Sunday 18 March 2012

Who Is The Queen Of Bollywood? 2012 Edition

As we've entered into the new year, let's take a look at who is surging ahead in the cat-race known as Bollywood, and who is the Queen B? Last year's winner Kareena Kapoor had a very successful year so let's see how she's done in this year's chart.

Let me just explain how the list was worked out. I have taken into consideration the following things: Acting ability; Star power; Critical acclaim; Box office performance in the past 12 months; Upcoming projects; Fan following.

So taking eveything into consideration, here is the list of the annual UBD Top 20 list for the Queen Of Bollywood.

#1 Kareena Kapoor
Bebo manages to hold off the competition for another year. She's been having a dream run the last few years with stellar performances (Jab We Met, Kurbaan, We Are Family) as well as blockbusters (3 Idiots, Bodyguard, Ra.One, Golmaal 3). She's got it all: critical acclaim, fan following, endorsements, BIG movies (Talaash, Heroine, SLB's next), and she's one actress who is here to stay.


#2 Vidya Balan
Vidya's last 12 months have been absolutely amazing, therefore she shoots right into the Top 3. Possibly the most talent of her generation. She picks her roles very well, and seems to score at the box office too. If she continues this way, we could see a new number soon. But she'll have to work very hard to topple Bebo.


#3 Priyanka Chopra
Piggy Chops slips a place, due to the failure of some movies, although she remains this high due to having 2 big hits recently (Don 2, Agneepath). She is set to have one of her best years yet with Krrish 3 in the pipeline and upcoming projects with Ranbir, Shahid as well as her music career. She's supposedly done a track with none other than David Guetta.



#4 Katrina Kaif
Although she has the biggest fan following, her acting abilities let her down, and she fails to crack the Top 3. She has improved immensely over the last few years, but she still has a long way to go. Her box-office appeal is undeniable and she is one of the most hard-working divas we have today. To rise to the top she needs to do more challenging work, and improve her diction and voice modulation.

#5 Rani Mukherji
I know it looks odd to have this legend below Katrina, but it's only because she's done such little work in the last few years. If she continues to churn them out, non doubt she can regain lost glory. She has two releases towards the end of the year to look forward to, which will no doubt propel her career upwards once again.

#6 Anushka Sharma
This young diva has shot ahead of her contemporaries in such a short space of time. Her performances are spellbinding. Her most recent stint in Ladies vs. Ricky Behl may have been a bit of a wasted opportunity but still, her potential is sky high, and I reckon she will be the next queen in a few years time. She's working on upcoming projects by Vishal Bhardwaj with Imran Khan and Yash Chopra's London Ishq with SRK.

#7 Kangna Ranaut
Kangu is in a class of her own. She continues to churn out amazing performances every year, but is let down slightly by some odd choices (No Problem, Rascals). I believe she is the only one who can give Anushka a run for her money in the future.Her upcoming movies don't seem too promising, but let's wait and see what she can bring to the table.

#8 Bipasha Basu
Who'd have thought this Bong Beauty would last 10 years+ and still be at the top of her game? Not many, but she has outlasted many of the girls that started with her a decade ago, and she's still showing the young ones how it's done (no names mentioned). Still one of the sexiest females of the industry, she's commanding impressive roles in her movies. This year we'll see her in the sequels: Raaz 3D, Race 2 and Ghayal Returns. Way to go Bips!

#9 Aishwarya Rai
The original Heroine. Even though she didn't have a release in 2011, she is still high on the charts due to her popularity and the fact that she won some awards early last year and was shooting for Madhur Bhandarkar's film. Her media presence has always been sky high since she first appeared on the scene in 1993. That's no mean feat. Her upcoming project is the Rajkumar Santoshi project Ladies And Gentleman.

#10 Asin
Another girl who showed great promise in her debut Hindi role: Ghajini (2008), Asin, originally from the South then went into hiding. She re-emerged in 2011 with a big fat blockbuster in the name of Ready. This year she has Housefull 2, Bol Bachchan and Wanted 2.

#11 Deepika Padukone
She started her career with a bang and instantly became the hot new girl on the block but after mid-2010 her star seems to be fading. This year she was seen blink-and-miss roles in Aarakshan and Desi Boyz. She still has a few happening projects in the pipeline so let's see how she does this year.

#12 Mahie Gill
Having recently been nominated in the Filmfare Best Actress category, her star status has shot through the roof. She is immensely talented as seen in Dev.D and Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster. And her recent movie Paan Singh Tomar has also done very well. She has been signed on to reprise her role in Dabangg 2 which is a sign of great things to come.

#13 Sonakshi Sinha
Only one film old yet she made such a gigantic impression, and with the lack of strong competition she has risen to the top half of the countdown already. Sinha has no less than 4 releases lined up this year including: Rowdy Rathore and Joker (both with Akshay Kumar), Lootera (with Ranveer Singh) and Son Of Sardar (with Ajay Devgan).

#14 Kalki Koechlin
She came out of nowhere in 2009, and swept the awards for her debut performance in Dev.D. She has gone on to star in many acclaimed films and continues to make a strong impact on the scene. Time will tell how far she goes.

#15 Genelia D'Souza
Having recently got married this young talented actress has given some memorable performances albeit in bad films. Out of the new lot she is the one that is using her potential the least. I hope she signs some good projects.

#16 Sonam Kapoor
She started with the brilliant performance in Saawariya (2007) and Delhi-6 (2009) and was great fun in the rom-coms I Hate Luv Storys and Aisha (2010) however this year has not been great. And the future doesn't look great either. If Players flops then she has to go back to the drawing board and do some serious soul searching

#17 Shahana Goswami
National Award winning starlet has wowed us with her performances in films like Rock On!! and Firaaq, she also outshone starlet Deepika Padukone in Break Ke Baad and made her presence felt in one of 2011's biggest hits Ra.One. Her upcoming movie is Heroine with Kareena Kapoor.



