Sonali Bendre in the 90s.

Sonali Bendre in the 90s.

Sonali Bendre showed a lot of promise in the 90s when she joined bollywood films. She had spontaneity in her performance and did not imitate any star. She was sublime in Aamir Khan’s film Sarfarosh.

Sarfarosh was the film based on the story of an honest police officer who addressed the corruption existing in the police department itself and the other wings of the Govt. Sonali Bendre ably assisted Aamir Khan in his noble mission. Jagjit Singh’s song “husnwale” became very successful.

Her performance in Sunil Shetty’s film Bhai requires special mention. Although she loved Sunil Shetty like Pooja Batra but when she knew that Pooja Batra was also attached to him, she sacrificed her love. She died at the end of the film while fighting for the cause of Sunil Shetty. In fact she helped Sunil Shetty to learn urbanized style of living as he came from the hills and was uneducated.

She acted in completely different role opposite Shahrukh Khan in the film Duplicate. Shahrukh Khan played a double role in the film, one having an affair with Juhi Chawla while the other having an affair with Sonali Bendre. She acted opposite Shahrukh Khan who played the role of the smuggler. From the time the two characters interchanged Sonali Bendre expressed the astonishment in style. Her lips in the song “mere mehboob mere sanam” require special mention. Although the film had mainly comedy element in it, the powerful performance of Sonali Bendre and Juhi Chawla helped the film to be successful.

Her other hit films include Hum Saath Saath Hai, opposite Salman Khan, Zakhm with Ajay Devgan, to name a few. She received the star-screen best supporting actress award for her brilliant performance in the film Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai. Her performance in the film was as outstanding as Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai.

After success in films like Jis Desh Me Ganga Rehta Hai with Govinda, Major Sahab, etc., she left films in 2002. The viewers expect her to make a comeback in character roles.

Pooja Batra in the 90s.

Pooja Batra in the 90s.

Pooja Batra made a very impressive entry in bollywood films in the 90s. Her success in the fashion industry attracted producers and directors of that period. She got very landmark roles like the one in the film Virasat.

She played the role of the girlfriend of Anil Kapoor, who returned from US and tried to adjust herself in the rural environment of the village where Anil Kapoor lived. But all of a sudden his father Amrish Puri died, and Anil Kapoor had to take charge of the administrative duties and for those reasons Pooja Batra returned back to US. The short role of Pooja Batra was very impressive.

In Sunil Shetty’s Bhai, Pooja Batra got a serious role. She taught Sunil Shetty’s brother, who got killed by miscreants. Even her father Om Puri, the lawyer in the film got killed. Pooja Batra married Sunil Shetty, after he became the leader of deprived people of the locality. Although the film was action based, the performance of Pooja Batra was as impressive as Sonali Bendre who also had attachment towards Sunil Shetty.

Pooja Batra was sublime as assistant reporter in Anil Kapoor’s film Nayak. Anil Kapoor was a reporter in the film who was asked to take the interview of Amrish Puri, who played the role of the Chief Minister of Maharastra. Anil Kapoor asked very bold questions and showed the statistics relating to the performance of the respective ministry. It was poor and required introspection. Amrish Puri gave him the challenge of bringing in reforms within one day and by passing an ordinance handed over the chair of CM to Anil Kapoor.

In one day Anil Kapoor arrested the wrongdoers, brought cases against unlawful businessmen and created sensation in the state. Pooa Batra assisted him in his work along with Paresh Rawal. Although Rani Mukherjee was the main actress in the film, Pooja Batra’s role was equally important.

To everyone’s surprise Pooja Batra left films in the late 90s, when she looked the most matured. The viewers still feel that lot of acting is left in her and she should make a comeback in character roles in future.

Deepika Padukone has a real challenge ahead.

Deepika Padukone has a real challenge ahead.

Deepika Padukone, the daughter of International Badminton player Prakash Padukone, was born on 5th January, 1986. She accomplished her studies from Mount Carmel College in Australia and pursued her career as a super model. She had modeled for famous Indian brands like Limca, Dabur Lal Powder, Close Up Toothpaste and Liril.

She won the Model of the Year award at the Kingfisher Fashion Awards, became one of the models for Kingfisher Swimsuit Calender 2006 and won two awards at the Idea Zee Fashion awards. She became the brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines, Levi Strauss, Tissot SA.

After impressing the judges of the modeling world she featured in private album Aap Ka Suroor of Himesh Reshamiya. She got one of the biggest breaks of her life in Farah Khan’s film Om Shanti Om.

She had a double role in the film which was based on reincarnation. Shahrukh Khan also played a double role and created history with his entertaining performance. The music of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy was superlative and the songs contributed a lot in the success of the film.

The film also had the dream sequence with the song “om shanty om” where actors like Dharmender, Jeetender, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutta, Rekha, Shabana Azmi, Priyanka Chopra, etc., gave lips. The other songs “tumko paya hai to”, “ankho me teri ajab si ajab si adayein hai”, etc. The dancing capabilities of Deepika Padukone was also exposed in the song “din tana na na na”, where images of Sunil Dutt, Jeetender, Rajesh Khanna were superimposed.

