The Brightest Stars : TOI Article

The year 2007 has seen a spurt of fabulous acting and, more importantly, the emergence of actors who are talented. Here's a run down on those performances

   The only thing common between Ranbir Kapoor and Vinay Pathak is talent. A huge amount of screen presence makes them the most accomplished performers of 2007. While Ranbir took over the screen in his debut vehicle Saawariya with his endearing transparency, Vinay Pathak, a rank-outsider from Bihar with no connections in the industry, stood at the opposite end of the spectrum with his performance as the very annoying and real joker at the dinner in Bheja Fry. It proved that talent is nurtured in the unlikeliest of places. You could be Raj Kapoor's grandson or just his fan from Bihar but you are equally qualified to blow the screen apart. And yes, Ranbir's father Rishi Kapoor was quite a treat in Vipul Shah's Namastey London.
   Father and son Pankaj and Shahid Kapur also gave accomplished performances in two films. Shahid carried off the executive's part in Jab We Met with arresting aplomb. Pankaj exploded the screen with his performances in Dharm and The Blue Umbrella.
   Then the redoubtable Bachchans – Amitabh and Abhishek. The Big B proved himself to be Amitabh Wry Bachchan as the dry cynical chef in Cheeni Kum. Nishabd, earlier during the year, would be ranked as one of Amitabh's most underrated performances ever. His monologue at the end, will rank among the great joys of cinema in 2007.
   Junior Bachchan just slipped into Dhirubhai Ambani's role in Guru. The slouch was ouch. But hey, Abhishek conducted himself with much credibility and his wife Aishwarya Bachchan wasn't far behind with a solid supporting role.
   The female performers of the year were Kareena Kapoor in Jab We Met and Tabu in Cheeni Kum. They were such studies in contrast. While one was exuberant, vivacious and all there, the other was quiet, introspective and dreamy. If Tabu requires
   no words to let
   you know she's
   the goddess of all celluloid things, her aunt Shabana Azmi blew the screen apart in two short-films – Positive by Farhan Akhtar and Rohit Roy's recent offering. In Farhan's film, Shabana's character simply touched her dying husband's hand to let you know she had forgiven him. And, that young actor Arjun Mathur who plays Irrfan's gay lover in Mira Nair's Migration and Shabana's morose son in Positive has an interesting presence.
   At the other end of the spectrum, little Sweeni Khare was also dying in Cheeni Kum. As the wise-and wonderful Sexy, Sweeni was good. Clearly, the year of child performers, what with little Sweeni matching the Big B and towering Tabu, scene by scene and that bundle of talent Dwij Yadav giving Bobby Deol a run for his money in Nanhe Jaisalmer. At the end of the year, that bundle of bratty brilliance, Darsheel Safary, bringing madness to Aamir Khan's method – the kids seemed to take over the screen in his latest venture.
   Vidya Balan surprised with her light-and-shade play of hope and dejection in Guru and Bhool Bhulaiyaa. The rage she expressed in her climactic dance in the latter half, just blew everyone else out of sight. Raima Sen as the spirited spunky gregarious Bengali housewife in Reema Kagti's Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd proved herself to be Suchitra Sen's bump-and-grind-granddaughter. Esha Deol played the affable ghost in Darling. Her expressions of anguish were so real, we wondered where this star-daughter learnt to be so unhappy.
   While Irrfan came into his own in 2007, Konkona Sen Sharma showed signs of over-confidence especially in her most recent film. Shefali Shah as Mahatma Gandhi's wife in Gandhi My Father, could've easily been Nirupa Roy in Deewaar or Raakhee in Shakti. Just how she managed to do such incandescent dignity to a dangerously stereotypical role is anyone's guess.
   Two quirky male performers caught the eye in 2007 – Ranveer Shorey as the dopedout street wanderer in Traffic Signal was the summit of poignancy, hard to achieve for an actor who has an essentially comic image. In Sohail Khan, we've our first cartoon-strip hero. As a horny Rajasthani trying to celebrate his delayed first wedding night in Salaam-e-Ishq, Sohail was a laugh riot and arguably the funniest guy on screen in 2007.
   And let's end with the
   inimitable Shah Rukh
   Khan. He was a scintillating bundle of woundup angst in Chak De! India. For the first time in
   his career he didn't seem
   to be acting at all.
   IANS

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