The game changers in Bollywood in 2013

Formula rules in the Hindi film industry Or at least thatrsquos what the perception about this particular genre of cinema is Rarely does one witness anything out of sync here And those who charter the roads less travelled are usually banished to the back burner However 2013 saw some instances which was not only promising for the present but also trendsetting for the future HitList zooms on some incidents and the Bollywood personalities behind them who facilitated such changes Deepika Padukone Reason Since the advent of R100crore club itrsquos been the male actors namely the Khans and Akshay Kumar who have been hogging the limelight for registering themselves in again and again For a change this actress had four releases this year and all of them grossed over 100 crore in the country Race 2 Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Chennai Express and RamLeela Priyanka Chopra Reason PC is perhaps the only active Bollywood actress who is keen on singing After taking her acting prowess a notch up last year with Barfi she exhibited an interest in music by releasing her debut single In My City while collaborating with Jay Sean She later released her second single Exotic which featured rapper Pitbull 2013 saw her in two item numbers one blockbuster and a forgettable film Vidya Balan Reason She had just one release in the year Ghanchakkar which failed miserably at the boxoffice But something worth noting took place in Cannes a month before this film opened in the theatres Vidya was a part of the grand jury at the celebrated film festival and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Steven Spielberg Ang Lee and Nicole Kidman An honourable feat for the 35yearold National Award winner Rishi Kapoor Reason Dimple Kapadia recently pointed out that therersquos a lack of covetworthy roles when it comes to actors who have passed a certain age And shersquos certainly not mistaken However Rishi Kapoor proved to be an exception to this theory Earning prominent roles the veteran actor had five big releases in the year and all of them with the exception of Besharam earned him rave reviews Sushant Singh Rajput Reason Moving from small screen to big screen can be called a natural progression But itrsquos generally a slow process too And seldom does one come across a TV actor who is suddenly leaping into a bigger league Something of that sort is happening with the Kai Po Che star Just twofilmsold hersquos presently working with acclaimed directors like Shekhar Kapur Rajkumar Hirani and Dibakar Banerjee Anil Kapoor Reason Not very long ago speculations were rife about Anil Kapoor being more interested in Hollywood than in Bollywood That was then As of now hersquos the protagonist as well as the producer of the most gripping television series hopefully in a long while And for an actor who stayed away from the small screen while his contemporaries were making their foray on the tube itrsquos encouraging Kapil Sharma Reason Humour more than just sells This fact was once again established by Kapil Sharma with his hugely popular comedy show Attending it to promote their upcoming films has become sort of a pilgrimage for actors nowadays In fact Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar have been there twice Given the spontaneity of the show nobody appears to say no to it Some even request to be a part of it Farhan Akhtar Reason Itrsquos quite known that mainstream actors have a chocabloc calendar with shooting for one film after another is a routine Calling the current system an assembly line wonrsquot be farfetched Much against this set up Farhan accomplished something outofthebook by dedicating nearly two years for a single role in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag To his credit the biopic did well at the box office too Honey Singh Reason For the record he remains the highest paid singer for a single song in Bollywood Having faced his share of legal troubles for ldquovulgarrdquo lyrics the 29yearold taciturn crooner is as popular as popularity gets largely in the metropolitan areas Catchcy numbers like Lungi Dance and Punjabiyan Di Battery ensured him a consistent place on the chartbusters throughout the year Manisha Koirala Reason She fought ovarian cancer won and is now back at work The buzz is Rajkumar Santoshi and Sanjay Leela Bhansali have reportedly offered her films now that she is keen to return to Bollywood As of now she is going through scripts and is keen to return with a meaningful role Interestingly enough Manisha prefers to call herself a cancer crusader not a cancer survivor Supporting roles Kiran Rao Reasons Independent films in our country travel across the globe on the film circuit but very few of them actually receive a proper Friday release Anand Gandhirsquos Ship of Theseus did And a lot of the credit goes to the Dhobi Ghat director because she effectively funneled all the resources required to present the film Karan Johar Reasons When Bombay Talkies released as a tribute to 100 years of cinema hardly anybody was expecting this filmmaker to go beyond his comfort zone and come up with a shortie that highlighted repressed homosexuality On the contrary his lsquogay encounter at gunpointrsquo question on his chat show sounds rather regressive in comparisonu00a0