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Newcomers who made an impact in Bollywood in 2017

The year just-ending was not great for new talent. Unless we look at Mahira Khan as new talent. And that would be as calamitous as giving Diljit Dosanjh the best debutants award in 2016 for "Udta Punjab".

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The year just-ending was not great for new talent. Unless we look at Mahira Khan as new talent. And that would be as calamitous as giving Diljit Dosanjh the best debutants award in 2016 for "Udta Punjab".

So, who were the newcomers to really make an impact this year?

* Martin Rey Tangu: Salman Khan's 10-year-old co-star in Kabir Khan's "Tubelight" absolutely stole the show from the superstar. Natural and unspoilt, Martin would have been the perfect fit for Salman's role.

* Sajal Ali in "Mom": Three Pakistani actresses made an impressive Bollywood debut in 2017. While it would be unfair to describe the seasoned Mahira Khan and Saba Qamar as debutantes in "Raees" and "Hindi Medium" respectively, Sajal Ali playing the great Sridevi's traumatized daughter was a relative newcomer on both sides of the border. This year, we needed new talent to come in from other parts of the world. That's show short-staffed our cinema was in 2017.

* Ashish Bisht in "Shab": Playing Raveena Tandon's toyboy in Onir's study of love, sex and heartbreak, Bisht brought in a sense of innocence and desperation to his role. There is hope here.

* Plabita Borthakur in "Lipstick Under My Burkha": She threw off the burqa to indulge in a spot of shoplifting in this overrated film. God knows what the director was trying to probe. But young Plabita proved a point. One can make an impact in a film that wears the burqa just to throw it off as a fashion statement.

* Khushmeet Gill in "Sniff !!!": As the young Sardarji from Amole Gupte's film whose sense of smell is gone, Khushmeet was a natural born scene-stealer. He made a good enough impact. Strangely, it was the kids who made all the impact during the year starved of new talent.

* Aadar Jain in "Qaidi Band": Easily and hands-down the best male discovery of 2016, Aadar who belongs to the illustrious Raj Kapoor's 'khandaan', played the wrongly convicted jailbird with tremendous empathy warmth and feeling. A pity this film sank without a trace. Aadar deserves a second chance.

* Anya Singh in "Qaidi Band": She had one breakdown sequence in the courtroom where Anya proved she had the potential to be the new-age Jaya Bhaduri. Producers starved of leading ladies, please take note.

* Svar Kamble in "Chef": The third debutant child actor of the year to make an impact. Playing Saif Ali Khan's son, this young performer revealed rare intelligence in handling complex scenes.

* Barun Sobti in "Tu Hai Mera Sunday": The TV actor made a telling impact in a role of a do-gooder who is unable to do good for himself. Strangely, this superb film and its capable performers made no impact at the box-office.

* Parvathy in "Qarib Qarib Singlle": By far the most accomplished Bollywood debutante of the year. But then Parvathy was not new to excellence, having proved her mettle in Malayalam movies. Nonetheless, during a year when new talent was scarce and scarily scant, we welcomed this spontaneous performer with open arms.

Let's hope 2018 would give us more Parvathis and less Mustafas.

We mention Mustafa because the son of director Abbas Burmwalla gave nepotism a bad name with his disastrous debut in a film aptly called "Machine". Mustafa seemed as robotic as a time machine that had lost its timer.


(Credits: IANS)

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Salman Khan Thumbnail

Salman Khan

Saif Ali Khan Thumbnail

Saif Ali Khan

Raj Kapoor Thumbnail

Raj Kapoor

Raveena Tandon Thumbnail

Raveena Tandon

Kabir Khan Thumbnail

Kabir Khan

Amole Gupte Thumbnail

Amole Gupte

Barun Sobti Thumbnail

Barun Sobti

Saba Qamar Thumbnail

Saba Qamar

Mahira Khan Thumbnail

Mahira Khan

Diljit Dosanjh Thumbnail

Diljit Dosanjh

Anya Singh Thumbnail

Anya Singh

Aadar Jain Thumbnail

Aadar Jain

Svar Kamble Thumbnail

Svar Kamble

Parvathy Thumbnail

Parvathy

Ashish Bisht Thumbnail

Ashish Bisht

Tubelight poster

Tubelight

Lipstick Under My Burkha poster

Lipstick Under My Burkha

Qaidi Band poster

Qaidi Band

Sniff !!! poster

Sniff !!!

Chef poster

Chef

Tu Hai Mera Sunday poster

Tu Hai Mera Sunday

Shab poster

Shab

Mom poster

Mom

Qarib Qarib Singlle poster

Qarib Qarib Singlle

Comments (14)

Mahira Khan is a good actress

1 years ago

This forum should be named Barun Sobti Forum due to IF's obsession with him. How can he be in this list of Bollywood newcomers when his debut Bollywood movie came in 2014 named Main Aur Mr Right? Thus us the heights of dumbness.

6 years ago

Congratz..to those who made their highway to b'wood without nepotism..u own much.. PARVATI&BARUN keep rocking...sky's limit...

6 years ago

Barun Sobti is the best. He was so good in the movie. Its really sad Bollywood does not appreciate good cinema like this.

6 years ago

Of course, Barun Sobti deserves global recognition.

6 years ago

Barun Sobti.. You have made us happy in 2017 with three projects.. Now waiting for you in 2018... My King life Barun God bless you always all your roles wonderful love you alots...

6 years ago

r u serious? barun sobti's movie came n go n hardly not any one even noticed..it ended up as a disaster according to BOI

6 years ago

Barun Sobti you did great jod as Arjun. Wish lot more good projects come to you

6 years ago

Hope a movie like Tu Hai Mera Sunday will be awarded in BW prizes this year. They need new faces in films , can't tolerate seeing 50s stars playing roles of 20s and romancing girls half of their ages any more. :/

6 years ago

Barun Sobti and Parvathy...my favorites.
Wishing both of them luck and success in their work

6 years ago

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