Poorna ---- "Chinna Asin"!

Scene 1- On Monday evening, at Landmark in Chennai, Asin had a farewell party of sorts after an impressive innings in Tamil cinema.

She was being launched by an international fashion magazine as the cover girl announcing her as the new hot girl in Bollywood for being featured as Aamir Khan's heroine. Her last film in Tamil Dasavatharam had just released.

By late evening she was back on board a flight to Mumbai to chase her Bollywood dreams.

Scene 2- Cut to the swanky Asiana Hotel in Chennai's IT corridor. The newly-opened hotel was holding its first ever Kollywood big bash- the audio launch of Bharath's new film Muniyandi Vilayangiyal oondrammaandu (MVM). After the trailer and songs from the film was played for the invitees, Ilayathalapathy Vijay, in his speech said, "The heroine of the film reminds me so much of Asin, especially in her dance movements and expressions. She has a bright future in Tamil cinema".

Everybody in the packed ballroom of the hotel craned their necks to take a better look at the demure girl on stage. Kollywood's biggest superstar after Rajinikanth and a man of few words, Vijay praising a girl he was seeing for the first time took the gathering by surprise. After Vijay's speech the rest of the film fraternity took the cue, and had something nice to say about - "Chinna Asin"!

So who is this 17-going-on-18 girl who has become the new sensation in Kollywood? Meet Poorna alias Shamna Kasim, a Malayalee girl now residing in Kochi, the heroine of MVM. Her claim to fame was that she had done three Malayalam films with the superstar Mohanlal as his foster sister in Ali Bhai, as heroine's friend in Flash, and finally the second heroine who comes in a flashback in College Kumaran. Though she was close to Mohanlal, her film career in Malayalam never took off as all her films bombed.

It was at this time the MVM director Thirumurugan, who made a name for himself as the director of Mettioli, the longest running soap on television, chose her to be his heroine. "I picked her after screen testing nearly 100 other people for the crucial heroine's role. I make only family movies.

She suited my character - a small-town village girl. She came out with a knockout performance and has a good screen presence", says Thirumurugan. Added Bharath, who has worked with Malayalee heroines like Sandhya, Bhavana, Gopika, and Meera Jasmine, "After MVM , Poorna is going to go places. She is not only a good-looker but can also emote on screen. And like Vijay said, she does in some ways resemble Asin."

Meanwhile Poorna was swept off her feet and was speechless after Vijay's comments that she looked like Asin. "I was dumbstruck, because Vijay is my favourite hero and I have seen Pokkiri four times! When he compared me with Asin 'Chechi', who is my role model my day was made."

Suddenly a halo has been created around Poorna’s head, as she got three calls early next morning from top directors and a hero from Kollywood asking for her dates. She will become the first Malayalee Muslim born and brought up in Kannur, to debut in Tamil cinema. It may be coincidental but those who have played Mohanlal's sister and later heroine have made it big in Tamil. You need look no further than the numero uno actress Nayanthara!