South girls losing sheen?

Once South sirens ruled B-Town, but now they fail to impress

Subhash K Jha

Once upon a time, B-Town was ruled by South Indian divas: Vyjanathimala, Waheeda Rehman, Padmini, Hema Malini, followed by Rekha, Sridevi, Jaya Prada and Aishwarya Rai... all no.1 stars of their time. They ruled the roost for years and decades in spite of their distinctly Dravadian looks and sometimes thick South Indian accents.

The effervescent Tapsee Pannu, who makes her debut this week in David Dhawan's Chashme Buddoor, has already done a number of films in Tamil and Telugu. She was destined to begin her career in Hindi cinema with Abhinav Kashyap's Besharam but it did not materialise.

Asin was deigned as the last of the female superstars from the South. As per norm she was cart lifted from the remake of the Tamil hit Ghajini into its Hindi version. Despite Ghajini's blockbuster status, Asin is yet to establish her name among the A-listers of Bollywood.

She came to B-Town with a a handful of hits in Telugu cinema. Her Singham was a blockbuster. But there were no queues to sign her thereafter. Kajal was recently seen in Special Chabbis. But again there was no forward movement in her career.

Cut to 2013. Attempts to build up and project Tamannaah Bhatia as the next Sridevi in Himmatwala has fallen flat. For those who came in late, Sridevi became a superstar overnight with Himmatwala in 1983. Like Tamannaah, Sridevi had one miserably flop Hindi film Solva Sawan behind her. There were at least major projects where Tamannaah was being considered, now no more. Telugu director R Rajamouli, who is in principle opposed to his Telugu blockbusters being remade in Hindi, jumps to her defence. "What is her role in Himmatwala? We can blame her for accepting the role. On the other hand how can any actress refuse a role opposite a big star?"

The slump from South-side started with Trisha who was launched with much fanfare opposite Akshay Kumar in Priyadarshan's Khatta Meetha. It was remake of a Malayalam blockbuster Vellanakalude Nadu. The film bombed. Trisha was swiftly replaced by another south girl: Amy Jackson in Ekk Deewana Tha. When that bombed, Amy vanished from Hindi films without a trace. Thus ended another Southern saga in Bollywood.
THE EXCEPTION
After her acting debut in Kannada film Aishwarya, Deepika Padukone did Om Shanti Om opposite SRK. After that ther was no looking back.
Meanwhile, Suniel Shetty's daughter Athaiya is set to begin her acting career. It would be interesting to see if the star kid will make a mark in Bollywood.
Director Puri Jagganadh, who made an aborted attempt to introduce Telugu actress Charmy in the Big B starrer Buddah Hoga Tera Baap, makes a pertinent point, "Why only the recent Southern actresses? Even the newer crop of Southern directors, including me, have failed to make an impact in Hindi cinema. That's what makes the earlier generations legends."