Entertainment

Bollywood 2015: Star-spotting

by Trans World Features 23 Dec 2015, 08:12 am

As the year almost draws to a close, TWF correspondent Supriyo Hazra looks back how the leading stars of the dazzling B-town fared in the past 12 months

Aamir Khan: For the past couple of years, Aamir Khan had left a sharp impression in the hearts of his followers with his December releases. But this time, with no films to be released, Aamir Khan made to the headlines for some wrong reasons. Controversy hit Mr. Perfectionist hard as his remarks on the issue of ‘intolerance’ did not go down well with many people. Triggering a controversy, Aamir said  that he and his wife Kiran Rao considered leaving India owing to the 'disquiet' surrounding it. He said they deemed the present situation of the country to be too dangerous for their kids. The controversy left Bollywood divided with many hitting out at the actor for his remarks. However, away from controversy, Aamir was busy shooting for his next year release ‘ Dangal’. He is seen is a completely transformed look from his previous film ‘PK’.  He has put on a lot of weight to get into the character of a wrestler, as Dangal is loosely based on the life wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: Last seen in Guzaarish, Ash was back after a long gap of five years in ‘Jazbaa’. With  Irrfan Khan sharing the screen space with one time Bollywood queen, the film promised a lot for its fans. However, putting up an average display at the Box Office, ‘Jazbaa’ will not surely count at the top of Ash’s list of famous movies which also include numerous international productions.

 
Anushka Sharma: Anushka had a rather mixed year as far as her success at the Box Office is concerned. While she was at the top of the world last year with ‘PK’ hitting the right chord of success, 2015 commenced on a silimar note with Anushka delivering another brilliant performance in the thrilling tale ‘NH10’. She also turned a producer with the road drama. Anushka also starred in multi-starrer ‘Bombay Velvet’ that was appreciated by her fans but the much-talked about ‘Bombay Velvet’ which also saw the acting debut of filmmaker Karan Johar made a poor run at the Box Office.

Anushka’s personal life too remained on the top of headlines as she found herself in an unwanted controversy when she was blamed by several disappointed Indians for the loss of India in the World Cup semi-finals clash against Australia this year. Anushka’s presence in the stadium was blamed for her boy friend and Test team skipper Virat Kohli’s poor show in the match.

 
Alia Bhatt: She has been the talk of the tinsel town since her debut in 'Student of the Year'. In 2015, she was seen once on the silver screen opposite Shahid Kapoor in ‘Shaandaar’. The film did not make a significant performance on the silver screen but chemistry between Shahid and Alia was something new to cherish for movie goers. Alia, however, had a terrible end to the year as she suffered minor burns during an award function in December. Alia took on Twitter to thank her fans  for showing their concerns and assured them that her cute face was ‘fine’.  

Ajay Devgn: He was back in his serious avatar this year with ‘Drishyam’. A  remake of Jeethu Joseph's 2013 Malayalam film ‘Drishyam’, Devgn brilliantly touched the chords of his fans, who have long been seeing him in comic roles in movies like Golmaal. The emotional turmoil of his character has been wonderfully  portrayed by the ‘Zakhm’ star. The film performed well on the Box Office and was appreciated both by fans and critics.

Akshay Kumar: The ‘Khiladi’ of Bollywood remained the star of Bollywood this year giving tough competition to his colleagues in the  industry, including Bollywood rocker Salman Khan. Akshay dominated the year with almost all his films making a powerful impact on the Box Office. The year started with Akshay’s ‘Baby’ where the superstar is seen portraying the role of a tough  Indian security agent Ajay Singh Rajput. Kumar’s performance in the movie was appreciated by critics and his fans with even Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visiting a theatre to watch the film before the results of the Delhi polls. The action star returned again with ‘Gabbar Is Back’ where he was seen fighting against corruption and charming his lovers with his thrilling action scenes and moves. Away from patriotism, he was seen as a boxer, sharing screen space and ring with Sidharth Malhotra, in ‘ Brothers’. His last release of the year Singh Is Bliing once again saw him experimenting in comic roles. 2016 promises to be another crucial year for the actor as he will be seen in ‘Airlift’ opposite  Nimrat Kaur. The film is based on biggest evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the 1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait.

