Bollywood has mostly treated the heroines as glamour dolls, decoration pieces and at most as sex symbols. There was a time when women oriented movies were made, but they have been few and far between. In the overall analysis, centrality of heroine to the film has been less than desired. Perhaps this could be the reason that Bollywood has produced much less number of outstanding actresses than actors.
Nevertheless, there have been a few highly talented actresses. My choice of top 5 ;
Meena Kumari: Tragedy queen on scree as well as off screen. Powerful expressions, superb voice, and intensity of drama made Meena Kumari win many awards.Her performances in movies like Sharda, Aarti, Sahib-bibi-aur ghulam, Bhabhi ki chooriyan, Mere Apne, have been unforgettable. She always wanted to do a serious role with Dilip Kumar, but all the 3 movies she got to do with Dilip..Kohinoor, Azaad, and Yahudi turned out to be light/comic roles. An excellent poetess, and a very sensitive person, she died a tragic death in penury, her biggest hit ’’Pakeeza’’came after her death.
Nutan: A truly versatile actress who could do intense, serious roles as well as light /comic roles with equal elan. An immensely talented person, a good singer, artist, painter, cook, swimmer, cyclist and a sportsperson in private life, gave some memorable performances in films like Seema, Sujata, Bandini, Chhaliya, etc. Her comic & light roles in films like Tere ghar ke samne, Dilli ka thug, Chhabili, Anari, were equally interesting.
Waheeda Rehman: An excellent actress, and a ravishing beauty who alone could do justice to the description ’’Chadhvin ka chand ho, ya aaftab ho, jo bhi ho tum khuda ki kasam, laajawab ho ’’. An accomplished dancer, she did a variety of roles in over 100 films. Her performances in Kagaz ke phool, Pyasa, Khamoshi, Guide, Dil diya dard liya are legendary.
Vyajanti Mala: A superb dancer, who laid the foundation for south indian actresses to make big in bollywood, a good actress, ruled the marquee for over 15 years. She was perhaps the first one to occupy the slot of No.1. Her performances in Naya Daur, Sangharsh, Madhumati, Jewel thief, Sadhna, Devdas, Gunga Jamuna, Amrapali, Paigham, Amardeep are memorable and evergreen. She was one actress who used to give creeps and complex to the male lead actors right from Dilip Kumar to Dharmendra.
Tabu: She made a disastrous start as a ’’ruk ruk’’ girl, which was good for we got to see her other side of talent. This beautiful actress with an excellent voice, has in a short period made her mark and carved out a niche for herself, and has won several prestigeous awards including the National award. Her performances in Virasat, Takshak, Maachis, and Astitva are some of the best in the history of Bollywood.
Notable fact is that none of the above actresses have used their body, sex-appeal, or ’’exposure’’ to reach the peak.
Other immensely talented actresses who eminently qualify for the Top 10 are: Nargis, Madhubala, Jaya Bhaduri, Madhuri Dixit and of course Aishwarya Rai.