One thing that Rani Mukherjee has and others doesn’t have? It is an easy guess..it is her magical magnetic voice. I still remember Karan Johar asking Rani the same question in ’’Koffee

with Karan’’ for which Kareena answered ’’Yash Chopra’’. May be that could be a discussion because she happens to star in all Yash Raj films(Saathiya, Veer Zaara, Hum Tum, Bunty aur Babli, and many more to come). But according to me, Rani has a great voice and that voice combined with a wonderful acting has made her the numero uno in Bollywood.

Her career has taken an upswing suddenly because of her selective attitude to movies. She started with a bang in Ghulam where she was identified as a screen stealer in the Khandala song and ’’Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’’ which went on to become a blockbuster. Then came movies like ’’Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega’’ , ’’Bichoo’’, ’’Badal’’, ’’Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaye’’, and some other movies which completely wiped her from the eyes of the public. In the interview, when Karan asked her ’’What happened when all B-grade flicks like Bichoo, Badal flopped’’?, she said that all those movies were her experience and that has made her what she is now. She had been very positive and had taken those movies to be her testing grounds.

She starred in a minuscule role in ’’Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham’’ because Karan was unable to find a role for her in the movie. He already had Kajol and Kareena for the roles and he could not project Rani 10 years younger to Kajol. But Rani did leave an impact in that movie and danced gracefully with Amitabhji and SRK. She then had a string of comedy flops with Govinda which again went on to spoil her image as a character artist. Came ’’Mujhse Dosti Karoge’’ where she was the main protagonist with Hrithik and Kareena doing supporting roles. She did a great job in the movie but the movie sank without trace bringing nightmares to the debutant director Kunal Kohli. Rani’s acting in the much hyped ’’Chori chori chupke Chupke’’ was completely sidelined by the Preity Zinta’s Julia Roberts act which had more scope to perform. ’’Hey Ram’’ with Kamal, ’’Chori Chori’’ with Ajay and ’’Nayak’’ with Anil and Director Shankar did not set the cash registers ringing and sank faster than Titanic. When she was almost gone in the minds of the audience came ’’Saathiya’’ which was her last hope.

’’Saathiya’’ was the remake of the Tamil Blockbuster ’’Alaipayuthe’’ which did good business and brought Rani back to the Limelight. After Saathiya came a couple of handy movies which proved everyone that Rani can act if she is given the right opportunity. After Saathiya, came ’’Chalte Chalte’’ which was an extension to the story of Saathiya and Rani gave a commendable performance and I would say stole the show from SRK as the helpless wife. After that, there was no downsides. She has made a place for herself with a volley of hits which nobody in the film fraternity has ever achieved. Her hitlist includes ’’Veer Zaara’’, ’’Hum Tum’’, ’’Black’’, ’’Bunty aur Babli’’ and she is rockin’ bollywood. Her ’’Paheli’’ is doing average business and Yuva was critically acclaimed. Her next major release is ’’The Rising’’ with Aamir.

Upcoming Films

1. ’’Mangal Pandey-The Rising’’ with Aamir Khan slated for August Release.
2. ’’Babul’’ with Amitabh Bacchan, Hema Malini and John Ibraham.
3. ’’Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna’’ with SRK, Abhishek, Priety and Amitabh Bacchan.
4. ’’Untitled’’ with SRK and Aamir (to be directed by Bobby Bedi) (Iam not sure abt. this)
5. ’’Mr. and Mrs. Mehta’’ with Aamir and Shilpa Shetty.
6. ’’Bajirao Mastani’’ with Salman and Urmila

(Source: www.imdb.com)

Do you know?

1. In ’’Veer Zaara’’, the character of Rani was supposed to be for a male lawyer. But Adithya Chopra wanted it to be a female lawyer so that it would do some justice to female empowerment in the movie. So Veer Zaara was an accidental fortune for Rani.

2. ’’Chalte Chalte’’ was supposed to be SRK-Ash starrer. But because of the Salman-Ash clash, Aziz Mirza told Ash to packup and gave Rani the role of Priya. But the irony is, ASH-RANI dosti was the most envied relationship in the film fraternity. After Chalte Chalte, they hardly speak over phone and there is no patch up again. This was a highlight in koffee with karan episode with Rani.

3. ’’Hum Tum’’ was the second directorial venture of Kunal Kohli who had earlier directed ’’Mujhse Dosti Karoge’’ with Rani. Both the movies were straight lifts from Hollywood and Kunal Kohli was keeping his fingers crossed till Hum Tum went on to become a hit.

4. During the shooting of ’’Saathiya’’, Vivek and Rani had a misunderstanding. Rani is said to have rejected to work with Vivek in future. In koffee with karan, the question involving Vivek was deliberately skipped by Rani which proves this fact.

5. Kareena Kapoor was zeroed for the role of Rani in ’’Black’’ by Bhansali. But Big B was not ready to work with Kareena after Abhishek-Karishma breakup. So Rani was chosen to play the lead.

6. After Kunal Kohli, it is Shaad Ali who has cast Rani as the heroine in both his directorial venture.

7. It seems that Rani was unhappy with Kajol resurfacing again in the films. She was unhappy for the fact that she was not cast opposite Aamir but instead Kajol was signed for a Kunal Kohli film.

8. When ’’Kal Ho Na Ho’’ was finalized, Karan Johar had Kareena in mind and since she rejected for no reason, he had cast Priety Zinta for the role. Rani was not informed about this by Karan and she was very upset with Karan’s behavior. Because Karan and Rani are thick friends. She had cried on the sets of ’’The Rising’’ and Aamir had to console her.

9. Rani feels herself comfortable with 2 co-stars, SRK and Aamir. With Aamir, she feels that her chemistry is excellent. Surprisingly, both of them have given her awesome roles in their movies. She denies all the rumors regarding her link ups with the actor-politician Govinda.

10. In a recently held meeting by General Pervez Musharraf in India,Rani was the guest of Honor. Mesharraf had liked Rani’s performance in ’’Veer zaara’’.

11. While the casting of ’’KKHH’’ was on, Karan couldn’t find any actresses’s date for playing the role of Tina. Nobody wanted to do the role which had minimal scope to perform. Rani accepted the challenge and created a bang on the screen.

12. Rani was the initial choice for the lead role in Mira Nair’s ’’The Namesake’’. But because of her tight call sheets for many biggies in the pipeline, she couldn’t accept the role. The role has gone to none other than the much talented Konkana Sen sharma. Earlier Kareena had denied ’’Page 3’’ and Konkana was signed by Madhur Bhandarkar and the movie went on to become the first biggest hit of the year 2005. But sources say that Konkana is busy with ’’15,Park Avenue’’ and Tabu is slated to do the role.

Last by not the least, Rani is here to stay doing great movies with great stars, and is the blessed actress to have bagged two awards in almost all award functions held this year.

I would rate this actress 9 on 10 for her excellent acting capability.

(Followup in the comments section.)

In the words of Rani for Fanta advertisement ’’Jo kehna hai, Dil Khol Ke Bholiye’’ in the comments section.

Who is your all time favorite movie personality?

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