#18 Chitrangada Singh
She stole the show in Desi Boyz. She has great screen presence and has shown a lot of promise. She started out in 2005 but hasn'tmade many movies. Let's hope she signs a few more. She will next be seen in an item number in Joker.

#19 Amisha Patel
After initial success (2000-2002) followed by a series of flops she has been plotting a comeback. She is said to have no little than 6 releases in 2012: Race 2, Run Bhola Run (with Govinda) , Shortcut Romeo (with Neil Nitin Mukesh), Bhaiyyaji Superhit (with Sunny Deol), Power (with Ajay Devgan) and a few untitled projects directed by Priyadarshan and David Dhawan.

 #20 Parineeti Chopra
One-film old newcomer Parineeti is cousin of Priyanka Chopra. She was one of the highlights in Ladies Vs. Ricky Bahl. She done comedy very well, she danced very well in the song Jigar Da Tukda and who can for get her dialogue "I'm looking Red Hott". Her upcoming film Ishaqzaade will co-star Boney Kapoor's son Arjun Kapoor and is due for release in May 2012.



Thursday 15 March 2012

Ishaqzaade Trailer

Parineeti Chopra + Arjun Kapoor in Ishaqzaade
Hot new diva on the block Parineeti Chopra returns for her second outing with newcomer Arjun Kapoor - the son of Boney Kapoor.

Fresh from sweeping all the awards for her debut performance in Ladies Vs Ricky Behl - the new Chopra girl wows in the trailer to her next release which is out on May 18, 2012.


Wednesday 7 March 2012

Happy Holi 2012

UBD's blog wishes all it's readers a very happy holi.


National Film Awards 2012

The much coveted National Film Awards were announced today, and Vidya Balan joins the illustrious list of women to receive the Best Actress award for her performance in The Dirty Picture.

Vidya Balan wins National Award


Here is the full list of winners:


Best feature film: Shared by Deool (Marathi) and Byari(Kannada)
Best Actor: Girish Kulkarni for 'Deool'
Best Actress: Vidya Balan for 'The Dirty Picture'
Best film critic: Manoj P Pujari
Special Jury Award: Anjan Dutta
Best Book Award: Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal for the title
'R.D. Burman The Man, The Music.'
Best Music Direction: Neel Dutt for Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona
Best Background Score: Mayookh Bhaumik for Bengali film Laptop
Best Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya for 'I AM'
Best Female Playback Singer: Rupa Ganguly
Best Male Playback Singer: Anand Bhate for 'Bal Gandharva'
Best Costume: Neeta Lulla for 'Bal Gandharva' (Marathi) and Niharika
Khan for 'The Dirty Picture' (Hindi)
Best Choreography: Bosco and Ceaser for 'Zindagi Naa Milegi Doobara'
Best Special Effects: 'RA.One'

Best Editing: Praveen KL for 'Aaranya Kaandam'
Best Marathi Film: 'Shala'
Best Hindi Film: 'I AM' directed by Onir
Best Bengali Film: 'Ranjana Ami Aar Ashbo Na' directed by Anjan Dutta
Best Dogri Film: Dille Ch Vasya Koi
Best Kannada Film: Kurmavatara
Best Manipuri film: Phijigee Mani
Best Punjabi Film: Anhe Ghorey Da Daan
Best Tamil Film: Vaagai Sooda Va
Best Non Feature Film: And We Play On
Best Debut Film of a Director: The Silent Poet (Manipuri)
Best film on Social Issues: Mindscapes...of Love and Longing shared with Inshallah, Football (Kashmiri, Urdu and English)
Best Film On Family Values: Red Building Where the Sun Sets (English)
Best Screenplay: Vikas Behl and Nitish Tiwari for 'Chillar Party'
Best Adapted screenplay writer: Avinash Deshpande
Best Dialogue: Girish Kulkarni
Best Child Artist: Partho Gupte for 'Stanley ka Dabba' and the Chillar
Party Group
Best Children's Film: Chillar Party
Indira Gandhi award for debut film director: Thiagarajan Kumararaja for 'Aaranya Kaandam'
Special Mention: Director Shari for 'Adi Madhyantam' (Malayalam Film) and Mallika for 'Byari' (Kannada Film)

Congrats to all winners. 

Vidya now joins the likes of Priyanka Chopra, Karisma Kapoor and Smita Patil who have each won the prize.

Madhuri Dixit Unveils Wax Figure In London


Madhuri Dixit became the latest Bollywood star to have herself immortalised in wax at Madame Tussaud's London.

The biggest Bollywood Diva of the last 25 years arrived in London this week for the unveiling of the statue which cost £150,000 and 3 months to produce.

We are eagerly awaiting for Mads to sign a new film as it's been 5 years since she came back from her last career break of 5 years with Aaja Nachle (2007). According to the rumour mill, la Dixit will next be seen in Vishal Bharadwaj's Dedh Ishqiya along with Kangana Ranaut.








Here is the video of the making of the wax figure:


Tuesday 6 March 2012

Madhuri Dixit Arrives In London

Madhuri Dixit | Maddame Tussaud's

The Queen of Bollywood Madhuri Dixit has arrived in London today and gave me the inspiration to re-ignite my blog. She is in the U.K. to unveil her wax-work figure at Madame Tussaud's this week. She will be visiting radio stations to promote the event.

Here she is with BBC Radio DJ Noreen Khan at the recorded interview with fans.
Madhuri Dixit with Noreen Khan