Is Parineeti Chopra in hot water after three consecutive run-of-the-mill releases?

Parineeti Chopra became B-town’s favourite and made her way into our hearts in just a few years since she made her mark as the feisty Zoya Qureshi in Habib Faisal’s Ishaqzaade. Her unmistakable zeal for imbibing the character into her soul, her committed performances that make for a wonderful cinematic experience and her ability to showcase a range of emotions are but a few of her qualities that set her apart in an industry that is positively brimming with talent. In the course of her career spanning about a decade, she has also begun to take on more serious roles that allow her to tap into a deeper aspect of her art - she takes on the challenge of playing Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal in the biopic and is an alcoholic divorcee in The Girl on The Train. Though her depictions of the characters she skillfully brings to life tend to be favoured by critics, a jarring fact becomes evident while tracing her filmography - Chopra's mettle has been proven time and again, but it is her films that are often unsuccessful in enchanting the audiences, securing largely positive reviews and garnering massive box office collections.

The latest addition to this list of Chopra’s releases that seem to do her efforts injustice is Dibakar Banerjee’ Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. The film is craftily curated but flimsily executed on multiple instances. However, Chopra’s act of a pregnant, self-made woman who is on the run from her ex-boss’ henchmen is undoubtedly some of her best work on display. She exhibits unsurmountable fear and the determination to escape her predicament which translates to incredible conviction on screen. Film critic Komal Nahta agrees and says, “Parineeti has proven time and again that she is a fine actor who does justice to the role. Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar is just another example of this.” Despite this, the dark comedy has met with mixed reviews. Similar was the case for Saina and The Girl on The Train which leads us to ask one question - How does Chopra’s future in the industry look in the midst of three consecutive run-off-the-mill releases?

Elaborating on the growth of the actress from her first major role to her portrayal of Sandy, Ishaqzaade director Habib Faisal said, “In Ishaqzaade, Parineeti had to work with heightened passion and excessive energy. In Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar, she’s a polished corporate. But she has this incredible restraint and calm when needed in both films. Sandy starts off controlled and then spirals into a huge explosion when she has a miscarriage. Over the years, she has done all kinds of interesting films in roles that require her to be so vulnerable and so composed in spite of all the turbulence around her.”

In Hasee Toh Phasee, Chopra experiments with two different characters that need her to switch between two personas. Sharing his experience of working with Chopra on the set of the film, director Vinil Mathew said,“Parineeti is a great instinctive actress. She relies a lot on her instinct and is blessed with natural acting talent. If directed, she can transform herself into a different person completely. She comes with a great gut feel for acting and has the born ability to deliver well. She truly hits the ball out of the park.”

“She’s a director’s actor, a total script actor. She will completely surrender to the script and the character. In Hasee Toh Phasee, she put in too much hard work to turn into her character after playing Zoya, who was poles apart from the former. In Sandy, I notice that she does not hold onto a typical Parineeti aura. The same goes for Sania, where she has done a remarkable job of changing her look to match the player’s. She spends time absorbing the pace and novelty of the character. That’s what is so special about her,” added Faisal.

When the question of Chopra’s films not faring well is pondered over, audiences are left to wonder if the actress needs to tweak her film selection and perhaps consider roles in movies that are sure to be hits. Nahta agrees, saying, “Ideally, the film should do well. Unfortunately in this industry, even if your performance is not great and the film does well, you get more weightage as opposed to the opposite scenario. Here, everything is success driven and is measured in terms of the film’s success, not the actor’s.”

Contrary to the belief of Nahta, Mathew thinks that Parineeti is on the right track. “She’s well capable of deciding what she would like to explore and it should be left to the actor to expand the bounds of their genres and roles. In the last one year, she’s played such diverse characters that I think she is on a great road of experimentation that is a part of growing and discovering yourself,” he stated.

The uncertainty of complete successes for Chopra seems to be putting her in a shadow of worry for Nahta, who said: “For every star I would prefer that the film succeeds. If her films haven’t succeeded, it isn't great news for her. She’s a very fine performer and I wish she had her share of more successes. She needs to do more commercial films.”

For many Bollywood actors, changing their genre of films has helped propel them from the abyss that Chopra finds herself in. Playing to their strengths is also an effective strategy, which Mathew claims lies in comedy.

“I’m happy to see that she is doing different kinds of roles where she acts well every time and it is a revelation. In my experience, I believe that she has a great sense of comic timing and was great fun in Hasee Toh Phasee. The role required her to get her comic timing right and she pulled that off. The way she talks and the way she enacted the dual character showcased her ability to transform her speech pattern and body movements to better. We were floored by her sense of comedy too and she really knows how to hold a scene together. I would definitely love to see her in more funny roles since I believe that is where she aces her performance,” he explained.

Since Chopra is a proven class performer, the hopes of the audience lies in her being able to churn out a commercial hit in order to add more weight to her existing set of honours in Bollywood.