This is my first review & I hope everyone will keep that in mind while rating this one. Leaving stupid talks aside, I should say that this is a topic which interested me very much. But after having read all the previous reviews I was forced to conclude that many of the reviewers have mistaken glamour & beauty with true acting capabilities.
There are many roles (e.g. karishma’s in dil to pagal hai) which any established actress can portray with ease, & I don’t think these deserve any special mention. The roles which are really difficult should be the yardstick of judgement of an actress’s capabilities.I am limiting myself to the discussion of the present generation actresses only. Here goes my favourites though not necessarily in the order mentioned.
1)Madhuri Dixit:No doubt she was terrific in HAHK & Saajan. But it was in Anjaam that she gave her career best performance( Though the movie was horrible!). In films like mrityudand & pukaar, she left her glamourous image aside & portrayed her true versatility as an actress.
2)Kajol:In my opinion , the best performance of kajol was in gupt where she had the full opportunity to explore her incomparable acting skills. But I feel that she has done gross injustice to her abilities by limiting herself to those stupid Johar-Chopra trashes, though I should mention that she was the only one who made films like Kuch kuch hota hai & DDLJ watchable to some extent.
3)Manisha Koirala:She is perhaps the most talented actress of the present generation but at the same time , no other actress has wasted their own careers to the extent that she has done by doing obscene films.She was brilliant in Akele hum akele tum, phenomenal in khamoshi, Bombay, & superb in Lajja, Dil se. I think its high time she stops doing stupid films, redeems herself & gives us back the manisha we loved & appreciated so much.
4)Urmila Matondkar:She is perhaps the most underrated actress of the film industry. She has never got her dues , partially due to the sex symbol image tagged to her post rangeela & daud. But in films like Judaai, Satya, Kaun, Bhoot, Pyaar Tune kya kiya & the recent Ek hasina thi, she has shown the level of a performer she is. In the year 2001 when her performance in PTKK went unrewarded, the futility of these bollywood award ceremonies became as clear as crystal.She is one of the finest actresses & people are realising it at last.
5)Juhi Chawla: She is one of my favourites too. She portrays her character so effortlessly & convincingly that people often fail to realise its worth. In Hum Hain rahi pyaar ke , she was at her very best, matching up with the great aamir khan scene by scene. She has proved her versatility in films like 3 deewarein & Jhankaar beats where she portrayed pretty unconventional characters.
Special Mention: I have not seen the best films of Tabu namely, Chadni bar, Astitva & so I don’t include her in my list , though I don’t have any doubt that she is a tremendous actress. The same argument goes for the ones like Nandita das, Konkona Sen Sharma. As far as Rani Mukherjee is concerned, she is indeed a brilliant actress (see Black if you haven’t already) but she is still in the mid of her career & has more points to prove.
Well, these are the actresses whom I really admire. Constructive criticism & remarks are welcome. Please don’t forget to rate the review.