Bollywood is infamous for sharply rising stars that fade away equally fast. Several actresses who showed great promise early on and generated massive publicity, ended up disappearing from the limelight in a few years. Let’s look at the stories of some such actresses who could not sustain their momentum.
Neetu Chandra
Neetu Chandra burst onto the scenes with her bold role in the 2005 film Traffic Signal. She won critical acclaim for her performance as a sex worker in the movie. There were great expectations that she would achieve fame in the Hindi film industry. However, subsequent roles in films like Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Apartment did not take off. Then, out of the blue, she shot into sudden headlines with a cricket controversy and hopes were high again for a career revival. She was last seen trying to shift gears to Hollywood.
Shazahn Padamsee
Shazahn, daughter of ad veteran Alyque Padamsee, debuted with a splash in the 2009 film Rocket Singh. She even won the Best Female Debut award for her performance. After that she acted in just three more films before disappearing from the spotlight. Her last release was the 2011 film Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji.
Sonal Chauhan
Sonal Chauhan garnered attention as a fashion model before getting her big break in the 2008 film Jannat opposite Emraan Hashmi. The film was a hit and there was hype that she was the next big thing. But subsequent films like The Legend of Drona and 3G bombed. She shifted focus to South Indian films but has struggled to make a mark there too.
Bidita Bag
Bidita first came into notice with her bold photoshoot for a men’s magazine cover. This helped her land a role in the 2012 hit film Barfi where she played Priyanka Chopra’s character as a young girl. She was splashed all over the media a few years ago and things seemed bright. Later, she was seen in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz which generated controversy with several cuts demanded. Her career fizzled out as subsequently she almost disappeared from the public eye, though she still acts in web series.
Here is a list of other promising Bollywood actresses who could not make it big despite tremendous hype:
Sameera Reddy – She debuted opposite Akshay Kumar in the film Maine Dil Tujhko Diya. However, despite her good looks and initial hype, she failed to make it big.
Udita Goswami – After her debut in Paap, she was touted as the next big thing but she soon faded away after a few more films.
Amrita Rao – She made an impressive debut in Ishq Vishk and was quite promising. But she later got typecast in girl-next-door roles which affected her growth as an actress.
Tanishaa Mukerji – Kajol’s sister, she debuted with high expectations but none of her films worked well at the box office which led her career downhill.
Ayesha Takia – After her splashy debut in Tarzan: The Wonder Car, she delivered a few hits but then faded away due to personal reasons.
Parineeti Chopra – After making a confident debut in Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, she soon got stereotyped in bubbly roles and her later films did not work well.
Vaani Kapoor – She made an impressive debut opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Shuddh Desi Romance but none of her later films could capture audience’s interest.
Ileana D’Cruz – After critical acclaim for Barfi, she could not match the success of her debut in later projects like Rustom, Baadshaho etc.
Athiya Shetty – Suniel Shetty’s daughter, she debuted opposite Sooraj Pancholi but none of her subsequent films made any major impact.
Esha Gupta – After making heads turn as a bikini babe in Jannat 2, Esha soon faded away with a string of box office duds.
Zarine Khan – Despite her launch by Salman Khan in Veer, she couldn’t garner much success later on.
Nargis Fakhri – Rockstar put her in spotlight but failures like Madras Cafe and Main Tera Hero affected her prospects.
Urvashi Sharma – A genuine model-turned-actress, she couldn’t live up to her initial promise in films like Naqaab, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag etc.
Hazel Keech – She debuted in Salman Khan’s Bodyguard but none of her later films could get her noticed.
Bruna Abdullah – She debuted opposite Salman in Cash but bad luck continued in her later films like I Hate Luv Storys, Grand Masti etc.
Angela Jonsson – The Indo-Icelandic beauty debuted in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine but soon disappeared from the scene after that.
Zaira Wasim – Of late, the young Kashmiri star debuted strongly in Dangal but chose to quit films later citing religious reasons.
Ruhi Singh – The Miss Universal Peace and Humanity made her debut opposite Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz but didn’t taste much success later.
Lisa Hayden – She debuted strongly opposite Ajay Devgn in Aakrosh but none of her later films created much impact.
Why things went wrong
Poor script choices, and inability to network and stay in the limelight, seem to be some of the common reasons why these starlets could not capitalize on their initial hype. The path to sustained success in Bollywood is littered with such one-hit wonders. It takes more than just good looks, hype and some luck to make it big in the long run.
For every Deepika Padukone there are ten such starlets who showed promise but could not back it up with the roles to become A-listers. The Bollywood dream is a fickle one. Young actresses need to choose their scripts wisely and keep reinventing themselves if they are to have long and successful careers. Otherwise they risk fading into oblivion once the initial limelight passes.