Bollywood's Comeback Queens

Post- 30 was always considered the wrong age for starring roles if you are an actress in mainstream Bollywood. But then, times are changing. Thirty-plus actresses are returning with rage. Take a look

The buzz in B- Town right now is that Aishwarya Rai- Bachchan will make a comeback in 2014 with Mani Ratnam’s Bollywood adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, Rebecca .

This is turning out to be a year of the returning divas. Thirty-plus actresses are returning with rage from a sabbatical. Post- 30 was always considered the wrong age for starring roles if you are an actress in mainstream Bollywood. But then, times are changing. Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta and Manisha Koirala are all raring to go with authorbacked roles. All these divas will also hope to avoid the same fate as that of Karisma Kapoor’s comeback film, Dangerous Ishq , which flopped earlier this year.

PREITYZINTA, 37 RETURNS IN: ISHKQ IN PARIS LAST RELEASE: HEROES ( 2008) Although she did the item number, Happening, in the 2009 film Main Aurr Mrs Khanna, Preity has been absent from the screen for long. She returns with the self- produced Ishkq In Paris, a romantic comedy set in Paris. The film highlights the casting of veteran international actress Isabelle Adjani in a special role

MADHURI DIXIT, 45 RETURNS IN: DEDH ISHQIYA & GULAB GANG LAST RELEASE: AAJA NACHLE ( 2007) Madhuri tried a return with the Yash Raj Films- produced Aaja Nachle about five years ago, but the film flopped. After returning to India permanently with her family, she wants to focus full- time on reviving her career. She has already made an impact on reality TV. She will be seen in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Dedh Ishqiya, sequel to Ishqiya, and the gritty Gulab Gang

MANISHAKOIRALA, 42 RETURNS IN: BHOOT RETURNS LAST RELEASE: I AM ( 2011) Manisha was one of the top stars of the 2000s with films such as Bombay, Agnisakshi and Khamoshi, but then faded away over the years. Lately, she had been resorting to doing roles in low- budget duds such as Ek Second Jo Zindagi Bana De and Sirf, besides being part of an assorted cast in Onir’s episodic art film, I Am

SRIDEVI, 49 RETURNS WITH: ENGLISH VINGLISH LAST RELEASE: MERI BIWI KA JAWAAB NAHIN (2004) Sridevi’s comeback was being planned for almost a decade but the actress was just not getting the right script. English Vinglish, directed by debutant Gauri Shinde, casts her as a middle- class homemaker who sets out to master spoken English. The film is a comedy, the genre that made her a superstar in the Eighties

RANI MUKERJI, 34 RETURNS IN: AIYYAA LAST RELEASE: NO ONE KILLED JESSICA (2011) Rani’s return should have happened earlier this year with the Aamir Khan- starrer Talaash but the release of that film got delayed. She will now be back with Aiyyaa, a comedy that casts her as a dreamy young girl who is obsessed with the idea of finding the perfect south Indian man for herself