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Home , 7 Khoon Maaf, Abhay Deol, Annu Kapoor, Anurag Basu, Chikni Chameli, Dabangg

Cover Story HEROINES Return SirensOF THE

Bollywood’s women get better roles and bigger brands. In 2012, they will go from being beautiful Barbies to power performers.

By Nishat Bari

pregnant , 34, slowly walks down a bustling Park Street in even as director and his camera crew struggle with milling crowds to capture the dejection of a woman in desperate search of her husband in . The Acrowds wait for the shot to be taken but such is the rush to get closer to the screen that Ghosh and his team have already been beaten up once. grossed Rs 114 worldwide in 2011 but Balan had already es- tablished herself as the hero: with Rani Mukherjee made Rs 36 crore in January 2011. Bollywood women have not looked back since ’s Fashion in 2008. The film saw , 29, sleeping her way to the top in the film, Kangna Ranaut,24, dying of a drug overdose, and , 25, the cleanest living model of the group, marrying a gay

D KAREENAKAPOOR She was a quirky hairstylist from Los Angeles, Jun Riana Braganza in opposite Imran , is a Pakistani agent in Agent Vinod 1 KAREENA with Saif, and teams up with and IN THE FORTHCOMING Rani Mukherjee for thriller psychological Talaash. HEROINE Then it’s time to play superstar on the skids Mahi Gill in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine. Mar USP Beautiful, professional, can act. Endorses 14 brands 23 Cover Story BOLLYWOOD HEROINES

