Desamuduru (2007)

Bala Govind is a brash, fearless TV reporter who goes on a shoot to Kullu and Manali in the Himalayas, where he falls for Vaishali, a young woman living as a sanyasini in an ashram. He sets out to win her heart, but Vaishali's past, and a brutal gangster and his family back in Hyderabad, make the romance dangerous. Desamuduru ("the wild one") was one of the biggest Telugu hits of 2007 and gave Allu Arjun his first fully "mass" image, complete with a dramatic makeover including his much-copied long hair. It also launched Hansika Motwani as a leading lady, after her work as a child actress in Hindi, and its songs by Chakri were hugely popular.