Bollywood's versatile heroines (and heroes)

Actresses take on challenging roles to bring a variety of flavours to Indian cinema

Another year over and another saga of hits and misses comes to an end. The year 2015 has been a very good year for the film industry in terms of business generated as well as the exciting mix of genres attempted. And like the past three years, actresses have been in the limelight this year for the sheer variety of roles they tackled. From a six-year-old Harshaali Malhotra in Bajrangi Bhaijan to a 60-year-old Shabana Azmi in Jazbaa, everyone rose to the challenge to deliver bravura performances.
Deepika Padukone had a fantastic year with three hits. Piku in the first half of the year had her pitted against none other than Amitabh Bachchan and Irrfan Khan, where she came up with a commendable performance. In November, she teamed up with co-star Ranbir Kapoor to give us a unique love story, Tamasha. Although she did not get as much screen time as Ranbir, it was her nuanced and mature performance that stood out.
At the end of the year, she donned the role of Mastani in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus, Bajirao Mastani. Looking graceful and breathtakingly beautiful, her stunning dances, chaste Urdu dialogue delivery and a brilliant performance left us spellbound. Today, her position in the industry is so commanding that her mere presence in Bajirao Mastani gave jitters to Shah Rukh Khan and the entire team of the film Dilwale, as both movies clashed when released on the same day.
Priyanka Chopra is so versatile in her choice of films and such is her confidence in her own acting prowess that she effortlessly oscillated between playing Ranveer Singh's elder sister in Dil Dhadakne Do and his first wife in Bajirao Mastani, where she showed brilliant chemistry with him in both films. She also took the US by storm by starring in a thriller drama series, 'Quantico', where she plays an FBI agent. This is the first time a top Indian actress has been offered a main role in a leading American TV series and she has garnered rave reviews for her super performance.
While Kangna Ranaut came up with a super double role in Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Anushka Sharma decided to produce and act in the riveting thriller NH10. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made a grand comeback after five years with the taut thriller Jazbaa that had her essaying the role of a public prosecutor with effortless ease.
Konkana Sen was brilliant as a murdered girl's mother in Meghna Gulzar's gripping crime drama, Talvar, while Kalki Koechlin's portrayal of a girl suffering from cerebral palsy was laudable in Margarita with a Straw. Even newcomer Sunny Leone came up with a hit in Ek Paheli Leela.
Many actresses donned the role of action heroines in 2015 and proved that they can give heroes a run for their money. While Amy Jackson's fight sequences were mind-blowing in Singh is Bling, Deepika had some remarkable sword-fighting scenes in Bajirao Mastani, Taapsee Pannu was brilliant in a short but superb role in Baby, and Katrina was just awesome in the action-packed Phantom where she looked super confident performing all those cool stunts.
Sonam Kapoor was impressive in both her outings, as a con-woman in Dolly Ki Doli, and as a princess opposite Salman in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. Lara Dutta's comic timing had us in splits in Singh is Bling. Newcomers Bhumi Pednekar in Dum Lagake Haisha and Sanah Kapoor in Shaandar showed that appearances do not matter and one can still win hearts with a sincere performance.
Deepti Naval in NH10, Shabana Azmi in Jazbaa, Swara Bhaskar in Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, Tabu in Drishyam, Shefali Shah in Dil Dhadakne Do, Revathy in Margarita with a Straw, and Tanvi Azmi in Bajirao Mastani, each delivered superb performances in character roles.
Actresses Richa Chaddha and Shweta Tripathi came up with striking performances in director Neeraj Ghaywan's Masaan, a film dealing with the lives of people set against the backdrop of a cremation ghat in Varanasi.
Angry Indian Goddesses, directed by Pan Nalin, had seven relatively lesser-known actresses come together to give our industry its first full-fletched 'female buddy' film. These women gave excellent performances and devoid of designer wear and 'stylist' costumes came across as natural flesh and blood characters, thereby lending a lot of credibility to the whole set-up. 