D VIDYABALAN D KATRINAKAIF D PRIYANKACHOPRA D DEEPIKAPADUKONE Whether it’s promoting brands or higher,” she says. “The Dirty Picture Balan’s scorching lavani number, Mala She plays a pregnant She is an ISI spy in Ek Tha She plays an autistic girl in Romances selling movies with glamorous item shot through the roof to the extent that jau dya na ghari, to grab eyeballs. She woman in Kahaani, does an .Two weeks of shooting Barfee and ’s in Ayan Mukherjee’s Yeh songs, which are to Bollywood what car now there is a Bhojpuri film called can’t help recall the dark days after in Ferrari ki remain. She is currently in love interest in three differ- Jawani Hai Dewani, is back chases are to Hollywood, women have Dirty Pichkari,” she laughs. Suddenly, Heyy Baby (2007) and (2008), though. “I remem- Sawaari, and plays a comic , shooting for an epic ent periods in in Ramesh Taurani’s 2, never had it so good in male-driven everyone wants a piece of her. Even Bollywood where all they did previ- mentor . Three ber reading on a website that ‘she is role in Ghanchakkar. romance with Shah Rukh Kahaani. Reprises her role has Tamil film Kochadaiyaan ously, says a snide director, was audi- years were spent on developing the fa- so badly dressed I ’t know why USP Fake orgasms or Khan. Next up, action in opposite Hrithik in opposite , and a tion for marriage. At 40 per cent, ther-son script of Chopra’s production she would even want to step out of 3 with Aamir Khan. earthy abuses, she’s done 3, this time as his wife. dark love story Cocktail. women have a bigger share of celebrity , auditioning 5,000 home’. I think that killed me.” Now she it all. She can be fiercely USP From USP Can be a glam diva USP Dances well, has a television endorsements than their children and shooting on location— doesn’t read news or watch television. maternal, sexually vora- to , she is the and desi girl. Connects with terrific body, likely to learn male counterparts at 38 per cent, ac- including at Lords in London—all in an The breakneck promotional rounds cious, dutifully dowdy. goddess of good luck. fans on . on the job, likeable. cording to TAM Media Research. If effort to chase excellence. Yet it is up to will cease only after March 9 when Endorses Five brands Endorses 11 brands Endorses Eight brands Endorses Eight brands Kareena tops the wish list of filmmak- ers, , 27, was the darling of the endorsement world in 2011, sec- the ond only to and ahead of M.S. Dhoni, Tendulkar and KHANS , according to TAM. Eid No self-respecting movie is without an D SHAH RUKH KHAN 2012 item bomb to propel it. It helps the film He is shooting in England for a return to classic and the star. Not only does the star romance in 79-year-old ’s untitled pocket a fee for the song—Deepika epic with Katrina Kaif and . Padukone, 26, was paid Rs 1 crore for D SAIFALI KHAN Dum Maaro Dum—she also earns from He is the Indian in Agent Vinod,a repeated stage performances where spy thriller shot across nine countries, from the fee could go up to Rs 1.5 crore. As Latvia to Morocco. Saif’s pet project is Kareena says, “I am very clear. It’s a slated for release on March 23. He circus. Either give me an award or give also has ’s me a packet. Four years ago, I decided Cocktail, and a cameo in I wouldn’t do private weddings.” Raj Nidimoru and DK’s No apologies. No excuses. As Go Goa Gone. Priyanka says, “This is the best time to D AAMIR KHAN be a female lead in Bollywood.” She’s Aamir and Kareena make a on the phone from , having comeback in Talaash,Reema joined the Rs 100 crore super women’s Kagti’s thriller about the club with the success of and of a superstar.Shot Agneepath. She is “doubly happy” be- almost entirely in ’s cause it comes after disappointment— red light district,he’s a po- her ambitious seven avatars in liceman,Rani Mukherjee his wife Mar Jul Nov Bhardwaj’s failed at the and Kareena a prostitute who 9 13 30 box office in 2011 despite a brave per- knows more than she lets on. formance which had her being FHM AFP YOGEN SHAH FOTOCORP D sexually roughed up onscreen by He’s the star of , man. The film was Bhandarkar’s high- “first real holiday in a year-and-a-half” endorse, a beautiful apartment and being subjected to Yashraj Films’biggest movie in 2012. est grosser ever, at Rs 42 crore. when all she did was drink red wine she shares with Saif (“he has exquisite ’s orgasm. It will be ready in time for his , 31, knows all and eat fondue. She needed a break. taste,” she says) and just enough Female courage is being rewarded. favourite day of the year,Eid. about numbers: Of her 10 films since She has three big films this year: The money to shop (her mother invests the Ask Balan. She’s taking quick bites of SAIF 2009, four have crossed the Rs 100- globetrotting Agent Vinod with Saif rest), Kareena is now where she’s her lunch at The Trident in Mumbai in crore mark. At The Imperial hotel in where she plays a Pakistani spy; wanted to be since her debut in Refugee between day-long interviews for her for promotions of Ek Main Aur Talaash, where she is a prostitute who in 2001. “I never had the best of an forthcoming film, Kahaani. She’s just Ekk Tu, which went on to make Rs 58 tempts Aamir Khan, a married police- education, although I did pass Class X had three hours of sleep and is wonder- crore, she looks dew fresh from a 20- man investigating a superstar’s death from Welham Girls’ School with 75 per ing whether she will be on time for an day vacation in a Swiss chalet with in Mumbai; and a star in spectacular cent. I couldn’t have done anything award function in Goa at 8.30 p.m. long-time beau . Smartly decline in Bhandarkar’s Heroine. else. There was no fallback,” she says. later in the day. “I feel like a bird in the attired in red J Brand trousers, blue What’s more, she has a Sanjay Leela But as she points out, “I never gave sky. To the rest of the world, it seems Ralph Lauren jacket and black Prada Bhansali movie lined up, with rising up. I was always ready for war. I had like the bird is really high but the bird boots, she sounds exhilarated after her star . Fourteen brands to faith in my talent.” knows that the sky is actually much

