Sonakshi Sinha came into the industry with her father Shatrughan Sinha’s backing, and to her credit, did better than her brothers, Luv and Kush, in a male-dominated industry, which for decades did not allow daughters to enter films, this by itself is an achievement.
The second big advantage was that she made her debut in Dabangg opposite Salman Khan in a film that was bound to be a hit. After this, in spite of acting in a few hits, she was left behind in the race to the top slot by Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Anushka Sharma, who gave hits without the support of male superstars. Even younger actresses like Alia Bhatt and Parineeti Chopra are looking for interesting roles, even if the films do not make tons of money.
This week’s release Akira, will prove whether she has it in her to pull off a film by herself. Based on the Tamil hit Mouna Guru, the script has been rejigged to make the main character female, but whether the new action avatar will boost her career or not would depend on how it does at the box office. Just imitating male action heroes is not enough, as the failure of Kangana Ranaut’s Revolver Rani and Priyanka Chopra’s Jai Gangajal proved.
Except perhaps for Lootere, Sonakshi’s choice of films has been a bit off, in the sense she has been playing the dispensable, interchangeable showpiece leading lady in most of her films. The worst would easily be Action Jackson in which she played a girl obsessed with seeing the leading man (Ajay Devgan) undressed, because that supposedly beings her luck.
Her filmography has titles like R...Rajkumar, Son of Sardaar, Bullett Raja, Holiday, Tevar, Dabangg 2,and it would be difficult to recall just what she played in these films, but for the generic singing-dancing-damsel in distress lead, and the hero’s love interest; her competitors in the successful bimbette stakes being Katrina Kaif and Shraddha Kapoor.
In other ways, it has not been easy for her—she was trolled and body shamed for not being stick thin like her contemporaries. For a long time, she was defiant and stood up to then. Eventually, she did have to buckle under pressure and make an attempt to lose weight. Whether a masala actioner with AR Murugadoss will be seen as a smart career choice or desperate move will depend on how the film turns out to be and how it is received.