Favourite Indian Actresses

[DeadBall]

Was rewatching some old movies and songs and the class, elegance, expression and presence some of the earlier actresses exuded is simply not available in this day and age of mostly item numbers and just general obscenity. Of course I would not like to generalize as there are such actresses today too but it they are few and far between.

I would not go too far back, as there were many pioneers about whom I will make a separate thread later, (like Shaban Aaazmi, Zeenat Aman, Hema Malini, Sridevi etc) but will mention the ones I grew up with.

Madhuri
Kajol
Juhi Chawla

Especially Madhuri who had a range of emotions and wholesomeness unmatched to date in my opinion.

Special mentions

Tabu
Manisha Koirala

 

[JaDed]

Nargis,Rekha, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi.

Kangana , Bhumi among recent ones.

Madhuri though is defn my fav as well, graceful too but Sri Devi was always the most popular one.. inspite of flops.

 

[Bigboii]

They all seem whack tbh but that's just my two cents

 

[Pakistanian]

None. Never found any of them attractive.

 

[KingKhanWC]

None. Never found any of them attractive.

Too much face lighting creams, terrible dress sense and that dodgy Indian accent makes you want to staple your ears.

Better looking women at the local council estate near me.

 

[JaDed]

[MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] I think this is an awesome tribute to them by Heemz and Riz.

 

[DeadBall]

[MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] I think this is an awesome tribute to them by Heemz and Riz.

Hmm, tribute to whom?

 

[JaDed]

Hmm, tribute to whom?

won’t say

 

[ManFan]

Not many good actresses worldwide in cinema.

 

[sindhiboy]

Too much face lighting creams, terrible dress sense and that dodgy Indian accent makes you want to staple your ears.

Better looking women at the local council estate near me.

None. Never found any of them attractive.

Think this is judging their acting skills, not looks.
But to be really honest, never found any heroine to have better acting skills than the other

 

[KingKhanWC]

Think this is judging their acting skills, not looks.
But to be really honest, never found any heroine to have better acting skills than the other

Acting is even worse than looks but I have only seen a few in Western movies. If they are so poor in Hollywood they cant be much better in Bollywood?

 

[DeadBall]

Acting is even worse than looks but I have only seen a few in Western movies. If they are so poor in Hollywood they cant be much better in Bollywood?

Nice to have the opinion of one of the worlds leading cinematic critics.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Nice to have the opinion of one of the worlds leading cinematic critics.

lol It's Bollywood, a child can see this is shocking acting.

Can you name your top 3 best Indian actresses and ref their works. I will check it out as long I don't have to waste 3 hours of my life watching trash.

 

[PakLFC]

Dimple Kapadia. A beautiful lady and brilliant actress when I watched Bollywood many years back. Who here agrees?

 

[CricketCartoons]

lol It's Bollywood, a child can see this is shocking acting.

Can you name your top 3 best Indian actresses and ref their works. I will check it out as long I don't have to waste 3 hours of my life watching trash.

You should check out mamta kulkarni and rakhi sawant. Very under rated actresses but you will like them.

 

[pillionrider]

You should check out mamta kulkarni and rakhi sawant. Very under rated actresses but you will like them.

I think Sunil Shetty and Tiger Shroff would have been more appropriate recommendations for him.

 

[andy0204]

You should check out mamta kulkarni and rakhi sawant. Very under rated actresses but you will like them.

Man you are so funny.
On topic Raveena Tandon was my favourite actress.

 

[Itachi]

Radhika apte in Hindi.

Rii sen in Bengali.

 

[Swashbuckler]

lol It's Bollywood, a child can see this is shocking acting.

Can you name your top 3 best Indian actresses and ref their works. I will check it out as long I don't have to waste 3 hours of my life watching trash.

If you want Bollywood (Hindi) movies with good female acting performances, here are a few recent ones:

Kahaani (Vidya Balan)
English Vinglish (Sridevi)
Queen (Kangana Ranaut), I haven't watched this however
Parzania (Sarika)
Mr and Mrs Iyer (Konkona Sen Sharma)
Chandni Bar (Tabu)
Lunchbox (Nimrat Kaur)

There are other movies like Omkara, Black, Tumhari Sulu, Udta Punjab, Piku, Jab We Met, Highway. Strictly talking about Bollywood movies of last 15 years or so. Add other regional cinema and older movies and there will be many more. In fact even in Bollywood there were more iconic performances in the past.

 

[msb314]

Bipasha Basu

 

[Swashbuckler]

Not going too far back. My favorite active actresses from Bollywood are Vidya Balan ('Kahaani' blew my mind), Kangana Ranaut, Tabu and Alia Bhatt.

