Tabu can look as svelte as Jennifer Lopez, but can J.Lo act like Tabu in Maachis and Chandni Bar?

Tabu, the actress par excellence, has the passion to romance the nuances and portray people as fragile and transparently emotional. Even in a nondescript film like Dil Ne Phir Phir Yaad Kiya, she created a character in a role devoid of challenge and appeal.

Sure, Tabu can look as svelte as Jennifer Lopez, if she (and her trainer) set her heart on it. But can J Lo act like Tabu in Hu Tu Tu, Maachis, Astitva or Chandni Bar?

Once, during the shooting of Hu Tu Tu in Pune, Tabu burst into tears while emoting for one of the songs. When I told Lataji (Lata Mangeshkar, who had playbacked the songs), she laughed, “Did she cry because my singing was so bad?”

Today, Tabu who turns 52 on November 4, finds herself at the crossroads. Where does her career go next? In the past few years there has been a gradual shift in her positioning from leading lady to ‘character’ actress. In the Salman Khan-starrer Jai Ho, released in January 2014, she played Salman Khan’s sister. Leading ladies in Bollywood don’t do that unless it’s a film like Mansoor Khan’s Josh, where Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh played twins but were anything but sibling-like in their conduct. Worse, still was Tabu’s decision to play mother to Shahid Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in Haider and Fitoor respectively.In Drishyam ,her only other release during the last two years she was cast opposite Rajat Kapoor and not the film’s leading man Ajay Devgn.

Tabu has made brave choices as an actress. But these choices have one after another shut the door on her career as a leading lady. In Hindi cinema you can’t play mother to the heroes and then expect them to  play your romantic leads. And unless you play romantic leads you are not considered an A-lister in Bollywood.”

Tabu’s colleague Kajol has realized this tragic fact .She has accordingly adhered to the leading lady’s roles even after crossing 40. Tabu, on the other hand, for all her talent has no significant assignments on hand right now.

Her illustrious aunt Shabana Azmi thinks Tabu’s career is impervious to dips and curves. “Hits and flops will make no difference to Tabu’s career. She is a class apart and will always be the first choice for strong roles of characters her age. She is beautiful in a unique way. Doesn’t look like a manufactured product and she is a versatile actor. People think of her as a dramatic actor but she also has a keen comic timing and a terrific mimic like her mother. More power to her on her birthday.”

Our industry is know for being sexist since decades. Heroines’ careers used to end when they were 30 and the men played heroes till 60 at least. Clearly, this has been no country for women.

But having said that, we had Bimal Roy, who created really powerful female characters. We have Vishal Bhardwaj, who has given Tabu some of her meatiest roles. We have Shoojit Sarkar who gave Deepika Piku and Ram Madhvani who gave Sonam Kapoor Neerja. Kangana Ranaut has been acting in films where she has the author-backed role. Today, the scene is much better for actresses. Sridevi made a solid comeback with English Vinglish and she followed it up with Mom.

Where is that one film all great actresses are referenced by? Where is Tabu’s Mother India or Arth?

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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