Bollywood is a dizzying place and the heights it can take you to make it even dizzier. But everyone who enters the industry craves this vertigo! Guess it’s better to experience it rather than lament having not.
1. Prabhu Deva
The ace choreographer and director was brought into Bollywood by Boney Kapoor to direct Wanted , a remake of the Telugu film Pokiri , with Salman Khan and Ayesha Takia. History was created with that film in spite of the initial delay it faced in shooting and release. Ayesha gave her biggest hit till date and Salman’s fate turned around besides triggering a slew of me-toos post- Wanted . But the biggest after-effect was, without any doubt, the discovery of Prabhu Deva’s Midas touch! He went on to direct Rowdy Rathore with Akshay and now has almost every A-lister possibly waiting outside his door. He is directing Rambo Rajkumar with Shahid Kapoor and Action Jackson with Ajay Devgn besides another untitled film with Salman Khan.
2. Vidya Balan
She was written off, not just once or twice but enough number of times to break even the most stoic individual. But Vidya stuck it out. And the windfall has been worth the effort. Paa, Ishqiya, No One Killed Jessica, The Dirty Picture and Kahaani — this lady’s repertoire can give even A-list actors sleepless nights. In fact with the box office collection of The Dirty Picture , she managed to rattle her male colleagues. She now has Shaadi Ke Side Effects with Farhan Akhtar besides two unconfirmed projects: Vishesh Films’ next with Emraan Hashmi and Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani 2 .
3. Sushant Singh Rajput
His first film with Abhishek Kapoor, Kai Po Che, had the director praising him to the skies. Even before that debut could hit the marquee, Sushant had bagged no less than Rajkumar Hirani’s P.K. ! That was followed by news of Yash Raj’s film Shuddh Desi Romance (which just released to a thunderous response). The news never seems to stop with this Rajput as there are two more Yash Raj films in his kitty — Dibakar Banerjee’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and, hold your breath, Shekhar Kapur’s much-delayed Paani that was reportedly going Hrithik Roshan’s way. Here’s something fresh from the bakery: The man has also reportedly replaced Mr. Greek God again. This time in Ashutosh Gowariker’s upcoming historic film on Mohenjo-daro.
4. Sonakshi Sinha
It was as if Shotgun Junior was trained to create a bang. With four hits surpassing at least the Rs. 100-crore mark ( Dabanng, Dabanng 2, Son Of Sardar and Rowdy Rathore ), Sonakshi has had a debut everyone else could only dream of. She is the most sought-after actress too and with her giving the nod to many masala flicks, it makes her the most prolific of the current lot. Sonakshi had five releases last year and four this year. Check out her list: Prabhu Deva’s Rambo Rajkumar with Shahid Kapoor, Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullet Raja with Saif Ali Khan, A. R. Murugadoss’ Pistol with Akshay Kumar, Prabhu Deva’s Action Jackson with Ajay Devgn and the Okkadu remake with Arjun Kapoor.
5. Alia Bhatt
She was first seen as the younger version of Preity Zinta in Sangharsh . But mercifully that’s not etched in public memory. The stylish Bhatt girl made her big debut in Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year and made her way into the heart of every young guy out there. And into the films of some big filmmakers. Alia is currently shooting for Imtiaz Ali’s next film Highway with Randeep Hooda, and Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala’s co-production 2 States with Arjun Kapoor. She has landed Karan Johar’s Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania with Varun Dhawan and reportedly even Ranbir Kapoor’s first co-production with Anurag Basu, Jagga Jasoos .
