I already put up one random actress post based on the first people I remembered off the top of my head. This time I want to bring together a whole bunch of random smaller actresses that I can cover quickly.  With some fairly random suggestions of films you could watch to get an idea of them, since all their films are kind of the same, one film is as good as another.  This should kind of fill in the background players of the industry, the minor artists who help bring it all together.

Some of these actresses went through their whole career without ever really reaching the highest level of stardom, or reaching it very briefly.  Some of them reached the top level and then retired quickly, not making much of a mark in film history.  Some of them are still at the beginning of their careers and we don’t know yet what will happen.  Some of them seem to have chosen to take a different career path, do fewer and higher quality films.  A lot of them I can combine the “starting out” and “established” categories, because they somehow ended up being permanently established as an actress that is just starting out.  The point is, I don’t have very much to say about any of them!  So I can knock them out quite quickly.

 

 

Raveena Tandon

Her father was a director/producer, she was launched in 1991 opposite Salman Khan and quickly became popular.  Mostly she was known for her sexy dance numbers.  She was famous and the audience liked her, but she never reached the top level of the 90s actresses, more about being arm candy for the hero than taking the lead in her own films.  That changed dramatically around the time of her marriage when she suddenly switched to art films and quickly gained recognition on this smaller stage.

Launch Film

Patthar Ke Phool: Action movie opposite Salman Khan, nothing terribly unusual for Raveena to do, but it was a successful film and got her noticed.

Starting Out

Parampara: One of many similar films, I just picked it because I’ve seen it and it’s hilariously bad.  3 heroine and 3 hero film, Raveena does a good job, but is just one of the crowd of the cast.

Film That Changed Everything

Mohra: This is what Raveena to this day is best known for her.  Or rather, her one song from it is what she is most known for.  An all time classic sexy song, ripe for homages and remixes.

 

Established Films

Zamaana-Deewana: Again, a fairly random selection.  One of many films she did in the post-“Main Cheez Badi” era in which she had a slightly higher profile but was still playing heroine roles.  Only, I really really like this film.

Grand Finale Film

Not applicable, she was never really big enough to need this, she just quietly left the mainstream and started doing something different.

Married Films

Daman: Her first big art film, won her a National Award, this is the second thing you think of when you think of Raveenaji.  Well, 3rd.  First “Tu Cheez Badi”.  Second that Akshay Kumar jilted her in a complicated way that involved at least 2 other women.  And then third, Daman

 

 

Neetu

Child actress who moved on to being a peppy teenage heroine, very popular and distinctive, but never really lead a film on her own or moved out of that teenage level.  And then married and retired at 21, only to come back decades later playing the occasional cameo type role.

Launch Film

Yaadon Ki Baarat: Not her first film, but her breakthrough role as an “adult”.  She was still only 15, but she was playing the role of a heroine.  One of 3 heroines, and not the one with the biggest role, but she had a fun song number and a few lines of dialogue and made an impression.

(star is born)

Starting Out

Not Applicable, she was started by the time Yaadon Ki Baarat hit, it was easier to break into the industry back then.

Change Everything Film

Khel Khel Main: Cute fun college movie which not only got Neetu to a slightly higher level of fame, also got her to a slightly closer level with her co-star and future husband Rishi Kapoor.

Established Films

Doosara Aadmi: Another Rishi movie.  And another multi-starrer.  But one where she had slightly more to do than just be peppy in songs.

Grand Finale Film

Not applicable, she was working on a whole bunch of films at the time she got married, she finished them all and they chugged out over the next few years, but there wasn’t one in particular “farewell” performance.  Plus, Rishi kind of surprised her with the engagement, so she couldn’t really plan for it anyway.

Married Films (all of them opposite her husband, it goes without saying, Neetu always liked having him there for moral support and Rishi likes being there to protect her, whether she was his funny little teenage costar or his wife of 25 years)

Love Aaj Kal: Her first time on screen in 25 years, a tiny appearance right at the end, which made you immediately fall in love with her.

Do Dooni Char: A real full-fledged role, a kind of sequel to all her young romances with Rishi, now seeing them as a middle-aged couple who are still in love.

Jab Tak Hain Jaan: A gorgeous perfect cameo appearance, which instantly makes you believe in true love and happiness in just a few minutes of screentime.

Besharam: A movie we will all pretend does not exist.

 

Sushmita Sen

My personal favorite of the 90s beauty queens.  She won the same year as Aishwarya Rai and was another massively popular and famous model.  But she took her public persona in a very different direction.  She wanted to be a single mother and fought a massive public court battle for the right to adopt as a single woman.  She openly lived with her boyfriends.  She took film roles because they were fun but didn’t seem to calculate her career out.  She adopted a second daughter a few years back, and lives a happy glamorous single life that we should all be very jealous of.  Complete with Shahrukh occasionally helping her and her daughters with their bags at the airport, while her oldest daughter has a little mini-teenage girl heart attack.