If Om Shanti Om was a dream for Deepika Padukone, the next film Bacchna Aye Haseeno was also after mirth. She was one of the girls other than Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba who had involvement with Ranbir Kapoor in the film and changed his life. This film also had exotic locations, melodious music of Vishal Shekhar. The songs “bacchna aye haseeno”, “ki mujhe pyar hai” had created waves in the minds of the viewers after the release of the film.

If the awards of Deepika Padukone in the form of Best Debutant under the Filmfare Awards and box-office success of the two films are separated Deepika will face reality for the first time with the film Chandni Chowk to China. Akshay Kumar will act opposite her in the film.

The film is going to be released this year itself and it has both comedy and action. Akshay Kumar had been shown as a cook who will learn martial art and show his skills in China. By this period of time Deepika Padukone’s glamour had been acknowledged by the viewers and the critics.

But her acting capability is still under introspection. In Chandni Chowk to China and the following films like Production No. 1, her acting performance will be scanned and if she succeeds she will be following the gharana of Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta and others who had come from the fashion world and took bollywood films by storm. In that sense her real challenge is ahead.

Robin Chatterji and Sandhya Mukherjee

Robin Chatterji and Sandhya Mukherjee.

Robin Chatterji was the uncrowned king of bengali cinema during the golden age in the world of music direction. The entire industry dependant on Robin Chatterji and whatever work he had produced can be very well be designated as masterpieces. He contributed the most in Suchitra Sen’s films and for those reasons Sandhya Mukherjee, whose voice suited Suchitra Sen the most, sang majority of songs composed by the legendary composer.

In Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen’s film Sagarika, Sandhya Mukherjee’s song “sei to amar prothomo phaguna bela” composed by Robin Chatterji mesmerized the audience along with Alpona Banerjee’s “hridoy amar sundoro tobo paye” picturised on Jamuna Sinha and Shyamal Mitra’s “amar sapne dekha rakonya” picturised on Uttam Kumar. The film stormed Bengali cinema as the audience accepted Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen as the greatest romantic pair to be ever born in this country.

Robin Chatterji’s composition for Sandhya Mukherjee titled “dheere bondhu dheere” in the film Pathe Holo Deri had the romantic element embedded in them. Similarly in the film Pathe Holo Deri, all the compositions of Robin Chatterji for Sandhya Mukherjee including “e sudhu ganer din”, “e chaya bhora logone aaj”, “tumi na hoy rohite kache”, etc., presented the romantic presentation of Bengali modern songs for the first time.

The same combination had provided brilliant songs like “monero madhuri mishaye” in Suchitra Sen’s film Shriti Tuku Thak, “ami sapne tomay dekhechi” in Suchitra Sen’s film Bipasha, “ghum ghum chand” in Suchitra Sen’s film Sabar Upore, to name a few. Robin Chatterji provided brilliant tunes to Sandhya Mukherjee in also films like Nayikar Bhumikay, including devotional songs like “notun surjo alo dao, alo dao”.

Robin Chatterji exploited the classical skills of Sandhya Mukherjee, as she was the student of Ustad Bare Ghulam Ali Khan, in the film Uttar Falguni. Suchitra Sen played the role of the singer Panna Bai in the film who sacrificed her entire life to make her daughter a barrister. The film had classical songs and Sandhay Mukherjee’s classical andaz created separate dimension for the viewers. In the hindi remake of the same film titled Mamta, composer Roshan had to match the classical compositions of Robin Chatterji, as the Bengali film won international awards for best performance and other technical awards.

Besides Sandhya Mukherjee had many basic discs of Bengali modern songs like “amare loye je”, “ei nodi tire”, etc., composed by Robin Chatterji, which had the same romantic appeal and brilliant use of the piano which was used with elegance by Robin Chatterji, all along his career.

Probably Suchitra Sen could never had become mahanayika (megaactress), had she not got the compositions of Robin Chatterji and songs of Sandhya Mukherjee, as they contributed even in actress-oriented films like Grihadaha, Kamallata, where Suchitra Sen played character roles. The films having compositions of Robin Chatterji and songs of Sandhya Mukherjee should be preserved and restored for their musical value.

Nadira - the sizzling star of golden age.

Nadira – the sizzling star of golden age.

Nadira used to be considered a sizzling star of the 50s and 60s, the golden age of bollywood cinema. Her beauty was different than the traditional stars like Nargis or Madhubala, and her charishmatic intonation had created a separate place in the minds of viewers. She acted in the first coloured film of bollywood that is Aan, made in the early 50s opposite Dilip Kumar.

From Aan itself, the smartness of Nadira reflected in her acting as the film required horse-riding and adventurous acts which were difficult for other actresses of the same era. In 1955, Raj Kapoor gave the role of her lifetime in the film Shree 420. Her villainish performance in the film did outcast Nargis in the same film. The song “mur murke na dekh” composed by Shankar Jaikishan and sung by Asha Bhosle and Manna Dey was picturised on Nadira and Raj Kapoor. The lips of Nadira created a lasting impact in the minds of the viewers and Shree 420 became a super hit film.

