After teasing viewers with a poster of Julie lying on a sun kissed beach under a straw hat, the trailer of Julie 2 revealed that actress Raai Laxmi will be stepping into Neha Dhupia’s stilettos this year.
After a few eminently forgettable films, Dhupia had made her mark in Bollywood with Julie in 2004. Not that the Deepak Shivdasani directed film was a hidden gem, but it did grab eyeballs. Similarly, Raai Laxmi, hopes to break into Bollywood with Julie 2 directed by Shivdasani again.
While Raai is relatively new for Bollywood, the actress is a popular face down south.
Raai Laxmi or Lakshmi Rai as she’s known in the south Indian film industry, made her debut in the Tamil film Karka Kasadara back in 2005. Since then, Laxmi rose to work with some of the biggest stars in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films.
In 2011, Laxmi was a part of Mankatha starring Tamil superstar Ajith.
She’s been popularly paired opposite Mohanlal in Malayalam films like Rock n’ Roll, Evidam Swargamanu, Christian Brothers and Casanova.
She’s also been a part of a few Mammootty films such as Parunthu, Annan Thambi, Chattambinaadu and Rajadhiraja.
Even as Laxmi grabbed a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in the Tamil film Dhaam Dhoom, she’s also known for her glamorous turnouts in item songs.
Most recently the actress was seen shaking a leg with the Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi in his comeback film Khaidi No 150.
Besides a huge fan following down south, Raai Laxmi’s social media activity has got her over 2 million followers across Twitter and Instagram. The actress is using it to make her presence felt in Bombay while also publicising her upcoming Bollywood debut.
Raai Laxmi’s name had briefly made a few headlines last year during the release of MS Dhoni’s biopic. The actress was reportedly involved with the cricketer for a brief period and it became a talking point during the promotions of the Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer.
Speaking about the affair, Laxmi in an interview to a leading daily had said, "I was the brand ambassador for the team that he was a part of and we were together for less than a year. We had never committed to each other and never thought of getting married either. So I don't understand why people would talk about us. It didn't work for us, so we moved on."
Ms Laxmi, we hope you remain just as candid and honest after your break in Bollywood!
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