Time moves in quaint ways. It is quainter in a flux-filled filmdom.

Just one and a half years ago, Aarti Agarwal was the de facto number one heroine in Tollywood.

Perhaps in that happiness she started putting on weight. And flab is a heavy burden in an era that swears by reedy, anorexic figures. Her bulk was a joke --- an open one in the film Neunnanu in which she was uncharitably called gas cylinder.

So Aarti Agarwal took a sabbatical and shed those extra avoirdupois. But when she came back, things were not where she had left.

Things had moved on and she had start afresh. Offers were not easy to come by. The heroes whom she had danced and sung with were looking for younger ones.

It was a difficult time for Aarti. And the biggest release since her come back is slated for February 18th.

Sankranthi, in which she shares frames with the likes of Venkatesh, Sneha, Srikanth, Sangeetha, Rati, is Aarti's biggest test yet.

She knows that. That is why she is tense and keeping her fingers crossed.

A good show here will make a career revive. But if it doesn't work, then things are back to square one for Aarti.

In the anxiety, Aarti may even shed a few kilos. That's perhaps good for her.