Actors that made a splash 
Salman Khan emerged as an unchallenged superstar of the year with two stupendous hits to his credit. Both Bajrangi Bhaijan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (the latter incidentally had him essaying a double role after a long time) proved to be big box-office successes with Bajrangi Bhaijan creating a new record. The total collection amounted to more than Rs6 billion worldwide.
Ironically, both films saw him playing a soft-spoken, kind-hearted Samaritan in contrast to his usually popular 'action' image. Apart from this, he was involved in launching two newcomers in the film Hero - Suraj Pancholi (Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab's son) and Athiya Shetty (Sunil Shetty's daughter). He also sang one of the versions of the title track of this film, 'Ke main hoon hero tera', which went on to become a chartbuster.
Amitabh Bachchan added two more unusual performances to his repertoire - Shamitabh and Piku. Southern stars Prabhas and Rana Daggubati created a storm as they garnered an all-India fan following with their handsome looks and terrific performance in the super blockbuster, Bahubali - The Beginning.
Akshay Kumar was seen in various different avatars - as a secret service army officer in the action-packed Baby, followed by an emotional family drama Brothers, which had him performing mixed martial arts with amazing felicity; as a simple-hearted Sardar in the comedy, Singh is Bling; and as a mastermind behind a vigilante military network to eliminate corruption in Gabbar is Back.
Irrfan Khan, Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddique - each had three releases to their credit. Varun Dhawan proved his versatility by trying different roles - first as a revenge-seeking husband in the dark thriller Badlapur, as a dancer in ABCD 2, and finally as Shah Rukh Khan's younger brother in the family drama, Dilwale.
Irrfan Khan had a great year with three super films. His acting in Piku fetched him rave reviews and his unique pairing with Deepika Padukone was received well by the audience. Next he was seen in Talvar, where he played one of the CBI officers and gave a superlative performance. He also teamed up with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Jazbaa, which despite excellent performances, failed to click at the box-office.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui's rise in the industry has been meteoric. It is his exceptional talent and sheer hard work that ranked him among the best actors in the industry. He started the year with a chilling performance as a villain in Badlapur, and performed brilliantly as a Pakistani press reporter in the biggest box-office grosser of all time, Bajrangi Bhaijan.
As Dashrath Manjhi in the biopic Manjhi - The Mountain Man, he showcased an outstanding performance and breathed life into the role of a villager, who took 22 years to single-handedly carve a path through a mountain. It was almost as if Dashrath Manjhi himself had come back to tell his own story.
Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol came together in Dilwale. It is sad that two talented and charismatic stars, instead of attempting something new and more challenging at their age, seem stuck in the-'Raj-Simran' image of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and reprise the same type of role.
After Baby and Holiday, Akshay Kumar will be seen in another taut thriller Airlift, a film based on the biggest evacuation of Indians in Kuwait during the Iraq-Kuwait war.
One of the most awaited films of the year is Neerja, a biopic based on the life of the airhostess Neerja Bhanot, who saved the lives of 359 passengers aboard a hijacked flight in 1986 in Karachi. The trailer is already being talked about and Sonam has already received a lot of praise for playing the lead role.
After her forgettable item number in Brothers, Kareena Kapoor will be seen in a role that highlights her talent. R Balki will be her and Arjun Kapoor's director in his film Ki and Ka, which features an interesting reversal of gender roles set for men and women in society. Kareena will play a sauve office executive, while Arjun Kapoor will be her stay-at-home husband.
Priyanka Chopra will be seen as a cop in Prakash Jha's Jai Gangajal. The actress never ceases to surprise us with her variety of roles.
Senior actresses like Shabana Azmi, Juhi Chawla, Divya Dutta, Zarina Wahab and Upasna Singh join hands in Chalk n Duster, a movie about teachers and students that highlights their problems in the changing scenario of the education system.
Fitoor, an adaptation based on Charles Dickens' novel, Great Expectations, will see Katrina Kaif and Tabu in strong roles with Aditya Roy Kapoor as the main male lead.
Alia Bhatt will play a unique role in Kapoor and Sons alongside Rishi Kapoor, while Udta Punjab will share screen space with Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor.
All in all, there are a lot of exciting upcoming releases to look forward to.