It is one of the toughest tasks to choose the best performers of the 100-year old Hindi cinema. Starting from legend KL Saigal* to the brilliant Irfan Khan, we got many of them. So I have restricted myself
to the last 20-years and picked up only the so-called ‘
heroes’ or regular ‘stars’ of Hindi cinema.
So don’t be upset if you can’t find names like Naseeruddin shah, Om Puri, Sanjeev Kumar or Kamal Hassan in the list!
1.
Amitabh Bachchan If he was in the US …he would have won an Oscar or if he was in Kerala he would have got national award for best actor many times!
Actually Bachchan was first spoiled by some stupid Hindi film makers and their gangster movies and later by the advisors of his own ABCL. But like a phoenix ….he did resurrect!
He is one of the great entertainers in India. But if analyzed carefully we find that his acting is not superficial as that of many ‘great entertainers’ of our cinema. He really behaves as the character on screen. This acute asthma patient with unmatched energy even in his late 60s (!) is my number one Hindi actor.
My favorites: Khaki, Dev, Kaante and many other recent movies.
2 .
Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Dutt is one of the most versatile actors whom I watched in Hindi cinema. (But he is always presented as a gangster.)
1- gangster in Vaastav,2-Murli Prasad in Munnabhai MBBS and Sanju in Khoobsurat. The last scenes of Vaastav, the scene of Khoobsurat in which Sanju reveals his identity to Urmila and those where he shares the screen with Boman Irani in MMBS are the scenes to be analyzed to know his versatility and accuracy in acting.
His comedy timing is excellent. His ability to deliver one-liners and punchy paragraphs(!) is amazing. And above all he moves his face-muscles with the exact proportion. Among these Hindi actors he is my favourite too.
Best performances: Vaastav, MMBS, Khoobsurat, Musafir, Mission Kashmir, Kaante , Deewar etc.
3 .
Aamir Khan I am a Keralite and I haven’t seen many Hindi heroes pulling such big crowds in Kerala like this man does. Here people prefers to watch Malayalam ,English and Tamil movies. Only then… they watch the Hindi films. But if there is one Aamir Khan film..they definitely go for it. He is loved by Malayalis from those old days of QSQT, Dil and “Jo jeeta…”
The Hindi films that influenced Keralites in recent times are ‘Lagaan’,’Dil Chahta Hai’ and ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’. See the presence of Aamir Khan factor!
Best performances: Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Sarfarosh etc.
4.
Anil Kapoor I can’t believe the mileage this man has got! I think it is only because of his acting skills. He never overacts and presents the characters without any distracting mannerisms.
Best performances: Viraasat, Taal, Mr. India,Pukar, Musafir, Nayak and Parinda.
5.
Akshaye Khanna The most promising actor emerged in the last 10 years. I hated him in films like AALC and Taal. But after watching him in Humraz, Hungama , Hulchul and Deewar… the first word with which I can describe him is ‘brilliant’ and the subsequent words will be ‘versatile’ and ‘choosy’. He is technically a brilliant actor. He really excels when subtle emotions are to be expressed. He is definitely the super actor of our times.
There are many others who give us excellent performances but somewhat stereotyped. I include some names in a list of “actors who CAN really do well” , they are:
1. Akshay Kumar : Effortless acting ,good comedy timing and fine looks that fits well for an Indian actor.
Good performances so far: Mujhse Shadi Karogi, Khaki and Hera Pheri.
2. ShahRukh Khan :
The superstar is gradually recovering from his image-trap and it is a good news. ( Dear SRK,… please escape from that Karan Johar …!)
I expect Shahrukh to show his full potential as an actor.
Good performances: Ashoka, Swades and Raju Ban gaya Gentleman.
3. Uday Chopra:
He acted well in Dhoom. I am not sure whether he will be consistent or not.
4. Vivek Oberoi.
He can really rise to the top if he will ‘choose’ the roles and try sincerely.
*KL Saigal was a great actor too. I happened to see a Doordarshan show about the old celebrities. He delivered natural acting when there was only the theatrical kind of overacting in our cinema. Watch the scenes from film ‘
President’ if you get a chance.