1. Tripti Dimri

• Character: Bulbbul
• Film: Bulbbul

Tripti Dimri, who first impressed us in the largely under-watched Laila Majnu, embraced the power and pain, pathos and poignancy of a woman wronged in the Netflix film that grabbed eyeballs and got everyone discussing and debating. Tripti’s eyes did much of the talking, as did that ambiguous smirk, in this made-in-Bengal period piece directed by Anvita Dutt and produced by Anushka Sharma. Bulbbul required the 26-year-old actor to journey from a girl fettered by fate to a woman who pounds patriarchy to pieces, and Tripti — walking the tightrope between naive and coquettish, before unleashing Bulbbul’s unbridled rage in that brilliantly executed climax — was the standout in a film that boasted far more seasoned actors.

She not only held her own in every frame, but also gave us an act that did justice to this feminist fable. Impish charm and intriguing mystery and a remarkable blend of raw strength and innocent vulnerability summed up this young actor’s performance in Bulbbul. Here’s looking forward to much more
from her.

Jaideep Ahlawat Sourced by the Telegraph

2. Jaideep Ahlawat

• Character: Hathiram Chaudhary
• Show: Paatal Lok

Every actor brought their A-game to this Amazon Prime Video winner, once again produced by Anushka Sharma, but Paatal Lok wouldn’t have been half the show it turned out to be if it wasn’t anchored by Jaideep Ahlawat. Ahlawat, always one to be depended upon to render an ordinary part into something extraordinary, brought alive the dogged resilience of a cop who doesn’t allow his single-minded pursuit of the truth to be thwarted by anything that comes in his way. “I liked the fact that even in circumstances that may be in his favour, he’s never sure, he’s always vulnerable... and yet he’s always resolute,” is how Ahlawat, who has been in the business for years but truly broke out with Paatal Lok, had described his character to The Telegraph.

His nuanced act of a world-weary cop who is given the responsibility of the first high-profile case of his unremarkable career elevated a part that could have well degenerated into a stereotype, allowing Paatal Lok to metamorphose from a simple police procedural to a tightly-knit thriller, with Hathiram Chaudhary emerging as the beating heart of a show that skilfully and powerfully examined the fault lines of pride and prejudice.

Honour roll: For us, Ishwak Singh, who played Imran Ansari, was the find of the series. The young actor made quite an impression with the cop struggling with marginalisation at every step, but never allowing it to get the better of him. Ansari was the voice of reason in Paatal Lok, and Ishwak portrayed him beautifully... nuanced, understated, internal and pitch-perfect.

Kay Kay Menon Sourced by the Telegraph

3. Kay Kay Menon

• Character: Himmat Singh
• Show: Special Ops

“I come from the believable school of performances,” is what Kay Kay Menon had told The Telegraph shortly after the stupendous success of Special Ops. And that’s what the veteran actor brought to the espionage thriller, sharply directed by Neeraj Pandey. Kay Kay’s Himmat Singh, calm and collected, armed with a quick mind and a glint in the eye, took the show, streaming on Disney+Hotstar, a few notches higher, giving us a man who felt heroic even when he didn’t resort to any in-your-face heroics. It’s to Kay Kay’s credit that he made a chilling “Thok do” from a seasoned spy seem as credible as the “helicopter dad” monitoring his daughter’s every move. Kay Kay humanised Himmat Singh in the way, well, only Kay Kay can.

Honour roll: Almost matching Kay Kay beat for beat was Karan Tacker, who slipped on both beguiling charm and steely resolve to play Himmat Singh’s deputy Farooq. This was one cool customer we loved watching. Karan’s good looks definitely helped!

Sushmita Sen Sourced by the Telegraph

4. Sushmita Sen

• Character: Aarya
• Show: Aarya

Absent from screen big for many years, Sushmita Sen made a powerful comeback, albeit to screen small, playing the eponymous protagonist in Aarya. The Disney+Hotstar show that winningly localised the Dutch drama Penoza, had Sushmita kicking ass, both literally and metaphorically, with her Aarya travelling the gamut, from a devoted wife and doting mother to a woman calling the shots in the drug trade. She brought in her trademark ‘Sush shero-ness’ to a part that seemed to be tailor-made for her, but also won over the viewer in the show’s tender moments.

It was Sushmita’s powerful screen presence that lent action and attitude, but also empathy and grace to the part. She made Aarya credible, giving us a woman who thinks on her feet, is sharp enough to manipulate things in her favour and one who strategically and systematically sidelines the men. And no one better than Sush to deliver a line like, “Pehle mard dhanda karte thhe, ab bachey nahin”.

Jitendra Kumar Sourced by the Telegraph

5. Jitendra Kumar

• Character: Abhishek Tripathi
• Show: Panchayat

By now we all know that few can play the underdog Everyman better than Jitendra Kumar. The actor, better known as Jeetu, aces the rooted and relatable every time, and with Panchayat, he won even more hearts as an urban boy who first struggles with and then makes peace with his life in a village. The eight-episode series, streaming on Amazon Prime Video but giving us a feel of the feel-good serials of ’80s Doordarshan, was a delight, hitting home with both humour and heart.

