As Anushka Shetty turns 42, here are some iconic roles that catapulted the actor to stardom

What made Sweety special to audiences?

While most of her contemporaries chose to restrict themselves to playing glam-doll appearances, Anushka Shetty preferred scripts that left a mark on her filmography — shallow characters that fill the spaces were not a cup of tea even during the initial phase of her acting career.

It was Akkineni Nagarjuna-starrer Super that catapulted her to overnight stardom in 2005.

Though films like Mahanandi (2010) and Astram (2006) didn’t really click for her, the actor came to the limelight again with the character Neeraja in Ravi Teja’s Vikramarkudu (2006).

The subsequent films like fantasy thriller Arundhati, Vedam, romcom Khaleja (2010), Mirchi (2013), action-packed police drama Singam 2 (2013), and Bhaagamathie (2018) have defined her career graph until the box office storm Baahubali (2015 and 2017) franchise put her on a higher pedestal.

Here are her top movies that fans rave about:

Also Read: Naveen Polishetty’s trademark comedy is pleasantly entertaining in ‘Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty’

Arundhati

Arundhati is unarguably the best film that changed the image of Anushka Shetty. It’s not just about the praise that she received, Arundhati won her the Best Actor awards at Filmfare South and CineMAA.

She also won a special jury Nandi Award for her electrifying performance on the screen.

Kodi Ramakrishna’s directorial is one of her top-notch performances ever.

Vedam

Breaking the regular mould of playing a glam doll, Anushka Shetty accepts to play a prostitute in Allu Arjun-starrer Vedam.

The film may not have raked in good money for the producers, but it turned out to be a cult classic for the way it was narrated.

The actress played Saroja, a prostitute working for Rattamma in Amalapuram, who arrives in the city with her best friend Karpooram.

While depicting the vulnerable side of sex workers, Saroja’s endeavour to break the shackles of enslavement was received well by audiences.

Baahubali

It is this SS Rajamouli‘s directorial that introduced her to global audiences.

Anushka Shetty and Prabhas delivered one of the most outstanding performances of all time.

Anushka Shetty’s screen presence and her royal look brought the character Devasena to life.

Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty

The beauty of Anushka Shetty’s work is that she always played her age. In Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty, she played a 38-year-old independent mom named Anvitha Ravali who works as a master chef in the United Kingdom.

This woman, who doesn’t believe in marriage and love at this stage, bumps into a funny character Siddhu (Naveen Polishetty), who wishes to make stand-comedy his profession.

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