 Amitabh Bachchan: From shooting in a graveyard to riding a scooter, Big B was busy shooting for his upcoming film “TE3N” in West Bengal in the fag end of the year but it was Kolkata and his wonderful portrayal of a Bengali father as Bhashkor Banerjee in ‘Piku’ which forced his fans fall in love with the baritone voiced actor once more. Sharing screen space with Deepika Padukone, the onscreen father-daughter duo and their journey in Shoojit Sircar’s tale left many movie goers nostalgic and heavy hearted.  Bachchan was also seen competing with southern sensation Dhanush in one of the most talked about films of the year ’ Shamitabh’.

Bachchan was back on the silver screen as an anchor but this time with a new show named “Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi” (AKRHZ).  One peak point in the show was when onscreen friends  ‘Jai-Veeru’- actors Dharmendra and Bachchan-  united on the sets to recreate the ‘Ye dosti hum nahi choorenge’ song sequence from ‘Sholay’.

 Anil Kapoor: Mr. Dependable Anil Kapoor put up a strong show as a father in Dil Dhadakne Do and then came back with his perfect comic timings in Welcome Back , playing the lovable don  Majnu Bhai with both the films getting good response at the box office.

Bipasha Basu: Gossips on her alleged relationship with actor Karan Singh Grover and her love for ‘Horror’ kept the Bong beauty in news this year. She was once again back on the silver screen with another horror movie ‘Alone’, opposite Grover. The film made moderate business at the Box Office but Bipasha kept her promise of returning with a horror flick every year.  The diva also made her small screen debut as the host of a  horror  television series ‘Darr Sabko Lagta Hai’.


Deepika Padukone: A short film ‘ “My Choice”, featuring the gorgeous actress had gained the attention of many as Deepika was seen putting forward a strong message over women empowerment, hence triggering long debates and discussions on media platforms and social networking sites in a year when the issue of ‘intolerance and women safety’ kept buzzing in the air. Deepika, however, remained the queen of Bollywood for another year and competed hard with Priyanka Chopra in wearing the numero uno crown as almost all her films got healthy response from fans and critics. Her high point in the year was surely sharing the screen space with Amitabh Bachchan and Irrfan Khan in Piku. She again came back on screen with her old flame Ranbir Kapoor in ‘Tamasha’ this November. The movie remained the talk of the town as one time real couple united again for Imtiaz Ali   after two years since seen together in 2013 hit ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ .  In December , she was again seen playing the role of  Mastani, opposite real life boy friend Ranveer Singh, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Bajirao Mastani’.  

The end of the year also saw the diva  grabbing eye-balls with her Instagram picture hugging Vin Diesel and mysteriously looking in camera giving us the speculation of her signing the XXX franchise's next opposite the Hollywood star.

Dhanush: The southern superstar ‘Dhanush’ returned to the B-town with Amitabh Bachchan in  ’ Shamitabh’.
 

Emraan Hashmi: Emraan Hashmi had a dud 2015 with none of his films-Mr. X and Hamari Adhuri Kahani- making any mark at the box office.

Farhaan Akhtar: Appearing just once with Dil Dhadakne Do, Farhan Akhtar made a strong appearance in the multi-starrer movie. However, he keeps promises alive to deliver big next year when he will be seen with Amitabh Bachchan in’ Wazir’. The thriller will bring together two of the big names of the industry together.

 
Hrithik Roshan: In a  poll conducted this year by UK based Eastern Eye newspaper, Hrithik Roshan has been named as the second Sexiest Asian Man, making him still one of the most sought after ‘superheroes’ of Bollywood. With no releases this year, Hrithik Roshan remained far away from the silver screen this year.

