It has happened to actors before, but seldom has an actress had four releases within six weeks. Amisha Patel, who arrived on the Bollywood scene two years ago, seems to have achieved this impossible.

Amisha, who debuted with Hrithik Roshan in the mega-hit "Kaho Na...Pyaar Hai" which turned the actor into a teenage icon, is going to be seen with Bobby Deol in director Naresh Malhotra's "Kranti" Friday.

That's just the beginning: two weeks later, she returns with actor Aftab Shivdasani in K. Murli Mohan Rao's "Kya Yehi Pyar Hai" followed a fortnight later by another film with him, "Suno Sasurjee."

And going for the overkill, Amisha returns a fortnight later on April 19 with her piece de resistance in Vikram Bhatt's "Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage," which pairs her for the second time with Hrithik. Amisha has declared that the film would be a bigger success than her first film "Kaho Na..."

But whether the audience would be in the mood to watch another Amisha flick by the time Bhatt's love saga comes along remains to be seen.

Down the ages, Bollywood has taught harsh lessons to actors who have had successive releases lined up one after the other with most of their movies faring poorly at the box-office. In the past, actors like Dharmendra and Mithun Chakraborty's careers have suffered due to an overkill of films.

Actor Sunil Shetty still shudders when he remembers how a few years ago, the producer of one of his film "Bade Dilwala" insisted on releasing it on the same day as another of his films "Hu-tu-tu." To this day, he believes both films would have fared better if their releases had been spaced out.

Normally, actors are in a better position to convince producers about their films' releases than their female counterparts. It is unlikely Amisha can avert the avalanche of her films. And it's a matter of chance that four of her films were completed around the same time.

Last year the actress, who prides herself on being the only successful star from her generation who wasn't born in a film family, had two releases: the mega-hit "Gadar" and the flop "Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar."

Her box-office standing is fairly neutral at the moment.

Barring "Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage," which has a charm of its own thanks to the star-pair's "Kaho Na..." reputation and Bhatt's recent blockbuster "Raaz," the other three Amisha films could all fall like ninepins in the absence of reliable co-stars or extraordinary directorial support.

As the box-office braces itself for Amisha release at regular intervals for the next six weeks, trade experts in Mumbai wonder if the spunky girl who featured in two of the biggest hits of the last 10 years - "Kaho Na..." and "Gadar" -- would have her career stymied by overkill.

Back