One of the reasons why Boney Kapoor chose to call his new film Khushi is his second daughter. Sridevi an
"Everyone on the sets called me Khushi throughout the making of the film -- Boneyji, Srideviji, even Fardeen [Khan] -- so much so that I became completely one with the character," recalls Kareena at Mumbai's Mehboob Studios while applying makeup for a photosession for Sooraj Barjatya's Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon. Though Barjatya's film is not named after her character Sanjana nor is Dharmesh Darshan's film Bewafaa named Kajal after Kareena's character.
Titles have very often proved lucky for the film. Take the great Nutan's Seema and Sujata. While many of Nutan's male titled films -- like Kanhaiya with Raj Kapoor, Laat Saaheb with Shammi Kapoor and Maharaja with Sanjay Khan -- bombed, she carried films that revolved around her and with her character's title on her frail shoulders.
Earlier, there was Nargis in Laajwanti, Jogan and, of course, Mother India, and Meena Kumari in Parineeta, Sharda and Pakeezah playing title roles.
It was Jaya Bhaduri who patented the trend towards female-oriented titles with a series of films beginning with Guddi, where she was the whole and soul in her career's infancy. With Mili, Jaya decided to quit films. But not before she popularised the trend towards heroine-titled films.
In the same year as Mili, there was B Nagi Reddy's prestigious Julie. Three years before these two trendsetters came, Raj Kapoor's Bobby, a title which no one liked and later no one could ever forget.
Together, Bobby, Julie and Mili heralded a neo-generation of Mother Indias in mainstream cinema. Many children born in the era of this trio of films were even named from these films. Curiously, we have never had a trend of children being named after popular male protagonists such as Baiju Bawra or Saraswatichandra.
In fact, whenever a leading lady made a strong impact in a male-titled film, audiences have informally campaigned to rechristen the film. Many thought Boney Kapoor's Mr India and Indra Kumar's Beta and Raja should have been named Miss India, Beti and Rani after Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit.
Whether it was Rekha in Khoobsurat and Umrao Jaan or Sridevi in Chandni almost invariably, heroine-titled films have attracted large attention. The only leading lady in recent times who wowed both critics and audiences in the title role was Karisma Kapoor in Fiza and Zubeidaa.
Now it is her sister Kareena Kapoor's turn.
Said one filmmaker, "I never thought Boney Kapoor would be able to rise and shine again after his series of setbacks. But Khushi took me by surprise so did Kareena. Both Boney and Kareena need to prove themselves. This is their chance to do so."
Khushi
is a picture in the same vein as Waheeda Rehman's Guide or Shabana Azmi's Arth. Neither film was named after the pivotal characters. Khushi is, to a large extent, Kareena's film. Though Boney Kapoor says it would make male lead Fardeen as successful as the more famous Khans of Bollywood: "So far, the industry jokingly referred to Kajol as the fourth Khan superstar after Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. After Khushi, I think we will finally have another genuine Khan superstar."In a sense, heroes of yore had more innocence. Dev Anand agreed to support Waheeda's route to immortality in Guide, never mind if the film wasn't named after her character Rosy. Dharmendra and Sunil Dutt sportingly played second fiddle to Nutan in Bimal Roy's Bandini and Sujata respectively.
Much later, Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar agreed to support Hema Malini's leap in Seeta Aur Geet
In recent years, the only female-centric film that found strong male support was Rajkumar Santoshi's Lajja, where Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff gamely contributed to charting a feminine map-of-the-heart. In fact Anil has repeatedly done female-centric films -- Beta, Mr India, Judaai, Eeshwar -- without cringing at the reversal of patriarchal rules.
Will Khushi do for Kareena what Chandni did for Sridevi?