Similarly, most actors rejoice in playing someone else. Nonetheless, when the opportunity to portray a personality they can closely identify with, comes their way, the challenge is sportingly accepted.

The tradition of actors playing actors in movies is not new. In the past, Bollywood has witnessed Waheeda Rehman's delicately nuanced performance of a dedicated muse in Kagaz Ke Phool, Smita Patil's heartbreaking ups and down in the big bad world of Bhumika, Dharmendra's reel and real turn as a genuine softie in Guddi, Kaplana's spoilt star ways in Teen Devian, Manisha Koirala's lonely success in Akele Hum Akele Tum and Madhuri Dixit's fiery on-stage outburst in Lajja, to name a few.

Up next, director Sanjay Chhel's Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam features the oddball duo of Paresh Rawal and Mallika Sherawat as a pair of crazy theatre actors. The comic caper, also starring Rahul Bose, is slated for an August 22 release.

rediff.com profiles actors who faced the arc lights, for the movies in a movie, in recent times.

Bipasha Basu, Bachna Ae Haseeno

The so-called small town girl from Ranchi turned Mumbai's leading superstar sure knows her Gucci from Dolce & Gabbana.

Bipasha Basu's Radhika undergoes a dramatic personality (and name) change, after a brutal dumping session at the altar by her live-in boyfriend, Mr Jerk (Ranbir Kapoor). Her rechristened avatar, namely Shreya, is nothing short of Hitler in Jimmy Choo heels.

Text: Sukanya Verma

Also Read: What makes Bipasha excited

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