2015 has been a year of many misfortunes we had to endure, and many actors just added insult to the injury by inflicting oh-so-yawn-worthy performances. Here goes our top five.
Karan Johar in Bombay Velvet
Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet had a lot of razzle-dazzle of the shiny vintage era, and Karan Johar’s Kaizad Khambata as the flamboyant fella. KJo’s acting skills are as potent as Priya Rajvansh, which is why perhaps director Kashyap made him so flamboyant that it bordered on camp. Johar only plays himself, in exaggeration, in inflated manners, reminding us of his real self constantly. If that wasn’t all, his dying scene, with his mouth wide open, killed us all with its metaphor. Death became us.
Vidya Balan in Hamari Adhuri Kahani
Vidya Balan in Hamari Adhuri Kahani was a revelation, a woman who’s so dying to be the doormat in a glycerine-induced love story. Her shrieks, her hysterical dialogue delivery (lines airlifted from the cheesy days of yore) made Vasudha so archaic and dumb that you couldn’t help but wonder how an actor like Balan could choose a role like this. It was worse than any daily soap soppiness. Balan has been at the forefront of making women-centric cinema successful, and but this film has been a misguided mess.
Katrina Kaif in Phantom
Our film industry has been smitten by Katrina Kaif’s beauty for long, and keeps offering her films, well aware of her acting credentials. It’s okay, if she is just the eye candy for the hero. But in Kabir Khan’s Phantom, she plays Nawaz Mistry, who teams up with Saif Ali Khan’s Daniyal Khan in extinguishing terror masterminds responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In such a serious thriller scenario, Kaif’s prim and proper character sticks out like a sore thumb in the proceedings, and you fail to take the film seriously.
Abhishek Bachchan in All is Well
The ghost of Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya came back in a flash when we saw Abhishek Bachchan dancing in All is Well. It’s the kind of measured steps that invites yawn, and a few more yawns. And when he was acting out his role, he had the subtlety of a sledgehammer and in a film of terrible proportions; he adds his gargantuan bit quite gleefully to add to our woes. All was not well when we came out of the theatre.
Pulkit Samrat in Dolly Ki Doli/Bangistan
Pulkit Samrat featured in two films this year, and in both the films, we were trying hard, really hard to locate him. All we could find was Salman Khan, ahem, rather a poor clone of him. Samrat copied Bhai in every step, from the swag to the dialogue delivery, even showing off rippling muscles. The problem is whatever Khan does, it’s his USP, but whatever Samrat does, it’s only a poor imitation. Remember what happened to Harman Baweja?
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