Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Aamir Khan's PK - 10 characters we have seen in the last five years that deserve CULT status!
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Some are supporting, some are leads...but they make equal impact when it comes to garnering followers!
What's a cult character? It's a role that gained wide critical acclaim and fan following either during the release or over the years, that could either be credited to the performance or due to the writing.
In Bollywood, we have seen several cult character over the years like Teja and Crime Master Gogo from Andaz Apna Apna, each and every character from Sholay, Raj-Simran from DDLJ, Bhiku Mhatre in Satya, Prem from many films, each vividly etched in our minds forever.
Looking at the last five years in Bollywood, and the number of films it has offered us, let's look at 10 characters that deserve cult status, and why so...
Bob Biswas
Kahaani has some wonderful performances and memorable characters like Vidya Balan's, but it was Bob Biswas that makes the cut, when it comes to making it to the cult status! The portly assassin, who heaves and hoes his way walking a flight of stairs, has an angelic smile but can cold-bloodedly kill anyone if you pay him the contract, is a kind of character you have not seen in Hindi cinema. No wonder, he has his own comic series. If only someone could make a prequel out of his life as a assassin...
Silk
Though based on a late sultry sex icon of the early '90s, Silk has managed to be a character of her own thanks to some wonderful dialogues that would hit really below the belt. Also, Vidya Balan's no holds barred performance helped in making this a character that no one will forget any time soon. No wonder, she won the National Award for the same.
Meenamma
Though this was an out and out Shah Rukh Khan and Rot Shetty, it was Deepika Padukone who walked away with the maximum adulations. Her Meenamma, even though was accused of being a South Indian caricature thanks to that nearly fake accent, had the best of the lines and even stole several scenes from under the nose of her far experienced co-star. Her sleeping disorder scene brought the house down!
Barfi
Copied or not, Barfi is in fact one of Ranbir Kapoor's best performances, if not the best. While we see many films where disability is used as a factor to earn sympathy, here the mute Barfi is a mischievous rascal who raises hell for the local police, stalks a lady, kidnaps a mentally challenged girl and even robs a bank! And still, he managed to remain sweet enough for all the ladies to sigh when he smiles!
Krishna Vasudeo Yadav
We had many portrayals of Lord Krishna in films and serials, but Akshay Kumar's God is a league of its own! From owning a bad-ass bike, to pulling Paresh Rawal's leg, to poking fun at the way people depict Gods in pictures and images, to finally giving gyaan that actually makes some real damn sense, this Krishna avatar is one kick-ass guy!
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
If people say Bajrangi Bhaijaan has something to do with the deaf-mute Geeta's return from Pakistan, you know the impact the film and Salman Khan's character has made. After a spate of violent roles, it was a refreshing change to see the Khan playing a man-child, who won't tell a lie, is very naive about the world, and prays to every monkey that crosses his path! But above it was his selfless act of returning a helpless child to a country where Indians are not really welcomed that made him so adorable and cult-like! In this age of strife and hate, characters like him are certainly needed to strengthen ties!
PK
The biggest blockbuster of all time also has one of the best characters written in recent times. PK is an alien who doesn't belong to the planet from where Jadoo came, who finds himself stranded on Earth, particularly in India, after his gola was stolen. When people ask him to seek God's help, he literally does that, and in the process, makes us question our own blind beliefs and traditions. Not only religion, he also questions our insecurities when it comes to discussing sex as well!
Sardar Khan
Every character from Gangs of Wasseypur deserve to be on the cult list, be it Faizal, Definite, Ramdhir Singh, Perpendicular or Tangent, but if we have to go with only one character, we would stick to Sardar Khan. Not only he has the best and the most quote-worthy lines in the movies, it's his casual demeanour in the way he fights the gang war with his enemies, as well as sleeping around with the prostitutes, behind his wife's back, that makes him stand apart from the rest of the leading men we have seen till now. He is not a complete hero at all, but he is the best shade of grey we can ever see in a hero!
Liak
Though he started off as the villain of the piece, Liak ended by winning most of audience's sympathies by the time movie ended, thanks to Nawazuddin Siddiqui's nuanced and layered performance. Be it his complete disregard while killing a innocent woman, his puppy love for a girlfriend with whom he wants to have phone sex even in jail, his frequent comic attempts to escape from the jail to his final redemption, this is one of the finest characters ever written in recent times!
Rakesh Mahadkar
Though the gore and the violence have been toned down when compared to the original Korean gorefest I Saw The Devil, Rakesh Mahadkar's psychopath is still as creepy as the villain from the original film. Desperate for his wife's approval and going all bat-shit crazy over the women who have snubbed him the wrong way, Riteish sheds his funny guy image to be one of the best villains we have seen in recent times. Hell, he doesn't even spare a pregnant woman just because she gave him an earful!
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