(I love these girls.  I want to adopt them!)

Launch Film

Dastak: She played herself, which is weird, “Sushmita Sen winner of Miss Universe”.  Who is threatened by a stalker, eventually kidnapped, escapes, etc.  It didn’t make much of a splash, but she didn’t need a splash she was a beauty queen, everyone knew who she was already.

Starting Out

Not really applicable, she started as a glamorous type who wasn’t going to be the sweet traditional heroine and wasn’t easy to cast, and she stayed there.

Film That Changed Everything

Biwi No. 1: Sush has a wonderful time playing the cheerfully amoral (not evil, just amoral) mistress of Salman Khan, being glamorous and happy and sexually free and confident.  Plus, got to be in an all-time fun song hit.

Established Films

Main Hoon Na: Maybe her best film.  Strong confident sexy woman who is attractive because she is strong and confident and sexy and our hero wants an adult heroine, not a little innocent girl type.

Grand Finale Film

Not applicable.  Sush always took smaller roles if they were good for her, she just slowly started talking more smaller roles instead of lead parts, and experimenting with art films a bit, without any big breaking point.

“Married” Films

It Was Raining That Night:  English/Bengali bilingual art film.  Not the kind of film you would expect a former beauty queen to be in.  But then you also wouldn’t expect her to be happily unmarried at 42, or to fight a massive court battle in order to be allowed to be a mother at age 24.

 

Dia Mirza

My second favorite beauty queen of the 90s!  Went a less obviously different way than Sush, but still a bit off the beaten path.  Mixed in mainstream and art films, started her own production house, has a male bestie, and got married late (like, after 30).

Launch Film

Rehna Hai Tera Dil Main: I don’t know how many people think of this as a Dia Mirza film, and how many people think of it as a Madhavan-young-and-cute film.  I suspect the population divides neatly along gender lines.  Anyway, great soundtrack, failed movie, Dia got noticed but then she was already noticed thanks to being a beauty queen.

Starting Out/Established Films

Dus: Fairly typical “Dia Mirza” kind of role.  Only onscreen for a little bit, but makes you like her right away, neatly slots in with the rest of the ensemble.

Big Grand Finale Film

Love Breakups Zindagi: Dia produced and starred in it, it was her big shift to producing films, and it made a decent tiny profit, enough for her to stop acting and focus more on producing.

Married Films

Sanjay Dutt Bio: I just saw this news, and I am FASCINATED!  Supposedly she is playing Sanjay’s current (third) wife.  It’s a great role for Dia, no doubt it will be a very small part (casting Ranbir says they are focusing more on the younger years), but it has to be someone who makes an impression and we like right away.

Special Mention Film

Tezeeb: There’s no good place to put this film, but I have to mention it.  It was one of Dia’s earliest performances, she hasn’t done anything like it since, and it is brilliant.  She plays a sweet innocent mentally retarded young woman who lives with her older sister and brother-in-law.

 

 

Amrita Rao

A cute little actress.  She had a few roles in major ensemble pieces, and formed a popular pair with Shahid Kapoor, then moved on to TV and got married and is currently in the process of fading away.

Launch Film

Ab Ke Baras: A fairly typical launch film, Amrita opposite another newcomer, didn’t make much of a splash, but got her a few connections and got her noticed.

Starting Out/Established Films/Shamita Films

Ishq Vishk: Cute cute college romance film.  A bit more sexually explicit than people were used to, with two very very young looking leads, but the kind of special chemistry that gets them noticed.

Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi: Smaller film with a first time producer, ripoff of Hollywood films like Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Death Takes a Holiday, Shahid has a lot more to do than Amrita.  Kind of typical for her roles, small pretty young heroine parts without much to do.

Vivah: Sweet family romance in which Amrita plays the perfect innocent angelic heroine.  Not a very interesting role, but her chemistry with Shahid helps to carry the film.

Grand Finale Film

Not applicable, she never was there enough to need a big farewell

Married Films

Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hai: A television show.  After her career dropped off, Amrita moved to TV

 

Shilpa Shetty

Young teenage model turned actress, she always had a screen presence that was slightly too sexy for the usual heroine parts, a little too mature.  She transitioned into slightly more adult parts in her later years, then got married and moved in to producing

Launch Film

Baazigar: Kajol’s second movie, Shahrukh’s 8th (and only 2nd as a solo lead), it was a young cast all around.  Shilpa was over-shadowed, but it wasn’t her fault, no one could have stood up to the SRKajol chemistry.

Starting Out

Main Khiladi Tu Anari: Fun sexy songs, great chemistry with Akshay Kumar her co-star/boyfriend (remember that messy thing I mentioned with him and Raveena?  Yeaaaaaah.  There was a bit of an overlap), but not exactly a “heroine” role, the real romance was between Akshay and Saif and Shilpa wasn’t nearly saintly enough to be the heroine.

