Beautiful? Check.
Hardworking? Check.
Talented? Reasonably.
Hardworking? Check.
Talented? Reasonably.
Despite all the ingredients in their personality, these young ladies of tinsel town missed the mark, again and again. Is it a case of sheer bad luck or wrong career moves? Only the movie Gods can answer.
Meanwhile, rediff.com takes a look at what went wrong.
Shamita Shetty
She began her career under the Yash Raj banner in Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein, which also launched chota bhai, Uday and a bunch of other newbies. Ruling the cast were Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai. Sure, Mohabbatein was a success. But it was Big B and SRK who walked away with the laurels.
When interesting leads roles didn't come her way, Shilpa Shetty's younger sibling went on to sizzle in item numbers like Sharara (Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai) and Chori pe chori (Saathiya) followed. Both the songs were huge hits.
Just when Shamita look all poised to strike gold, bloopers like Wajahh: A Reason To Kill and Agni Pankh didn't help her cause. Nor did her vampish or sexy avatar in Fareb and Bewafaa. Although Zeher, featuring the chartbuster, Woh lamhe, did decently at the box office, Shamita was yet to arrive. Her next release, Cash is yet another multistarrer, directed by Anubhav Sinha.
Recently, the 28-year old was in news for doing a Britney Spears. What a pity, considering the pretty face possesses the confidence to fare better.
Dia Mirza
She won the Miss India and Miss Asia Pacific titles in the same year as Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta. Her delicate features and charming aura, notwithstanding, Dia is yet to achieve the kind of star status her colleagues have.
Her debut, Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein, opposite Madhavan and Saif Ali Khan, was a remake of the Tamil hit, Minnale. Dia showed promise but the film didn't do well.
A chain of flops -- Tumko Na Bhool Payenge, Deewanapan, Dum, Tumsa Nahi Dekha, Fight Club, Blackmail followed, though her portrayal of a mentally challenged girl in Khalid Mohammed's Tehzeeb was appreciated.
Dia is mostly seen in multistarrers now. Her Parineeta and Dus were hits. Hopefully, so will her upcoming release, Shootout In Lokhandwala, where she plays a journalist.
Nauheed Cyrusi
Her nymph-like appearance set her modelling career rolling. After appearing in several commercials and a hit music video (Piya basanti), Nauheed took the next natural step -- movies.
She was touted as the 'next' Preity Zinta. But fate had other plans.
Instead of opting for rom-coms that would do justice to the Parsi beauty's chirpy disposition, Nauheed opted for serious fare like Supari, Inteha, Lakeer and Anwar -- all box office washouts. Ditto for her last release -- Life Mein Kabhi Kabhie.
If only the girl was more selective in her choice of films.
Hrishita
When Shah Rukh Khan is the hero and producer of your first film, a historical epic at that, the sky is the limit. Unfortunately, the much hyped Asoka failed to live up to expectations and Hrishita's talent went largely unnoticed.Next, she worked with Abhishek Bachchan in the moving drama, Shararat. Unfortunately for Hrishitaa, AB Jr himself was struggling to survive at that point. And the film's failure only added to their collective misery.
The starlet, eventually, graduated to bit parts in Ab Tak Chhappan, Kisna and Ankahee. Not to mention her hopeless attempt at doing a Mallika Sherawat-Neha Dhupia combined in the C-grade Jigyaasa.
Gracy Singh
Imagine your first film, as heroine, gets nominated for the Oscars in the Best foreign film category. Life can't get better than this, right?
Gracy Singh was picked over the likes of Rani Mukerji to play Gauri in Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan. She got to work with the likes of Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgan. She even played Munnabhai's original object of affection (in Munnabhai MBBS). And in Bollywood terms, it's nothing less than being Lois Lane.
Although she had both hits and talent going for her, Gracy, surprisingly, didn't get the kind of offers one would expect.