Early career

Vijayashanti began her acting career at the age of 14 in 1980, Tamil film Kallukkul Eeram, directed by P S Nivas starring Bharathiraja. In the same year, she debuted in Telugu cinema with the movie Kilaadi Krishnudu, opposite Krishna, directed by Vijaya Nirmala. She got a role in the Telugu film Satyam-Sivam (1981), the cast of which included N. T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao.

Balance of Glamour and Women-centric roles (1983-1993)

Initially she played many character role like sister, daughter and then after a couple of inconsequential movies came Pellichoopulu (1983), which brought recognition to her as a star. This was a remake of K. Bhagyaraj's Tamil film Thooral Ninnu Pochchu. Her breakthrough movie was Neti Bharatam (1983), and from there she started acting in women-centric roles, teaming up with T. Krishna. He spotted her on the sets of his friend Madala Rangarao's Navodayam. He saw her perform and predicted that she would turn out to be a good actress. In 1985, Pratighatana, one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, won her accolades and a state Nandi Award for the first time. She delivered a powerful performance in the song "Ee Dhuryodhana Dusshasana", penned by legendary lyricist Veturi and powerfully sung by S. Janaki.

In 1992 Mondi Mogudu Penki Pellam was a huge success. Vijayashanti played a bold lady speaking Telangana slang and delivered the career-defining song "Laloo Darwaja Laskar". In 1994 it was remade into Hindi as Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin. In the 1990s, Vijayashanti was the only actress demanding highest remuneration in India, equal to her co-stars Rajnikanth and Chiranjeevi.^[20] Most of her films with Chiranjeevi (19 films) and Balakrishna (17 films) were huge hits and her on-screen chemistry was huge success on par with the box office. In K. Viswanath's Swayam Krushi, where she acts as an illiterate woman who falls in love with a cobbler played by Chiranjeevi. Her dialogue in Atta Soodamakayya is highly applauded along with her performance in Swayam Krushi. She starred in Sathruvu, Surya IPS and Chinarayudu, along with Daggubati Venkatesh. She starred alongside Rajinikanth as the antagonist in the film Mannan, and with Kamal Haasan as an investigative reporter in Indrudu Chandrudu. She acted in two movies with Malayalam superstar Suresh Gopi, Yuvathurki and Kallu Kondoru Pennu. She produced the film Nippu Ravva (1993), starring Balakrishna, under the banner Yuvarathna Arts.

Hindi cinema (1989-1997)

In 1989, she was introduced to Hindi cinema by K. Viswanath alongside Anil Kapoor in the film Eeshwar, a remake of his Telugu film Swathi Muthyam. Her second Hindi film was Muqaddar Ka Badshaah, a remake of the Telugu film Aswaddama. In the Hindi version, she acted with another National Award-winning actress - Shabana Azmi. Her other starrers are Apradhi, in which she is co-starring with Anil Kapoor and Tejaswini, a remake of Karthavyam, directed by N. Chandra. Another Bollywood movie of hers is Gundagardi (1997), starring Dharmendra in an action role. In 1996, she was paired opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Zamaanat, directed by S. Ramanathan,^[21] but the film was shelved.

National Award and Woman-oriented roles (1990-2006)

In a carefully nurtured career, Vijayashanthi reached the status of a "HERO" at box office parlance. In the blockbuster movie Karthavyam (1990), her performance as a tough cop under the direction of Mohan Gandhi won her the National Film Award from the Government of India and an Andhra Pradesh State award for best actress. Actor Ravi Teja was introduced in the film as a side artist. The film was made with a budget of about 90 lakhs and grossed over 7 crores in southern territories alone.^[22] The film was screened at the 14th International Film Festival of India in the mainstream section.^[23] She was the third woman from Telugu cinema to win the award after Sharada and Archana.

The success of this movie saw her moving away from glamorous roles and limiting herself to woman-oriented roles. "There were people who questioned how can a Heroine attain the image of Hero & charge highest remuneration. But, I had overcome all the hurdles and answered critics with successful films," she answered.

Vijayashanti didn't rely on stunt doubles for performing risky stunts in many films. There were times when the she jumped for a height of 30 feet and she hardly cared about the injuries.^[24]

In 1990, Karthavyam was dubbed into Tamil as Vyjayanthi IPS and its success brought her fame in Tamil cinema. (It was also remade in Hindi as Tejaswini, with herself playing the lead role. This, too, did very well at the Hindi box office.) The film inspired the then 10-year old C. Indhumathi to take up the civil services exam; she cleared the UPSC exam and bagged 151st rank and placed in Madurai.^[25] Vyjayanthi IPS ran for 50 days in Vetri theater in Chennai. This record was broken by a dubbed version of Baahubali in August 2015.^[26]

A. M. Ratnam, Vijayashanti's personal make-up man, turned out to be a money-making producer. As an executive producer for Vijayashanti, he made the award-winning Karthavyam on the banner of Sri Surya Movies. On the same banner, she produced and acted in Aashayam released in 1993, which had a decent run. In Police Lockup she played a dual role, directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, for which she won another Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Later she played action roles. In Osey Ramulamma (1997), she played a downtrodden woman who rose against her oppressors. Directed by Dasari Narayana Rao, this was the biggest blockbuster of the year, giving Vijayashanti her fourth Nandi Award and sixth Filmfare Award for Best Actress.^[27] This film gave her another name, called as "Ramulamma/Ramulakka" by the people. The music of this film, composed by Vandemataram Srinivas, also won the Nandi Award.

Later, she appeared in women oriented movies like Adavi Chukka and Rowdy Durbar, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao.

Vijayashanthi has also worked for many commercials like Chandana Bros., and Power Detergent soap. She was the first actress to be first featured in a Saree commercial.

Comeback into films (2019-present)

Vijayashanti returned to cinema after a sabbatical of 13 years, starring in the 2020 film Sarileru Neekevvaru where Mahesh Babu played the main protagonist.^[28][29]

Her last seen movie is Nayudamma, released in 2006. Anil Ravipudi shared a welcome picture on Twitter on 12 August 2019 announcing her return to films with a makeup mirror placed in front of her. He wrote "After 13 years.. It's make up time for Vijayashanthi garu.. Nothing has ever changed in all these 13 years. Same discipline, same attitude and same dynamism. Welcome on-board".^[30][31] She was paid 4 crores for her re-entry film Sarileru Neekevvaru.