Bollywood divas who made their debut in Tollywood

Tollywood has witnessed a sizable influx of Bollywood actresses since the black-and-white days. Bollywood divas have been part of Bengali cinema since the 60s (for instance Sharmila Tagore’s debut in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Apur Sansar’). In fact, a few Bollywood actresses have even made their debut in Tollywood before making a name for themselves in Hindi cinema. Here we take a look at the Bollywood beauties who made their debut in Bengali cinema.

Directed by Subrata Sen, the film revolves around a mentally unstable girl gets obsessed with the new tenant. The story deals with how the tenant and his fiancée deal with this obsession. This movie is Konkona Sen Sharma's cinematic debut playing the obsessed girl Ria.

Radhika Apte has so far acted in three Bengali films namely, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s ‘Antaheen’, ‘Rupkatha Noy’ by Atanu Ghosh and ‘Pendulum’ directed by Soukarya Ghosal. ‘Antaheen’ was her debut film as a lead actress. She was also cast in a short film ‘Ahalya’. Her Bengali accent and diction are quite remarkable for an actress of Marathi descent. The dusky beauty has always said she has developed something like a love affair with Bengali films and particularly Bengali directors, whom the actress finds unmatched in their sensitivity and intensity.

Following her mother Sharmila Tagore's footsteps, Soha Ali Khan made her debut in a Bengali film in 2004. Anjan Das' Iti Srikanta is the first screen coming out of Soha, despite the fact she had a lineup of many Bollywood films awaiting release at that time. The story is based on Sarat Chandra's 1917 novel Srikanta. It beautifully places two women, who are totally opposite to each other and creates his usual love triangle. The two women Rajlakshmi and Kamalatha can't be more different. Rajlakshmi is a prostitute living in her own bungalow and Kamallatha is a vaishnavite who is residing in an ashram. Soha was seen as Kamallatha.

Another Bollywood diva of Bengali origin Rani Mukerji made her cinematic debut with a film closer to her roots, ‘Biyer Phool’, opposite Tollywood superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee. Interestingly the 1996 romantic hit was directed by her father Ram Mukherjee. Not many people know that ‘Biyer Phool’ was shot in Gangtok and coordinated with the filming of ‘Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat’, another home production and Rani's Bollywood debut, which was simultaneously shot at the same place.

Vidya Balan, in her debut appearance, excelled as Anandi in the National Award-winning Bengali film ‘Bhalo Theko’. The Gautam Haldar directorial happens to be Vidya’s cinematic debut, which also won her first-ever film award in the Best Actress category. Released in 2003, this Bengali film traces the growing Naxalite movement in West Bengal in the 1960s. ‘Bhalo Theko’ follows a non-linear pace often jumping between present and past. The female lead character ‘Anandi’ was described as a large canvas painted in several hues. She stood her ground against rootless internalization and perplexed culture.

Raakhee Gulzar made her acting debut in the Bengali film ‘Badhu Baran’ in 1967, directed by Dilip Nag and within no time she got a break in Bollywood with Rajshree Productions’s ‘Jeevan Mrityu’ (1970) opposite Dharmendra which catapulted her to stardom. Born on August 15, Independence Day, this light-eyed and beauteous Bengali actress has always exhibited a strongly independent streak in the manner in which she steered the course of her life and career.

‘Apur Sansar’ (The World of Apu) is the final film in Ray’s ‘The Apu Trilogy’ which saw the debut of Sharmila Tagore. It won Satyajit Ray 3 international awards – Best Original and Imaginative Film at the 1960 London Film Fest, Diploma of Merit at 1960 Edinburgh International Film Fest and Best Foreign Film declared by National Board of Review Awards (US). It also received a nomination for Best Film at 1962 BAFTA Awards.