Happy Birthday Rani Mukerji: The Unconventional Heroine We All Love

Rani Mukerji is a Bollywood heroine who is anything but conventional. Perhaps that’s the reason why people love her even more. She did come from the filmy Mukherjee-Samarth family of cousins, uncles, and parents who were all known names in the industry but she carved a niche for herself on her own despite not quite being the exact picture of what a typical Bollywood heroine should look like or act like. The repertoire of her movies includes all genres of cinema and she has proved her mettle in all. She is also one of the few heroines who has given hits working with the Khans of the industry.

Unconventional Looks

Image Courtesy: www.bollywoodbubble.com

When Rani entered the movie industry in the 90s, the likes of fair-skinned heroines like Sridevi, Divya Bharti, Karisma Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, and Urmila Matondkar were popular. Rani’s hazel eyes were also a far cry from the kaali-kaali aankhen of the heroines. She was not a leggy lass and she did look like a simple next door girl. It was only after a glam makeover by Manish Malhotra for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, that she started getting noticed but she still managed to get ahead in the industry with her charm.

Unique Voice

Image Courtesy: www.vogue.in

We all love the honey-coated voice of Madhuri, the sugary sound of Juhi’s laughter or the childish and naughty sound of Karisma Kapoor’s voice. But Rani Mukerji’s hoarse voice quality was pretty unusual for a heroine at that time. In fact, her broken voice was dubbed in her second movie Ghulam as it did not have the typical higher-pitched sound of a woman. This almost happened for the second time during Kuch Kuch Hota Hai but by then Rani had modified her voice albeit only to a little extent so that no dubbing was required. The rest, as they say, is history.

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Hatke On-Screen Portrayals

Rani Mukerji’s debut was anything but the usual. She chose to foray in Bollywood with a social drama Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat where she played a rape victim who had to marry her rapist. Her supporting roles in movies with stellar casts were appreciated still whether it was Tina Malhotra’s role in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai which won her an award that year or the role in Kamal Haasan’s Hey Ram which was critically acclaimed. In Yuva, she stood out amidst Kareena Kapoor and Esha Deol as an actress of substance.

Later on, she did several movies with challenging subject matters such as Black in which she played a blind-deaf girl, Mardaani where she played a tough cop who has to deal with sex trafficking, Hichki where she played a teacher suffering from Tourette syndrome and even played a Mary Poppins like character in the kids’ movie Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic. The only common factor was that she continued to entertain audiences with her presence on the screen.

Thank you, Rani, for standing out from the crowd of Bollywood heroines, choosing stories that touched our hearts and for showing us that a girl with unconventional looks and choices can also taste box-office success.

Her Zindagi wishes you a very Happy Birthday and loads of success for your future!

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