) – No. 5
24 year old Asin Thottumkal, better known as ‘Asin,’ was born into a Catholic family in southern India. Her father abandoned his career as a successful businessman to become her manager, while her mother has continued to work as a surgeon.
Asin made her mark as a teenager in the Indian Telugu language film industry, also known as Tollywood. After a few major roles and acting awards, she quickly became one of its leading actresses. Her major breakthrough, however, was her role in the 2008 Bollywood film, Ghajini (Which is actually based on the Hollywood mystery Memento). Asin won the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award 2009 for her Ghajini performance. Filmfare is one of the oldest and most prominent Hindi film events in India.
Asin is one of the select actresses from the South who has experienced large-scale success in the Hindi film industry. And since Ghajini, there are high expectations she’ll be able to follow up on her early success. Asin is currently appearing as the lead actress in London Dreams, a Bollywood musical released just last month.