Happy Birthday Anushka Shetty: 12 lesser-known facts about the gorgeous superstar

2) Anushka Shetty studied at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore which happens to be the same college where Deepika Padukone studied as well. She did Bachelors in Computer Applications.

3) Before making her cinema debut, Anushka Shetty has worked as a Yoga instructor. She was trained by renowned Yoga Master Bharat Thakur and received the certification of a Yoga teacher. In fact, Anushka had started her own Yoga institute as well. Bharat Thakur is considered as the main influential factor for her to become an actress. 

4) Anushka was reportedly rejected by the producer after her first photoshoot and audition. But today, she is one of the most popular actors in Indian cinema.

5) Though she had done nearly 40 films, it was her 2009 film Arundhati that did wonders for Anushka Shetty. The film, a dark fantasy horror film opened to positive reviews and emerged as the all-time second highest grossing Telugu film. The film also broken the life time collections of all male superstars including Mahesh Babu, Jr.NTR, Allu Arjun and Pawan Kalyan. 

6) The blockbuster success of Arundhati also bagged the superstar status for Anushka Shetty and inspired other directors and producers to cast her in their respective films. The film is also touted as one of the highest grossing women-centric films of Indian cinema. Arundhati went on to win the first Filmfare best actress award for her.

7) Anushka Shetty continued her terrific acting in the very next year as well. She portrayed the role of a prostitute in director Krish's Vedam, which won her second Filmfare best actress award recognition.

8) Anushka Shetty is the only actress who had done maximum films with legendary Indian film director SS Rajamouli. She had done three films with SS Rajamouli including the Baahubali series and Vikramarkudu and three films turned out to be the big money spinners of Indian cinema.

9) Similar to SS Rajamouli, Anushka Shetty had shared a 100% success ratio with superstar Prabhas as well. In fact, the Prabhas - Anushka Shetty duo is considered as one of the successful jodi of Indian cinema. The duo had collaborated in four films, Billa, Mirchi and the Baahubali series and all films turned out to be huge hits. 

10) Anushka Shetty is considered as the highest paid South Indian actress. For her 2015 film, Rudhramadevi, she had charged Rs. 5 crore to portray the titular role. And as expected, the film has opened to a thunderous note and emerges as the fifth highest Indian film opener of 2015. Rudhramadevi also won Anushka Shetty her third Filmfare best actress award. In the same year, she was
selected as the “Most desirable woman of Hyderabad.

11) Apart from her beauty, Anushka Shetty is known for her dedication as well. In 2015, soon after the release of Baahubali 1 and Rudhramadevi, she had decided to gain 20 kilos for the role of an overweight woman in the film Size Zero. Though she had the option of wearing a fat suit, Anushka took it as challenge to put on weight and had undergone a drastic transformation for the same. Soon after the release of the film, she lost the weight drastically for her most memorable role 'Yuvarani Devasena' in Baahubali 2. 

12) Anushka Shetty is the only actress to work in two successful franchises of Indian cinema, Singham series and Baahubali series.

Anushka Shetty's upcoming film Bhaagamathie is slated to release soon.