Kids who sidelined the Bollywood stars 
By Satish Sundaresan, December 27, 2007 - 16:38 IST
Someone rightly said that said that there are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child coz' there are seven million! Well, what do we say more, except for the fact that children are the most innocently divine creations of the Lord Almighty. And these innocently divine creations have a major 'role' to play in Bollywood.
As Darsheel Safary gets praises for his performance in Taare Zameen Par, IndiaFM tracks down some of the films which starred adults but ultimately, it were these children who walked away with the laurels coz' of their brilliant performances.
Anjali
This Mani Ratnam starrer was dubbed in Hindi from the Tamil version by the same name. The film starred the powerhouse of talent, Revathi along with the south actor Raghuvaran. The main lead of this film, Baby Shamili ripped apart the screen with her phenomenal acting and stole the thunder from the lead actors. Complementing her act were co-stars Master Tarun and Baby Shruti. The trio raised the bars so much that their performances remain unmatched even today. Talks are strife that even if there was an Anjali 2, it would not have matched the original. In true sense of the word, Anjali simply rocked and how!
King Uncle
This Rakesh Roshan-directed film saw today's superstar Shah Rukh Khan along with Jackie Shroff. 'King Uncle' Jackie was someone for whom money meant everything in life. The starlight of this film was the then-little kiddo, Pooja Ruparel, who later went on to do the eternal role of 'Chutki', the younger sibling of Kajol in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, the magnanimous hit of all times! Pooja Ruparel changes Jackie's life forever right from the moment she steps in it. In a film, which had a galaxy of stars (read magnanimous stars), here is one girl who stood apart with her talent and her innocence, which made her get connected instantly with millions of cinegoers. In the end, she came across as a strong contender for Gen-Next era of superstars. But very unexpectedly, she got lost into oblivion and was last seen in a couple of serials and ads.
Makdee
Makdee is the story of a witch who is rumored to be turning children into animals if they wander away into her villa. Even though the film starred heavyweights like Shabana Azmi, Makrand Deshpande and others, the real show stealer was the 'actual hero(ine)' of the film, Shweta Prasad. She showed to the world that age is only a number and can stand up to anyone, with the sheer power of talent! She not only matched up to the histrionics of these two stars, but actually, she outdid them, not just with one role but a double role. She scored on the popularity charts with amazing ease with her brilliant role in the film.
Post Makdee, she went on to do films like Iqbal, Darna Zaroori Hai, Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi and now the girl is all grown up and only wants to do serious roles.
Hey Babyy
Heyy Babyy marked the debut of the Bollywood's funnyman Sajid Khan. It starred Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Fardeen Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, and Boman Irani. But the central character of the film was Baby Juanna, the cute and adorable little kid who is fathered by the trio- Akshay, Fardeen and Riteish. News is that after having auditioned many kids, Sajid Khan zeroed on this kid as her smile was too infectious, something that Khan had wanted when he wrote the script for the film. It's also said that during the making of the film, Riteish bonded so well with the baby that whenever the baby used to cry/ play mischief, Riteish used to baby sit the child for hours and the baby would feel tad comfortable in his company!
Mr. India
This is yet another masterpiece, which came from the stable of Shekhar Kapoor. This starred Anil Kapoor and Sridevi in the main leads. Complementing their presence were a whole bunch of children for whom their 'Arun Bhaiyya' (Anil Kapoor) meant the world.
Technically speaking, this was India's first 'real' attempt in the sci-fi genre. The kids did complete justice to each and every role assigned to them. The outcome of this film happens to be today's 'grown-up' stars Aftab Shivdasani, choreographer turned director Ahmed Khan. Till today, the cine goers' hearts simply light up with delight and nostalgia fills up their mind every time they see Mr. India on screen, coz' it happens to be a film which was and still is a on children's must-watch list!
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