Looking into the acting skills " or lack of them " of Sonakshi Sinha, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharm |
They are in a super comfortable zone. Or are they? After achieving mass adulation, market equity and a loyal fan base, quite a few of Bollywood's top-rung heroines still have to prove that they're no flashes-in-the-pan. After exuding the glamour quotient, and how, they're up for the next round of scrutiny: but can they act?
It's a scrutiny which Deepika Padukone has cleared, but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan never could. Intermittently, performances by Priyanka Chopra (particularly in Fashion, Barfi) Kareena Kapoor (Chameli, Jab We Met) and Kangana Ranaut (Krrish 3 and Queen) have been remarkable, partly because their roles were strongly scripted. Incidentally, Priyanka also gets one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to do justice to the biopic of India's boxing champ Mary Kom.
However, when it comes to any discussion on acting sparks, it's Vidya Balan who continues to dominate the public mind despite two absolutely disastrous and laborious efforts in Ghanchakkar and Shaadi Ke Side Effects. What was Ms Balan thinking?
And so here's a quick scrutiny, if I may call it that, of three heroines, right here, right now: Sona-kshi Sinha, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. Camera-friendly in varying degrees, they still have to take your breath away as actresses of some spleen and substance.
Over to Sonakshi Sinha then. Ten mega-sized films under her belt in a span of four years, she has assumed the status of the typical " and ornamental " Bollywood heroine. At the age of 27, she's ideally typecast with actors who're way older than her. That's the way it is, though, the heroes keep getting older (not necessarily wiser) and the heroines increasingly younger. Her most successful pairings have been in her debut-making Dab-angg with Salman Khan, Rowdy Rathore with Akshay Kumar and Son of Sardar with Ajay Devgn, all of whom could well qualify as her favourite uncles in real life.
Among the roster of A-list heroines, she can be banked upon to carry off the mandatory songs-and-dances passably, a few romantic scenes to pout, preen and flutter the eye-lashes, and generally blend into the set dcor. I suspect this isn't the route she wished to opt for. But since it's been a smooth, lucrative and adulation-grabbing ride, why not? Some five years ago, when she was contemplating a career in fashion designing, she had resolved to act only in sensible, off-mainstream movies'. In fact, this was encouraged by Shatrughan Sinha, so his daughter wouldn't be coerced into doing cheesy, titillating scenes.
Perhaps Sonakshi tossed a coin, ventured into the escapist entertainers, at the cost of her losing some of her individualistic identity. Sure, it can be argued that she did demonstrate her acting skills in Lootera. I'd agree with that to a point. She was extraordinary in the demanding finale, yes, but as an actress of consistent wallop she still has those proverbial miles to go.
Coming to Katrina Kaif, with a score of 20-plus films in 11 years, she persists in her faulty Anglicised diction, serves essentially as a pretty prop (Dhoom 3) and has never ventured beyond the expensive potboiler " unless you count her introduction in the whacked-out, tacky Boom. That she made her presence felt eventually, as the quintessential marzipan heroine " she encourages comparisons with Barbie Doll, if you please " can be sourced to her films with Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and, of late, Ranbir Kapoor.
There have been rumours that she wants to produce a showcase, derived from a woman-centric French film, but the project hasn't fructified yet. At best under able direction, Katrina Kaif can be bearable as an actress, as in Kabir Khan's New York and Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. That the tabloids have been harping upon her imminent marriage to Ranbir Kapoor, haven't exactly upped the 31-year-old actress' career or indicated any change in her choice of roles.
Last and, perhaps the least, Anushka Sharma revels in going over the top, much like her co-actor Ranveer Singh in Band Baaja Baarat. Overacting has been her calling card, especially in Jab Tak Hain Jaan. Toting seven films in a career of as many years, she is now producing NH10, a road movie, top-lining herself of course. Heaven help us if Ms Sharma goes helter-skelter before the camera all over again.
One of the elementary principles of acting is to know when to apply the brakes. Now would someone give Ms Sharma driving lessons please?
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