North Indian heroines rule the roost

Bollywood was once ruled by Southern sizzlers (Vyjanthimala, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi and Aishwarya Rai) and the Bengali bombshells  (Sharmila, Tagore, Raakhee, Jaya Bhaduri, Bipasha Basu). But now these beauties seem to have made way for the the robust mast-mast  North Indian brigade. Yup, the Kapoors, Sharmas and Singhs are here to stay... and sway. There was a time when Punjabi/North Indian  male actors, many of them from film families, ruled the box-office. Every other top-notch hero was a Khanna, Kumar or a Kapoor... and otherwise, a Deol. But now it’s the time of Punjabi kudis. Case in point Parineeti Chopra, Anushka Sharma, Chitrangda Singh who are ruling the roost.

Delhi flavour
Backin the 1980s there were acttresses like Rati Agnihotri, Ranjeeta Kaur, Amrita Singh and Raveena Tandon who made it big in Bollywood. But after them except for Juhi Chawla  and Preeti Zinta no significant headway was made by the girls from up North. “It was the Delhi-Punjabi guys who ruled Bollywood. The North Indian girls were somehow overshadowed by the girls from other parts of India, and even abroad. But that has changed. Thank God. Because to me, with due respects to the ladies everywhere, none can compare with North Indian girls. Dilli shaher ki ladkiyon ki toh baat hi kuch aur hai,” says rapper-singer Honey Singh, confessing to a partiality towards Delhi’s Chitrangda Singh.

In fact, Delhi ki billis are sealing their place in Bollywood. Huma Quereshi and Richa Chadha , the two hotties from Gangs Of Wasseypur, are both from Delhi and going neck-to-neck in their career moves, almost the way the two Southern beauties Sridevi and Jaya Prada did at one time.
Stepping out

Until Karisma and Kareena Kapoor, no Kapoor kudi was allowed anywhere near a film studio. Says Raveena Tandon, one of the earlier lot of North Indian stars, “In Punjabi/North Indian  families, girls were not really allowed to be actresses. When I wanted to be an actress I had to do it on my own without my father’s production house to back me. I wanted it that way. Today, I am happy to see so many North Indian girls making their mark. Kareena, Priyanka and Parineeti Chopra, Anushka Sharma and Sonam Kapoor are all doing so well for themselves.”

It’s a cycle
Gulshan Grover, who has worked with three generation of actresses from the North, South and East, thinks the preferential change is cyclic.

“It keeps changing. At any given time  a different part is preferred,” Gulshan puns naughtily. “At the moment it’s the North. That could be because the girls from up North have a better command of the Hindi language. They are also taller, more ambitious, uninhibited on  camera and far fitter.” Gulshan has a point. The North Indians like Kangna Ranaut and Anushka Sharma are decidedly slimmer, some of them borderline-anorexic.

Actor Sonu Sood, who has worked with the top Tamil-Telugu and Punjabi actresses, feels the favoured feminine flavour is a phase. “It’s a cycle that comes and goes. The North Indian actresses that I’ve worked with recently like Sonakshi and  Sonal Chauhan are no less focused and career-driven than the South actresses like Kajal Aggarwal, Anushka Shetty and Shruti Haasan. So it’s only a  matter of time. And being at the right place at the right time.”
Divya Dutta, who is a Punjabi, thinks the current on-rush of North Indian girls in Bollywood is only a co-incidence. “It happens. Maybe more Panju girls are interested in acting these days.” Director Samir Karnik who has repeatedly worked with a Punjabi actress (Kulraj Randhawa) has a pertinent explanation for the recent influx of North Indian actresses into Bollywood. “As in every walk of life there is a rush of  migrants desirous of becoming actresses from North India to Mumbai. Actresses in the South or Kolkata have a self-sufficient cinematic platform in their home-state. But wannabe actresses from Delhi, Lucknow or Kanpur have nowhere to go except Mumbai.”

Trade analyst Komal Nahata definitely sees  a change in the feminine perspective of Bollywood. “The trend has definitely changed. As far as the  South is concerned Bollywood actresses are going there rather than girls from the South coming here.”

However Percept Pictures’ Shailendra Singh is all for the Northern winds sweeping into the woman’s space in Bollywood. “I think Punjab has heart. I think the heart is finally ruling Bollywood. Oye chak de kukad shukad!”