My all time favorite woman-centric movie is 'Bandit Queen', Seema Biswas was outstanding. Wonder how I missed this gem for so long, Cate Blanchett (she worked in Shekhar Kapur's 'Elizabeth' 3-4 years after this movie) in an interview talked about Seema's acting and how it influenced/inspired her, that made me watch it. [MENTION=137142]JaDed[/MENTION] and [MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] if you haven't, check it out.

Nagesh Kukonoor's 'Dor' is on my wish list, female cast acting performance received rave reviews. Hope to watch it next.

 

[CricketDon]

kajol. I recall felling my work collapsing when I realised her and SRK were only a screen couple!

I believe in a infinite number of universes so somewhere they are together!

 

[Swashbuckler]

Sad that Sridevi was taken so soon from us. Her comeback with 'English Vinglish' and 'Mom' was so good, she could have sealed her status as Bollywood GOAT with a few more movies.

 

[sindhiboy]

Not going too far back. My favorite active actresses from Bollywood are Vidya Balan ('Kahaani' blew my mind), Kangana Ranaut, Tabu and Alia Bhatt.

My all time favorite woman-centric movie is 'Bandit Queen', Seema Biswas was outstanding. Wonder how I missed this gem for so long, Cate Blanchett (she worked in Shekhar Kapur's 'Elizabeth' 3-4 years after this movie) in an interview talked about Seema's acting and how it influenced/inspired her, that made me watch it. [MENTION=137142]JaDed[/MENTION] and [MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] if you haven't, check it out.

Nagesh Kukonoor's 'Dor' is on my wish list, female cast acting performance received rave reviews. Hope to watch it next.

kangana ranaut? the one who accused hritik roshan for sexual abuse and is an overall narcissist and megalomaniac?

 

[Bigboii]

[MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] I think this is an awesome tribute to them by Heemz and Riz.

Didn't know that it was a tribute to a Bollywood actoress the song was pretty dope honestly (I love the swet shop boys so I am biased)
But I think it was a tribute to eric b and rakim (pioneers of hip hop) look at this music videos
https://youtu.be/E7t8eoA_1jQ
The music video swet shop boys made was inspired by paid in full but they put thier Desi heritage in there to represent themselves and besides this look like a tribute to batalvi more than any other guy

 

[minamino]

I have heard Ananya Panday is good from current crop

 

[JaDed]

Didn't know that it was a tribute to a Bollywood actoress the song was pretty dope honestly (I love the swet shop boys so I am biased)
But I think it was a tribute to eric b and rakim (pioneers of hip hop) look at this music videos
https://youtu.be/E7t8eoA_1jQ
The music video swet shop boys made was inspired by paid in full but they put thier Desi heritage in there to represent themselves and besides this look like a tribute to batalvi more than any other guy

I’m a fan of em as well and its not a tribute to Indian actress per se but their expressions and yes its more to Batalvi, sad that I came to know about Batalvi through svet shop boys even though my grand mother had mentioned him
multiple times lol.

Other song which I liked a lot was “ Inshallah Mashallah hopefully no martial law” T5 , lmao
I think they are high when they write this.

 

[JaDed]

Not going too far back. My favorite active actresses from Bollywood are Vidya Balan ('Kahaani' blew my mind), Kangana Ranaut, Tabu and Alia Bhatt.

My all time favorite woman-centric movie is 'Bandit Queen', Seema Biswas was outstanding. Wonder how I missed this gem for so long, Cate Blanchett (she worked in Shekhar Kapur's 'Elizabeth' 3-4 years after this movie) in an interview talked about Seema's acting and how it influenced/inspired her, that made me watch it. [MENTION=137142]JaDed[/MENTION] and [MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] if you haven't, check it out.

Nagesh Kukonoor's 'Dor' is on my wish list, female cast acting performance received rave reviews. Hope to watch it next.

I have, actresses like Sima, Smita Patil,,Pathak sisters, Shabana Azmi got lot of exposure to their cinema early on as a kid.

I loved her acting in Khamoshi as well although Nana is the scene stealer but still, she is reduced to a side act now.

I liked Dor then, esp the music and Ayesha’s acting Nagesh comes up with gems here and there,

3 Deewarein, Iqbal, Hyderabad blues, Rockford all worth if you havent seen

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

None. Never found any of them attractive.

Well, some of them are attractive, just don't have much depth. Or maybe they do, we just don't see it because of the cringey nature of Indian cinema.

