During COVID, this devotional dance number became a sensation. Nayanthara plays a goddess with humor and swag. Over 150M views.

Nayanthara’s early work (mid-2000s) followed the typical template: the beautiful, supportive heroine in star-driven vehicles like Chandramukhi (2005) or Billa (2007). But even then, she brought a magnetic stillness. The turning point came with Sri Rama Rajyam (2011), where her Sita earned critical acclaim, and then Raja Rani (2013), which gave her equal weight in a romantic drama.

The real shift happened post-2016. Maya made her the sole survivor of a horror thriller—a genre rarely led by women. Aramm (2017) saw her as a district collector tackling water crisis, proving she could carry a socially conscious film without a male hero. By Mookuthi Amman (2020), she played a goddess in a satirical entertainer, directly addressing the audience’s devotion to her on-screen persona.

On YouTube and OTT platforms, these videos get the most traction:

This is where the actress nayanthara better filmography argument becomes undeniable. She stopped dancing around trees for heroes and started carrying films on her shoulders.