No takers for Karthika?

Yesteryear actress Radha’s daughter, Karthika, who won commercial and important acclaim together with her debut film Ko, was recently within the city to stroll the ramp. However the question on everyone’s mind was — why has she not been in a position to bag any big films? Despite her debut film with K V Anand striking gold on the box office here, the actress has not been capable of make in-roads in K-Town.Karthika was signed on for Sundar C’s Madha Gaja Raja with Vishal but once the script changed from a single heroine to a multi-heroine project, the actress and director mutually decided to part ways. The actress had also signed S A Chandrasekar’s film, Sattam Oru Iruttarai, but for some reason she decided to opt out of that project too.

Currently, she’s only working in Bharathiraja’s Annakodiyum Kodiveeranum which recently was ‘split’, with the director deciding to shoot a separate film with probably the most film’s two tracks. Her younger sister, Tulasi, meanwhile, managed to bag a Mani Ratnam project — Kadal.

As far as Mollywood goes, Karthika has two films to be had — Gold and a film starring Santosh Sivan as painter Raja Ravi Varma. Gold has three heroines and the flick is claimed to be in limbo as of now. Her movie with Santosh Sivan, where she shares screenspace with Nithya Menen, is being screened at national and international film festivals. And despite making her debut with Naga Chaitanya in Telugu in Josh, the actress’s career in Tollywood has not taken off. Her last release, Dammu, didn't bring big filmmakers knocking at her door.

So despite her acting lineage, why are filmmakers not creating a beeline for her? Says a Tamil producer on condition of anonymity, “Karthika is very tall but that’s not likely a hindrance as other heroines like Anushka are tall too. However the problem is she lacks on-screen presence unlike them and likewise really must hone her acting skills.” Some others within the industry claim that since most of her films didn't do too well on the BO, betting on her can be a tad risky.

Meanwhile, we also hear that she and her mom, Radha, who’s said to be managing her career, also are doing the rounds in Bollywood as they live in Mumbai. But perhaps she should have a look at conquering one film industry first in preference to all on the same time?