Bollywood gets career conscious! 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, August 3, 2004 - 06:00 IST
Pooja [Madhuri] in Dil To Pagal Hai apart from waiting candy-eyed for her ajnabi on a horseback and celebrating valentino romances didn't do much. Jet setting for holidays in London and reciting folklore to Rajasthani natives was the way Sridevi's character in Lamhe lived. Yash Uncle, you never gave us an idea as to what your pyaari heroines did for a living!
Blame it on loosely sketched characters which never offered its viewers career whereabouts of the lead players. Bollywood with its larger than life characters and exaggerated storytelling could never find congruence between the lifestyle the characters lead and their careers. So, in true bollywood style, career details of the character go for a toss.
However a bagful of movies does deserve mention for going an extra mile and feeding the moviegoers with character details. Tanuja Chandra's tense Sangharsh saw Preity in the role of a CBI trainee. Twinkle Khanna in Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hain is an interior designer. Chirpy Chawla in Yes Boss fills out as an aspiring model while Boss ka chamcha SRK is an executive in the production house. Madhuri studies computers in the wedding video of ‘95 , Hum Aapke Hain Koun! while Mili in Rangeela makes it big as an actress.
The multiplex mania, teenybopper audiences and the crossover wave have compelled moviemakers to get more authentic with cinema. No more can you sell unreal characters in dreamland with a pack of popcorn. Junta simply won't buy it. The message seems to have reached the makers, because Bollywood seems to have got career conscious!
Raj travel agency is where Sarika Vartak [Urmila] works in RGV's Ek Hasina Thi . In Ab Tak Chappan , Nana portrays a trigger-happy encounter specialist. Sushmita is SRK's chemistry teacher in the masala fare Main Hoon Na . While Saif plays a TOI cartoonist in the season's bumper hit Hum Tum . Salman Khan is Arjun Ranawat, a policewala who is framed in the cop caper, Garv . Meanwhile brawny Rampal is a commando in Asambhav. The 2003 hit Chalte Chalte has Priya as a fashion designer, and husband Raj owns a transport company. While Dr Suman Asthana bole toh , Gracy Singh cured Munnabhai of his bhaigiri. If we rewind the Bollywood wheel, King Khan and Juhi played television journos in the 2000 washout Phir Bhi Dil Hain Hindustani. Kareena Kapoor was a cyclist in Yaadein while Preity was a news reporter in Mission Kashmir .
While mainstream cinema is still charting careers for its lead players, crossover movies have been more generous with its characters. Perizaad Zorbian as Jenny in Jogger's Park juggled being an event executive, model and dancer. Fun flick Jhankaar Beats has its lead actors working in an advertising firm. Mr.Iyer [Rahul Bose] is a wildlife photographer in the critically acclaimed Aparna Sen movie. Meanwhile, pretty face Perizaad plays a scribe in Anant Balani's Mumbai Matinee
Forthcoming flicks have our stars cast in very interesting roles. SRK plays a NASA scientist in Swades. Rani is a Pak human rights activist in Yash Chopra's untitled movie. Bipasha plays a tarot card reader in Rakht, Abhishek, a lawyer in Revathy's Phir Milenge while Masti cutie Aftab enacts the role a scientist who to manages to clone people in Jaane Kya Hoga .
Looks like the dream weavers are bitten by the career-keeda
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