22 INDIA TODAY N MARCH 12, 2012 AAMIR SALMAN SHAH RUKH

NEW AFP Cover story BOLLYWOOD HEROINES

Kahaani releases. Then she gets a VIDYA BALAN IN A her parents or her shoot locations. SONG FROM FERRARI much-needed three-month break and SONG FROM FERRARI Between visiting Berlin Film Festival for KI SAWAARI a long overdue family holiday before ITEMnumbers a screening of Don 2 to attending the shooting begins for her first comedy, Grammy music awards in Los Angeles Gupta’s quirky Ghan- to signing a music album with Universal chakkar, with the star of the crass and D CHITRANGADASINGH adds the earthy Music to working on three films, underclass, . element to the fantasy style of Joker as Priyanka has no time to dawdle. Just Women are vital even to conven- she dons a tiny red choli to do a raunchy like Katrina. Not only has Katrina just tional Bollywood “projects” which re- number, Kaafirana. two weeks to go on ’s Ek Tha volve around heroes. When Padukone, Tiger with Salman, she is also in the epic walked out of Race 2, the value of the D KARISMAKAPOOR returns with romance with Salman’s arch-rival Shah project being sold by producer Dangerous Ishq. Either it’s her time away Rukh. Yash Chopra, 79, is directing a Ramesh Taurani to UTV dropped from or working with Bhatt, but she has film seven years after Veer-Zaara, and Rs 87 crore to Rs 65 crore even though become bolder. She will do an item has declared that the film is “about love it has Saif, and John number in ’s . and nothing else”. Katrina has a third Abraham on board. Taurani was un- film with the secretive , derstandably frantic and after a very D VIDYABALAN does a lavani item song with Aamir that is slated to re- public spat, Padukone is back, though in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Ferrari ki lease next year. dates are yet to be allotted. That may Sawaari. Paid Rs 1.5 crore for her new There are other women who have be tough—Padukone is juggling an al- film Ghanchakkar with Emraan Hashmi, infused attitude into the industry. most complete love story Cocktail with she is doing Ferrari ki Sawaari free for There’s the outspoken fashion icon Saif, where she plays Meera, her dark- the and Munnabhai producer. Kapoor who had the courage to est and most challenging role yet. She make a chick flick with sister Rhea starts shooting with former boyfriend D KAREENAKAPOOR will do two item Kapoor as producer in Aisha (2010). Ranbir Kapoor in two weeks for Ayan numbers for Heroine, one song called There’s Kangna, who has taken her RANBIR Mukherjee’s college love story Yeh Halkat Jawani. Also coming up,an item image as trauma by its spaghetti KAPOOR IN Jawani Hai Dewani, and though Rana, song in the yet-to-be-shot 2. straps and done a series of mindless BARFEE opposite Rajinikanth, has been put male-dominated comedies like Double on the backburner, a prequel, the period film Kochadaiyaan, will take off The women on screen are trying to in the next few weeks. be more deserving of this new audi- With the business of cinema ex- ence. Kareena is hoping to forever lea- NEXTin line panding to smaller towns as well as ve behind the sweet, bubbly straitjacket new overseas destinations, the Rs 100- of Geet from with the edgier D RANBIR KAPOOR In yet another reinven- crore box office mark is becoming eas- Talaash and Heroine. After playing a tion, he plays a deaf-mute in the Chaplin- ier to achieve. Roy Kapur, sex kitten in The Dirty Picture, Balan esque Barfee opposite Priyanka Chopra. CEO of UTV Movies, points to three key has transformed herself into a harried D She spent all of 2011 factors. One, penetration into smaller seven months pregnant woman in signing films which come to fruition this towns has helped new revenue flow search for her husband in what turns year: , Joker, Rowdy Rathore, Son into the industry and with cinema hav- out to be very twisted story indeed. of Sardar, and her much awaited reunion ing gone digital, costs of production Priyanka is playing an autistic charac- with Salman Khan in . have been reduced. There are about ter in ’s Barfee, where the D Traversed Anurag 11,000 screens across India of which hearing and speech challenged Ranbir Kashyap’s kingdom of darkness and Zoya approximately 1,500 are multiplexes. is a thief, kidnapper, hustler but also a Akhtar’s sun-filled Spanish feast in 2011. Two, ticket prices have increased. They romantic. The film has hardly any dia- She is a raging angel in ’s rose 5-7 per cent in 2011, and tickets logue, with its empty spaces filled with Shanghai and by year-end, can now cost anywhere between contemporary music playing in the will start work on Kannan Iyer’s still-devel- Rs 150-250, with big films command- background. As Basu says, “Priyanka’s oping film Daayan. ing as much as Rs 350 in Mumbai and character sees the world so differently D IMRAN KHAN Steps out of Delhi. They’re expected to rise by an- that to her, everyone seems to be from the rom-com comfort zone other 20 per cent this year. Three, the Mars while she is the only normal one with ’s nature of audiences is changing. Sunil around.” Of her many peculiarities, one Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, Punjabi, CEO, Cinemax, gives the exam- is demonstrated in a scene where a story of a rebellious man ple of two centres in Mumbai, Versova Ranbir is getting beaten up while she who sets out on a journey and Malad, where 80 per cent of the sits in a corner singing a song. to reunite with his wife and parents. audience that came to watch The Dirty Priyanka has been working hard Picture was women. too, taking time off only to tweet about

