Premium
This is an archive article published on January 7, 2010
Premium

Opinion The Superstars of the Noughties

Noughties was a decade when our ‘Lagaan’ went to the Oscars and when AR Rahman,Gulzar and Resul Pookutty actually won the golden statuette.

Harneet Singh

MumbaiJanuary 7, 2010 04:38 PM IST First published on: Jan 7, 2010 at 04:38 PM IST

Looking back was never more difficult. This last decade at the movies was power-packed. It was a decade when our ‘Lagaan’ went to the Oscars and when AR Rahman,Gulzar and Resul Pookutty actually won the golden statuette,albeit for a Hollywood film.

The decade when a female director (Farah Khan) delivered not one but two commercial blockbusters. It was the decade when the multiplex cinema came into its own,when small became the new big,when star salaries hit the roof and film promotion became crazy. The decade saw the coming of two new superstars: Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor. The decade when SRK and Dilip Kumar clashed at the BO on the same Friday with Veer-Zaara and the coloured Mughal-e-Azam.

Advertisement

But there are some people who made the Noughties or 00’s slightly more special. Here is my list of the Superstars of the Noughties,in no particular order.

Rajkumar Hirani: For giving us Munna,Circuit & Bapu. And all those marshmallow philosophies like ‘Jaadu Ki Jhappi’,’Gandhigiri’ and ‘Aal Izz Well.’

Vishal Bhardwaj: For bringing back the Heartland in movies and for making edgy the new chiffon.

Advertisement

Farah Khan: For being this generation’s Manmohan Desai and for giving us SRK in all his six-pack glory.

Farhan Akhtar: For the game changing Dil Chahta Hai and for making cool,the new hawt.

Katrina Kaif: For proving that language really is no bar. For being the poster girl for the likes of Claudia Ciesla,Bruna Abdulla,Jacqueline Fernandes,Giselli Monterio & Lisa Lazarus. For throwing the birthday party of the decade.

AR Rahman: For all things golden: Oscar as well as all those soundtracks. (Delhi 6 is the gem of 2009)

Imtiaz Ali: For bringing back the love story with Jab We Met. (My personal Imtiaz favourite is Socha Na Tha though.)

Gulzar: For all those catchphrases — Beedi,Kajra Re,Jai Ho & Dhan Te Nan to name a few.

Abhay Deol: For not living up to his last name (and for being the poster boy of the Bombay film industry’s Indie movement).

Shimit Amin-Jaideep Sahni: For being THE Team.

Anurag Kashyap: For reinventing the mustard fields. (Dev D,anyone!)

Hrithik Roshan & Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: For being this decade’s SRK and Kajol. They scorched in Dhoom 2 and they melted in Jodhaa Akbar.

The Chak De! India girls: For proving that character names can be more seductive than some wannabe starkid’s name.

Aamir Khan: For doing the disco at the Box Office year after year and for his marketing wizardry.

Shilpa Shetty: For making sure everyone in England knows about Indian curry and the poppadom.

Mallika Sherawat: For being the first part of ‘Only Sex & SRK sell’ thought wave.

Dibakar Bannerjee: For his de-filmi portrayal of Dilli and the middle class Punjabi.

Ranbir Kapoor: For giving us hope for the next decade. If he can mix it up with Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani,Wake Up Sid and Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year in the same calendar year then just imagine what he can do in the next 10 years!

Rishi Kapoor: For being a superstar character artiste and being happy about it.

Ashutosh Gowariker: For testing our patience four on trot with the length of his films. Lagaan was lovely but the patience has waned over the years. What’s Your Rashee was unforgivable,though.