The first quarter of 2019 is about to come to an end and a few actors and actresses have already left an indelible impression with the work they have done. While the men have delivered a string of hits, the women, too, have left an equally strong mark with the kind of roles they have done and the number of audience they have managed to bring in through their films.
Alia Bhatt: The actress who, arguably, has registered the best success rate among the new heroines in the last couple of years, had a great start to the year with ‘Gully Boy’. Though her role, as she admits herself, was not as big as the one played by Ranveer Singh, who was clearly driving the film here, Alia’s portrayal of the young girl from a conservative Muslim family who wants to break free struck a chord with the audience. Her latest release ‘Kalank’ raked in 21.6 crores on the first day which is the highest opening day collection for any film this year.
Kriti Sanon: The actress received the most accolades for her performance in ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ which, technically, was an above average success at the box-office. After having no release in 2018, Kriti came back to the movies with ‘Luka Chuppi’ which is now folding up a little less than a 100 crores and is a bonafide superhit. The actress has three more releases this year in the form of ‘Arjun Patiala’, ‘Panipat’ and ‘Gully Boy’.
Taapsee Pannu: While Taapsee has done a bunch of commercial potboilers in the South and has tasted success in Bollywood with films like ‘Chashme Baddoor’ and ‘Judwaa 2’ as well, a lot of filmmakers find her to be the best choice when it comes to portraying strong female parts in films. She had the most well etched out role in Sujoy Ghosh’s ‘Badlaa’ and the actress made sure that she delivered her best. While one had expectations from the film, the film surprised the trade by turning out to be a massive success at the box-office and collecting (it is still running at select theatres) approximately 87 crores at the domestic box-office.
Kangana Ranaut: The actress has been in the news for several wrong reasons in the past including allegedly throwing director Krish out of ‘Manikarnika The Queen Of Jhansi’ and taking over the reins of the film as a director. The film was mounted on a huge budget and despite collecting in the range of 90-91 crores at the Indian box-office, it still cannot be considered to be a certified hit. Having said that, it is Kangana’s biggest grosser (outside films like ‘Krrish 3’ in which she had a supporting part) till date and is a testimony to the pull she has on the box-office. It would be interesting to see how her next film ‘Mental Hai Kya’ does at the box-office.