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New Delhi: Yash Chopra's heroines were always the strongest points of his films. From Rakhee to Madhuri Dixit, the female leads of Chopra's films were the epitome of elegance and quiet feminism. The director chose the beautiful Katrina Kaif and the bubbly Anushka Sharma for his last film 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' - the two forming the contrasting sides of a complicated romance triangle.
Paired against the man acknowledged widely as Bollywood's 'King of Romance', how has Katrina fared in the film? Has she seen it through to the finishing line or failed to leave her imprint?
First, the good news. It isn't easy holding your own when you are paired against a giant like Shah Rukh Khan. And Katrina's nervousness showed in intimate scenes. But as a rich London girl, living life on her own terms, Katrina is in her elements. This is the world she knows inside out and fits easily into the rhythm of church-going, partying, grounded Indian girl who accidentally meets a boy who is to become her destiny.
The bad news is Katrina's acting is still a problem. She is yet to adjust to the expectations of Bollywood. Heroines here are expected to be self-sacrificing goddesses of virtue. While new age cinema directors have started to experiment with roles, the traditional conditions set for heroines still largely influence the way they behave on screen. Meera's role was a difficult one and Katrina falls short in emotional scenes.
It seems Katrina still doesn't feel very easy in front of the camera and has difficulty with complex expressions. But boy she can dance! Her warehouse party dance number will go down in history as one of the best.
Shah Rukh is one of the finest romantic heroes Bollywood has, and his experience with the viewers and different directors forces him to overpower the heroines in romantic scenes. It takes a strong heroine to show her acting talent without downsizing the superstar opposite her.
Anushka Sharma excels to some extent in the film because her role was loud and gave her the freedom to go over the top, but Katrina didn’t have such freedom. She wasn't playing the typical chiffon clad damsel who could dance in the snow clad Kashmir or Switzerland, and this enhanced her problems, because now the exotic locales were not at her assistance and she had to fall back on her acting.
She is a veteran by now but she hasn't done many films that were centred solely on her like JTHJ was, and she looked like she was finding it difficult to grab the complete attention in scenes.
She's excellent as your girl-next-door in frothy romantic comedies like Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. But in Bollywood dramas her acting needs work.
Katrina's brushed up on her Hindi but it will take her some more years to truly be considered as an acting heavyweight in the industry.####
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