Here is a list of 10 great performances in no particular order:
Ranveer Singh in Padmaavat
Ranveer Singh played the fierce and cruel antagonist Alauddin Khilji in Padmaavat. The actor focused for more than a year on his character in the film. All his hard work was lauded by critics and audience alike.
Alia Bhatt in Raazi
Young and talented Alia Bhatt plays Sehmat in such simple manners that there is no way we could relate with her. Raazi is a story of an Indian spy marrying a Pakistani Army official.
Varun Dhawan in October, Sui Dhaga: Made in India
Varun Dhawan’s Dan in October wants to become a chef but is struggling with the adversities of being an ‘understudy’ in a five-star hotel. His Mauji in Sui Dhaga: Made in India captured the struggles of small towner in achieving his dreams. Varun completely rips off his commercial image and shows how good an actor he actually is.
Rajkummar Rao in Omerta, Stree and Newton
Rao’s character in all three movies was vastly different. In Omerta he plays Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, British terrorist of Pakistani descent. He played a small-town expert tailor Vicky in Stree who fights the ravening spirit of his town. Rao plays Nutan “Newton” Kumar in Newton where he is a rookie government clerk on reserve is sent on election duty to a Naxal-controlled area.
Deepika Padukone in Padmaavat
Playing the titular role, Deepika mesmerized us with her Rani Padmavati. This medieval period drama looked incomplete without Deepika.
Ayushman Khurrana in Andhadhun, and Badhai Ho Badhai
In Andhadhun he plays Akash, a pretend-blind but a brilliant pianist getting embroiled in a murder plot. For Badhai Ho Badhai, he lays 25-year old who is super awkward on finding his middle-aged mother pregnant. He was simply brilliant in both roles.
Vicky Kaushal in Sanju, Raazi and Manmarziyaan
With three films in one year, Vicky was amazing in Sanju, surreal in Raazi and enigmatic in Manmarziyaan. His two Netflix specials- Lust Stories and Love Per Square Feet just went on to show that Vicky Kaushal is here to stay.
Pankaj Tripathy
The talented star had 7 releases this year. It didn’t matter if the movie was a hit of or a miss, Tripathy was hard to miss in any frame that he was present in. His Netflix special The Sacred Games and Amazon Prime Special Mirzapur has garnered loads of praise for this simplistic actor. We all are waiting for the second seasons to get released next year.
Sonam Kapoor in Veere Di Wedding and Padman
Sonam had a brilliant run this year. In Padman she plays Pari who guides the protagonist in right path. For Veere Di Weddings she plays a gutsy lawyer Avni Sharma.With two extremely different roles set in two completely different set-ups she impressed us with her acting skills.
Akshay Kumar in Padman and Gold: The Dream That United Our Nation
Akshay has been doing some breakthrough movies for last few years. Padman was one such movie where he plays Lakshmikant Chauhan a small towner who fights the world to make low-cost sanitary napkins and create menstrual awareness. For Gold: The Dream That United Our Nation he played Tapan Das who holds aspirations of playing hockey as a free country, coaching a novice hockey team to earn independent India’s first Olympic gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
These were some of the performances that we loved this year. Do list your favourites in comments.
Also Read: 2018: Year That Proved Even Biggest Stars Are Beatable
Prasanta Patnaik