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The Most Glamorous 'Heroines' in the movies
Given how self-obsessed the film industry is, one would expect a lot more films to cast actors as actors. We've always had leading ladies who've played leading ladies -- Waheeda in Kaagaz Ke Phool is the gold standard -- and here are some of the new lot who've thrown convincing hissy-fits on screen.
Kareena Kapoor in Heroine
Kareena looks at Bollywood with such an unbelievably strong sense of entitlement that she seems to be in diva mode at all times, regardless of camera. No better choice, then, for Madhur Bhandarkar to cast as his Heroine.
Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture
In Milan Luthria's The Dirty Picture, Balan played Silk, a glamorous screen icon who is more tigress than sex-kitten as she unleashes her boldness and her bosom upon an unsuspecting film industry.
Mallika Sherawat in Welcome
In Anees Bazmee's Welcome, Sherawat played an actress and clever cinematic climber who knew which side her bread was buttered on.
As soon as she learnt that a local don (Uday, played by Nana Patekar) had joined the cast, she started swooning over his performance in a manner calculated to make him blush.
Katrina Kaif in Tees Maar Khan
A cursory look around Bollywood is enough to convince anyone that there are more stupid actors than cerebral ones, and Kaif played a gloriously goofy bimbette in Farah Khan's painful Tees Maar Khan.
You know, the sort who thinks trying harder to get a shot right means putting more curlers in her hair.
Sonya Jehan in Khoya Khoya Chand
Sudhir Mishra's period saga about the Golden Age of Hindi cinema traces the life of a director and a young actress, but the scene was stolen entirely by the dazzling Noor Jehan who plays an established star.
A moment where she asks a struggling director why she should condescend to work in his film is, without question, the film's best scene.
Deepika Padukone in Om Shanti Om
Farah Khan's rollicking 1970s-set entertainer saw Deepika as screen icon Shanti Priya, a dreamy screen goddess in the mould of actresses like Hema Malini.
In a delightful song sequence, Deepika even shook a leg with legends like Sunil Dutt and Rajesh Khanna, besides cutting a rug with Shah Rukh Khan.
Mahima Chaudhry in Home Delivery
She's never been much of an actress, but Chaudhary was a lot of fun in Sujoy Ghosh's Home Delivery. Playing an oversexed cougar-like actress with a pallu that would never stay in place, she was both amusing and striking.
Amrita Rao in Shortkut
In this Anees Bazmee film (and a bit of a catastrophe), Rao played a heroine being wooed by many suitors, each of them eager to cast her in their films just so they could romance her onscreen and maybe get a shot at her.
Kangna Ranaut in Woh Lamhe
Showing that she was a far cry from the cookie-cutter heroines of today in Gangster, Ranaut went on to play Mahesh Bhatt's version of the brilliant but dysfunctional Parveen Babi. It was an ambitious part in an extremely ambitious film, and both fell well short.
Isha Sharvani in Luck By Chance
Best known for being able to tie herself up in knots, Sharvani showed off a very likable side in this Zoya Akhtar film.
Playing a young star-kid guided through the motions by her scheming (but even more glamorous) mother, played by Dimple, Sharvani plays a character we all know exists but that isn't seen on screen as often.