No movie can be a success with just good acting by the lead pair. A movie has to have all the ingredients, which make it a treat to the viewers. Story, Screenplay, Music, editing, direction, good publicity all these are a few essential ingredients to make it a competent one. The performance by the support actors is as important as any ingredient of the movie. Over the years there have been several laudable cameos by our actors, which keeps haunting us. Here I list which I feel are really note worthy performances by these supporting actors. I have listed it only from the movies I have watched, which are from mid 90’s, so bollywood historians please forgive me.
Here goes my list
Manoj Bajpai in ‘Satya’:
He is one of the under rated actors in our country. He is very versatile and portrays all characters with perfection. He caught everyone’s attention by playing the role of bhiku bhai in Satya. It was a terrific performance. He was compared with the likes of Paresh rawal and Naseerudin shah. Varma was so impressed with his performance that he became a permanent part of his movies nowadays.
SRK and Atul Kulkarn I in ‘Hey Ram’:
Sometimes you come across a movie in which all the actors would have done utmost justice to their character. Hey ram is one such movie. SRK came up with a great performance. The scenes between him and Kamal were all really impressive, especially the precluding scenes to his death. Atul Kulkarni was the find of the movie. This talented actor from the theatres proved his worth. His role as Abhaiyankar won him the national award. The first confrontation between him and Kamal in the movie will remain as an al time favorite scene.
Ayesha Kapur in ‘Black’:
Rani Mukherjee just stole the show from everyone with the performance of her lifetime. Many din notice the extraordinary performance by debutant Ayesha Kapur (playing Rani as a child). She was just unbelievable for her first movie. She showed great maturity in acting as a mute, deaf and blind. It was great to see her perform amidst the likes of the Big B.
Mohan Lal in ‘Company’ :
He is regarded as the most natural actor in the country. He is a big Superstar down south. But being the actor he is, he wanted to always explore new horizons. His character as the police commissioner in Company was one of his personal best too. Though the character was a very small one it needed the caliber of somebody like Lal to perform it. He proved his prowess once again.
Abhishek in ‘yuva’:
He was considered very unlucky in bollywood. He never had any hits to his credit. Everybody ignored Abhishek till yuva and his character lallan happened. He was ruthless as the gangster who did anything to attain power and money. This character brought him lots of praises and his father was very proud of his son doing a marvelous job. All the credit goes to Maniratnam for trusting Abhishek and thrusting such an n important character on him. It was a big break for him.
Paresh rawal in ‘Hera- Pheri’:
He is one of the best in the business. Be it any character he dons, he accomplishes it with finesse. He just brought the roof down with his performance in this movie. His innocence and the scenes he shares with Akshay kumar and Sunil Shetty were hilarious all the way. Those huge glasses adding value to his character. People who watched this movie will remember it for Paresh rawal.
Nana Patekar in ‘Khamoshi’:
He was simply brilliant as the dumb and deaf father. This was one of the masterpieces of Sanjay leela bhansali. It once again show cased Nana Patekars talent to the Bollywood industry. His performances in scenes where he loses his young kid and the scenes with Seema Biswas were just mind blowing. It is sad that there are not more movies capitalizing on such rare talents in bollywood.
Pankaj Kapoor and Nasser in ‘Roja’:
This was maniratnams masterpiece. Nasser was amazing as the Police officer. The scene where he shows his disappointment over the release of the terrorist to Madhubala is just an example of his acting skills. Same way Pankaj kapoor as the terrorist, played the character without much fuss. He would have played the character in a calm and composed way, which added value to it.
Arshard warsi in ‘Munnabhai Mbbs’ :
Circuit was his character. He played the apt foil for Sanju bhai in the movie. People just loved him and his tapori. He definitely had a natural flair for comedy. He now features in the movies sequel too. He is now in demand in the industry for such comic roles. The rapport he shared with sanju on the screen was the one of the big assets for the movie.