Astounding, graceful and appealing as ever, this gritty teenager Bong babe took the road less traveled, to make her presence felt in the Bollywood scenario, at a time where Bollywood starlets were making debuts on screen. The actress who has mesmerized the audiences at large with her creatively talented genes, Rani Mukerji will forever be the Queen of our Hearts. From the dimpled smile and the break-into-a-giggle laughter in Ghulam to the Belly gyrating maneuvers in her latest Aiyyaa, she has done it all to trod on the untrodden! Today, as our always smiling and lively Rani Mukerji turns almost into three and half decades of nonchalance, flamboyance and characteristic aplomb, we celebrate the Rise and Fall of this Queen with equal fervour, twitched with a bit of spice at the end!

‘I was 17 when I made my foray into films’, Rani recalls in an interview as we started drawing light into the never spoken angst of Rani, the newcomer making her mark in the industry. An industry, enveloped with nepotism and fuelled with the bitter secrets of one’s bedrooms then, it was an arena not considered safe for girls, mainly ones who lacked an industry godfather! Breaking the jinx with a disastrous Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat which did no good to Rani’s career-graph at all, Rani was almost sure of quitting films. But it was her mother’s faith and belief that helped Rani face the struggles too damn nicely. A story that started with a short appearance in a Bengali film, Biyer Phool suddenly started to attain mammoth proportions as Rani became the new ‘it’ girl of Bollywood.

While the industry has brushed her off after a disastrous debut, it was Vikram Bhatt’s Ghulam that made her a familiar face. From the peppy Aati kya Khandala number, Rani zoomed on to sign the best deal of her life, with the magnanimous Dharma Productions for KJo’s debut rom-com Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. A path breaking performance by Rani Mukerji fetched her Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award and brought out the actress in her with true power. From there, it was no looking back as the princess was all set to win a million hearts, as she traversed from the role of a princess to a queen! It is not unknown that since the 1990s, the Khan clan has been ruling the rooster and it still does, with Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan being the main batton carriers of the league.While numerous feuds were and are still reported between the three box-office kings, Rani ahs been one heroine who has shared healthy and crackling chemistry with all the three heavyweights. Be it Hello Brother with Dabangg Khan, or Ghulam with our desi Mangal Pandey, and but-obviously the scintillating screen coupling with Badshah Shah Rukh, Rani still is very fond of all the three Khan stalwarts who has, in a  way, helped her carve a niche for herself. Undergoing a perfect paradigm shift from highly commercial senseless films to purely commercial but definitive films, Rani transformed into a consort of a battleship with some power packed portrayals on screen.

Underplaying Suhani in Saathiya to donning the Bengali Shashi with panache, Rani had the balls rolling in her court as she choose her films with much gusto and did films that appealed to her, with regards to fleshy characters! And then came a performance that has gone down the Hall of Fame in the History of Celluloid when Rani took over to play the deaf and blind Michelle with eased perfection. Hum Tum stamped on Rani’s versatility as she gave one hit after the other and became the perfect choice for all film makers, as the queue of producers increased with each coming sunrise! After reaching the highest pinnacles of her career, where there was no room for any improvement, it was time for Rani to maintain a consistency in her performance. Her performances there after, though got huge critical acclaim failed to connect with the audience and the shimmering actress who was making everyone skip a heartbeat when she lighted up the screen suddenly started falling a tad too out of place.

The Fashion police banged the hell out of her and everything started to come to a shattering end when Rani took off from her acting schedule to prepare herself for some even better heights ahead in her career! Finally after a year long sabbatical, Rani got back on screen donning the role of ladki-turned-ladka (ahem, you know it, silly) in Dil Bole Hadippa depicting both the XX and XY chromosomal characteristics with honesty but the film did not quite live up to the expectations. But a hard hitting Meera Gaiti, the feisty crime reporter lending a helping hand to Vidya Sabrina Lal did show the stamina that Rani was still an epitome of. None the less, a grumpy Aiyyaa act tickling the funny bone and a spectacular performance in Talaash later, Rani is all set to capture the throne that she once ruled and owned! Amidst all this hoolaboo of Rani’s so called comebacks, with the actress posing a strong argument against her films being touted ‘come-backs’, the dusky diva who has been there done that wants to live on with her boots left behind! With memories etched in people’s hearts and with creatively insane performances that hammer her credibility, Rani is definitely ‘Forever Rani’. But with the rumour mills abuzz with her impending marriage with beau Aditya Chopra, the YRF scion doing the rounds since ages now, her fans are obviously eagerly waiting for that D-Date when our beautiful and lovable Rani plans to tie the knot! And with the entire Shatrughan Sinha statement blown out in the Media recently, the day doesn’t seem too far. Does it?