I quite liked Kajol because she seemed real. I'm sure there might be others but as I don't watch Bollywood, might be missing a few.

 

[PakPremi]

Meena Kumari
Nargis
Sharmilla Taigore
Vidya Balan
Samita Patel
Shabana Azmi
Rekha
For acting

Hema Malni
Poonam Dhillon
For looks

 

[Abdul]

Katrina and Anushka.

 

[Bigboii]

I’m a fan of em as well and its not a tribute to Indian actress per se but their expressions and yes its more to Batalvi, sad that I came to know about Batalvi through svet shop boys even though my grand mother had mentioned him
multiple times lol.

Other song which I liked a lot was “ Inshallah Mashallah hopefully no martial law” T5 , lmao
I think they are high when they write this.

Not they "Heems" and yeah after the song I actually went and looked up Batalvi and I am not into poetry but damn some of tham poems are really good and it increased my Punjabi vocabulary cause I went around asking for what does that mean?

But the song could be considered a tribute (going back and actually looking at the videos closely) for the actoress cause I am sure kids in 2000s from Pak were watching Bollywood movies since both the movie and drama industry were no where at the level they are at right know so for these guys they must be like these iconic sex symbol, so in a way it's like showcasing a whole generation of people who actually grew up with these actresses as thier "crush" and that's the beauty of hip hop you can show who you are, but I didn't grew up on Bollywood so they seem whack but for a lot of people they are like these icons and personally I respect that

 

[JaDed]

Not they "Heems" �� and yeah after the song I actually went and looked up Batalvi and I am not into poetry but damn some of tham poems are really good and it increased my Punjabi vocabulary cause I went around asking for what does that mean?

But the song could be considered a tribute (going back and actually looking at the videos closely) for the actoress cause I am sure kids in 2000s from Pak were watching Bollywood movies since both the movie and drama industry were no where at the level they are at right know so for these guys they must be like these iconic sex symbol, so in a way it's like showcasing a whole generation of people who actually grew up with these actresses as thier "crush" and that's the beauty of hip hop you can show who you are, but I didn't grew up on Bollywood so they seem whack but for a lot of people they are like these icons and personally I respect that

I assumed it's for actresses as well, atleast one that edited the video did concentrate on it also it looks a bit bad now but 3-4 years ago when i heard it I loved it and was refreshing "youtube India" wasn't big then.

 

[DeadBall]

Not going too far back. My favorite active actresses from Bollywood are Vidya Balan ('Kahaani' blew my mind), Kangana Ranaut, Tabu and Alia Bhatt.

My all time favorite woman-centric movie is 'Bandit Queen', Seema Biswas was outstanding. Wonder how I missed this gem for so long, Cate Blanchett (she worked in Shekhar Kapur's 'Elizabeth' 3-4 years after this movie) in an interview talked about Seema's acting and how it influenced/inspired her, that made me watch it. [MENTION=137142]JaDed[/MENTION] and [MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] if you haven't, check it out.

Nagesh Kukonoor's 'Dor' is on my wish list, female cast acting performance received rave reviews. Hope to watch it next.

Yes, I have watched all of the above and there are some great performances from some of the above mentioned. I personally haven't seen anything from Ranaut or Bhatt so far that sets them apart from the rest.

Anyway, I was talking about actresses who have a big body of work behind them and their longevity as the ones you have mentioned although fantastic don't have that many movies to their name yet.

As for Dor, I would urge you to watch it as soon as possible. I wanted to give my summary but I think this paragraph describes the movie and the performances perfectly.

"Nagesh Kukunoor wrote and directed a masterpiece in Dor. The film never drags, never leaves you incredulous, and is sometimes saddening, but in the end extremely heartwarming. It is extremely feminist in its views, but not in a shrill way - it never preaches, just points the way. The characters of Zeenat and Meera are drawn in a masterly way, you feel for both, understand both, sympathize with both, want to be like both - yet they are as different as chalk and cheese. The performances are outstanding - I am hard-pressed to pick favorites between Gul and Ayesha. Where Ayesha charms with her childlike simplicity, her quiet fortitude, and her occasional bouts of mischief, Gul sneaks into your heart with her strong but gentle nature, her quite strength of will, her single-minded belief that her husband cannot be a killer. Shreyas Talpade is charming as the thief/mime/mimic/man of many talents! He takes on every filmi hero known to us, changes costumes at the drop of a hat and is charming, cunning and vulnerable."

