An Image Crisis For Bollywood's Heroines

Everybody who's been applauding the new, improved Bollywood that no longer balks at making movies focused on the heroine, take a moment to consider this. Filmmakers are reportedly having trouble casting a hero opposite Kangana Ranaut, star of last year's much-admired Queen. Actors Saif Ali Khan and Arjun Kapoor have both apparently refused a film with her. It's as if the success of Queen and its leading lady has scared the leading men away.

Consider also that Vidya Balan, who could do no wrong after No One Killed Jessica, The Dirty Picture and Kahaani, has no films lined up after Humari Adhuri Kahani with Emraan Hashmi, the first look of which has just been revealed. Vidya hasn't been in a hit movie lately and hasn't been cast opposite the big stars she so openly talked about. There's some talk of a Benazir Bhutto biopic but, like the MS Subbulakshmi biopic, this too seems like a rumour. After the success of The Dirty Picture which was based on the life of late Southern actress Silk Smitha, biopics are clearly what attracts the industry to Vidya.

Image-conscious Bollywood doesn't take to change lightly. An image, once created, is difficult to break out of and both Kangana and Vidya are experiencing this first-hand. It's not just them. Alia Bhatt is perhaps the most talented and versatile of the younger crop of leading ladies today. Not one of her films so far has done badly and every year sees Alia climb that much closer to the top spot. However, Alia apparently dreams of making it big in the world of masala films, a world dominated by the Khans, Hrithik Roshan and their like. And while masala is a genre that works best for the Indian audience, we aren't so sure whether Alia will be able to fit in.

We don't quite dispute her acting chops but we will say that when it comes to glamour Alia arguably occupies a position midway down the list of actresses. It doesn't get bigger than Deepika Padukone in the masala genre these days. Deepika fits in perfectly with 49-year-old Shah Rukh Khan, 32-year-old Ranbir Kapoor and 29-year-old Ranveer Singh. The point we are trying to make is that Alia will have to wait. Because the Khans, the Kumars and the Roshans of the industry are still at play and we don't see Alia playing their love interest on the big screen just yet.

For the longest period of time we thought that Sonakshi Sinha had got it right. When you debut with Salman Khan in a film like Dabangg there aren't too many things that can go wrong with your career. However, Sonakshi has starred in eight flops in the last two years, and considering all those films barring Lootera were masala films, we wonder what lies ahead for Shotgun Junior.

And, indeed, for the rest of Bollywood's heroines.