The good part of Shree 420 in the career of Nadira was that it made her a rising star. But the bad part was that from that film her image in negative characters got bolstered and producers and directors started casting her in negative roles. In Dil Apna Aur Preeti Parayi, she acted opposite Raj Kumar and Meena Kumari. Raj Kumar had affair with Meena Kumari, a nurse in the film, and after marriage with Nadira, the weakness towards Meena Kumari led to disharmony in the family. Nadira matched Meena Kumari in acting in a musical blockbuster, where once again Shankar Jaikishan amazed the viewers with songs like “ajeeb dastan hai yeh”.

Nadira’s strong command over urdu had earned her majestic roles in films like Pakiza, where the muslim pardanashin community was shown. Nadira’s performance in the film was appreciated by the critics who consider the epic film of Kamal Hamrohi, as one of the greatest films of all times. In the mid-70s, with advent of action films, characterization of negative personalities underwent a change. Even in those films Nadira contributed in her own way. Her performance as a step-mother of Shabana Azmi in the film Amar Akbar Anthony created special attraction. Her torture towards Shabana’s family was detected by Vinod Khanna, who was police officer in the film and she was arrested.

In the mid-80s, she made valuable contribution in Ramesh Sippy’s romantic film Saagar. She was associated with Kamal Hassan, who made the viewers cry at the end of the film when his romance ended in failure. She loved Dimple Kapadia who was addicted towards Rishi Kapoor. When Rishi Kapoor was attacked by his relatives Kamal Hassan saved at the cost of his own life. Kamal Hassan had special relation with Nadira and he used to disclose his private matters to her. Nadira was compassionate towards Kamal Hassan when she came to know about his sacrifice.

In the 90s, Nadira’s performance in the TV serials directed by Gulzar, where Om Puri interviewed her about her film career, was equally impressive. Kamini Kaushal also acted in the serial and matched Nadira in the special role. Nadira’s films should be preserved to grace her remote style of performance having sizzling effect and also lasting appeal.

Hilary Duff - Platinum albums and Greatest Hits

Hilary Duff has expanded her repertoire into pop music, with three RIAA certified Platinum albums and over thirteen million records sold worldwide.

Hilary Duff's 1st studio album, Metamorphosis (2003), was certified triple platinum and Hilary Duff followed it up with two more platinum albums, Hilary Duff (2004) and Most Wanted (2005). Hilary Duff had a musical comeback with the release of her third studio album, Dignity (2007), which was certified Gold in August 2007.

In November 2008 Hilary Duff released another Greatest Hits compilation, Best of Hilary Duff.

Shilpa Shetty had survived in bollywood films for longest time.

Shilpa Shetty had survived in bollywood films for longest time.

Shilpa Shetty had survived in bollywood films for longest time if her career is compared with other actresses of the contemporary period. She started her career in 1993, with the film Baazigar opposite Shahrukh Khan. Although Kajol played the main role, Shilpa Shetty was very impressive in her role. She continued with her performance in glamourous roles from that time.

She was very popular for her spontaneous smile which had a charming effect. Her performance in Sunil Shetty’s film Prithvi was well appreciated. It was an action-pact film where Sunil Shetty unearthed the misdeeds of Suresh Oberoi but Shilpa Shetty was very impressive in the action sequences. She also did extremely well in the film Tarqueb. It was a suspense thriller where Nana Patekar unearthed the murder mystery relating to Tabu. Shilpa Shetty played the role of the friend of Tabu and showed her maturity during the period of interrogation.

Shilpa Shetty was sublime in the film Auzaar, opposite Salman Khan and Sanjay Kapoor. She faced the two actors who provided stylish performance in the action thriller. The music composed by Anu Malik in the film was extraordinary. All the songs in the film became superhit including “I love you” “oye oye oye”, “are baba, are baba”, etc. The biggest challenge of Shilpa Shetty was to transform her to suit the requirements of heroines of action films. Her height and body fitness suited the character played in the film.

Shilpa Shetty even contributed in the films of 2008 when new actresses had entered the arena. For example Shilpa was used in the dance sequence of the film Dostana. The entire film Dostana was shot in Miami beach. The first song of the film “shut up and dance” composed by Vishal Shekhar was picturised on Shilpa Shetty and her appearance in the film at her mid-30s can even surprise Priyanka Chopra who was the main actress of the film.

Shilpa Shetty had become the brand ambassador of the team Rajasthan Royals in the IPL League and she also contributed and sponsored the team partially. She appears in the songs used for promos titled “halla bol” which shows her body fitness in the dance sequence.

She had probably survived the fierce competition in bollywood films for the longest time. Although she did not reach the no. 1 position like Madhuri Dixit or Sri Devi, she had a steady box-office for the last 15 years. The viewers expect her to continue the good work in the years to come.