Tara-Kareena-Alia's Tales Of Survival

Bollywood has not fully tapped the survival thriller genre. Especially, if the lead is a woman.

Still, a few films have explored the genre to different levels of success.

Joining these league of films is Tara Sutaria's Apurva, releasing November 15, where she plays a survivor, who is kidnapped and now needs to escape from her tormentors (played by Abhishek Banerjee and Rajpal Yadav) through rugged terrain.

It's an author-backed part, and promises to shows off a yet-unexplored side to the gorgeous Student Of The Year 2 actor.

But before that, Joginder Tuteja lists films in this little explored genre.

Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaane Jaan

Recently, we saw Kareena in the survival thriller drama, Jaane Jaan, streaming on Netflix.

As a victim of an abusive ex-husband, all hell breaks loose when he re-enters her life.

In the quest to save herself and her daughter, Kareena is forced to take the extreme step of eliminating him and then trying to figure out how to save herself from the police.

 

Sonam Kapoor, Neerja
Box office collection: Rs 75.65 crore (Rs 756.5 million)

Ram Madhvani directed Sonam Kapoor in Neerja, a film that told the true story of a brave PanAm flight attendant Neerja Bhanot.

Neerja helped saved 300 passengers on board, but was shot dead.

Neerja is the highest grossing survival thriller with a female protagonist.

 

Alia Bhatt, Udta Punjab
Box office collection: Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million)

Alia played a migrant from Bihar in Udta Punjab who finds herself in Punjab, and is tormented by the local mafia as well as the unruly law and order system.

She gave a very good performance, catching the nuances of her character just right.

 

Anushka Sharma, NH 10
Box office collection: Rs 32.39 crore (Rs 323.9 million)

Anushka Sharma plays an urban young woman who finds herself on the outskirts of Gurgaon, where she has to save herself from ruthless local goons, spearheaded by Darshan Kumar.

Almost a horror story because of what Anushka's character goes through, NH 10 sent shivers down everyone's spine at many junctures.

 

Nora Fatehi, Roar
Box office collection: Rs 11 crore (Rs 110 million)

Kamal Sadanah's ensemble film Roar tells the story of a bunch of youngsters who find themselves in a forest and get attacked by a tiger.

It did have its moments and though Nora went on to find her fame with her dance moves, the film will be remembered as her first as a lead actress.

 

Janhvi Kapoor, Mili
Box office collection: Rs 2.24 crore (Rs 22.4 million)

An official remake of the Malayalam film, Helen.

It tells the story of a young girl who gets locked in a freezer storage room, and has to survive until she gets rescued.

She did well in the film which unfortunately went unnoticed on its theatrical release.

 

Manisha Koirala, Agnisakshi
Box office collection: Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million)

Back in the '90s, there were a few survival dramas featuring actresses.

Among them was Manisha Koirala in Agnisakshi where she had to escape the clutches of an evil, possessive, husband played by Nana Patekar.

She was excellent in this Partho Ghosh directed film which had Jackie Shroff as the leading man. The film was a blockbuster.

 

Karisma Kapoor, Shakti - The Power
Box office collection: Rs 8.48 crore (Rs 84.8 million)

Nana Patekar played an evil man yet again in Shakti: The Power.

Karisma Kapoor plays a young mother whose husband Sanjay Kapoor gets killed and subsequently, she finds herself and her son all alone in the hinterlands of Bihar.

She has to escape her father-in-law (Patekar) and how she does that forms the core of the film.

 

Urmila Matondkar, Kaun
Box office collection: Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million)

Was she the tormented or the tormentor? That was the exciting twist factor of Kaun, which had Urmila Matondkar playing a damsel-in-distress in her own home.

As a young woman who is terrified due to presence of two strangers, Manoj Bajpayee and Sushant Singh in her bungalow, Urmila displays various shades of her acting facets in this brilliant film by Ram Gopal Varma.