SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2020 (PAGE 4) BAD year for BOLLYWOOD perhaps gained more appreciation as he returned to play the Bollywood in 2020 wilted under the raging pandemic like any other character of Akhandanand "Kaleen Bhaiya" Tripathi in the high-octane web series Mirzapur 2. industry. While movie theaters remained out of bound, what shocked Vidya Balan: From appearing in a short movie the cine-goers is the yearlong news of deaths - from coronavirus to 'Natkhat' to her performance in Shakuntala Devi, Vidya Balan made her presence strongly felt among movie buffs in unnatural ones like the demise of Sushant Singh Rajput opening a this eventful year otherwise marred by the pandemic. Natkhat premiered on YouTube as part of the We Are One: Pandora's box of movie world open secrets. SUPRIYO HAZRA looks A Global Film Festival. back alphabetically with a heavy heart. Special Mentions: Deepika Padukone: Deepika Padukone shocked her The year 2020 witnessed a massive digital transforma- fans by transforming herself to Malti, an acid-attack sur- tion in the world of movies and entertainment as new films vivor, onscreen. The Indian actress surely won hearts by were released on OTT platforms with theater remaining portraying the agony and resilience of a victim/survivor in shut due to the pandemic. The new platform definitely the Meghna Gulzar movie. She will soon be seen in the emerged as a game changer and web series even witnessed movie '83', opposite husband Ranveer Singh in the sports the debut of several top Bollywood actors who found a new drama. But she was also in the news for the wrong reasons- medium to entertain their fans. drugs in Bollywood- after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput Abhishek Bachchan: He may have been down with opened a Pandora's box. COVID-19 this year but Abhishek Bachchan will love to Jacqueline Fernandez: Apart from remaining busy remember 2020 as one transforming moment in his life posting new images on Instagram for her fans, Jacqueline when he delivered strong performance with his appearance surely was the talk of the town with her foot-tapping per- in the web series Breathe : Into the Shadows. His perform- formance in rapper Badshah's song 'Genda Phool'. During ance in the series was appreciated by netizens and Abhishek lockdown breaks, Salman Khan and Jacky also teamed up to once again won hearts with his acting prowess. He played the role of a psychiatrist with a split personality in the web ated by netizens. In the web series, she was seen playing the shoot a video song “Tere bina”. Jacqueline also remained character of a mother to three kids and a blogger too. busy shooting for her upcoming movie Bhoot Police at the series. Abhishek is also busy shooting for his upcoming movie The Big Bull. The movie is expected to hit OTT plat- Bobby Deol: After remaining away from films for sev- end of the year in Himachal Pradesh. eral years, Bobby is back with a bang in the web series Karan Johar: Netizens trolled and slammed director form soon. The Junior B was also seen in another OTT plat- form released movie Ludo this year. The movie featured Aashram. He played the character of a fake godman Karan Johar for days and months after the debate over Kashipur Waale Baba Nirala aka Monty. nepotism once again haunted Bollywood following the Aditya Roy Kapur and Rajkummar Rao in the lead roles. Sonu Sood: Despite Naseeruddin Shah: Like many of his B-town col- Aamir Khan: No, this year we did not see any Aamir death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Fans blamed Karan Johar leagues, Shah made his digital debut with the Amazon Khan movie releasing onscreen but fans are keeping them- for supporting only star kids over outsiders like Sushant. his good looks and robust body, Sonu Sood in "A- Prime Video original show Bandish Bandits. He played the selves busy waiting for his next project Laal Singh Chaddha. Netizens blamed Karan and many other Bollywood A-listers character of Pandit Radhemohan Rathod in the series. The film is expected to hit the theater next year. An adapta- for nepotism and for not standing by SSR in his time of cri- listed" Bollywood movies was mostly a villain or a Sushmita Sen: The Miss Universe teased her fans ear- tion of the 1994 American film Forrest Gump, Laal Singh sis. As expected Kangana Ranaut joined the debate and lier this year about her digital debut and she finally made it Chaddha stars Aamir Khan in the title role with the sensa- attacked Karan by calling him again “the flag-bearer of second fiddle to the heros. But the pandemic later on with the web series Aarya. In the crime drama, tional Kareena Kapoor paired opposite him. nepotism”. An old video of Kangana targeting Karan on the Sushmita could be seen