Rani Mukherjee's Career - Was it actually all that?

Looking at her filmography, Rani never had a any back to back hits. In fact, she would have a hit and then a string of flops. Her last clean hit was Veer Zaara which was clearly a more SRK-Priety film. It's also said that Rani is only relevant because of the movies she did with the Khans. Well, her and Salman don't have a single clean hit to their name, SRK and her have KKHH which was more of an SRK-Kajol film, Chalte Chalte, Veer-Zaara(again, it's more of a SRK - Priety film), Paheli (flop), and KANK (her and SRK's characters were not liked at all and was not a hit).Her and Aamir only had Ghulam. Other than Mardaani and Black, which role of hers was exceptional and different. Majority of her filmography were love stories and more or less the same simple character.

When you compare her against Aishwarya and Preity, Rani comes out the winner in my opinion. I'm not talking box office hits or whether the movie was a hit or flop. I am talking in terms of acting abilities and playing each role to perfection. Rani is the better actress out of the 3. And yes Aish and Preity were never in her league. Both Aish and Preity started off super strong in their career. More so, Aish. Aish was fabulous as an actress during her beginning. Rani started off as an average actress whose voice was hated by many, whose looks were termed as 'non actress material', and whose face was merely simple and the face of the 'girl next door.' Aish we all know was more complimented for her looks and for her pageant title. Preity was more recognized for her beautiful dimpled face. Preity and Aishwarya went down the graph when it came to their acting in films. Rani, on the other hand, improved her quality of work throughout the years after her debut. Once again I'm not talking about box office hits or the hit/flop status. I'm merely talking about acting abilities.

I always hated when Rani played the 2nd fiddle in a lot of KJ films. But her performances in those films sometimes outshone the main actress. Notably, Veer Zaara. Yes Veer Zaara was more based on Shahrukh-Preity's character, but for me Rani's character was the strongest.

In my opinion the strongest roles of hers besides Mardaani and Black, were:

- Saathiya: She played Suhani to perfection. She was the sweet, simple, girl next door type of character.

- Chalte Chalte: Though similar to the role above, I thought she was at her strongest as Priya in this film. I don't see an Aish carrying this role out to perfection the way Rani did it.

- Yuva: Though this was a multi-cast film, Rani played Sashi again to perfection. This was a different character than her other films and she played it so well.

- Hum Tum: Yes, another girl next door type of character. But Rhea was a lot different than a Suhani or Priya.

- Veer Zaara: I already touched on this briefly above, but her character outshone that of Shahrukh and Preity.

- Bunty aur Babli: This showed us another side of Rani...the mischievous side. The humorous side. Very different from her past roles.

- Baabul: The film didn't do well and yet again she played the sweet, simple girl next door, but again this was a beautiful film.

- Laaga Chunari Mein Daag: I'm so sad this film didn't do well because it was fabulous! And Vibhavari was a completely different role of Rani's.

- No One Killed Jessica: Another superb performance. The serious side of Rani.

- Hichki: Hasn't released yet and can't judge it yet, but this role reminds me of Michelle from Black. And I have no doubt that Rani will yet again play it to perfection.

When you put her up against Preity and Aish, YES Rani is so much more versatile then them. But when you put her up against Madhuri and Sridevi ji then I can't say the same.

In addition to acting, Rani is a phenomenal dancer and very underrated for her dancing abilities. She's not a Madhuri, but she is still a very elegant and graceful dancer.

I suppose everyone has their own different opinion and that's totally fine. But I don't think you can say that Rani hasn't had a great career.

Many will argue that she is better than Ash, thats debatable. What IS NOT debatable is that Ash is defiantly a bigger brand and a bigger star who is still relevant today.

She is short, dark, does not have a great figure, cannot dance (if people point Aiyyaa to me, strongly disagree) all negatives for a typical BW heroine. She even has an annoying voice. She made her debut in a horrible regressive film where she married her rapist. All super negatives.

The fact that she has the resume she has is because she had ambition and talent. She is a very, very good actress, one of the best in Indian cinema, ever. She is in BW because she can ACT like it should be. Not because of superfluous reasons like looks or dance.

All the rest come after. 😆😆