Bollywood heroines are changing colour. From being the lady in the white, they are taking on to the shroud in the grey with the alacrity. And, mind, no exceptions....almost. Right from seniors like Kajol, Urmila Matondkar and Karishma Kapoor to the young brigade of Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Isha Kopikkar and Kareena Kapoor, all find being bad and good. And if they are typecast? "Not at all" reasons trade analyst Indu Mirani, "grey is always more interesting than white."

So what do trade PUNDITS attribute this new trend to? " The actresses are accepting negative roles as a challenge to move on. They are tired of the song 'n' dance rountine," feels Taran Adarsh. Indu sees this as a "healthy trend catching on with the actresses because they are looking for variety. And what is more, the audiences are liking it." Taran explains why even an actress like Karishma is playing a negative role in MERA JEEVAN SAATHI. "After having done 40 films, Karishma doesn't want to repeat herself!" The film's director Suneel Darshan adds, "Karishma accepted this role because she had not done something like this before. Her character has different shades."

Venturing into uncharted territory is what excites the actresses today. Isha Kopikkar; who played the evil spirit out to kill hero Sohail Khan in the thriller KRISHNA COTTAGE, took on the role because "the sript excited me. I was comfortable with my role as negative roles don't deter me. What does is, playing a character I am not convinced about even if it's good!"

So when did this trend being? Indu traces it to 1997 "when Kajol played the vamp in the film GUPT. Kajol experimented at the peak of her career." But, Adarsh traces the origins in the 60s. "Leading actresses have been playing negative roles since 1960 when Mala Sinha was the unfaithful wife in GUMRAAH. Her role came as a shock to people at that time, but today's acresses are BINDAAS!"

So we had Urmila Matondkar playing evil in KAUN and PYAAR TUNE KYA KIYA; Priyanka Chopra following up the act in ANDAAZ; Bipasha taking it further with her debut AJNABEE and later, JISM. "Mallika Sherawat in MURDER; Meghna Naidu in Hawas and Kareena Kapoor's BEWAFAA have negative streaks to their characters as well." concludes Adarsh.

It's a trend that will stay on. So stay tuned!