Gorgeous divas in mood to experiment

Surely, times are changing in T'wood. Gone are the days when actresses used to be offered mostly glam-centric roles but now they are choosing roles with substance to showcase acting chops.

Close on the heels of Kajal Agarwal playing a role with 'grey shades' in 'Sita', Tapsee donned the role of a wheel-chair bound gaming specialist in 'Game Over' and both the actresses received appreciation for their performances.

Now, it is the turn of another diva Samantha, who is all set to tickle the laughing bones of the audience with 'Oh Baby'. In fact, Samantha in several interviews revealed that she would prefer to do more comedies, which she thinks are her forte.

"Samantha could be excited with a fun-centric role which is in contrast to her tear-jerker role in blockbuster 'Majili'. She is going through the best of times as an actor, as she is getting varied roles back-to-back. No doubt, she proved to be a performer with films like 'Aa Aa' and 'Raju Gari Gadi2'.

With 'Oh Baby' her career set to go a few notches up," says Madhura Sreedhar.

Although Kajal shed her goody-goody lover girl image with 'Sita' and triggered some interest. "We cast her in the role of an ambitious girl who is a go-getter of sorts and who likes to break the glass ceiling," says director Teja.

Similarly, Tapsee broke the norm that heroine should move and dance around trees, rather swept the audience of their feet by showcasing varied expressions like happiness, fear, anger, anxiety and helplessness with ease.

"It could go down as one of the best roles in Tapsee's career. She proved that she can keep audience glued to their seats by just sitting in a wheel-chair and showcasing a gamut of emotions in this nail-biting tale of a serial killer," says director Chandra Siddharth.

Not to be left behind, Tammanah who is doing her maiden women-centric movie 'That is 'Mahalakhmi', has also signed a ghost story 'Raju Gari Gadi 3' to give a career a fillip.

"Despite 'Abhinetri 2' turning out to be a damp squib, Tamannaah has again chosen a ghost story to keep up with her experimenting mood. Rather than falling prey to cliched glam roles. Her bold role in 'Next Enti' also showcased her hidden talent," says producer Bogavalli Prasad.

Already, the torch-bearer of author-backed roles Anushka is chalking out her own course with performance-centric movies and paving the way for her colleagues to traverse the less travelled `female-centric' path.

"Anushka and Nayantara are class apart and stay ahead of their rivals. No doubt, more heroines should join the bandwagon of lady-oriented films to enable filmmakers to think out of the box and deliver refreshing movies," says producer C Kalyan, who is making an action-film with new sensation Payal Rajput.

"Its a story of a angry-young girl who can't tolerate violence against women and settles scores with her fiery fists."