Meet first Indian actress to give Rs 1000 crore hit, started as extra; not Deepika, Nayanthara, Alia, Priyanka, Rashmika

The 1000-crore club is the new 100-crore club in Indian cinema. Up till a few years ago, a net domestic collection of Rs 100 crore was considered good enough for a film to be successful. But as the production budgets of films have routinely gone beyond the Rs 200-crore mark, a collection of Rs 100 crore just doesn’t cut it. Now, the aim is to go past Rs 1000 crores, in worldwide gross collection at least, if not net. And it all began just seven years ago, and that film was fronted by an unlikely female star.

The first Indian actress to give Rs 1000 crore blockbuster

It was in June 2017 that an Indian film first crossed the Rs 1000-crore mark in worldwide earnings. The film was SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Conclusion, the second part of the Baahubali saga. The film eventually grossed ove Rs 1700 crore worldwide and even crossed Rs 1000 crore in domestic net earnings, something no other Indian film has been able to do so far. While it boasted of an ensemble cast with several lead stars, the film was led by Ramya Krishnan, whose portrayal of Queen Sivagami impressed fans and critics alike.

Ramya Krishnan in Baahubali The Beginning

Ramya Krishnan’s film journey

Born in 1970 in Madras, Ramya began her film career at the age of 13 with the Malayalam film Neram Pularumbol, which had a delayed release in 1986. Prior to this, her first release was the Tamil film Vellai Manasu She did several supporting roles and an even an uncredited role as an extra in Kamal Haasan’s Per Sollum Pillai. In 1989, she finally had her breakthrough with the Telugu hit Sutradharulu, which was followed by a series of hits in the 90s, establishing her as the top heroine in the industry. Ramya made her Bollywood debut with Yash Chopra’s Parampara in 1993, and appeared in films like Chaahat, Banarasi Babu, and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. She starred in Tamil hits like Padayappa in the 2000s, before moving to more versatile roles as she entered her 40s around 2010. After her success with the Baahubali films (2015-17), she made her OTT debut with MX Player’s Queen in 2019.

Other Indian actresses in the 1000-crore club

Apart from Ramya, two other actresses entered the club through Baahubali 2 – Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia. Since Baahubali 2, five other Indian films have crossed the Rs 1000-crore mark in global earnings, starting with Dangal, which had Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra as the female leads, alongside Aamir Khan. Other actresses who have had their films enter the Rs 1000-crore club are Srinidhi Shetty (KGF Chapter 2), Deepika Padukone (Pathaan and Jawan), and Nayanthara (Jawan). Alia Bhatt and Shriya Saran both had cameos in RRR (which grossed Rs 1300 crore)

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