Female power is in. If Kangna Ranaut showed the way with Queen earlier this year, other leading ladies are not far behind … what with close to half-a-dozen heroines arriving with a major film in which they are leading the show.
Vidya Balan is expected to get back to her The Dirty Picture-Kahaani form with the title role in Bobby Jasoos, which releases on July 4 and will be powered entirely by her star appeal.
Fresh from her marriage, Rani Mukherjee stakes her claim on the top spot once again with her title role in her latest collaboration with Yash Raj – Mardaani. Rani plays a tough cop in the film and will be the main hope for this Pradeep Sarkar vehicle to get an initial.
Interestingly, in September itself, as many as four films with a female as a central protagonist are releasing one after another.
While Parineeti Chopra (Daawat-e-Ishq) and Deepika Padukone (Finding Fanny) do have saleable heroes (Aditya Raj Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor respectively) opposite them in tales that afford them meaty roles, the other films seem entirely heroine driven.
There’s Anushka Sharma who is said to have a co-production stake in the gritty NH10, which is being directed by Navdeep Singh of Manorama Six Feet under fame. And Sonam Kapoor’s home production – the Shashank Ghosh directed Khoobsurat — will of course revolve completely around the actress and possibly her latest fashion purchases.
And in the first week of October, Priyanka Chopra will hit the screens with the much awaited biography of boxer Mary Kom. Produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and directed by Omung Kumar, much is expected from this film.
A lot of money and professional standing is riding on each of these leading ladies who might just establish a trend. A similar trend had emerged a couple of years ago when Kareena Kapoor (Heroine), Bipasha Basu (Raaz 3), Sridevi (English Vinglish), Preity Zinta (Ishkq In Paris) and Rani Mukerji (Aiyya) had arrived in quick succession. While those were senior heroines who had been around for at least a decade and three of them were making a comeback of sorts, what is remarkable now is that younger heroines too seem to be snaring central roles.