YOGEN SHAH 24 INDIA TODAY N MARCH 12, 2012 NEW Cover Story BOLLYWOOD HEROINES

who assaults people when she is the She’s got a great director and angry, making her whack an actor two very good-looking and talented with a vessel for an entire day to get a STARLETS young men to work with.” shot that looked adequately convinc- ing to him. “He kept saying ‘nahin, ye D This 26-year-old is D The 20-year-old hasn’t asli nahin dikh raha, ek baar fir se paired opposite newbie Parineeti got a launch pad yet, but news is Aamir maaro, aur zor se maaro, real dikhna Khan will do the needful in 2013. Chopra for Yash Raj Films’romantic chahiye’. By the end of the day I could- drama . Like cousin Sonam n’t move from having swung my arm Kapoor,he battled weight issues and so many times. The next day I devel- from a fat 140-kg boy, under Salman oped a back problem,” recalls Kalki, Khan’s guidance, he now looks every bit who effortlessly switched from the the hero he wants to become. dark angst of Shaitan to the roman- D ’s tic lightness of Zindagi Milegi Na 23-year-old son will kickstart his Bolly- Dobara in 2011. wood career with Johar’s forth- Filmmakers are driving their coming Student of the heroines harder than ever before. In Year.Shot across Shimla, Mussoorie Barfee, shot across Darjeeling, and Kashmir,Johar has gone all out to Kolkata, Mumbai and , Basu make sure that his first film without incorporated guerrilla shooting to Shah Rukh Khan in the lead will be make the film look as real as possi- a smash hit. Buzz is co-producer ble. “There was this particular Shah Rukh and will do a cameo in the film. scene Ranbir and I shot at 6 a.m. at sabzi mandi,” re- D ALIABHATT calls Priyanka. “We rode across on and a cycle all decked up as our char- ’s acters. The reactions we saw from peo- daughter , 18, a ple were really funny.” In Kahaani former student of Balan’s baby bump is prosthetic, which , would put pressure on her back Mumbai, will star opposite (FROM LEFT) when she sat or got up, making the Varun Dhawan in Student SHROFF, strain on her face look all the more of the Year.A proud Razdan KAPOOR, says,“She’s very lucky. BHATT, authentic. Kabir Khan, director of Ek DHAWAN Tha Tiger, said Katrina worked extra hard during 100 days of shooting that took them from , Ireland, to Dhamaal and Rascals in a bid to be- ing his homesick team hate him at , , and and come more market-friendly. It’s paid times. They were already cranky at Antalya in . She was also recog- off. She has landed herself a role as a being deprived of non-vegetarian food nised wherever she went. Even in mutant in ’s , in small Maharashtrian villages that Havana, says Kabir Khan, where but not before she tries to recapture served only vegetarian food. The fran- Pakistani medical students would drive the magic of the manic Tanu in the se- tic pace continues even in post-pro- for nine hours and queue up outside quel to Tanu Weds Manu. Then there duction. He is still screaming at Katrina’s hotel, the iconic Nacional, to is ’s action thriller Tezz someone as he answers the phone catch a glimpse of her and Salman. where she is paired opposite Ajay from a Mumbai studio. “Sorry.I just Increasingly, director Rohan Sippy Devgn as his wife, and ’s came out of the final edit of says, Bollywood’s women have to start where she will Shanghai,” he offers by way of an ex- stepping out of their self-imposed step into a role vacated by Balan. She planation. Inspired by Z, a book by boundaries. They have to stop defer- replaces Balan in Abhishek Choubey’s Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos, ring to male stars and listen less to their sequel Dedh as well. Shanghai brings together his Oye endorsement managers. When they None of this would be possible Lucky! Lucky Oye! actor , listen to their heart, they can be more without the rise of the auteur. Like Kalki Koechlin and Hashmi, whose than pretty accessories and pack a Dibakar Banerjee, who has just com- popularity as a serial kisser created a punch as powerhouse performers. pleted Shanghai, pushing his cast and crowd control nightmare as they with Kruttika Kallury crew to the limit to finish filming his shot in Baramati and Latur. He also For exclusive interviews with Kareena Kapoor, political thriller in one month. He turned the petite Kalki into an ex- Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra and : often shot till late into the night, mak- tremely passionate young girl Shalini http://www.indiatoday.in/cinema2012

26 INDIA TODAY N MARCH 12, 2012 NEW