Female Debuts of 2006Tuesday, December 27, 2005

There was a boom of female newcomers in
Bollywood this year. Some of them featuring on the
silver screen had already made their mark on television and created a strong impression on the audiences. While for some, this was the first encounter with camera. Some debutants of this year were quite talented while some others desperately need to relearn their acting lessons well. On the whole, very few actresses who entered Bollywood this year seemed to have the capabilities of being successful in long term.
Ilene Hamman, the South African beauty, was the first to go on the list of newcomers this year with the film
Rog. Ilene, a Pooja Bhatt discovery, had a good screen presence, but she was expressionless in most situations.
Antonia Bernath, a British actress, was launched by Subhash Ghai in
Kisna. A student of Bristol's Old Vic Theatre School, Antonia opted out from the school when her agent asked her to audition for
Kisna and luckily she bagged the role. She handled a very challenging role given to her responsibly and gracefully.
Kisna's second girl too was a debutante.
Isha Sharvani, the daughter of renowned dancer Daksha Sheth, played the second female lead in
Kisna but could display her dancing and dangling-from-trees skills more than her acting prowess.
After working in some offbeat films,
Nandana Sen made her debut in mainstream cinema in
Black and was impressive in a small but significant role. She was also seen in
Tango Charlie and
My Wife's Murder.
Anjana Sukhani was another newcomer who appeared to be supremely talented but got rather unnoticed. Anjana appeared in a number of commercials and also played a small part with
Hrithik in
Na Tum Jaano Na Hum. The actress finally got her major break in Kushan Nandy's
Humdum. Anjana handled her part like a true professional in the film and is currently working on Nikhil Advani's
Salaam-e-Ishq.
Tamanna was ok in
Chand Sa Roshan Chera but made more news when her pictures were wrongly plastered all over claiming to be those of the controversial bar-dancer Tarannum.
Sneha Ullal was one of the highest attention-grabbing debutants this year. Spotted first by Salman Khan's sister, the young college student was made to appear like an exact look alike of
Aishwarya Rai in Salman Khan's in
Lucky - No Time For Love with ease. Next she is going to appear in
Sohail Khan's Aryan.
Nobody noticed
Mahima Mehta in
Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye. Pakistani actress
Meera stepped into the Indian film industry with Mahesh Bhatt's
Nazar. She later starred in
Kasak opposite Lucky Ali.
Chitrangda Singh made her entry and exit from Bollywood in the same year. She started with Sudhir Mishra's
Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi and ended with
Kal - Yesterday and Tomorrow citing family problems.
Tania Zaetta became a known face in India when she hosted a reality action show on AXN. The Australian beauty made her debut in Bollywood with a minuscule role in
Bunty Aur Babli. But she was more recognized in
Salaam Namaste where she played
Arshad Warsi's wife. Next she will be seen playing one of the Charlie's Angels in
Mr. Black Mr.White.
Mona Chopra made her debut in the skin-flick
Time Pass. Reportedly she has now been rechristened as Maneka and plans to re-debut with her new name in Vinod
Sins Pande's
Red Swastik. Ex-Miss Madhya Pradesh
Tanvi Verma who made news for some explicit photo-shoots made a cold debut in
Bold.
Vidya Balan, a natural beauty, appeared in quite a few ad commercials,
music videos and also TV serials before she got her big break in
Parineeta. Vidya gave a striking performance in the movie and added to the Indianess and aesthetic value of the film with her natural charisma.
Nisha Kothari, is new female to join the
Ram Gopal Varma camp. She did her debut in
Sarkar, in which she played a character role but her lead role was in James in which Nisha gave a better display of her physical "assets" rather than her
acting talent. Her future films also come from the RGV Factory, which includes
Shiva and
Boo -
Darna Zaroori Hai.
Newcomer
Minissha Lamba had a decent debut in a beautiful film
Yahaan. Impressed by her aptitude Madhur Bhandarkar cast her in
Corporate.
Tanushree Dutta was the latest of beauty queens to join the movie business. The ex-Miss India was an okay actor in
Aashiq Banaya Apne and seemed to concentrate more on makeup and outfits. She also starred in
Chocolate this year.
Sushma Reddy made her
big screen debut with
Chocolate. She was cute in the film but didn't have much to do as a performer.
Annabelle Wallace appeared photogenic and acted pretty well in
Dil Jo Bhi Kahey. National award winning Bengali actress
Rituparna Sengupta made a confident debut to
Hindi films with
Main Meri Patni Aur Who.
Television actresses
Sonal Sehgal and
Kranti Redkar were quite competent but went unobserved in the smalltime flick
U, Bomsi N Me.
Sophie Chaudhary was first seen on television quite a few years back when she was a part of a girl band from UK. She then disappeared and came back as VJ on MTV. This UK based Indian beauty made her Bollywood debut with
Shaadi No.1 this year.
Daisy Bopanna, Nargis and
Neetu Chandra were efficient in
Garam Masala.
Sonya Jehan, the grand daughter of the famous Pakistani singer Noor Jehan finally made her debut in the long-delayed
Taj Mahal. She looked extremely beautiful and enacted her part pretty well.
Chahat Khanna was mediocre in
The Film.

Sex Bomb
Deepal Shaw known for her 'Rangeela Re' moves in music videos, made her big screen debut with
Kalyug. She got well into the 'skin' of her character in the film and was quite noticeable throughout the movie.
Smily Suri, sister of director Mohit Suri, finally got herself a part in her brother's film, after being thrown out of
Pooja Bhatt's
Holiday. She had a brief role in
Kalyug in which she seemed fine.
Faces to look out for in 2006A lot of firang females will be seen in desi films in 2006. Hollywood actress,
Ali Larter, famous for her roles in movies like
Final Destination,
Legally Blonde and
House On The Haunted Hill will enter Bollywood with the much talked about film
Marigold opposite
Salman Khan.
Alice Patten, another actress from Hollywood, known for her roles in
television series like "Charles II: The Power & the Passion", is one of the casts in
Rang De Basanti.
Shannon Esra will be a part of Nikhil Advani's multi-starrer project
Salaam-e-Ishq.
Deepika Padukone, daughter of ex-badminton player Prakash Padukone, who was last seen as the Close-Up girl gets her big break opposite
Shahrukh Khan in
Farah Khan's Happy New Year. And while
Anil Kapoor is still romancing babes in Bollywood his daughter
Sonam Kapoor will finally make her debut in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's
Saawariya opposite Rishi Kapoor's son Ranbir.