Bollywood Outsiders Who Deserve Better Opportunities!
The insider-outsider debate in Bollywood has taken quite a different road for the past few months creating a qualm in the already messed up premises. However, here is a list of outsiders in Bollywood who are unarguably brilliant and deserve more opportunities and appreciation for their craft.
1. Sayani Gupta
Mostly seen in supporting roles, Bollywood hasn’t utilized this exceptionally talented actor well. It is interesting to see how all the supporting roles she has done to date are so varied and powerful. May it be the young girl in Jagga Jasoos or a Dalit woman from Bihar in Article 15, Sayani executed every role to perfection. It was with the Amazon Prime web series Four More Shots that Sayani got better recognition (after 12 years of working in the industry!)
2. Vidyut Jammwal
There has always been a comparison between Vidyut and Tiger Shroff since both of them are just too good in martial arts. But when it comes to acting, Vidyut undoubtedly has a much better scorecard. This however hasn’t favored Vidyut much while star kid Tiger Shroff received better opportunities in spite of failing to create an impression. Some of Vidyut’s notable works include the Commando franchise where he plays the lead. His debut performance in Force, as a villain, earned him a lot of credit too.
3. Vijay Varma
If not in Gully Boy, this brilliant actor would have never had our attention. His brief appearance in the film as Moeen was intense and simply brilliant. Though his commercial success happened through Gully Boy, Vijay Varma has been in the industry since 2012. He has acted in a couple of Telugu films too. Vijay had shared his story on how he had to go against his parents to pursue his dream of being an actor. We hope that we get more of him in the coming years.
4. Gulshan Devaiah
The one commercial film through which many would identify this exceptional actor is Goliyon ki Rasleela Ramleela where he played a supporting role. He has many more critically acclaimed films to his credits like Hunterr, Mard ko Dard Nahi Hota, etc. The recently released Indian Netflix anthology film Ghost Stories shows how far he can go as an actor. The role demanded so much effort and perfection and this gem of an actor executed it with ease and conviction.
5. Rasika Duggal
Thanks to the rise of the web series or else Rasika Duggal’s exemplary talent would not have received nationwide recognition. She hasn’t been a part of many commercial or mainstream movies but started her film journey in early 2007 with the Bollywood film Anwar. She received praise from the critics for the same. Her number of years in the industry and the number of films done in that interval don’t tally much. However, Rasika Dugal is a gem of an actor and deserves much more success for her craft.
6. Vikrant Massey
Starting his acting career with television soaps, Vikrant Massey has come a long way. He had his Bollywood debut with Lootera where he played a supporting character. The supporting actor phase for Vikrant continued until he paired opposite Deepika Padukone in Chapaak. He now transformed into leading roles with Cargo and Ginni Weds Sunny. He is a stellar actor and has huge potential in mainstream cinema.
7. Shweta Tripathy
With an array of noticeable characters in popular web series, Shweta Tripathy is slowly making her way to the top. My early memory of Shweta is from Disney India’s sitcom Kya Mast Hai Life. Though Masaan was her breakthrough Bollywood film, we will always remember her as a bold young bride in Made in Heaven who walks out of the wedding as a protest when asked for dowry. Gone Kesh and Haram Khor are some other noticeable works of Shweta Tripathy.
8. Divyendu Sharma
More than half of the country’s population knows him as Munna Bhaiyya from Mirzapur! If not for Mirzapur, Divyendu would never have got such public recognition despite being an excellent actor. Before Mirzapur, Divyendu did act in some commercial movies but primarily as sidekicks with not much to perform. But despite the limited screen space, Divyendu did an impressive job.
9. Nimrat Kaur
Most of you recognize her as Ila from Lunchbox, isn’t it? Well, why not! It was one hell of a performance that Nimrat Kaur gave in the film. Her execution of Ila was so real and innocent that it will always stay in our heart. Though her performance was widely appreciated, Lunchbox didn’t bring her much fortune and she hardly did enough movies after that. Her web series Test Case also failed to appeal to the masses despite having a good review. This must be because it was released at a time when web series weren’t popular among the Indian audience.
10. Kirti Kulhari
In the few roles that she has done to date, Kirti has set the bar so high that it is impossible to replace her. May it be Pink, Uri-The Surgical Strike, Mission Mangal, or even Amazon web series Four More Shots, Kirti showed us that she can essay any shades of women- vulnerable, sassy, bold, with utmost ease and perfection.
11. Ali Fazal
Ali Fazal started his career by taking up small roles in movies and later rose to prominence with his eye-catching performances. Though he starred as the lead in Excel Entertainments’ Fukrey, it was Amazon Prime’s Mirzapur that gave him nationwide attention. The audience celebrated his role of “Guddu Bhaiyya” from the series. His role in Mirzapur was extremely contradicting to the ones he usually did but this versatile actor transformed himself as Guddu Bhaiyya effortlessly.
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