 Madhuri fans may have been thrilled to have their diva back on the big screen, but the dhak dhak girl barely managed to recapture the magic of the past. The much-hyped film received a cold response from critics and failed to please audiences. The fact is the film industry has begrudged success to most actresses who have tried to make a comeback after a hiatus, mostly taken when they marry. The examples of Rekha, Manisha Koirala, Kannada actresses Anu Prabhakar and Malashree come to mind.
Actresses wishing to return to films after a long break must have realistic expectations, says Sumalatha.
When comebacks fail...
"When you take a break, you should not expect to come back to the same place. You can’t do romantic and glamorous roles. It is not easy to get back, so it is better to be open to different types of roles," she says.
According to Anurag Basu, director of the successful Life in a... Metro in which Shilpa Shetty made a comeback, an actor may leave the industry for several reasons, but much thought must go into the return. "When the actor or actress comes back, he or she should keep in mind their age and the present trends in Bollywood. They shouldn’t expect to get away with the song-and-dance sequences they did before they quit," says the director, adding, "Amitabh Bachchan had a couple of flops before he came back with a mature role in Baghbaan."
Mature and meaty roles are a must if the comeback is to be successful, agrees filmmaker Kavitha Lankesh. "The younger heroines have this sexy image that is totally washed away when they marry and have kids. The audience does not accept them in the song-and-dance routine anymore. There’s no reason they can’t do lead roles. Look at Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich or Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago. They have done a fabulous job in those roles," she says and adds that in Bollywood there are hardly any scripts for older heroines. are aimed at pleasing the masses, and the audience has an escapist attitude. They don’t want to watch s
Once married, they are either relegated to playing the mother or aunt or have to be pitiable like Dimple Kapadia’s character in Dil Chahta Hai, she reasons. "Bollywood scriptserious movies. They just want to be entertained," she says.
But Anurag doesn’t believe there’s a dearth of scripts in the industry. "When you write a script you don’t keep someone in mind and then write the story for them. It works the other way round. If the actor suits the character, you take them," he says.
Also, not all heroines have failed while making their comebacks. Dream Girl Hema Malini made it happen with Baghbaan and Kajol did a fabulous job in Fanaa, even winning an award for her role. Anurag points out that she was never really gone from films. "Kajol does not have a screen age. She was gone from the scene for a very short time, so the break did not affect her much," he says.
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