Old habits do die hard. And some of our Bollywood citizens continued indulging in them in 2014. Here's hoping that the new year shakes some of these actors out of their sleepy, safe mode.
Sonakshi Sinha
On screen, she is the fantasy woman of every MCP and, perhaps, that's why she is such a hit among men - utterly unliberated, irritatingly coy woman that every man secretly loves and wants to protect. It might be working for the actress, but it's nevertheless a pity that an educated, modern woman of the 21st century single handedly harks us back to the dark ages. The fearless Nadia of the '40s would scowl at Sona's choice of roles. Hope in 2015 she recalls that momentary wisdom that struck her when she chose a film like Lootera last year and does some roles that suit her IQ and the century that she's part of.
Bipasha Basu
She proudly claims to be the horror queen of the industry. Bipasha played a cunning seductress in her debut film 'Raaz' in 2002 and 12 years later, she is still stuck in the thriller world of sleaze, sex and horror, while the rest of Bollywood and the country has moved on to a much happier and better world.
It's time she got out of the haunted houses and tried something else, Bips. Even the ghosts and creatures seem to be begging her to quit chasing them.
Saif Ali Khan
The bumbling, clueless lover boy in 'Dil Chahta Hai' was a riot, but the same not-so-young romantic chap in 'Happy Ending' is a bit of a bore. Knowing how talented he is (who can forget 'Omkara'?) and those cool good looks, it would be of immense help if Saif only chose better.
Shraddha Kapoor
In what appears to be a case of classic 'tragedy queen' complex, Shraddha seems to go seeking for 'babe in the woods, with all the misery of the world heaped on her fragile shoulders' roles. How about picking up some cheerful, age appropriate roles for a change? We got a glimpse of it in Haider and that seemed to work far better for the young actress.
Parineeti Chopra
She came as a breath of fresh air with 'Ladies vs Ricky Bahl'. And then she came back again and again, and again, in the same kind of roles and that air sadly started getting a little stale. Pari has enough talent to break out of the bubbly, bindaas mould that she is stuck in. We hope 2015 offers her better options.
Prabhu Dheva
Once a funny man with elastic bones, he has now turned into a factory churning out films with zero common sense, negligible sense of fun and an unbelievable hero flying around in fury. After the assault on our senses with films like 'R...Rajkumar' and 'Action Jackson', we hope this actor-choreographer takes a break from filmmaking and perhaps teach or talk about something he is so brilliant at - dancing.
And these stars shone brighter because....
Alia Bhatt: For proving that talent alone is never enough and you need to have a sensible head on your shoulders. She has chosen a variety of roles and come out smelling of roses.
Govinda: For making a comeback with two excellent performances. Never mind that the roles didn't do justice to his talent, but still he proved that no one can beat Chi Chi when it comes to comedy, acting, dancing - in short, everything.
Ranveer Singh: For being the individual that he is in this clutter of me-toos. His wacky fashion sense, choice of movies, choice of commercials, everything screams confidence. And we like that.
Akshay Kumar: For giving breaks to new girls and relatively new directors, instead of playing it safe with the already established ones.
