Actress, Nayanthara's documentary shed light on the lengths to which she went to personify 'Goddess Sita' in the movie, 'Sri Rama Rajyam'. She gave up non-veg food and stopped drinking her hotel's water.
Nayanthara, also known by the moniker 'Lady Superstar', has had an illustrious career. Many of the actress' iconic characters are remembered to this day, such as 'Nandini' in Lakshmi , 'Vasundhara' in Tulasi , 'Chandrakala' in Adhurs , and 'Gayathri' in Simha , among others. Nayanthara gave yet another memorable performance when she portrayed the 'Goddess Sita' in the 2011 film, Sri Rama Rajyam by legendary filmmaker, Bapu.
While Nayanthara was thrilled to portray such a revered character, her casting faced significant backlash from audiences in both Tamil and Telugu industries due to her personal life. Nayanthara was over the moon about playing the revered character. However, both Tamil and Tamil and Telugu audiences objected to her casting due to her controversial personal life back then. She opened up about the same in her documentary.
Nayanthara's documentary, Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale , was released on the streaming platform, Netflix on November 18, 2024. In it, a team member from the film, Sri Rama Rajyam , opened up about the length to which Nayanthara went to perfectly portray. Sita's character. Revealing that she even gave up non-vegetarian food, she said:
“There was strong opposition to her playing Sita. There were protests in both Tamil and Telugu industries. People were dead against her being cast as Goddess Sita. She overcame all of it to build the character. From the start to the end of shooting, she stayed at Taj Krishna. The hotel served non-vegetarian food, but she didn't even drink water from the hotel during the filming. We brought her vegetarian meals from outside. It was a punishment for her.”
For the unversed, the reason behind the strong backlash to Nayanthara playing the goddess, Sita, was her controversial dating history. Back then, rumors were floating around about the actress dating Prabu Deva , who was already married. Not only that, there were even talks of the high-profile couple tying the knot, which ultimately never happened.
These bombshells were dropped not long after Nayanthara's much-discussed split with actor-filmmaker, Silambarasan TR. Given these controversies, critics and audiences alike questioned the filmmakers' decision to cast her as such a pious figure — a goddess no less. However, Nayanthara refused to cower under the criticism, instead silencing all her haters with her jaw-dropping performance.
Nayanthara was committed to more than dietary changes, leading to her eventually winning the hearts of critics and audiences alike with her dedicated and powerful performance. However, what many may not know is that Nayanthara was actually supposed to leave the film industry for good after Sri Rama Rajyam . In her documentary, the versatile actress reveals that she was told to quit films after marriage by the person she was then dating. While she tactfully avoided mentioning any names, it is easy to guess that she was talking about Prabu Deva.
The much-in-love actress agreed to the bizarre condition. For the unversed, Prabhu Deva was still married to Latha when he publicly voiced his desire to marry Nayanthara. However, Latha, his wife, flat-out denied a divorce, thus leading to him and Nayanthara eventually parting ways. After this tumultuous period, Nayanthara decided to put her career on hold from 2011 to 2012. Following the year-long break, she resumed work.
What do you think about Nayanthara's revelations that she quit eating non-vegetarian food and wouldn't even drink water from her hotel to embody 'Goddess Sita'?
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