Acting career
Early career (2005–2010)
In 2005, [8] Laxmi made her film debut in the Tamil-language film Karka Kasadara . [9] Subsequently, she appeared in a number of Tamil films, including the comedy film Kundakka Mandakka (2005) opposite R. Parthiban, Perarasu's action-masala flick Dharmapuri (2006) and the romance film Nenjai Thodu (2007). Valmiki (2005), opposite Shiva Rajkumar, marked her maiden film in Kannada. [10]
In 2008, she began working in more serious films such as the drama film Velli Thirai , in which she played herself, and the action thriller Dhaam Dhoom , directed by Jeeva. She received positive feedback for her portrayal of a lawyer in the latter. A review from Behindwoods wrote: "The latter (Raai Laxmi) sizzles even as she is supposed to play the court professional who is caught in the web of smuggling drugs". [11] She won her first Filmfare Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category.
She made her debut in Malayalam in 2007, starring in Rock n' Roll , opposite Mohanlal. She followed it up with several successful films such as Annan Thampi (2008), 2 Harihar Nagar (2009), [12] Evidam Swargamanu (2009) opposite Mohanlal, and Chattambinadu (2009) opposite Mammootty. She appeared in three Tamil films in 2009, Muthirai , Vaamanan and Naan Avanillai 2 .
In Vaamanan (2009), she played a glamorous supermodel. [13] In 2010, she was seen in three films. She made special appearances during song sequences in two of them, In Ghost House Inn and Pen Singam and portrayed a cowgirl in the Tamil film Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam . [13]
Public recognition and success (2011–2014)
Laxmi's first 2011 release was Christian Brothers . Her next two films were Tamil projects, the comedy horror Kanchana and the Venkat Prabhu-directed action thriller Mankatha , starring Ajith Kumar. She played a negative character in the latter, which was received positively by critics. [14] Following Kanchana's success, she was signed on to reprise the role in its Kannada remake, Kalpana (2012). [15] Her 2014 films were Irumbu Kuthirai , Aranmanai in Tamil and RajadhiRaja in Malayalam.
Recent work (2016–present)
In 2016, she signed two Tamil films, Bangalore Naatkal and Sowkarpettai . [16] [17] After a brief gap, she performed her second item number opposite Pawan Kalyan in his Telugu film Sardaar Gabbar Singh (2016). [18] She debuted in the Hindi film Akira . [19]
She signed to perform her fourth item number with Chiranjeevi in his 150th film Khaidi No. 150 (2017), [20] [21] and later in Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva (2017) in Tamil with Raghava Lawrence. [22] Raai Laxmi portrayed the lead role in her second Hindi film Julie 2 (2017).
In 2018, she made her comeback to Malayalam cinema with the Mammootty starrer Oru Kuttanadan Blog . [23]
In 2019, she starred in horror movies Where Is the Venkatalakshmi in Telugu then Neeya 2 in Tamil that were failures. [24] [25] She also starred in the Bollywood film, Officer Arjun Singh IPS Batch 2000 . [26]
In 2021, she starred in the Tamil horror movie Cinderella . [27]
