In recent years no other heroine has been ridiculed so much by the purists. No other heroine has held such an amazing sway over her fans. No other heroine has been criticized so much for her choice of roles. No other heroine though has an on screen aura which almost over shadows her co stars which are no less screen blazers themselves. I am talking of Sonakshi Sinha.
When she came on screen for the first time with Dabangg , it was difficult to find fault with her on screen aura and amazing acting skills. So the purist critic brigade found issues like her body size and the size of her forehead as issues.
She did silence some of these purists with her performance in Lootera. But the success of Akira means totally different in today's Bollywood actress status and where Sonakshi stands in the hierarchy.
Akira has clocked almost double the total cost of the movie for its makers if we add its worldwide box office collections and other revenue sources like TV rights. In fact as I write these lines Akira is maintaining a steady pace at the Box Office despite the onslaught from movies like Baar Baar Dekho and Freaky Ali which have mass appeal.
If you were to look at the earnings of Akira compared to other BO hits of recent years like Piku and Mary Kom , Sonakshi's under rated superstar status gets further underlined. Piku had heavey weight actors like Amitabh and Irrfan besides Deepika and that ensures a certain initial for a movie. Mary Kom had the story of a well known athlete and had Priyanka Chopra in the lead which again has a universal audience appeal. In comparison Akira is a brooding grim dark story of seeking justice. If you do not want to watch heavy duty cinema you might want to stay away from Akira.
Yet Akira's total earnings as written above have in my estimate crossed 50 crores. Purely , I daresay on the brand value of Sonakshi and the fact that while Akira is not a classic it is a well made movie.
The purists will still shy away from giving her due. The barrage of negative reviews prove my point that probably being unfairly judged is something Sonakshi will have to live with for the rest of her career. In fact here is this well known critic who was quick to declare Akira a flop within 48 hours of its release. All of this does not change a simple fact that probably since Sridevi in 1980s - Sonakshi has a big fan base and a tremendous Box Office pull as a result. Give her a role and a good movie and this lady can work the numbers.
Akira and Lootera in that sense establish that probably we have an actress who can probably fill that void which once left vacant by Sridevi was never really filled , though Madhuri did make a serious effort for a brief while. The only other actress who in my book came close to filling that "mass-actress" who could be classy too was Raveena Tandon but her own personal love affair with a big hero then made her choose hibernation at the wrong time.
I sincerely hope that our makers wake up to the presence of Sonakshi. This lady has much more to offer to the audiences and the box office. Till then I shall enjoy the fact that we have a new star on the horizon ready to take her superstar crown and rule for a long time to come.
This Akira is more than just graceful strength ! The box office does not lie
