Who's that girl: American dancer Lauren shot to fame as a finalist on So you Think You Can Dance 3, with her jazz-funk and hip-hop moves. She has featured in Disaster Movie and Hannah Montana: The Movie.
Bollywood calling: Lauren is probably the first bonafide American actress to make a heroine's debut in mainstream Bollywood. She stars opposite Prabhu Deva in ABCD - Anybody Can Dance.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Nidhi Subbaiah Debut: Ajab Gazabb Love
Who's that girl: Nidhi, 25, is a Kannada actress born in Coorg and raised in Mysore. She set off to study civil engineering but dropped off when modelling beckoned. Her early popularity as a model fetched her film roles, and Nidhi has already done 10 films since her debut Telugu film, Sweetheart, in 2009.
Bollywood calling: She has a cameo in Akshay Kumar's production, Oh My God!, but her full-fledged debut as a Bollywood heroine happens opposite Jackky Bhagnani in Ajab Gazabb Love, a romantic comedy.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Pallavi Sharda Debut:Besharam
Who's that girl: Indian-Australian Pallavi was born in Perth and brought up in Melbourne. A trained Bharatnatyam dancer, she was crowned Miss India Australia in 2010. She has worked in an Australian comedy film, Save Your Legs.
Bollywood calling: Pallavi makes her debut in Abhinav Kashyap's Besharam opposite Ranbir Kapoor. She has had her brush with Hindi films though, having done cameos in Love Breakups Zindagi and Dus Tola.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Tapsee Pannu Debut: Chashme Buddoor
Who's that girl: Tapsee, 24, is a Delhiite who studied at Mata Jai Kaur Public School in Ashok Vihar. She was a software engineer for a while, and reportedly developed Fontswap - an iPhone app. After a modelling stint and an appearance on the reality show, Get Gorgeous, she got roles in Telugu and Tamil films.
Bollywood calling: Tapsee will be seen in David Dhawan's remake of the Sai Paranjpye's cult comedy hit, Chashme Buddoor.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Priya Anand Debut:English Vinglish
Who's that girl: Priya, 25, is a star of Tamil and Telugu films. Her big releases include Leader and Vaamanan. Born of a half-Telugu, half-Marathi father and a Tamil mother, Priya claims she can speak in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, English, Bengali and Spanish. She studied journalism at the University of Albany.
Bollywood calling: Priya makes her debut in Gauri Shinde's English Vinglish, which has been in the news for being Sridevi's comeback film. Priya plays a strong character in the content-driven film.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Ileana D'Cruz Debut: Barfi
Who's that girl: At 24, Ileana is already a veteran of sorts - having worked in 18 Tamil and Telugu films till date. Having won a cluster of popular awards, Ileana is considered one of the most bankable stars down south. Born in a Goan family, she started out as a model and went onto do blockbusters such as Devadasu, Kick and Jalsa in the South.
Bollywood calling: Ileana makes her Bollywood debut with Anurag Basu's Barfi, co-starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. The much-delayed film, finally releasing on September 14, casts her as the character through whose eyes the story unfolds.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Alia Bhatt Debut:Student Of The Year
Who's that girl: Being Mahesh Bhatt's daughter obviously makes a Bollywood entry quite easy but Alia isn't making her debut in a film helmed by her dad. Karan Johar, who has cast Alia as his heroine opposite Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra in his upcoming film Student Of The Year, has been gushing about the newcomer.
Bollywood calling: Alia's debut film is a breezy campus rom-com and she represents the new-age college girl. This is the first time Karan Johar is directing a film with a rank new lead cast and Alia's challenge lies in measuring upto the standards of Kajol and Rani Mukerji - K.Jo's regular favourites.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Diana Penty Debut:Cocktail
Who's that girl: Diana, 26, started out as a model, ramp-walking for Italian designers Trussadi and Ferre in 2005, and has also sashayed for Rina Dhaka, Rohit Bal and Wendell Rodricks. She shot to fame replacing Deepika Padukone as the brand ambassador of the cosmetics giant, Maybelline.
Bollywood calling: Ironically, Diana's debut film, Cocktail, sees her share screen space with Deepika. She was recommended to the film's actor-producer Saif Ali Khan by Imtiaz Ali who almost cast her in Rockstar. Cocktail, a rom-com about a guy and two girls, casts Diana as Meera, a simple Indian girl with traditional values.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Angela Jonsson Debut: Sher Khan
Wh's that girl: She is the Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt 2011 winner who admitted dating Ranbir Kapoor a while back. Half-Icelandic, half-Mangalorean Angela, 22, made it to the Times 2011 list of 50 Most Desirable Women in India.
Bollywood calling: Angela recently signed an exclusive three-film deal with Salman Khan's home production company, and her first release will be the superstar’s superhero project, Sher Khan.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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Sunny Leone Debut:Jism 2
Who's that girl: Everyone in India knows Sunny by now. The Indian-Canadian porn star who made waves on Bigg Boss last season will definitely have the most-hyped debut this year with Jism 2 this August. Born Karanjit Malhotra to Sikh parents in Ontario, Sunny worked in a bakery and a tax firm before adult films beckoned. Despite admitting to bisexuality, Sunny, 31, is married to coactor Daniel Weber. They own a porn film production house, Sunlust Pictures. Bollywood calling: In Jism 2, Sunny plays a girl who is send as a honeytrap by a cop to nail a criminal. Even before the film opens, she has signed Ekta Kapoor's Ragini MMS 2.
Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
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The coming months will see as many as 10 newbies gunning for stardom. The fresh lot comes from familiar stock - some flaunt a modelling background, others are suitably of half Indian-half-foreign origin, still others are southern imports. All of them will strive to be the next Katrina Kaif or Kareena Kapoor. Few of them will manage to make a mark while most of them will disappear in a few years' time. We take a look at Bollywood's budding poster girls. Text by Vinayak Chakravorty
