Why is Sonam Kapoor still a choice for many Bollywood producers?

There is an old saying that a child learns from his or her elders. However, to this, some of the young Bollywood stars may retort in a dramatic Nhi! Nhi! Nhi! just like the melodrama in Ekta Kapoor serials. Almost every senior actor from Anil Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, and Amitabh Bachchan to Sridevi is always praised for their award-winning acting skills. But, unfortunately, these young stars namely Tiger Shroff, Arjun Kapoor among others have not inherited those acting skills from their elders. Sonam Kapoor is another prime example of this. She faced severe existential crisis but has somehow managed to survive due to her father’s name and fame.

Whether it’s Nargis, Madhubala or Rekha for that matter, they have always presented excellent acting skills. Actresses like Taboo, Vidya Balan and Kangana Ranaut time and again made efforts to deliver the best and tried to maintain a legacy, proving that old is gold. On the other hand, young stars like Richa Chadha, Ananya Pandey and Sonam Kapoor to name a few, made us realize the Hindi saying – Haar chmakti chij sona nhi hoti.

Sonam’s debut in Bollywood

Sonam Kapoor’s debut movie was ‘Saawariya’, that starred Ranbir Kapoor along with Sonam. Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the movie directly competed with Shahrukh Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ and the outcome was disastrous. The songs of the film were quite moving and they were well advertised. A few agendas were also moderated, but the outcome remained the same.

Similar to Saawariya, ‘Delhi 6’ was a complete failure. In 2010, they ended their losing streak when ‘I Hate Luv Stories’ made a little bit more money than anticipated. But ‘Ayesha’ failed to take off soon after. Both had brought in, Rs. 43.17 crore and Rs. 17.55 crore, respectively.

In 2011, Sonam Kapoor had two more film appearances, but sadly, they were both box office duds. ‘Thank You’ and ‘Mausam’ both made roughly 46.57 and 29.75 crores respectively, at the box office. Even in 2012, Sonam felt let down. Her lone movie, ‘Players’, achieved just 28.93 crores at the box office.

Little flight and a major fall

Soon after her debut, Sonam was seen gaining momentum. The movies in question were ‘Raanjhanaa’ and ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. The two movies brought in 60.35 crore and 108.93 crore respectively.

She appeared in two movies in 2014. They were ‘Bewakoofiyaan’, which had its budget cut to Rs 14.01 crore which ended up failing, and ‘Khoobsurat’, which too came dangerously close to failing. Dolly Ki Doli, a 2015 Sonam Kapoor movie, was also a disappointment, grossing only about Rs 19.26 crore, while ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ was a huge success, and Sonam gets no credits for that.

Prior to Sonam Kapoor’s success with ‘Neerja’ in 2016, this hit-and-miss pattern persisted. People discovered Sonam has some acting experience thanks to this Ram Madhvani-directed movie, Neerja. The movie, which was about air hostess Neerja Bhanot’s sacrifice, brought in about Rs 75.61 crore.

But now the issue is, what if Sonam wasn’t in this movie and Mrunal Thakur, Kiara Advani, or Yami Gautam were cast in her stead? Because it was initially a director-led picture where the character herself was larger than life, the movie would have continued even then. And what’s more is that it would have been an even bigger hit.

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Truth unveiled

In 2019, when Sonam Kapoor’s two movies, ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga’ and ‘The Zoya Factor’, were released, the true issue became apparent. Both movies failed miserably. Both movies made a total of Rs 20.28 crore and Rs 3.12 crore, respectively.

Sonam had to carry these two movies on her own, and it was obvious that she lacked the acting chops necessary to turn them into box office successes.

The issue is that Sonam Kapoor has worked in the field for 15 years already. She has appeared in at least 20 films, of which 10 have been flops. However, a few of her films have come close to being modest hits, and the same two or three films have gone on to become box office successes. Despite this, she not only obtains movies but is also a choice for producers and directors.

She has been cast in the authorised adaptation of the South Korean movie ‘Blind’, and has also been officially confirmed for the movie ‘Battle of Bitora’. The question that arises is how is she still this much popular that she is constantly receiving movies. Is it because of PR and advertising agencies that have maintained her diva image over all these years? As we all know, talent is not necessary to make it big in the Bollywood industry.