playing the titular role who is Amitabh Bachchan: Amitabh Bachchan gave his fans 'nepotism' issue while she appeared in his chat show Koffee brought the best out of him and he emerged as caught in a web of lies and deceit within her family. Aarya a scare when he contracted COVID-19 and spent several With Karan went viral on social media ever since the debate remained one of the much loved web series of the year. days in hospital. However, Big B defeated the virus and got reignited this year. Things reached a stage that the the true hero of the film Sushant Singh Rajput: finally returned home, giving relief to his well wishers and Bollywood giant had to unfollow almost everyone on world and India. So go to showing the world that he still remains the 'Shahenshah' of Twitter, including actors like Alia Bhatt. He currently fol- his Wikipedia bio and you Celebrity death which shook Bollywood now find him introduced India at the age of 78. His son Abhishek Bachchan, daugh- lows only 12 people on Twitter, including Prime Minister Sushant Singh Rajput left his fans shocked one Sunday ter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and grand daughter Narendra Modi and actors Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay as "an Indian film actor, producer, and humanitarian who ...... Well Sood would now afternoon when he supposedly committed suicide in his Aaradhya also fought the disease and won. Big B's Gulabo Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan. He was also dragged into the Mumbai residence, triggering a tsunami of events that Sitabo, opposite Ayushmann Khurrana, also became the Bollywood and drugs nexus row with his house party video on be known as the humanitarian who pooled all his resources to send back home hapless people- read migrant almost felled big Bollywood names and dragged several top first B-town movie to release on OTT platform since the cin- of 2019 with top stars coming under the lens of Narcotics stars and personalities into controversies ranging from ema halls were shut down. Amitabh Bachchan earned praise Control Bureau (NCB) for allegedly being drug-fuelled, a workers- stuck in the big cities like Mumbai- amid the rag- ing Covid-19 lockdown. In September 2020, Sood was cho- nepotism, bullying of those from non-film backgrounds and with his comic timing in this Lucknow-based movie. charge he junked as "baseless". drugs. An engineering dropout, Sushant came to Bollywood Akshay Kumar: He is a box office rockstar and Akshay Priyanka Chopra: Priyanka Chopra is back with her sen for the prestigious? SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award’ by the United Nations Development Programme from a middle-class background but went on to deliver Kumar's horror comedy genre movie Laxmii, which hit the new Hollywood movie and this time she will be seen in the many memorable movies, including the biopic on former OTT platform due to COVID-19, made the biggest ever project We Can Be Heroes. Recently, she made the (UNDP) for his humanitarian works during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indian skipper MS Dhoni. The entire country was left opening on the new platform of movie release. Meanwhile, announcement by sharing a teaser and posters of the movie shocked when on June 14 the actor was found dead in his he has unveiled the new poster of his upcoming movie Ram on Instagram. Kiara Advani: Kiara remained one of the busiest actresses of the Bollywood Bandra flat. He had allegedly committed suicide by hanging Setu, promising to deliver another entertainer in the year to Ranbir Kapoor: Ranbir Kapoor will surely want to for- himself to death. A CBI investigation into the incident is still come. He also won hearts with his Rs 25-crore donation to get 2020 as he lost his father and Bollywood veteran Rishi industry in 2020. The gorgeous lady made her first major appearance on. The death left a deep impact in Indian society as a sec- the PM Cares Fund. Kapoor on April 30. With his upcoming film Brahmastra's tion of people saw the instance as a wake-up call to intro- Ayushmann Khurrana: Ayushmann has created his release postponed by Covid-19, he actually had no release in this year with her Netflix released movie Guilty. The film follows the spect on the functioning of the entertainment industry in own set of fans over the years who love him and deliver one 2020. Mumbai. strong character after the other onscreen. In 2020, Ranveer Singh: Bollywood's poster boy Ranveer Singh story of a songwriter whose The death triggered debates on issues like favouritism, Ayushmann made yet another bold statement with the gay- kept teasing his followers with his Kapil Dev look for his boyfriend is accused of rape during insider versus outsider, and nepotism like never before.