Anu Emmanuel and Vishal
Anu Emmanuel and VishalFacebook/Anu Emmanuel-Instagram

Actress Anu Emmanuel, who made her acting debut in Jayaram-starrer Swapna Sanchari in 2011, made a comeback to Mollywood starring opposite Nivin Pauly in Action Hero Biju in 2016. Though it was more of a cameo appearance without much dialogues, the actress became a familiar face for the audience in Kerala as the song Pookal Panineer Pookal featuring her turned out a hit.

After making her debut in Telugu with the Nani-starrer Majnu, Anu is now all set to make a mark in Kollywood soon. The actress has been roped in to play a heroine in Vishal's upcoming film Thupparivaalan replacing Rakul Preeth Singh, who has backed out of the project due to her tight schedule. Reports suggest that Kamal Haasan's daughter Akshara Haasan of Shamitabh-fame will be playing the role of an antagonist in the movie, helmed by Mysskin. The upcoming movie also stars Andrea Jeremiah, Prasanna, Bhagyaraj and Vinay Rai in significant roles.

Meanwhile, Anu will also be seen in Gopichand's Oxygen and is also said to be the second heroine in Pawan Kalyan's upcoming Telugu movie. Recently, she hit the headlines after being replaced by another newcomer in the directorial venture of Malayalam filmmaker Amal Neerad. The actress, who had started the filming of the family entertainer with Dulquer Salmaan, suddenly backed out of the project.

Soon, reports started doing the rounds on social media on why she might have been replaced in the film. Even lifestyle magazine Star & Style had published an interview with an alleged statement by the actress that claimed Mollywood industry doesn't respect heroines. Soon, she came forward slamming the magazine for distorting her statements.

Later, rumour mills had it as the reason why she had been replaced by Karthika Muraleedharan. "Recently 'Star & Style Magazine' released a statement that concluded that I said that Malayalam cinema doesn't respect heroines, which I have never said. Although the cover is nice, the statement isn't," Anu had then written on her Instagram account clarifying the news.