The age of character actors!

For long Bollywood went through a simple track of movie making. It would be either romance, comedy or a violence story. As a result, the system became star driven. Producers or directors would first think of the star and the genre the script would then follow.

Probably it is only in Bollywood that a director is happy being wedded to a certain genre like romance, violence, etc. It has its understandable benefits, so when you are a Bansali with crores riding on your back, you need the safety of an initial audience. Those who love heavy duty romance with lavish sets will come running to you. If you are a Neeraj Pandey people expect an edge of the seat thriller from you. Somewhere in all these strategies was a safety net for the commerce angle, which is involved in our A-lister movies.

There was another dangerous element too. These directors and their movies and the stars started becoming predictable. 2017 has been ruthless in sinking so many big films at the box office. And that makes you think that it is one of the biggest positive news, not just for 2017 but the last few years. In the last few years, we have seen the age of the character actors. Here are some of them in recent years with that one favourite scene which left an impact on the entire movie.
I have chosen four. The underrated ones.

Annu Kapoor - Vicky Donor
Dr Baldev Chadhdha's search for an Indian Alexander could have well-turned typically vulgar. Annu Kapoor was the man chosen by Shoojit Sircar and made it a screen epic. This is one of our most underrated performances. Kapoor made the audience smile and his performance set the cash registers ringing. This was a layered performance; Dr Baldev was as selfish and manipulative as he was a man with a heart when he ensures Vicky's love life does not suffer because of what he does.

Seema Bhargava
‘Ankhon Dekhi’ and ‘Bareily Ki Barfi’ - For long we remembered her as Badki of ‘Hum Log’ but then the lady did us a big favour by coming back to screen in such smashing roles. Her role as a wife in ‘Ankhon Dekhi’ just does not know how to handle the husband, as he now wants to ascertain and believe only what he has tested himself by eyes and senses. Then the role of a mother in ‘Bareily Ki Barfi’, whose only obsession is to get her daughter Bitty married to a well-settled boy. So much so that her "tumhari shaadi ho gayi" to any male who walks in, brings the house down within ten minutes of the movie start. Now, this is called proper character acting.

Kumud Mishra
I can watch ‘Airlift’, of that rocking Akshay Kumar box office hit, again and again only for Kumud Mishra's Kohli. A bureaucrat, who brings it upon himself in the red tape horror of Delhi, to rescue stranded Indians from Kuwait. His, around a minute, speech to the Air India pilots urging them to fly into a warzone is actually a bring the house down moment in the movie. Kohli is also shrewd enough to know how to get things moving, the epic scene where the home minister tells Kohli in curt tone - "Yaar Kohli ek toh tum mujhse darne ki acting karna chhod do" - and Kohli's controlled reaction is the way character acting should be done. Textbook case this for aspiring character actors.

Manoj Pahwa
Again remembered as Tony that bad dude in ‘Hum Log’, who almost ends up selling Manjhli into prostitution in the serial. Manoj's most endearing character acting was as the large-hearted yet cynical caring brother-in-law of the maverick advocate Jolly in ‘Jolly LLB’. He is disgusted when his brother-in-law throws away the settlement deal in a case. However, when he observes that Jolly is fighting for a bigger cause, he immediately decides to bat with him. An epic scene, which drives itself totally on Manoj, and the way he guffaws when Jolly tells the judge in an epic climax - "Kanoon ke haath ghanta lambe hote hain". Manoj underlined the scene with a second of the camera frame. Character acting worth his weight, seriously!