Big Change Everything Film

Dhadkan: Finally a heroine with some real substance!  A love triangle between Shilpa, Akshay, and Sunil Shetty.

Established Film

Dus: I just really like Dus.  Plus, her role is great, sexy and confident and competant and gets Sanjay Dutt!

Grand Finale/Married Film

She opened her production house with Dishkyaoon and appeared in an item song in the film, which was her first role since marriage.

 

Mahima Chaudhry

A good career, but a very short one.  Went from launched to playing an over the hill version of herself in a tongue-in-cheek cameo in only 8 years.  In some ways it was the problem of starting too high, her launch film gave her the best role she would ever have, there was nowhere to go but down.

Launch Film

Pardes: You have to watch the second half!  The first half has her as a stereotypical village belle type.  But the second half lets her dig in and do different stuff, including an awesome fight scene.

Starting Out/Established Films

Dil Hai Tumhaare: No real reason to pick this instead of the many other movies in which she played the second heroine, but it’s gloriously insane and I’ve reviewed it so I might as well.  Also, PUPPET!!!

Grand Finale Film

There really wasn’t one, she just faded away

Married Films

Dark Chocolate: Bengali movie on the Sheena Bora murder case.

 

Amisha Patel

I don’t know why exactly, but I have always gotten the impression that she is kind of hard to work with.  Plus she had a very messy issue with her family, suing her parents, that kind of thing.  And maybe that’s why, despite being in two record breaking hit films, she never really reached the top level of the industry.

Launch Film

Kaho Na Pyar Hai: The problem was, while Amisha was fine, everyone just remembered Hrithik.

Starting Out/Established Films

Humraaz: A thriller with a complicated plot and two strong male leads.  Amisha just had to play the innocent trapped between them.

Grand Finale/Married Films

Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Lmt:  Amisha somehow ended up playing the bubbly sexy comic parts in her later career and this is one of the first and best of her performances.

Special Mention

Gadar: Ek Prem Katha: A deeply problematic film, that was also hugely popular (possibly still holds the record for tickets sold of an film ever released in India).  Amisha plays a traumatized young woman turned wife and mother and does an excellent job.

 

 

Urmila Matondkar

A career with many starts and stops.  First a successful child actress in Hindi films, then successful in the southern industries, and finally relaunched in the Hindi industry.  And then after a burst of activity, puts out two all time classic brilliant performances in a role, and suddenly more or less stops working after that.

Launch Film

Rangeela: This is at least her launch as a Hindi adult actress film.  And immediately got her noticed, for her dancing and her sex appeal and her acting all combined.

Starting Out/Established Films

Mast: Ram Gopal Verma helped relaunch her with Rangeela, and they were a successful creative team for years, including this film.  Until suddenly she tired of him or he tired of her or something happened and he moved on to Antari Malik.

(RGV is creepy, but he really made Urmila look great)

Grand Finale/Married Films (I can’t pick, all 3 of these are brilliant and have to be mentioned, and they all happened in a row)

Tezeeb: I already mentioned it in Dia’s section, an art film with Shabana Azmi, Arjun Rampal, Dia Mirza, and Rishi Kapoor.  But Urmila plays the emotional center of it all.

Pinjar: Searing Partition drama based on many true stories of the women who were stolen, or left behind, and had to figure out how to build a life.

Ek Hasina Tha: Femme Fatale film noir inspired classic, complete with women in prison, revenge, and an evil man who gets his comeuppance.

 

Esha Deol

Hema Malini and Dharmendra’s daughter, which got her a free pass in the film industry right away.  And yet her career somehow never took off.  I guess proof that nepotism isn’t everything.

Launch Film

Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche: Terrible title, right?  Anyway, it was a decent launch film, opposite another rising star, but with Jaya Bachchan (old friend of the family) playing her mother and there to help out.

Starting Out/Established

Dus: One more time!  I don’t care, I love it.  One of many films Esha was in playing the sexy action heroine.  Which isn’t a great fit for her, but nothing else seemed to work either.

Grand Finale Film

Tell Me O Khuda: Her mother produced it and her father starred, it was one last attempt as a family to get her career going.  And it failed, so she got married and retired for good and all.

 

Diana Penty

I feel like I should throw in someone a little newer!  Diana had a good launch, then disappeared for a bit, and now seems to have started her “starting out” period again, and is moving towards “established”.

Launch Film

Cocktail: A two heroine film and Diana had the boring part.  But she did a good job with it.  And the film was a hit, so people got used to her face.

Starting Out Films

Happy Bhaag Jayegi: This also served as kind of a re-launch, coming back after a 4 year break.  And she seems ready to stick around this time, a sequel is planned soon and she has some other roles lined up.