The Top 5 Kannada actresses of 2012

There were some interesting performances from Kannada actresses in 2012. Here are the top five memorable performances

Radhika Pandit

Radhika Pandit had five releases this year and her performance in all the films attracted attention.

Adhoori and Drama became big hits. 18th Cross, her first film, was released this year, four years after it began.

In Breaking News, directed by Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, Radhika starred opposite Ajay Rao. The film was declared a box-office dud.

In Alemaari Radhika looked like a regular plain Jane, but she won accolades for her performance. She wore glamorous costumes in Drama and had a modern look in Sagar.

Alemaari and Sagar were moderate successes at the box-office.

The year 2012 was a special year for Pooja Gandhi. She entered politics earlier this year when she joined the Janata Dal (S) before switching over to Yeddyurappa's new party, Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) at the end of the year.

Ironically, it was her stunning performance in the film Dandupalya, where she played a cold-blooded murderer that earned her the ire of her party.

As the year drew to a close, Pooja Gandhi got engaged to film distributor Anand Gowda.

She is eagerly awaiting the release of January 1 Bidugade in which she plays a journalist, and has started work on a murder story, Hantaki(ka). She also danced to an item number in Guruprasad's forthcoming film Director's Special.

The year 2012 was not a special year for Ramya. She had three releases and her stock neither rose nor fell. However, her unglamorous role in Siddlingu was much appreciated.

Ramya looked divine in the 3D film Katari Veera Sura Sundaraangi and was quite delightful in Lucky.

Ramya has no problem acting opposite younger heroes although she has signed a film opposite Shivarajkumar and will be seen in an interesting role opposite Jaggesh.

This national award winning actress had three releases this year. Vishnuvardhana that starred Sudeep and Sonu Sood, which came out at the fag end of 2011, became a success at the box-office.

She charmed audiences in Anna Bond and Ko Ko and rode a bike in the latter.

Her performance in the film Charulatha was appreciated notwithstanding the poor collection at the box-office. In the film, which was based on the Thai movie Alone, Priya Mani played the role of the conjoined twin.

Priya Mani has finished work for another Kannada film titled Lakshmi that stars Shivarajkumar in the lead. Lakshmi will hit the theatres soon.

This actress from Kerala is one of the most sought-after actresses in Kannada cinema these days. She has acted in three Kannada films so far, of which two have become big successes at the box-office.

One of the films was Vishnuvardhana that released at the end of 2011. She gave a good performance in the film Romeo and the song Alochane that featured her became a big hit in the audio market.

Bhavana is busy acting with all the superstars of Kannada cinema. Yaare Koogadali, which is a remake of the Tamil film Porali, is ready for release. Bhavana plays the female lead opposite Puneeth Rajkumar.

She has almost finished work on Topiwala, a comedy film with Upendra in the lead, and is currently working with Sudeep in Shashank's film Bachchan.