 
Irrfan Khan: He is slowly gaining a stronger grip in Hollywood as he appeared in one of the top movies of the year ‘Jurassic World’. The  fourth installment of the Jurassic Park series saw Khan brilliantly  portraying the character called Simon Masrani. His other Bollywood appearances were no less impressive as he was seen in ‘Piku’, ‘Talvar’ and then in Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s comeback film ‘Jazbaa’. Khan surely is planning to deliver more in the coming years and surely in 2016 when he will be seen in ‘Inferno’. The Hollywood film will also feature superstar Tom Hanks.

Jacqueline Feranandez: The Sri Lankan beauty also walked on the paths of International appearance as she completed the shooting of her much awaited movie ‘Definition of Fear ‘. British filmmaker James Simpson’s movie features the beautiful Bollywood actress in a crucial role. The   premiere of the English film was held in 4th Delhi International Film Festival (DIFF) in India. In Bollywood, Jacqueline continued to mature and grow as an actress with films like Roy and Brothers.

John Abraham: Bollywood hunk John Abraham was back on the bigger screen with Welcome Back. Directed by Anees Bazmee, the film has performed good result at the box office as the movie included other big names including Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor.

Kareena Kapoor: Kareena Kapoor remained one of the top heroines in the industry even this year, giving tough competition to younger heroines like Deepika.  She started the year with Akshay Kumar in one of the early gainers at the Box Office-Gabbar is Back. Then, it was one of the biggest hits of the year-Bajrangi Bhaijaan- where Kareena teamed up with superstar Salman Khan in creating  magic onscreen this Eid. Overall, Kareena kept her promise of keeping her aura in the industry intact by some powerful performances on the silver screen.

Katrina Kaif: While the entire year was buzzing with stories on Katrina Kaif  and Bollywood’s pinup boy Ranbir Kapoor’s love story, the last month continuously brought one gossip to notice- the couple is ending their relationship. Away from her personal life, Katrina just emerged once on the big screen in Kabir Khan’s  action thriller film Phantom. The screenplay of the film has been written in coordination with author Hussain Zaidi's book Mumbai Avengers on the aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Despite Katrina’s Afghan Jalebi number, and Saif Ali Khan’s heroics, the film bombed at the Box Office, leaving Katrina’s success story quite badly hit this year.

Kangana Ranaut :  Anand L. Rai was back again with the sequel  to the 2011 film Tanu Weds Manu, which he named this time as Tanu Weds Manu Returns . The powerhouse of acting,  Kangana Ranaut came up with a double role this time with  R. Madhavan in this romantic comedy which was once again successful in  touching the Indian audience who love to watch family dramas.  Ranaut also portrays the additional role of a Haryanvi athlete in it. The film emerged as one of the biggest earners of 2015 with both the critics and audience loving it alike. Ranaut’s other films of the year-I Love NY, opposite Sunny Deol and Katti Batti with Imran Khan – went mostly unnoticed.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui: With every passing year, Bollywood is becoming more dependent on Nawazuddin Siddiqui who has been showing the depth of his talents in each release. 2015 remained another milestone in his career as he was seen in movies like Manjhi - The Mountain Man and Badlapur. With Varun Dhawan experimenting in a serious avatar, he found a tough competition against  Nawazuddin Siddiqui who portrayed the character ‘Liak’  quite flawlessly. While, Badlapur did average on the box office it was Radhika Apte and Nawaz’s unconventional chemistry and the ‘Kahaani’ actor’s wonderful depiction of "Mountain Man"  Dashrath Manjhi’s life onscreen which pulled audience to the theatre.  

Nawazuddin Siddiqui also teamed up with Salman Khan and Harshaali Malhotra in one of the biggest hits of the year ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. The film made a grand success at the Box Office and Nawaz-Salman duo repeated the magic which they had created with ‘Kick’ last year. 

