Actor Sunainaa, whose performance in Neerparavai (2012), co-starring Vishnu Vishal, earned her critical acclaim and widespread popularity has now disclosed that the emotional drama film did not get her more films. Instead, she revealed how she lost two films after its release which led to a break in her career.
In a Q and A session on X, a user asked Sunainaa asked about her evolution from the time she debuted in Kaadhalil Vizhunthen to playing a cameo in Theri to exploring the web series space, and eventually returning to lead roles in films.
To this question, she underlined how she gave her everything to Neerparavai and yet, it failed to fetch more opportunities in her career. "A lot of people looked at the makeup in the film and felt it wasn’t “cute” enough for that era, especially when mass commercial films were dominating," she wrote.
"In fact I lost two films after the release. One of them is a weird story which I may tell someday...That led to a break, almost like a gap in my career. But it’s okay. Because it gave me clarity about the mentality I was surrounded by. I didn’t hold back. I continued exploring, trying different mediums, simply because I was excited to do varied roles despite this. And eventually, I brought myself back. I evolved crazy during this time, it taught me a lot about the world, the industry," she further added.
Directed by Seenu Ramasamy, Neerparavai won several accolades for its story, cinematography, performances of its lead characters and songs by NR Raghunanthan. Nandita Das was also part of the film's cast.
After debuting in 2005 with Kumar Vs Kumari, Sunainaa earned her first breakthrough via 10th Class in 2006. She next made her Malayalam and Kannada cinema debut in Best Friends (2006) and Gange Baare Thunge Baare (2008) respectively. Her notable film roles include Kadhalil Vizhunthen (2008), Maasilamani (2009), Vamsam (2010), Thiruthani (2012), Theri (2016), Sillu Karupatti (2019), Laththi (2022) and Rocket Driver (2024).
She had also worked in notable web series such as Fingertip (2019), Meet Cute (2022) and Inspector Rishi (2024). Sunainaa was last seen in Kuberaa, directed by Sekhar Kammula.