 

[JaDed]

[MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] Kangana’s performances : queen, judgemental hai kya, Fashion, Revolver Rani

and most of all Tanu weds Manu even better was the sequel Tanu Weds Manu returns

 

[imrankhannsu]

Why does my post saying Sunny Leone get keeping deleted? She is an actress no?

 

[DeadBall]

[MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] Kangana’s performances : queen, judgemental hai kya, Fashion, Revolver Rani

and most of all Tanu weds Manu even better was the sequel Tanu Weds Manu returns

Yeah I've watched them apart from Revolver Rani, not sure about the Tanu weds Manu sequel either, will watch the trailer and see if it rings any bells. My point is that they are mostly mainstream timepass movies, the performances are OK to good but nothing that ground breaking.

 

[DeadBall]

Why does my post saying Sunny Leone get keeping deleted? She is an actress no?

Asking why your post is getting deleted will only lead to more deletions.

 

[DeadBall]

Btw was going through some movie lists and came across the much underrated and usually forgotten Kaun? by RGV with a superb performance by Urmilla. A very good actress in her own right but really hated when she tried to appear sensuous and totally ruined it. Roles like the one she played in Satya suited her better. [MENTION=137142]JaDed[/MENTION] [MENTION=143530]Swashbuckler[/MENTION]

 

[JaDed]

Yeah I've watched them apart from Revolver Rani, not sure about the Tanu weds Manu sequel either, will watch the trailer and see if it rings any bells. My point is that they are mostly mainstream timepass movies, the performances are OK to good but nothing that ground breaking.

I think Queen was extremely well acted, and the second role of Kusum in Tanu weds Manu returns as well.

Thing is iconic as in like Madhuri,Sridevi or even Rekha I don’t think it’s possible because of looks and grace they had and dancing, those were larger than life roles they played , no actor is as good as Amitabh or Dilip Kumar either, it’s similar for Hollywood as well, it’s not an escapism anymore..

 

[JaDed]

Btw was going through some movie lists and came across the much underrated and usually forgotten Kaun? by RGV with a superb performance by Urmilla. A very good actress in her own right but really hated when she tried to appear sensuous and totally ruined it. Roles like the one she played in Satya suited her better. [MENTION=137142]JaDed[/MENTION] [MENTION=143530]Swashbuckler[/MENTION]

She tried to mimic Sri Devi a lot.. esp her expressions, it’s ok to be inspired but not copy.

Kaun was excellent though another gem is EK Haseena Thi so underrated.

 

[imrankhannsu]

Asking why your post is getting deleted will only lead to more deletions.

Atleast yours won’t be if mine does.

It seems someone who keeps objecting that Sunny is a Bollywood actress must have enjoyed her past work

 

[Technics 1210]

Not one has mentioned Hema Malini.

You users are not even new skool.

Naach Basanti, naach!

 

[amax]

None. Never found any of them attractive.

well they are one of the few male/females showbiz people who have broken the monoply of anglo decent stars in global attractive celebs list of famous publications , so i think they are doing something right.

 

[DeadBall]

I think Queen was extremely well acted, and the second role of Kusum in Tanu weds Manu returns as well.

Thing is iconic as in like Madhuri,Sridevi or even Rekha I don’t think it’s possible because of looks and grace they had and dancing, those were larger than life roles they played , no actor is as good as Amitabh or Dilip Kumar either, it’s similar for Hollywood as well, it’s not an escapism anymore..

Just watched Tanu weds Manu returns, a good time pass movie but her performance and one liners as Datto were quite hilarious. I think the funny comes from the UP accent, sayings and general attitude too.

 

[JaDed]

Just watched Tanu weds Manu returns, a good time pass movie but her performance and one liners as Datto were quite hilarious. I think the funny comes from the UP accent, sayings and general attitude too.

Yeah she aced the Haryanvi accent( not UP) . Also loved the ending where she insults the other Kangana , the dialogues were very well written.

 

[DeadBall]

Yeah she aced the Haryanvi accent( not UP) . Also loved the ending where she insults the other Kangana , the dialogues were very well written.

Oh ok, It sounded kind of Delhi-ish to me but someone mentioned UP in the movie somewhere so got confused. The Sardars looked hilarious in those Rajasthani dresses though.

 

[JaDed]

Oh ok, It sounded kind of Delhi-ish to me but someone mentioned UP in the movie somewhere so got confused. The Sardars looked hilarious in those Rajasthani dresses though.

haha yeah , I feel like those Sardars dressing in Rajasthani dress was on purpose lol and only they could pull it off.

It’s the only hindi movie where i liked sequel more than the original even though Lage raho had better story than Mbbs but wasn’t as funny..

