Are Ranbir & Katrina Bollywood's Next Hit Pair?

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani Stars Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif

Nov 12, 2009 Biswita Mozumdar

The romantic comedy directed by Rajkumar Santoshi is expected to be the next blockbuster.

A TIPS production, it released on November 6 2009. TIPS industries is a large business enterprise that has movie, music and star promotion divisions. The runaway success of Ajab Prem brought the limelight on two stars who were celebrities in their own right, but seen together on the big screen for the first time in their respective careers.

Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir Kapoor is a youth icon, and regarded as one of the finest talents among the new breed of young actors. His debut opposite Sonam Kapoor in the much hyped Sanjay Leela Bansali Saawariya met with little critical acclaim or commercial success. However Ranbir's performance was noticed and lauded.

His next Bachna Ae Haseeno, the chronicle of a commitment wary, fancy free bachelor, struck a chord among the cinegoers and met with good sucess at the box office. Ranbir was cast opposite three heroines - Minisha Limba, Bipasha Basu and current girlfriend Deepika Padukone.

Ranbir's latest Wake up Sid opposite Konkona Sen Sharma was very successful at the muliplexes (it was recently declared a semihit). It was released on October 2 2009, and surprisingly survived the 2009 Diwali onslaught. Both Ranbir and Konkona are reported to have delivered fantastic performances.

Katrina Kaif

Katrina Kaif's rise to the top has been meteoric. After a less than successful debut in Boom, she was first paired opposite Akshay Kumar in Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, with whom she would go on to deliver her career's greatest hits (Namaste London, Welcome, Singh is King). Katrina also proved her own mettle in the Abbas Mustan multistarrer action thriller Race, and the 2009 hit New York with John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh. Other projects in the pipeline include De Dana Dan, again opposite Akshay Kumar, and Rajneeti.

Katrina was intially criticized on many accounts - her dubious acting skills, her eye candy acts opposite Akshay Kumar, her inability to speak fluent Hindi and her British accent ( since she is partly of British origin). But New York was regarded as the turning point in her career when her performance received positive critical reviews.

Incidentally, Katrina was mostly cast opposite heroes who were far older (Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan) in the initial stages of her career. This year Katrina has finally had the chance to work with actors of comparable age - John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and now Ranbir Kapoor. The Ranbir Katrina jodi (pair) may be the next big thing.

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Ranbir Kapoor in Wake Up Sid