A lot of the credit for Panchayat’s binge-ability factor — despite the presence of heavyweight actors like Raghubir Yadav and Neena Gupta — goes to Jeetu, who ably made palpable both Abhishek’s angst and his helplessness. And, of course, Jeetu’s trademark death stares — also seen in his recent Netflix outing Chaman Bahar — have their own fan base.

Maanvi Gagroo Sourced by the Telegraph

6. Maanvi Gagroo

• Character: Siddhi Patel
• Show: Four More Shots Please! Season 2

Many may dismiss Four More Shots Please! as an eye-pleasing chick flick (and that’s what it aims for, mostly), but there’s no denying the fact that the character arcs of its four women protagonists were fleshed out much better in its second season that arrived on Amazon Prime Video in April. Particularly impressive was Maanvi Gagroo’s Siddhi, who metamorphosed from a sheltered girl unsure of her place in the world to a woman who not only discovered who she really was — propagating everything from body positivity to owning her sexuality — but also finding her talent as a stand-up comic.

The fact that Maanvi walks the talk even in real life — calling out social media trolls to not shying away from making her voice heard even regarding prickly issues — made her portrayal of Siddhi all that more real and relatable.

Kabir Sawant Sourced by the Telegraph

7. Amit Sadh

• Character: Kabir Sawant
• Show: Breathe: Into The Shadows

He stood tall in Season 1, even when it had a stellar R. Madhavan. And Amit Sadh was, by a mile, the best thing about Season 2. In Breathe: Into The Shadows, the actor completely internalised Kabir Sawant, a troubled cop fighting personal and professional demons, who races against time to solve a series of murders. Sadh, who has been riding a wave over the last few months with back-to-back releases this lockdown — he’s had films like Shakuntala Devi and Yaara, with Breathe 2 followed by the web series Avrodh — scores with a compelling mix of bullheadedness and vulnerability, something that he brought to his Sawant in spadefuls in the Amazon Prime Video show.

While Breathe 2 stood on uneven ground, hitting more troughs than crests, the verdict was unanimous that it was Sadh who breathed life into the show when the going got tough for the viewer. “This is the first time I have given my everything to a role,” the actor had said in a recent interview centred on Breathe 2. It showed.

Dibyendu Bhattacharya Sourced by the Telegraph

8. Dibyendu Bhattacharya

• Character: Barun Ghosh
• Show: Undekhi

The environment of toxicity and male entitlement that Undekhi uncomfortably and effectively brought to the fore was balanced by the presence of the ever-smiling but not-to-be-messed-with top cop Barun Ghosh. Played winningly by Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Ghosh became the quiet hero we cheered for in the SonyLIV series about crime and misdemeanour. Bhattacharya, who’s earned his stripes across decades performing on many a Calcutta stage, turned in a scene-stealing act with his slow-moving Ghosh lending agency to Undekhi and tempering the plot with both humaneness and humour. Ghosh was the moral compass as well as the calm in the frenzied chaos, with Bhattacharya sinking his teeth into the role with relish, delivering his lines with a punch and hitting bullseye with his jokes, mostly delivered deadpan.

Saiyami Kher Sourced by the Telegraph

9. Saiyami Kher

• Character: Sarita Pillai
• Film: Choked

For Choked, Saiyami Kher shed her glam girl image, draping cotton saris and becoming an Everywoman battling through a humdrum life, burdened not only by the responsibility of running the house on the back of her income from her job as a cashier at a bank, but also by the weight of a series of ‘what ifs’. The actor’s eyes — weary and resigned, and then lighting up with a new confidence when her kitchen sink started inexplicably coughing up wads of cash one night — did a lot of the emoting in this Anurag Kashyap directorial.

Saiyami — on a dream run, who also impressed in Special Ops and then in Breathe 2 — was cast against type in Choked, and she pleasantly surprised the viewer with a powerful act in a film that was, however, far from perfect.

Randeep Hooda Sourced by the Telegraph

10. Randeep Hooda

• Character: Saju
• Film: Extraction

Missing from screen for a few years, Randeep Hooda made a comeback of sorts with Love Aaj Kal earlier this year (he was, notably, the only tolerable bit of this Imtiaz Ali borefest), but it was with Extraction that the man powered back... and how! As the ambiguous Saju, Randeep’s strong hold over his craft kept us guessing about his character’s intentions throughout the length of this Netflix action film, but it was his wham-bam-whack-thwack moments that kept us hooked even more. “This was an opportunity to do something that actors from India haven’t done in a Hollywood film before... and that was old-school action,” Randeep had told The Telegraph just before Extraction dropped. That hand-to-hand combat scene with Chris Hemsworth’s Tyler Rake was enough to make it worth the ride for us.

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