12 years, 18 films and 11 successes: In Sonam Kapoor’s defence

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Joginder Tuteja

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga has released, and well, gone away in really quick time. The film has flopped at the box office even though it was received kindly by the critics. However, audiences chose to give the film a cold shoulder. As a result, it has barely managed to cross Rs 20 crore at the box office.

While that is unfortunate enough, considering it tapped upon a taboo subject of homosexuality, unsurprisingly even Sonam Kapoor was targeted. Fingers were pointed at the actress’ performance and questions raised about her truly being in synch with the graph of the narrative and depth of the character.

That is not all. Kapoor’s Bollywood career graph came into scrutiny as well. That seemed to be truly unwarranted and here’s why:

While constructive criticism is a must for any film or its actor, facts and figures do not lie. This is where Kapoor could have a question or two for her detractors. A look at her Bollywood stint since her debut in Saawariya (2007) would make you realise that she has easily delivered more successes than failures.

Being in the industry for 12 years and with 18 releases behind her, Kapoor has seen as many as 11 films eventually turning out to be profitable for its producers. That is a good track record for the actress in an industry where not more than 25 percent of the releases typically end up recovering their investment.

What makes her recent stint more remarkable is the fact that Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is her first flop in five years.

Believe it or not, the last time her film did not do well at the box office was in 2014 (Bewakoofiyaan). As a matter of fact, the film was produced by none other than Yash Raj Films and featured current favourite Ayushmann Khurranna opposite her.

However, since then, she saw seven back-to-back successes before Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga.

While Khoobsurat emerged successful on the basis of good word of mouth, Dolly Ki Doli covered its costs even though it did not quite cover the distance. In both these films, she was the central protagonist with the narrative revolving around her. As an actress, she did impress in both.

Then, she delivered as biggie with Salman Khan in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and her presence indeed lit up the screen. On the other hand, she came up with a career best performance in Neerja which went on to emerge as a huge superhit at the box office, Playing Neerja Bhanot, Kapoor was quite realistic as she came up with a subtle and understated performance.

Later, in PadMan she had a good part to play in the Akshay Kumar starrer. Not many leading ladies would have consented to play a part like this, which could have been tagged as that of a supporting actress. However, she took that risk which paid off as the film emerged as a decent success.

She took an even bigger risk with her home production Veere Di Wedding, as it was Kareena Kapoor Khan who got the meatiest part. Still, there were no complaint as the film took one of the best starts ever for an A certificate film and worked really well with the audiences. Result? A superhit again.

There was an all-time blockbuster too in the form of Sanju even though Kapoor would be the first to admit that it was not really her film as a leading lady. At best, she had a special appearance in the Rajkumar Hirani and Ranbir Kapoor affair.

Similar was the case with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Farhan Akhtar's Bhaag Milkha Bhaag which had come before Bewakoofiyaan and had emerged as a superhit. That said, Raanjhanaa was her very own as director Aanand L Rai had strong conviction that Kapoor would be able to pull through her part.

That was major faith that the Tanu Weds Manu director had in her as she was coming fresh of the hat-trick of failures in the form of Players, Mausam and Thank You. None of these films were either critically or commercially appreciated and Kapoor too did not win many brownie points for her presence in them.

These were early days though for Kapoor who was just getting her comfort zone in front of the camera, with the commercial failures of Saawariya and Delhi 6 being followed by box office earners I Hate Luv Storys and Aisha where she got into a chic avatar.

For an actress who was forever targeted for being way too chic in the aforementioned films as well as in real life, Kapoor did not mind getting into the 'desi suit salwaar' mode for Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga. Guess that was one transition that could not be digested by many out there.

However, come The Zoya Factor, where Kapoor plays the part of Zoya Singh Solanki -- the lucky mascot of the Indian cricket team -- tables could well turn around for the actress all over again. Expected to be seen in her fashionista avatar all over again, Kapoor could stop the tongues from wagging further.

(Joginder Tuteja is a trade expert and film critic, and loves to talk and write about anything that is related to films. Views are personal)