 

[minamino]

[MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] Kangana’s performances : queen, judgemental hai kya, Fashion, Revolver Rani

and most of all Tanu weds Manu even better was the sequel Tanu Weds Manu returns

I loved the sequel man. I have lost the count of how many times I watched that movie. The whole cast was amazing.

 

[Swashbuckler]

Anyway, I was talking about actresses who have a big body of work behind them and their longevity as the ones you have mentioned although fantastic don't have that many movies to their name yet.

As for Dor, I would urge you to watch it as soon as possible. I wanted to give my summary but I think this paragraph describes the movie and the performances perfectly.

"Nagesh Kukunoor wrote and directed a masterpiece in Dor. The film never drags, never leaves you incredulous, and is sometimes saddening, but in the end extremely heartwarming. It is extremely feminist in its views, but not in a shrill way - it never preaches, just points the way. The characters of Zeenat and Meera are drawn in a masterly way, you feel for both, understand both, sympathize with both, want to be like both - yet they are as different as chalk and cheese. The performances are outstanding - I am hard-pressed to pick favorites between Gul and Ayesha. Where Ayesha charms with her childlike simplicity, her quiet fortitude, and her occasional bouts of mischief, Gul sneaks into your heart with her strong but gentle nature, her quite strength of will, her single-minded belief that her husband cannot be a killer. Shreyas Talpade is charming as the thief/mime/mimic/man of many talents! He takes on every filmi hero known to us, changes costumes at the drop of a hat and is charming, cunning and vulnerable."

Hmm, I think Vidya Balan (15 years since 'Parineeta') and Tabu qualify when it comes to longevity, they now have a sizeable body of work.

Going a bit back I adore Madhuri and Sridevi, the latter's hiatus in 90s-00s notwithstanding. Sri had enormous acting ability, pity her choice of roles during her peak years was less than satisfactory, from what I read her mother used to control her and use her as cash cow. That was the case with many actresses from South those days. I was so excited about her comeback because I thought her choice of roles would be better elevating her to another level. Btw another reason I love Sridevi is she conquered not just Bollywood but also South industries, Tamil and Telugu in particular. Thinking about it Tamil Nadu has given so many female icons to Bollywood: Vyjayanthimala, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi, Vidya Balan etc.

You got me excited about Dor, eager to watch it this week.

I have, actresses like Sima, Smita Patil,,Pathak sisters, Shabana Azmi got lot of exposure to their cinema early on as a kid.

I loved her acting in Khamoshi as well although Nana is the scene stealer but still, she is reduced to a side act now.

I liked Dor then, esp the music and Ayesha’s acting Nagesh comes up with gems here and there,

3 Deewarein, Iqbal, Hyderabad blues, Rockford all worth if you havent seen

Loved Iqbal, watched Hyderabad Blues as a kid but don't remember much now, maybe time for a rewatch. I will explore his other movies this month.

Btw was going through some movie lists and came across the much underrated and usually forgotten Kaun? by RGV with a superb performance by Urmilla. A very good actress in her own right but really hated when she tried to appear sensuous and totally ruined it. Roles like the one she played in Satya suited her better. [MENTION=137142]JaDed[/MENTION] [MENTION=143530]Swashbuckler[/MENTION]

'Kaun?' freaked me out as a kid. Had a crush on Urmila in school days. She didn't do justice to her potential. RGV is another wasted talent, his decline is almost unimaginable. From a master filmmaker he has become a troll now. If I make a list of my favourite and most hated movies, he will feature a lot on both lists.

 

[CricketCartoons]

Thinking about it Tamil Nadu has given so many female icons to Bollywood: Vyjayanthimala, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi, Vidya Balan etc.

In terms of contribution to indian cinema, no region comes remotely close to what Bengal has contributed.

 

[Waleed93]

Madhuri Dixit.

 

[Rajdeep]

My favorite Bollywood actress is Disha Patani. Not only she is graceful and has got a pretty face but also got brilliant acting skills. Unlike other modern actresses, she can fit into any type of role with her screen presence. A true gem in bollywood.

 

[Test lover]

Kajal Agarwal

 

[PakPremi]

Not one has mentioned Hema Malini.

You users are not even new skool.

Naach Basanti, naach!

I did she was a super star and very attractive but not good actress. Her best acting hit movies were Sholay and Seeta aur Geeta.

 

[introvert]

Kajol - strong screen presence and voice.

Also Gayatri joshi - she did only one movie "swades" & She was amazing in her role.

no current favorites.