Amala Paul

 After her studies were completed, Lal Jose offered her a supporting role in his film Neelathamara (2009). Despite emerging a successful film, it failed to attract any further offersas she anticipated. She pursued parts in Tamil films and was later to sign for the budget comedy film Vikadakavi which was later delayed, and eventually was her sixth film and she also signed on as the lead actress in another small budget film Veerasekaran (2010). The film, which became her debut Tamil release, was panned by critics, and went under the radar, while Paul's character was labelled as "minimal" and she later stated that she regretted making the film. A lot of her scenes were cut out. Paul was then able to appear in Samy's controversial Sindhu Samaveli (2010), playing the character of Sundari who has an affair with her father-in-law. After the major parts of her next release, Mynaa, were complete, she was approached by Samy. She agreed to be a part of Sindhu Samaveli after listening to the entire story. She said she was not shocked, but not upset, at the controversial scenes she was exposed to. The film's director was previously criticized for his portrayals of illicit relationships as well as for assaulting his former star in a movie however Paul dismissed the allegations, citing that she had no issue with the director. Upon release, the film met with contrasting reviews, however, some critics refused give the film a rating in protest of the film's plot. Paul claimed that she received threats to kill her from anonymous phone callers and was scolded publicly by females in a cinema theater in Chennai. Paul's next release was the romantic-drama film Mynaa (2010), produced by Prabhu Solomon was a major breakthrough for her as an actress in the industry. After having been impressed by the film Udhayanidhi Stani as well as Kalpathi S. Ahoram purchased the rights to the movie. Paul was the village actress in Mynaa. The film had a massive success at the box-office. Paul was awarded the Vijay Award as Best Debut Actress, and was nominated in the Filmfare Awards' Best Actress category.