2013 - The newcomers who entered Bollywood

This year, unlike the last one, primarily belonged to the superstars of Bollywood all of whom ruled the roost with their 100-crore claims. In this surrounding melee, there was not much space left for newcomers to create a niche for themselves. Though quite a handful of debutants did enter Bollywood this year, barring a couple, not all could create a splash. Tellychakkar.com takes a look at the newbies who took their baby steps in tinsel town this year. The Biggies: Sushant Singh Rajput-This man will undisputedly walk away with top honours this season. Sushant’s debut movie Kai Po Che! won him both critical and commercial admiration. Already a popular face on television, Sushant’s debut was one of the most keenly awaited one. And Sushant didn’t disappoint his legion of fans either. His natural acting and chiseled body made the fairer sex go weak in their knees. All of a sudden, he was the flavor of the month. Unfortunately, the good looking actor couldn’t keep up the good work in his second offering, Shuddh Desi Romance which failed to live up to everyone’s expectations. Nevertheless, Sushant still continues to be a top draw and already has a few biggies in his kitty including Shekhar Kapoor’s Paani. Also, the fact the YRF favours him makes him unarguably, the most successful debutant this year. Amit Sadh- Another well-known face in television, Amit Sadh too made his film debut along with Sushant Singh Rajput in Kai Po Che! His role as a priest’s son was well received and appreciated although he couldn’t really create the impact that Sushant managed. Amit, who was once famously known for crying buckets in Bigg Boss has now indeed shed his poor cry baby image and come a long way. He will soon be seen in Running Shaadi.com. Manish Paul- The 2nd funniest man on Indian television (Kapil Sharma, you are still the first) finally made his Bollywood debut with Mickey Virus. The movie, though not a superhit, did recover its money. For Manish it was the end of long wait having been in television for almost a decade. And he did impress one and all with his talent. Although comedy comes naturally to him, Manish told us just before the release of the movie that he is more keen on doing an action comedy much like Will Smith and Jackie Chan. Let’s see if Manish can redefine action comedy in Indian cinema. Poonam Pandey- The raunchy Pandey girl, who was vying for a film role ever since she started stripping, finally got her chance in an obscure movie called Nasha. The film was of course marketed for its sex and nude scenes. Alas! It didn’t give the movie much thrust (pun unintended). The film opened to mixed to bad reviews though surprisingly Poonam’s acting histrionics did receive wide spread appreciation. Post that we have not heard much about the luscious lady save perhaps for the bikini pictures that she keeps on tweeting regularly. Oh yes! There were rumours of her doing an item song in a Kannada movie for an obscene amount of money. We will have to wait for that to hit the screens now. Leander Paes- Sportspersons in India have burnt their hands in Bollywood. Sunil Gavaskar, Sandip Patil, Salil Ankola, the list is just endless. India’s best know tennis star - Leander Paes joined the bandwagon when he debuted with Rajdhani Express this year. Unfortunately for him, the movie didn’t gather the speed that Rajdhani is usually known for and sank without a trace at the box-office. Leander was panned by critics for his lackluster acting skills and everyone unanimously suggested that he should stick to doing what he does best – playing tennis. As for now, Leander doesn’t seem to be in a hurry in getting back to Bollywood though we are sure the disaster of Rajdhani hasn’t derailed the star’s inordinate Bollywood ambitions. Dhanush- This frail looking dusky actor from Chennai, quite unconventional in his looks won many hearts in Bollywood when he stalked and romanced Sonam Kapoor in Raanjhanaa, thereby making him one of the rarely successful South Indian actors in Bollywood. The good story of Raanjhaana notwithstanding, what also helped Dhanush in his cause was his zillion-time viewed music video ‘Why this Kolaveri Di’ which had already made him a popular name in India and abroad. Dhanush will now been seen opposite Akshara Hassan, Kamal Hassan’s daughter in R. Balki’s next along with Amitabh Bachchan. Ram Charan Teja- This Ram disappointed one and all. Much was expected when Southern legend Chiranjeevi’s son, Ram Charan Teja made his debut amidst huge fanfare with Priyanka Chopra in Zanjeer. Ram, who is a big star himself in the Telugu industry, unfortunately couldn’t replicate the success of Tollywood, here in Bollywood. Zanjeer turned out to be a super dud and it nixed Ram Charan’s Bollywood dreams to a great extent. Better sense prevailed and Ram has now returned to his home ground and immersed himself in Telugu movies, at least for the time being. The not so big Debutants: Vaani Kapoor- She was YRF’s new find this season after Parineeti Chopra. And to her credit, she got to debut opposite Sushant Singh Rajput who was riding a wave of popularity after Kai Po Che! and Parineeti in Shuddh Desi Romance. The film didn’t do much wonders and Vaani’s performance didn’t exactly set the screens ablaze. The actress though, did impress everyone with her physical beauty. Last heard, she was signed on to act in a Telugu and Tamil remake of Band Baaja Baaraat. Siddhant Kapoor- Many didn’t even know that Shakti Kapoor’s son Siddhant was making his Bollywood debut with Sanjay Gupta’s Shootout at Wadala. And his not so plump role didn’t help matters either. At 29, Siddhant may have entered Bollywood a tad late. The fact that he has a more successful sister in the form of Shraddha Kapoor would mean that the media spotlight would always be on his more famous sister than him. Now that’s the same curse Abhishek Bachchan lives with. Sasha Agha- Remember a cat-eyed Pakistani actress called Salma Agha who made many male hearts skip a beat in B R Chopra’s Nikaah? Salma couldn’t really create a niche for herself after Nikaah and disappeared into oblivion. However, this year her teenage daughter Sasha, a 19-year old beauty, made her Bollywood debut opposite Arjun Kapoor in Aurangzeb. The film was a flop and neither did it do any good for Sasha who was for most part in the movie made to parade in a skimpy two piece bikini and indulge in kissing and love making scenes with the Kapoor lad. Not exactly a dream launch for her. She has disappeared ever since. We hope she doesn’t go her mother’s way. Rhea Chakraborthy- We had first seen Rhea after she won the Teen Diva contest on MTV. Later she appeared on the same channel as a VJ before she turned an actress with Mere Dad ki Maruti. The film didn’t create any buzz and fizzled out soon. But more than her movie it’s her apparent closeness to Aashiqui 2 star Aditya Roy Kapoor that made her famous. Unfortunately, even that news fizzled out soon. For now, Rhea has just finished shooting for a movie called Sonali Cable. Well, hit the comment section if we have missed any name. And yes, do vote for the Debutant of the Year in our poll section. Click on the link to vote...http://www.tellychakkar.com/fun-zone/poll/vote-the-newcomer-of-the-year-bollywood