A Superstar in making?

Bollywood can breathe high. Yes, finally there’s a motion. There’s a development. I won’t say it all started this year. But it has definitely accelerated this year. We got movies like Dev D which redefined the sexual taste of audiences while Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey struck a different chord by making movie watching experience so different, so intelligent. And especially this year, we have got another actress whom we can put in the league of Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit. She is none other than Priyanka Chopra.

It all started last year when Fashion was released and Priyanka was suddenly a critics’ hot favorite. She struck the chord with audiences as well with her next release, Karan Johar’s Dostana, wherein she exposed her western look, flashing comfortably in a bikini. No wonder she won all the Best Actress Awards for Fashion. But unlike other actresses of her time, she is improving continuously, with each and every film of her. She is so much in sync with her character Sweety in Kaminey that you can’t wait but give a standing ovation. Yes, she is proving herself time and again. More specifically, in an era of actresses where there is lot of debate on who is the number one actress of Bollywood, Priyanka is climbing the ladder up high.

The same spark was seen in Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit. Apart from being typical commercial Bollywood heroines, they got accolades from critics as well. Moreover, they were the reason why people came and watched the movies. For a while, such a caliber in an actress was missing in Bollywood. Aishwarya Rai is going very slowly with her career. She is still at the top but quite stagnant in her position. Guru and Jodha Akbar came with powerful performances by the actress but somewhere she is lagging behind. May be that age is one of the factors. She is still beautiful but today’s audience needs a fresh face every now and then. Preity Zinta is literally invisible as her other commitments are keeping her busy. Bipasha Basu was never in the core competition of the actresses. In recent years, apart from Corporate, she doesn’t have a single movie to rave for. There were lots of hopes from Kareena Kapoor post Jab We Met. But it seems that she is happy with the awards which she got for that movie. Of course, Kareena has given some memorable performances like the ones in Dev, Yuva, Omkara, Chameli and Jab We Met. But eventually she had been obsessed with her size zero thing and Saif Ali Khan that it appears that the focus has shifted. But still we can keep hopes from her.

Rani Mukherji had lost all of the fame and adulation which she got a couple of years back by confining herself to the Yash Raj Films. The only movie in her kitty, Dil Bole Haddipa, again a Yash Raj Film, is slated to release in mid-September. It’s perhaps the only chance in front of her to prove her stardom. Or else it will be a great fall of the empire which Rani built with her movies like Saathiya, Yuva, Hum Tum, Black, Bunty Aur Babli and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Bollywood would literally loose a talented actress like her, an actress who had joined the leagues of Sridevi and Madhuri.

Katrina Kaif is doubtful as a front runner in number one post. She has a huge fan following, no doubt about that. But her movies are working not because of her. There is not a single movie of her which can be remembered because of her. Only grace can’t sail you through. Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor and Genelia D’Souza still have to prove themselves by making good choices of movies.

So the only remaining contender, perhaps the most compromising one and a talented too, is Priyanka Chopra. Kaminey has shown that she can act not only well but put her entire heart in the character. Two more movies of her will be releasing this year. She is in lead in both of them. They are Ashutosh Govarikar’s What’s Your Rashee? and Pyaar Impossible, a Yash Raj Film. She has a long way to go. But considering her career graph, her screen presence, her sex appeal, her choice of movies and her versatility, she can reach the topmost pedestal soon. It’s not possible to get another Madhuri Dixit, but we can always have a Super Star in actresses which Bollywood is missing at the moment.