Bollywood boulevard

A BUNCH of our lovely ladies 8212; including Raveena Tandon, Karisma Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar and Manisha Koirala 8212; are screaming from the rooftops that they are trying their hand at 8216;8216;different8217;8217; cinema, tired as they are of playing the same inconsequential parts in Bollywood potboilers.

Who are they fooling anyway? Not us! What happened to Urmila Matondkar when, at the peak of her career, she received some interesting offers from several offbeat film-makers including Mani Kaul? What stopped her from taking on those offers then? Why did Raveena Tandon prefer those item-song appearances for years, instead of searching for meaty parts in non-mainstream cinema? And let8217;s face it, Karisma Kapoor may go on and on about how she8217;s doing 8216;8216;meaningful8217;8217; parts, but somebody remind her that even in her 8216;8216;serious8217;8217; burqa-clad role in Fiza, she slipped out of character and danced sensuously to a disco song! And don8217;t forget either that Zubeidaa was definitely Shyam Benegal8217;s most commercial effort yet, hardly his typical fare. Even Manisha Koirala has steered clear of the truly art movies that came her way. If anything, she took on strong roles in non-typical films with mainstream set-ups. Mani Ratnam8217;s Bombay and Sanjay Leela Bhansali8217;s Khamoshi are anything but art films.

Truth is, no actress apart from Tabu Maachis, Astitva, Chandni Bar has really stuck her neck out and taken on any daring work. If they8217;re doing it now, then that8217;s because they don8217;t have much of a choice anyway. Urmila Matondkar wants kudos for saying yes to Chandraprakash Dwivedi8217;s Pinjar, and Raveena Tandon expects accolades for her work in Daman, and Manisha Koirala feels she8217;s taking a big risk with Escape From Taliban. But hello ladies, who8217;s offering you the A-list projects anyway?

Today, when that fine line between mainstream and offbeat cinema has become so blurred, where8217;s the risk in doing risky work? If Kareena Kapoor or Amisha Patel agreed to work with Kalpana Lajmi, Aruna Raje, Mani Kaul, Rituparno Ghosh or Govind Nihalani, then that would be an interesting coup. That would be something to talk about. That would be something to applaud.

Even Madhuri Dixit didn8217;t venture too far from safe territory when she ruled the roost. Prakash Jha8217;s Mrityudand was by far her most adventurous endeavour, and even that 8212; with all the glamorous song sequences 8212; wasn8217;t a typical art flick. Dixit continues to stay away from quirky fare, making the odd exception for old fan M F Hussain, whose Gajagamini she inspired.

Applause is due to Juhi Chawla, who8217;s finally putting her money where her mouth is. She8217;s just finished shooting for Nagesh Kukunoor8217;s Three Walls, where she goes almost entirely without make-up. Juhi plays a filmmaker who8217;s arrived at a prison in Central India to make a documentary on the lives of three notorious criminals. Offbeat or what?