Manisha Koirala’s career can be best compared to a comet. When a comet enters the Earth all eyes turn towards it. It burns brightly and slowly its lustre dies out and finally it goes out of sight when it is burnt out.
Manisha had a perfect launchpad in Saudagar.A big banner film with two heavyweights such as Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar to carry the film on their shoulders. Manisha immediately came into the public eye with her soft looks, good dancing and right acting. Thereafter she worked in Love Letter which did not enjoy the same success as Saudagar.
Her first role of substance was in 1942 - A Love Story. In this film she portrayed the role of a freedom fighter’s daughter. Her acting was perfect and her ability to emote bought her to the appreciation of the critics. It is said that in this film she used very little make up and no make up in some scenes.
Her acid test was in 1994 when she played the role of a Muslim girl in love with a Hindu boy in Bombay. This film established her as an actress of substance and propelled her to the league the leading actresses of the day. She followed it up with Agnisakshi in 1996 where she played the romantic role at the begining of the film and that of a tortured housewife to perfection. The song Ikrar karna Mushkil Hai , Inkaar Karna Mushkil hai, earned her much popularity.
The year 1997 bought her commercial success as well as critical plaudits . She worked in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Khamoshi. There she played the role of a daughter of dumb and deaf parents. She worked in another Mani Ratnam film Dil Se in 1998. In that film she played the role of a girl from North East who had seen her sister being raped by the soldiers and was then herself raped by them. This leads her to join a terrorist outfit. Both these films were a critic’s delight. At this point of time Manisha was shining at her brightest
Since 1999 Manisha’s career has been sliding downhill. Except for Lajja she has done no films in which she has meaningful roles. Films like Champion , Kartoos, Khauff, Pasia Vasool, Jaani Dushman etc have done no good to her career. She stirred up a lot of controversy in’ Ek Chhoti Si Love Story’ off the screen which did no good to her. She looked unimpressive in TUM where she was plays a housewife who has a one night fling outside her marriage.
On the personal front she is related to the former Nepalese PM Mr G.P. Koirala.She has been trying to introduce her brother Siddharth Koirala into films since past few years. Bollywood rumour mills state that she has been using banned substances.
Manisha’s slide downhill has not been due to paucity of talent. She has proved herself as an actress par excellence in her earlier films. Its her choice of roles particularly in films after 1998 that has bought about the slide in her career. To give you an example she did a film called Jaani Dushman which was an utter non sensical film based on an outdated nag nagin theme. Paradoxically , even in her films which have flopped her performance has been dubbed as good. Her off screen antics and her tendency to put on weight have also contributed to her slide.
Manisha is fading fast from the minds of the viewers. Considering the competition from number of new actresses entering Bollywood its going to be hard for her to reclaim her position. However Manisha has not crossed the point of no return. She has it in her to win the hearts of her viewers on the sheer strength of her acting without exposing unnecessarily. All she needs to do is to pick up the right kind roles. She needs to consider roles with substance which are in keeping with her age. For instance running around the trees type of roles would do no good to her but the kind of role she did in Bombay or Dil Se would suit her more at this juncture.
Manisha Koirala cant be written off. A couple of good films and who knows, she can be right back. She has already got more than a start. All she needs is to consolidate her position by selecting the right kind of roles with substance.
One only hopes that she shines as an immortal star in the firmament of Bollywood and does not fade away from the public memory like a comet.