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The year glimmered with a cavalcade unlimited of great performances. Not all were appreciated though, with the classic Indian mindset of great performances being judged by melodrama, or the length of role, or even the quality and success of the film themselves. Also, there was the usual “branding”—certain actors couldn’t be good, others could never be bad! And so on…
Film acting (or even that of web series), let us not forget, is about seeping into the essence of the character and coming out on screen with it naturally, and in that context, must be immensely cinematic.
The crème-de-la-crème
Ranveer Singh was perhaps the standout male actor in this year in Dhurandhar. His grim, dark essay was a study in how a very good actor evolves into something great. The corresponding female acts were of Yami Gautam Dhar in Haq and Shubhangi Dutt in Tanvi—The Great, the latter a scintillating debut. Incidentally, Yami excelled in a diametrically opposite role in Dhoom Dhaam as the spunky new bride.
Certain other actors kept upping the ante, especially in terms of their own standards. R. Madhavan was beyond words in the variety he gave us in Dhurandhar, Kesari Chapter 2, Aap Jaisa Koi and De De Pyaar De 2. Pratik Gandhi was fantastic in and as Phule, ditto as the timid husband in Dhoom Dhaam. Paresh Rawal was fascinating as the tourist guide in The Taj Story and in the spontaneous title-role player of The Storyteller. Ananya Panday was extraordinary in Kesari Chapter 2, while Rakul Preet Singh was magnificent in De De Pyaar De 2.
In what was sheer happenstance, Akshaye Khanna portrayed Emperor Aurangzeb in Chhaava and the ruthless Rahman Dacait in Dhurandhar, two villians who grabbed the spotlight in 2025: in the reverse order, these two films were the biggest hits of the year! Another standout villain was the super-menacing Namashi Chakraborty in The Bengal Files.
Vicky Kaushal scored high as Emperor Shambhaji in Chhaava, and Simratt Kaur Randhawa in The Bengal Files ditto.
Pankaj Tripathi (also in the series, Criminal Justice—A Family Matter), Konkona Sen Sharma, Neena Gupta (also in Dil Dosti Aur Dogs and the series Panchayat 4), Sara Ali Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh (also in Aap Jaisa Koi) and Aditya Roy Kapur all excelled in Metro…In Dino, as did Adarsh Gourav, Gyanendra Tripathi, Manjari Pupala and Shashank Arora in Superboys of Malegaon. Boman Irani was magnificent both in The Mehta Boys and Tanvi—The Great, while Anupam Kher dazzled in Metro…In Dino and as Jayaprakash Narayan in Emergency.
The new sensations of distinction were Ahaan Panday (Saiyaara), Master Krish Rao as Pargat in Kesari Chapter 2, and Ashish Pendse, Aroush Datta, Aayush Bhansali, Rishi Shahani, Gopi Krishnan K. Verma, Rishabh Jain, Vedant Sharma, Simran Mangeshkar (especially), Samvit Desai and Naman Misra who played the intellectually-challenged basketball players in Sitaare Zameen Par.
Last but by no means the least was the redoubtable Sharad Kelkar in Sky Force as well as in Dil Dosti Aur Dogs. What an actor!
Superb-Natural!
Among the stars, if Akshay Kumar was extraordinary in Kesari Chapter 2, so was Arshad Warsi in Jolly LLB 3, a shade more so than Akshay in that film! Ajay Devgn in De De Pyaar De 2, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Tripti Dimri as the star-crossed lovers in Dhadak 2, Kangana Ranaut in Emergency, and Patralekhaa as Savitribai Phule in Phule were also noteworthy essays. We also saw a very different Mithun Chakraborty as well as Pallavi Joshi Agnihotri in The Bengal Files. Adil Hussain in The Storyteller was also a delight, as were Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, Janhvi Kapoor (also in Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari and Param Sundari), and Harshika Parmar in our Oscar nominee, Homebound.
Ravi Kishan in Son of Sardaar 2, Sunny Deol as Jatt, Emraan Hashmi in Ground Zero and Haq, Aamir Khan in Sitaare Zameen Par, Shreya Dhanwantary, veteran Farida Jalal and Sheeba Chaddha in The Great Shamsuddin Family, Sonakshi Sinha in Nikita Roy, Zakir Hussain in Dhadak 2, The Taj Story and Bhool Chuk Maaf, Vipin Sharma in Dhadak 2 and Manav Kaul in Baramulla were also performances to savor.
Jitendra Kumar, without whom we cannot imagine the web series franchise, Panchayat, was also excellent as the cool murderer in Bhagwat: Chapter One—Rakshas. Manoj Bajpayee (also in The Family Man 3) and Bhalchandra Patil in Inspector Zende gave memorable essays.
Arista Mehta (Baramulla) and Daivik Bhagela (Kalidhar Lapata) topped the child actors’ list in this year’s cinema.
Off and on above, I have also mentioned many web series. That had a solid turnout of memorable performances, but covering them would occupy double this space.
