Sandalwood's hottest Kannadiga heroines

After the golden years of Kannada cinema, during which Kannadiga actresses like Kalpana, Manjula, Bharati, Aarthi and B Saroja, among others, ruled the roost, there was a brief spell during which Sandalwood embraced imported talent. Actresses like Suhasini, Ambika, Khusbhoo were hot in the market, a trend, which has continued over the years. Such has been the popularity of heroines from other states that local actresses have lamented a lack of opportunities in Kannada cinema, forcing them to look out for work in other industries. In fact, even now, some of the industry's top talent are actresses who do not hail from Karnataka, like, for instance, Ragini Dwivedi, Aindrita Ray, Parul Yadav, Nikitha Thukral or Pooja Gandhi, among others. But every now and then, like a breath of fresh air, the industry also welcomes genuine local talent and audiences have been lapping them up.
Ramya
Undoubtedly the Queen Bee of Sandalwood, Ramya, aka Divya Spandanda, has had a long stint in the Kannada film industry. The Bengaluru lass, who has roots in Mandya, debuted in 2003 opposite Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar in Abhi. Subsequently, she was part of several critical and commercial successes and won several awards, including a couple of Filmfare awards for Best Actress and a State Award as well. A couple of years ago, Ramya stepped into politics, following in the footsteps of her mom, and had done a film with Shivarajkumar, Aryan, even while she was the MP of Mandya. And even though Ramya has been MIA from the industry for a while, the fact that she has a long pending film, Nagarahavu ready for release still gives her hardcore fans hope that she may return to films.

This Bengaluru hudugi began her showbiz career on the small screen, with serials like Nandagokula and Sumangali. Her big screen break came with Moggina Manasu, in which she acted along with rumoured off screen beau, Yash. Her role in the film got her a State Award as Best Actress, as well as Filmfare Award. She won two more successive Filmfare awards, making her the only Kannada heroine to have a hattrick. Today, Radhika is one of the most respected actresses in the industry, whose trademark remains strong female characters that are not necessarily glamorous. She is currently winding up work on Dodmane Huduga, with Puneeth Rajkumar and Santhu Straight Forward with Yash.

Yet another Bengaluru gal, Amulya began her showbiz career as a child artist. She debuted as a 6-year old in a Kannada television soap called Supta Manasina Sapta Swaragalu. The big screen transition came a couple of years later with Parva. Amulya debuted as lead heroine in Cheluvina Chittara, opposite Golden Star Ganesh, which became a big hit. She has, since then, teamed up with Ganesh two more times -- Shravani Subramanya and Kushi Kushiyaagi -- prompting him to christen her Golden Queen. The actress is currently busy with Maasti Gudi and Leader.

Hariprriya, aka Shruthi, hails from Chikkaballapura. She made her big screen debut with Manasugula Mathu Madhura in 2008. After a few more films in Kannada, she moved to Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, where she found more success. The actress was often at the forefront of protests against imported talent in Sandalwood and was able to return to the industry only in 2014 with the super hit Ugramm. The success of Ugramm got her films like Ranna, Rikki, Bullet Basya, as well as Neer Dose, a movie that Ramya had shot for earlier but had left incomplete. The actress was briefly rumoured to be dating her Rikki co-star Rakshit Shetty.

She is one the latest entrants from the small screen to the big screen. The bubbly actress made her big screen debut with Challenging Star Darshan in Bulbul. She has, since then, acted with him in Ambareesha and Jaggu Dada as well and has been working with other A-list heroes like Sudeep, Puneeth Rajkumar and Ganesh, among others. The actress's dimpled smile has got her the moniker Dimple Queen. She has a sister, who is also an actress.