The Best Of the New Breed

Long before Covid changed the   world as we knew it, a new breed  of stars  changed Bollywood forever. Presenting the  5  best acting talent of  the  post Ranbir-Deepika era .

1.     Alia Bhatt:  Just when we  thought that talent in Mahesh Bhatt’s family had run dry after  Pooja, her  kid-sister  took us  by surprise. And how! Alia’s debut in The Student  Of The Year promised us a Poo-reincarnated. An unabashed  Kareena  Kapoor fan , Alia seemed okay with walking in  her role model’s stilettos, until Highway came along. Then Udtaa Punjab, 2 States, Gully Boy….no one was prepared for  this  bomb to explode on screen. When  Sanjay Bhansali  says Alia s  the  best actress he had  worked with, it is saying  lot,coming  from a director who  has worked with Manisha  Koirala,Madhuri Dixit and Rani Mukherjee.Gangubai Kathiawadi is  her NEXT BIG THING.

2.     Kartik Aaryan: A  year  before Alia  in 2011 a young actor from Indore blew the  audiences’ collective  mind  with his 12- minute uninterrupted one-take monologue on What Women Want(or, rather, what  men think  women  want)  in Pyaar Ka Punchnaama. A star was indeed born. Now after Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety,  Lukka Chuppi and Pati Patni Aur Woh, Kartik Aaryan is considered  one of the most boxoffice-friendly  actors of the post-Ranbir generation. Bhool Bhulaiya  2 is his NEXT  BIG THING.

3.     Ranveer  Singh:  He came , we  saw he conquered. Ranveer  was  the first  of  the post-Ranbir superstars to land in the lap of our cinema. In Band Baaja Baarat in 2010, Ranveer ne  sabki band baja di.As  the  imperious  Bajirao or  the horny  Road Romeo in  Ram Leela, Ranveer  blows the screen apart. His  nervous energy  so much on evidence  in his first  film,  resonated with fans  of Shah  Rukh Khan . And now 11 years later he  is one  of the most reliable star-actors  of Bollywood. NEXT  BIG THING  Kabir Khan’s  ’83 where he  plays Kapil Dev with as much conviction as played Alluddin Khilji in Padmaavat.

4.     Anushka  Sharma: In Rab  Ne Banadi Jodi in 2008 Anushka played  what Sharmila Tagore had played  four decades  earlier  in  Satyajit Ray’s Apur Sansar.A young woman who is  married  off to a stranger under very strange  circumstances. Anushka   never  stopped growing since  her debut. Wildly experimental  in the selection of her roles, be  it the one as Farah Ali in  Dil Dhadakne Do,  Aarfa Hussain in  Sultan  , Alizeh Khan in  Ae Dil Hai Mushkil or Rukhsana  in Pari, Anushka can’t be pinned down to any one  definition of  excellence.She  is   a true freelancer.

5.     Ayushmann Khurrana:  The most daring actor  of  the  post-Ranbir generation, Ayushmann’s dazzling oeuvre  , from  Vicky Donor in 2012  to Gulabo Sitabo  in  2020 is  unmatched by any actor in recent  times. He has played  everything,  from  a  guy who can’t get up  to  someone  who just can’t get it down. NEXT  BIG THING is Anubhav Sinha’s  Anek.