Top 10 Indian Actors

about the "they" vs "us" thing, i think it's a no-contest.... in all terms of film-making, including acting, hollywood is miles ahead... indian films are unique in their own way but we are far from a stature which warrants comparison with hollywood... they could be making films which are different in nature from the fare dished out here... and that's precisely the point... every other technically superior indian film is touted as having "hollywood standards" when the truth is that we are lagging light years... forget technique, the content? we are not even there in the picture.

imho, robert de niro is one of the finest actors at work in world cinema... yes, like all great actors, he has also repeated himself... i think more than jimmy comway in Goodfellas, travis bickle in Taxi Driver is more prominent in his performances... but versatality is just one hallmark of great actors... for instance, imho, jack nicholson is the greatest of them all, but there's a bit of jack nicholson in all his performances, can't really escape that... and anyway, versatality doesn't come with different get-ups... de niro's performances in films like Raging Bull are benchmarks indeed... there's The King of Comedy, there's The Deerhunter, there's Once Upon A Time In America, there's Cape Fear... he has been amazingly consistent... maybe he's falling in recent years, but that also traces into the dip in the overall standards of films in hollywood... so there.

now, the lal-de niro comparison... their approaches to acting are vastly different, with de niro being more of a methodical performer... but the results are quite similar, imho... they are both intense actors who rarely get carried away by the intensity... almost always under check... they are not "gotcha" actors, who make conscious efforts to rise above the film... they gel into the picture nice and smooth... and more importantly, they don't have the "look-at-me-how-do-you-rate-my-performance?" attitude... an attitude which has eaten into performances of even great performers like marlon brando and al pacino.

Poornima,
Maybe i should have included the clause ALWAYS better than us :)
I still stand by my point that you don't see Travis Bickle in most of his roles [Taxi Driver is my fav De Niro film], but rather an Italian/American/Irish Don personified by say, a Comway - even his accent remains the same! "You mess with me, i mess with you!".
There are different parameters by which we judge an actor and versatility is one of them and not the only thing, as you have rightly mentioned.
A friend of mine, who has seen very little of De Niro [meaning he is not biased for or against anybody], watched Goodfellas, Casino and Meet the parents [that Gay Focker film] virtually back to back. He commented that he saw little differences in De Niro's style or delivery. Not to say that en friend sonnadhu vedha vaakku or something but that for me, is a fair enough observation.

IMO Al Pacino is a better actor that De Niro....

P.S: Spielberg in an interview said he was not impressed by The Shining after his first viewing of the movie [that he loved it on later viewings is a different matter]. He mentioned to Kubrick that he found Jack Nicholson's acting to be too much of a 'kabuki' performance. Kubrick asked Spielberg who his favorite actors were and he told Spielberg who HIS fav actors were. Dont remember the actors both mentioned but Kubrick's point was that both of them had basically different definitions and yard sticks for what they believed to be good actors. Speilberg said he acknowledged and realized what Kubrick meant. So there.....

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Originally Posted by Sandeep

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Originally Posted by alwarpet_andavan

I dont know if anyone would agree here but i guess we have a tendency of taking it for granted that "they" are always better than "us".

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Nobody is saying they are ALLWAYS better that us. But on a whole Hollywood is miles ahead of various Indian woods.

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Totally agree. Hadn't phrased it well enough, as i've mentioned in my reply to Poornima

1) Dr.Shivaji Ganeshan
2) Dr.Kamalhasan
3) Mithun Chakaraborti
4) Rajnikanth
5) Mohan Lal
6) Sharuk Khan
7) Mamooty
8) ????????
9) Amir Khan
10) ????????

Vatched Varavelppu just now. Class movie. More than Mohanlal acting, the movie itself is great. I honestly didnt know that malayalam movie have so much advanced. I mean the story line and story telling is just like an english movie. They could take a simple story (a person returning to india after making money in gulf and trying to buy a bus and run a business - thats it nothing else) very passionately with out any unnecessary extra fittings. The end is also beautiful.

May be I liked the movie so much because I share some similar ideology (w.r.t unions, strike etc in India). Man, now I am hooked on to malayalam movie. Will check out more Malayalam movies.

BTW I also saw Aaram Thamburan and didnt like it at all (both movie and acting). They build up the character so much and at the end the main character fails. May be I am used to the tamil movies (where they build up and eventually the hero raises against the injustice!).

Njv macha :)

Our Ex-prime minister Vajpayee mentioned the movie Varavelppu 8-)

Taking a cue from Malayalam cinema, Vajpayee mentioned the movie called Varavelppu in which famous actor Mohanlal acts as a Gulf-returned Keralite.

"He invest his savings in a small business venture with high hopes. But in the end, he is forced to close it down after going through many unpleasant experiences," Vajpayee said, adding that the GIM should serve as an occasion for introspection.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/jan/18gim.htm

8-)

This is the FINAL list of 10 greatest actors (not heroes) of Indian cinema:
(Not in order of merit)

1. Uttam Kumar
2. Soumitra Chatterjee
3. Shivaji Ganeshan
4. Kamal hassan
5. Mohan Lal
6. Sanjeev Kumar
7. Nana Patekar
8. Pran
9. Dr Sriram Lagoo
10. Nagesh

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Originally Posted by Kartikeya

This is the FINAL list of 10 greatest actors (not heroes) of Indian cinema:
(Not in order of merit)

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they are not heroes, they are not in order of merit but still u call it final list of 10 greatest actors??? :lol:

btw who is uttam kumar??

http://deccanherald.com/deccanherald...9402006413.asp

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Originally Posted by romio

Njv macha :)

Our Ex-prime minister Vajpayee mentioned the movie Varavelppu 8-)

Taking a cue from Malayalam cinema, Vajpayee mentioned the movie called Varavelppu in which famous actor Mohanlal acts as a Gulf-returned Keralite.

"He invest his savings in a small business venture with high hopes. But in the end, he is forced to close it down after going through many unpleasant experiences," Vajpayee said, adding that the GIM should serve as an occasion for introspection.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/jan/18gim.htm

8-)

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Very interesting. I think its applicable to all states (except Gujarat and little Maharastra) and a common "Indian" problem. This will never change. No matter what.