Priyanka Chopra: After capturing Bollywood, 2015 turned out to be the red letter year in Priyanka’s life as she gained immense attention for her international debut as a promising FBI agent Alex Parrish in American series ‘Quantico’. Priyanka performance in the series has been highly appreciated by her fans abroad and in India. Touching a new high point in her career, she has become the first South Asian woman to headline an American network drama series.
In Bollywood too, she had two crucial releases this year- Dil Dhadakne Do and Bajirao Mastani. The multi-starrer Dil Dhadakne Do did good performance at the Box Office while Bajirao Mastani which released on Dec 18 has received positive reviews from critics.


Ranbir Kapoor: While gossips said that Ranbir and his Bollywood Barbie Katrina Kaif are planning to end their much talked about relationship, the cute faced actor’s run on the Box Office was not that impressive this year with Roy and Bombay Velvet faring poorly. Tamasha got mixed response but did not create the magic which  Imtiaz Ali’s films are known to create. However, the reunion of former lovers Ranbir and Deepika Padukone had made the movie a major release for 2015.


Rani Mukerji: Rani Mukherji became a mother this year as the ‘Mardaani’ actress gave birth to a baby girl in December. She is married to filmmaker Aditya Chopra. They named her Adira.

Saif Ali Khan: It seems that Saif Ali Khan is slowly losing the tag of becoming the dependable star of Bollywood  with nearly all his films failing to touch the hearts of audience for the past few years. 2015 remained one such year which the actor will love to forget as his ‘Phantom’ hit rough weathers soon after it released. The Kabir Khan directed movie, which also had Katrina Kaif, exited fast from theatres. 


Salman Khan: Salman Khan surely knows how to create the perfect formula to produce one successful movie after the other. The much-talked about ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ , which released on Eid, kept smashing all records and turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year. The heart touching tale of Bajrangi and his journey to take a six-year old Pakistani girl Munni, separated in India from her parents, back to her hometown, was loved by people across India. Salman was back again in Diwali, uniting with  Sooraj Barjatya and the  Rajshri Productions, to deliver another hit of the year- Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. The movie saw Salman Khan reappearing as his signature character name ‘Prem’ after a long time. In his personal life, Salman received a relief when he was acquitted by the Bombay High Court in December of all criminal charges that he had been held guilty of by a trial court in connection with the 2002 hit-and-run case.

 
Shah Rukh Khan: His comments on intolerance was not accepted easily by all, triggering criticisms and even BJP leader Yogi Adityanath comparing him with 26/11 terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed of Pakistan. Like Aamir Khan, Bollywood and the society was divided as they either came out in support or slammed the actor for his remark on the growing issue of intolerance. Beside the controversy, Khan’s KKR team also failed to defend their IPL title this year which was won back by Mumbai Indians. SRK had one major release in 2015- Dilwale- where he was seen pairing up with Kajol after a gap of five years. They were last seen together onscreen in     2010 in ‘Mu Name is Khan’. The film opened with poor reviews on Dec 18 but remained successful on the Box Office. 

Sonam Kapoor: Dolly Ki Doli might have bombed at the  Box Office, but Sonam had a impressive run later in the year as she was seen romancing Salman Khan in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. Sonam will be eagerly waiting for her 2016 release when she will be seen playing India’s brave daughter  Neerja Bhanot on the big screen. The youngest woman to be awarded the Ashoka Chakra, Neerja Bhanot, died saving 360 innocent passengers during a terrorist hijack on the Pan Am Flight 73 on September 5, 1986.  

Sidharth Malhotra: Sidharth Malhotra is maturing as an actor with every passing year and this time he was seen sharing ring and screen space with superstar Akshay Kumar in 'Brothers'. The film performed well at the Box Office and Sidharth proved once again he was no more the 'Student' of this year but an actor gearing up to dominate the industry. 

