Not Rashmika or Pooja, this actress rules Tollywood now

After a long hiatus, Telugu-speaking girl Sreeleela has become the most-sought actress in Tollywood which was otherwise dominated by Kannada and Malayalam actresses. “Sreeleela’s rise has been phenomenal and I am proud about her being a Telugu girl,” says producer Lagadapati Sridhar, who auditioned her for a film with his son Vikram. “She was very spirited and bubbly and I found a spark in her long back,” he says and adds, "she has outwitted Punjabi, Kannada and Malayalam girls and she is bound to go places.”

She has surely moved places and now she is one of the top-rung heroines to be paired opposite big stars like Pawan Kalyan(Ustaad Bhagat Singh), Mahesh Babu (Guntur Kaaram), Ram Pothineni (Boyapati RAPO)  and Ravi Teja (Dhamaka), giving her rivals Pooja Hegde, Rashmika, Sai Pallavi and Kriti Shetty a run for their money. “Sreeleela has enough potential to become a top heroine,” says director Trinath Rao, who cast her in his blockbuster film ‘Dhamaka’. “When we were looking for a pretty girl, we approached Sreeleela and we were doubly happy when we got to know that she could speak Telugu,” he adds. Trinath Rao claims that her dancing skills are unmatched and she brings a lot of energy on to the screen.“She is trained Bharatanatyam dancer which helps her in performing dances with ease and also enables her to emote better, which is a heady combo for any actress,” he points out.    

However, despite talent, no such luck for some other Telugu-speaking actresses in Tollywood like Anandi(Zombie Reddy), Chandini Choudury (Bhoombhat), Eesha Rebba (Bandipotu), while Anjali could go a distance by doing big-ticket films like ‘Seethamma Vakitlo,,’ ‘Geetanjali’ and ‘Dictator’. Another girl Dimple Hayati who hails from Vijayawada was seen in films like ‘Khilladi’ and ‘Ramabanam’.

Summing up the plight of Telugu-speaking girls in Tollywood, actress Aishwarya Rajesh, said, “Despite being a Telugu girl, I don’t get many offers from Telugu films, so I have to do more Tamil films. My father and grandfather did Telugu films and my aunt Sri Lakshmi did more than 500 movies, but I am still deprived of plum Telugu offers,” she laments.