Bollywood banks on new faces

Call it the natural consequence of newage cinema or the fast growing multiplex culture, but newcomers have never had it better.

(##include msid=43376741,type=11##)While the year 2003 saw as many as 32 new directors making theirdebuts, this year at least double that number of new faces are set for a bigbreak in Bollywood.

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Udita Goswami

Call it the natural consequence of newage cinema or the fastgrowing multiplex culture, fact is that newcomers have never had it betterbefore. Whether it be the petite Udita Goswami from Pooja Bhatt''s, Kanchi Kaul and Arjan Bajwa fromthe recently released , Ashmit Patel who made his debut with, Tanisha in or then the cast, including Amrita Rao,Shahid Kapoor and Shenaaz, among several others. With most producersworking out their economics well, many are finally seeing sense in investing inthe right script rather than blindly signing up a major hero. Withscripts taking precedence over mere star-appeal, new faces are becoming theflavour of the season. The dawning of small-budgeted films is also anotherreason why filmmakers are willing to put their money on talented freshers.(##include msid=43376741,type=11##)

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Tanisha

Whether it be the recently released, which had KanchiKaul and Arjan Bajwa or Pooja Bhatt''s, introducing the Udita, newcomersare all over the place.

Other names that instantly come to mind are (Brande Rodricks), (Ashmit Patel), (Tanisha), (Mehek, Anuj Sawhney) and (Amrita Rao, Shahid Kapoor,Shenaaz) among several others.

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Irrfan Khan

Over the years, the male lead star has always been one ofBollywood''s most standard and staunchly followed filmi formulas. But even thatrule is being openly flouted by several film-makers today. Neverbefore have so many films been made without the presence of a strong hero, witha definite market value. Take any of the recent films. Whether it is, where the talented butunconventional Irrfan Khan plays the title role or,where character actor Rajpal Yadav was the male lead, the concept of a standardhero is fast changing. (##include msid=43376741,type=11##)Even recent films like,,,, and do not have a''distributor-driving'' male star.

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IshqVishq pair Shahid and Shenaaz

Understandably, distributors aren''t hesitant to back contentover star-cast. Says Balkrishna Shroff of Shringar Films, "The cinema goingaudience has drastically altered over the years. "Most of them areyoung, intelligent and are more than willing to see a film with newcomers solong as it has a novel subject," he says. Also, Shroff believes thatthe coming of the multiplex has provided a ready-made market for film-makers whowant to make a film in a limited budget. "Everyone knows that theycan explore their creativity without suffering severe losses. I think this trendis here to stay," he views.

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