Sunny Leone: She might be an actress who arrived in the tinsel town from an unconventional land but that does not mean Sunny has not delivered with her performance. With two major Bollywood releases-  Ek Paheli Leela and Kuch Kuch Locha Hai  - and several appearances in regional films, her fever continued to rise the mercury level in India. The Baby Doll will be seen romancing  Tushar Kapoor and Vir Das in 2016 release Mastizaade. She dominated on the virtual world too as the adult film actress defeated Prime Minister Narendra Modi to emerge as  the most searched person on Google in India. Sunny is also the most searched Indian globally.

  Vidya Balan: Mrs. Dependable of Bollywood, Vidya Balan, came back this year with Hamari Adhuri Kahani, opposite Emraan Hashmi. However, the film bombed at the Box Office and failed to impress both fans and critics.

Varun Dhawan: From sharing screen space with superstars Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan in Dilwale to experimenting with serious roles in 'Badlapur ' opposite  Nawazuddin Siddiqui and then dancing around in 'ABCD 2', Varun Dhawan spent one busy year in his career and that too with success as all his released movies gained appreciations from fans.  
 


Hits, without stars:

While the year 2015 saw the creation of the 300 crore club, there were also many small films that performed extremely well at the box office.

Gone are the days when only big films were awaited and accepted by the audiences. Now, the audiences are very open to small budget films as well that are starring smaller actors and not shot at exotic international locations.

In fact small films too have a fixed set of audience just like there is a fixed set of audience for the big event films. The audiences of these small budget films step in the theatres with the expectation of good content films which the industry has delivered this year.

Films like Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Talvar, Hunterrr, Margarita With A Straw and Manjhi have not only received a lot of appreciation from the audiences and critics for the content, but also garnered good box office collections.

Talvar: A film based on the double murder Noida case starring Irrfan Khan, Neeraj Kabi, Konkana Sen and Sohum Shah received a lot of accolades even at film festivals and collected a total of 35 crore net.

Dum Laga Ke Haisha: Ayushmann Khurrana and newcomer Bhumi Pednekar’s unconventional love tale was set in a small town and was widely appreciated for the strong story and simplistic portrayal. The film collected a total of 33 crore net.

Hunterrr: A coming of age film by debut director Harshvardhan Kulkarni, starring Gulshan Devaiah, Radhika Apte and Marathi actress, Sai Tamankar found a big audience too and collected 13.50 crore net. 

Manjhi, Margarita with a Straw, NH10 : Another real life story starring the two actors known for their performances, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte (Manjhi) and NH10 starring Anushka Sharma and Rajkumar Rao made a mark at the Box Office. Kalki Koechlin took hearts away when she played a rebellious young woman with cerebral palsy in Margarita. The film did rounds of various film festivals and with this solo actress collected 5.97 crore net apart from huge appreciations for story and performance.

 Hollywood beckons:
 

Sizzling diva, Deepika Padukone who grabbed eye-balls with her Instagram picture hugging Vin Diesel and mysteriously looking in camera giving us the speculation of her signing the XXX franchise's next opposite the Hollywood star.Let’s take a look at some Bollywood actors who entered Hollywood this year:

Nargis Fakhri in Spy: Nargis, who with her good acting capabilities proved that she can be a desi girl too, broke the news of her Hollywood debut in the film 'Spy'.

Ali Fazal in Fast and Furious 7:

Ali Fazal stunned his fans with the news of him working in the favourite Hollywood franchise 'Fast and Furious 7'. This added a new milestone to the actor's career. The hunk has few more offers in loop which he will pick wisely.

Nimrit Kaur in Homeland: The 'Lunchbox' actress who with her great acting skills had smitten the audience, made her way to Hollywood with the TV series 'Homeland'. The actress will be seen romancing Akshay Kumar in Airlift.

Priyanka Chopra in Quantico: Bollywood's favourite Pee Cee after surprising her fans by releasing singles with rappers like Pitbull and will.i.am. left all her fans across globe excited when she broke news of playing protagonist in American TV series 'Quantico'.