Okay, I’m going to confess something and I don’t want you guys to think too badly of me for it: I can’t really tell when an actor is bad.
I mean, major overacting I can usually go hmmm at but really, I just take everything as a choice. Like, oh, I guess they’re just playing a person who’s really flat or really histrionic. After all, people can be like that in real life. And at times I’ve thought, huh, that person’s delivery is really monotone and weird and then everyone’s like, oh, they’re great.
In Sonam’s case, I haven’t really paid much attention to her current career, but she’s always seemed at least serviceable to me? I was still living in Pakistan when Saawariya came out and since much of Pakistani cable is Indian channels, we saw the promo for it and then the movie itself. (And that’s another reason this is going to be so interesting–a whole section of Pakistan is going to be exposed to this movie too, by virtue of the fact that however much else they disagree on, they share so much of their pop culture. Put together, India and Pakistan’s population exceeds 1.5 billion.)
Saawariya was her first role, I think, and to me she was fine. Maybe that’s not very confidence-boosting, given the above, but you should already have some idea of what I like and don’t like from what I post. I think it might depend a lot on the role, and perhaps the director. She’s got a great face and expressive eyes. If I absolutely had to point out a flaw, maybe her dialogue can come across as unconvincing under certain extreme circumstances? But the melodramatic heights Bollywood movies reach aren’t where most of the movie will take place. And again, some people are just like that!
I’ve seen a couple of other things with her, some of Neerja and Khoobsurat, and I really don’t think she’ll be the weak link here. It’ll come down to the writing either way.