Anushka to Tamannaah: Tollywood Beauties Who Played Ghost

“Pretty actresses turning ghosts has always been a safe bet since they showcase varied shades and grip the audience,” says writer Kona Venkat and adds, “Even in puranas there were Saakini and Daakini and also local tales about a woman walking in a white saree in midnight or another girl was seen near a dilapidated well were all well known myths in real-life. Fortunately or unfortunately ghost stories revolved around women, so actresses playing a ghost in a movie are more relatable and believable to the audience and we do it,” he points out

Earlier, it was glam divas Anushka (‘Arundhathi’), Charmee (‘Manthra’), Nayantara (‘Mayuri’ and ‘Dora’) and Trisha (‘Nayaki’) and Hansika (‘Chandrakala’) to mention a few who sent shivers down the spine of viewers with their spine-chilling act. ‘Samyuktha Menon’s chilling performance as a dreaded ghost in ‘Virupaksha’ made it a big winner since pretty actresses turning evil on screen always pays off since even Korean movies boast of female ghosts,” says producer Bogavalli Prasad.

Even Anushka who proved to be a torchbearer of spooky thrillers like ‘Arundhati’ and ‘Bhagmathee’ is doing a supernatural thriller in Malayalam as well. “Anushka Shetty can slip into all kinds of roles and is a specialist for supernatural thrillers. She has attained a larger than image on par with heroes and she could pull of mystery thrillers with consummate ease,” says director Hemanth Madhukar who worked with Anushka in ‘Nishabdham’

Summing up the trend, producer Anil Sunkara who cast a pretty actress Varsha Bollamma to play ghost in his recent release ‘Ooru Peru Bhairvakona’ says, ‘She has done a good job,” he says and adds, ‘We blended mythology with ghost stories to strike a chord with masses,”Our ghost story ‘Oori Peru Bhairvakona’ did well because it connects ‘Garuda Puranas’ to justify the presence of spirits in this world. Why some spirits hover around even after death and it talks about vengeance being unresolved."