2010 - Chulbul Pandey : The Dabangg fever might be waning, but back in 2010, those aviators and funky dance steps set the theatres exploding.
Salman, still on the rise of ultimate Bhaidom, sportingly took on the grey shades of his character— a trait that’s sourly missed today.
2011 - Pappi ji: Deepak Dobriyal had some of the funniest scenes of the decade. The classroom bluff in Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015) is a meme, but the first part had some equally worthy gems.
Just watch him huff and puff as he comes up with varying renditions of ‘Jai Mata Di!!’
2012 - Sardar Khan : Anurag Kashyap’s heartland western, Gangs of Wasseypur, was powered by Manoj Bajpayee’s incendiary, back-from-hell performance.
Crass, violent, licentious and deliriously irreverent — Sardar Khan, you ain’t forgetting that name.
2013 - Boris : A zombie-hunting Russian druglord from Delhi played by Saif Ali Khan? Raj & DK’s crossover genre film, Go Goa Gone, unleashed the most potently iconic character of the last ten years.
A sequel, teased since long, is being readied. Boris is back, reportedly with an all new sidekick.
2014 - Meeta Solanki : The geeky runaway scientist in Hasee Toh Phasee was a real enigma.
Played by Parineeti Chopra, the character mystified us with her strange tics and topsy-turvy mind. In a clutter of manic pixie heroines, she stood out as a dark puzzle.
2015 - Piku : As an independent women looking after her cantankerous father, Deepika Padukone shone in Shoojit Sircar’s heartfelt comedy.
In the relationship of Piku and Bhaskor Banerjee, viewers found the familiar warmth of middle-class bonding. It’s a character, and film, of love and care.
2016 - Ramanna : More than Faisal Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s unhinged serial killer in Raman Raghav 2.0 was a shocker.
A lone scar spread across his face, Ramanna was grisly and horrific, with a philosophical strength that surpassed his scavenger existence. A sledgehammer character, in every sense.
2017 - Aatma Singh : “Do you eat eggs?” That’s how CRPF commander Aatma Singh greets Newton Kumar in Amit Masurkar’s film.
Pankaj Tripathi plays his world-weary character with comic grace. The film is about Newton, but Aatma never becomes the villain; the crunch of his boot telling its own, long story.
2018 - Kamli/Jaana-Last year’s a tie, between Vicky Kaushal’s Gujarati turn in Sanju and Abhishek Banerjee’s panicky performance in Stree. Co-incidentally, both characters are steadfast best friends.
2019 - Safeena : Alia Bhatt hustles and flows in Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy. As Safeena, she’s attuned to the rhythms of the street.
Safeena scuffles, manipulates and snatches out a better life for herself and Murad. When she smiles at him in the end, at the station, they know they have done this together.
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