Numero uno today, gone tomorrow!

Who is the number one actress in Bollywood? That’s a toughie because every season there’s a different face ruling the roost.
Or, it could be as easy as naming the star who had two hits in a year. In 2007, it was Kareena Kapoor with Jab We Met, followed by Priyanka Chopra in 2008 with Dostana and Fashion. This year, it’s Vidya Balan, who won acclaim for Paa and Ishqiya.
However, Kareena has had only 3 Idiots so far in 2010, whereas Priyanka’s last two releases — What’s Your Raashee? and Pyaar Impossible — flopped.Reports suggest that Katrina Kaif’s been looking for new projects and Asin’s planning to head back to the south. After London Dreams flopped, the actress has said, “I’ve no films now. I can’t talk about future projects until my producers give me the go-ahead.”
But industry analysts believe Bollywood actresses have a lot of potential. “The era of working in 100 films is over. Now, actresses do only select projects. Their career span is 6-7 years, within which they want to show their talent. They don’t aim at being number one, they want substance,” says trade analyst Komal Nahta. “An actress having three releases in a year can be a coincidence because release dates do clash. But this can also be manipulated by her PR agents for her to bag more projects,” he adds.
Film critic Taran Adarsh feels an actress’s fame seems short-lived because of PR activities. “Last year, whatever Priyanka did made news and this year, it’s all gone,” says Taran. Also, stars becoming more picky accounts for their disappearances. “They believe in taking a break and presenting themselves in a new avatar with every release. But it shouldn’t be so long that audiences forget their good work,” he says.
Director Madhur Bhandarkar says the industry banks mainly on male-dominated scripts. “Most directors are scared to give the baton solely to an actress because they feel they won’t get support from producers,” says Madhur.
Scriptwriter Kamlesh Pandey agrees that not many scripts are written for women. “That’s because we don’t have actresses like Rekha, Waheeda Rahman or even Madhuri Dixit anymore,” he says.
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