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In the year gone by, producer-director Karan Johar did something he had never done before: he made a film with a bunch of rookies. He was asked why he took the risk. His reply was along expected lines, "I wanted to challenge myself. I’ve always worked with established movie stars. So I wanted to move from a director to teacher and see whether I could handle fresh talent." He also duly added that he had seen a spark in the three lead actors of Student of the Year — Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. None of them came across as a finished article in the film but showed enough promise to be deemed exciting new finds. The industry and the audience alike have taken a shine to the trio and all three are already working on their next projects. Alia Bhatt, daughter of Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan, has been cast opposite Arjun Kapoor, producer Boney Kapoor’s son, in the screen adaptation of the Chetan Bhagat novel, 2 States. The film is being jointly produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Sajid Nadiadwala’s banner. Sidharth Malhotra, on
the other hand, has landed a role in the romantic comedy Hasee Toh
Phasee, to be directed by debutant Vinil Mathew for Dharma
Productions. His co-star in the film is Parineeti Chopra, who was
herself a newbie until the other day.
The past year has been notably propitious for new faces in Bollywood, with Arjun Kapoor (Ishaqzaade), Ayushmann Khurrana (Vicky Donor) and Ileana D’Cruz (Barfi!) garnering rave reviews for their debut performances. In 2013, too, the Mumbai movie industry is all set to pave the way for several aspiring movie stars to have a shot at the big time. Abhishek Kapoor’s new film, Kai Po Che, an adaptation of the Chetan Bhagat bestseller, The 3 Mistakes of My Life, will be the big screen launch pad for Sushant Singh Rajput. The 27-year-old television and theatre actor plays one of the three male leads in the film that had its world premiere at the recent 63rd Berlinale. Kai Po Che also has TV actor Amit Sadh (who debuted with Ram Gopal Varma’s Phoonk 2 and was seen last year in a supporting role in the cop drama Maximum) in his first starring role on the big screen. Another much-awaited film, David Dhawan’s remake of Chashme Baddoor, features two Bollywood newcomers — Taapsee Pannu and Divyendu Sharma. While Taapsee from Delhi has worked in several smash hits in the South, theatre actor Divyendu was one of the male leads in Pyaar ka Punchnama, released in 2011. Films made down South as
well as theatre seem to be a happy hunting ground for wannabe
Bollywood stars. Mumbai-born Tamannaah Bhatia, who has been cast
opposite Ajay Devgn in the ready-for-release remake of Himmatwala,
is already an established star in Chennai and Hyderabad.
One girl who has generated a really big Bollywood buzz is model Vaani Kapoor. She has been cast in Maneesh Sharma’s yet to be titled film being produced by YRF’s Aditya Chopra. Vaani, who has been active on the fashion scene for a while, has earned a three-film contract with the banner. Her co-stars in her debut film are Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra. It has also been reported that Yash Raj Films has drawn up plans to unleash several other newcomers in 2013. Nobody is complaining. With the reigning male superstars of the industry all on the wrong side of 40 and the Kareenas and Priyankas unlikely to go on forever, Bollywood has understandably begun to look beyond Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan, both of whom are well set to spearhead popular Hindi cinema over the next decade or so. The search for a new
generation of actors of both genders is an inevitable process in
showbiz, where freshness is always a desired attribute. So the advent
of newcomers continues unabated. Some make it big with their very
first films, others have to encounter false starts or bide their time
until the big break comes, but the ones with potential inevitably
manage to break through and prove their lasting power.
For both Neha Sharma, the heroine of the Vivek Oberoi-starrer Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story, and Sara Loren, the parallel female lead in Murder 3, their new releases represent a fresh opportunity. Neha is by no means a newcomer, having featured in Kya Super Kool Hain Hum, besides films in the South, but she has yet to make her presence felt in Bollywood. Similarly, Kuwaiti-born Pakistani model and actress Sara Loren made a false start in Bollywood with the Pooja Bhatt-directed Kajraare, co-starring Himesh Reshammiya. The film was released without much fanfare in 2010. But she is now back in Murder 3 for another go at stardom. Early this year, Toronto-based Vinay Virmani, last seen in Speedy Singhs, the dubbed Hindi version of the ice hockey-themed Canadian film Breakaway, made his first full-fledged Bollywood foray in Bejoy Nambiar’s David. The film has been well received and Virmani’s performance has attracted largely positive notices. So will the young actor shift his base to Mumbai to pursue a full-on Bollywood career? Only time will tell.
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