There have been numerous stories of her shifting to Bollywood considering she signed on Ranbir Kapoor’s Barfi! but the actress has pooh-poohed these stories.
Charging a cool Rs 1 crore plus per flick, Ileana is considered one of the hottest actresses today in the south – but she has been very picky about her roles. Busy shuttling between Tollywood, Kollywood and Bollywood, Ileana seems to be suddenly attached to no particular industry at this point.

Once the reigning queen of Tollywood, the actress has always veered towards Telugu films, than Tamil, and has her favourite pick of directors there. Take a look at her films over the last two years. Her last release in Telugu was in April 2011. Titled Nenu Naa Rakshashi and directed by Puri Jagannadh, the movie starred Rana Daggubati and the actress. However, it fizzled at the box office. Her next release was Shankar’s Nanban in Jaunary 2012 and the actress was lauded for her performance in this Tamil flick. However, she wasn’t flooded with roles in Kollywood.

Today, Ileana is facing a litmus test in her career as she has two Telugu films up for release and her Bollywood debut too. Her Telugu movie Devudu Chesina Manushulu directed by Puri Jagannadh (again) is set to release on August 3 while Trivikram Srinivas’s Julaayi will hit screens on August 9. Both these movies releases were pushed due to the simple housefly keeping screens busy.

And her Ranbir Kapoor flick, Barfi!, is scheduled to release in September. The movie is being widely promoted as a Ranbir-Priyanka starrer, so one wonders where Ileana fits in here. Whether this movie catapults her into stardom in Bollywood or keeps her as reigning queen of no man’s land remains to be seen. So while she’s busy struggling to get her foothold right in any industry, actresses like Nayanthara, Kajal, Tamannaah and Anushka seem to be making the most of it.
Kollywood no 1 – Nayanthara
Tollywood no 1 – Samantha