1 / 6Popular actress Raai Laxmi is one among the few divas of South cinema who entertains the viewers both on the acting and glamour front2 / 6For her maiden Bollywood film Julie 2, Raai Laxmi underwent a major body transformation by shedding out nearly 15 kilos in two months. Though the process was physically and emotionally taxing, she followed a strict diet and worked out for a toned body which she finally achieved3 / 6In 2005,[6] Laxmi made her film debut in the Tamil-language Karka Kasadara after director R. V. Udayakumar saw her performance in the Kannada short film Valmiki4 / 6Subsequently, she appeared in a number of Tamil films, including the comedy film Kundakka Mandakka (2005) opposite R. Parthiban, Perarasu's action-masala flick Dharmapuri (2006) and the romance film Nenjai Thodu (2007)5 / 6Raai Lakshmi's first 2011 release was Christian Brothers, which was a huge commercial success. Her next two films were Tamil projects, the comedy horror Kanchana and the Venkat Prabhu-directed action thriller Mankatha, starring Ajith Kumar. She played a negative character in the latter, which was received positively by critics.6 / 6In 2016, she signed two Tamil films, Bangalore Naatkal and Sowkarpettai.[14][15] After a brief gap, she performed her second item number opposite Pawan Kalyan in his Telugu film Sardaar Gabbar Singh (2016)