Although the actress had joked about a crush on actor Suriya, Laila is now back bright and radiant. She also chipped in in a cheeky, lighthearted manner through promotions of her return to Telugu cinema that entertained devotees and went viral on social media.
Laila was interviewed by the media on the actors whom she considers her idols in South Indian cinema. The actress replied jokingly that she appreciated Suriya and even said informally, "Jyothika will kill me" if she got a hint about the crush.
On the other hand, in the first truly moving and funny bit, her tongue-in-cheek response went viral all over the web, a truly uplifting, raw moment from her devotees. Laila’s early 2000s popularity reached comment pages littered with humorous emojis and retro posts from social media.
She is widely regarded as one of the most coveted actresses of the golden commercial age of South Indian cinema. A child of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films, Laila gained a loyal following with her acting, screen space and energetically vigorous dance numbers.
And she gained a large following with numerous movies that featured the industry’s top actors in landmark films. Now, in a revival after a few years away from the screen in mainstream Telugu, fans of the movies she grew up with are beginning to get excited. And fans see her return as somehow kind of a wistful back glance at her life as one of the most significant leads from the late ’90s-early ’00s. Suriya is a runaway rage in South India and elsewhere as well.
The versatile actor and performer (he worked behind commercial and box office-heavy and content-heavy movies, respectively) has constantly and unwaveringly had a strong fan base. Some might say that Suriya and Jyothika are arguably the biggest and most acclaimed celebrity couples in the South Indian film industry. Successfully managing public and private life, the two have built a good reputation for pushing each other's careers.
All Laila is joking about, of course, is Jyothika, and if some commented on the net, the warmth and friendliness of the comments seemed more funny than matter-of-fact. The bottom line: Many users joked that an entire breed of fans still had a massive “crush” on Suriya because of his quirky personality and screen presence.
The star said she was passionate about her comeback, pondering Telugu movies and how much the public still loves her, though she’d spent many years out of the limelight. She is set to play a big part in a new Telugu project that is also a big step for her acting career.
There are a few veteran actresses who have returned to South Indian cinema recently, appearing as supporting leads in major character-driven projects or web series for an audience to identify with. The reason Laila's resurgence has in particular enthralled fans is because of the nostalgia that her past film career stirred.
She has an infectious smile, and the spontaneous comments at promotions probably made the hype about her return only more hyped. With portions of the interview getting broadcast, the actress’s tongue-in-cheek admission has made the film’s playful, if almost comical, little confession the trappings of a trending entertainment moment for South Indian movie people’s online lives. It was plainly a joke, you know, to what it was; indeed, it was again a sign that Suriya and Jyothika haven’t aged out of popularity, that they were popular in one generation and then another.
