Mona Singh’s World

It’s been 20 years since she made her debut as the star of Sony TV’s Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin as a bucktoothed, bespectacled fashion house intern. At 42 now, Mona Singh has never looked, acted or felt better. Much of it is because of the roles that have been coming her way ever since she played Gurpreet Kaur Chaddha in Laal Singh Chaddha (2022). As Bulbul Jauhari, the queen of Chandni Chowk and the unlikely feminist powerhouse of Made in Heaven Season Two, Singh won many hearts as she turned heads. “I had to walk in high heels through the crowd in Chandni Chowk saying ‘hi’ and ‘namaste’ to everyone on the street, almost like a runway model. We didn’t have much time so when I nailed it, I knew it was something special,” she says. Singh’s swagger in the season masks a deeply empathetic woman who wants her son to learn the true meaning of consent. In Kafas (a SonyLIV series), she plays a mother who is blinded so much by her dreams that she doesn’t see the impact it has on her son. And in Netflix’s Kaala Paani, she leaves a lasting impact, appearing in the first episode as the all-knowing, wise-cracking doctor who first discovers the virus. As a character in the second season of Made in Heaven says: “The next time you see a woman giving herself a second chance, remember you’re looking at someone who had the guts to believe in her own fairy tale.” After the success of Jassi, Singh went on to win a series of reality shows, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (2006), Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena in 2008, and then Arre Deewano Mujhe Pehchano (2009). She hosted, she acted as the bechari bahu in a series of shows, and she had a memorable cameo in 3 Idiots (2009), but in 2013, she decided she had had enough of television. Digital gave her a new life with the comedy Yeh Meri Family, which premiered on TVFPlay in 2018 and she hasn’t stopped working since. She has six releases next year and is all set to give 2024 everything she’s got. She is 12kg lighter (“I’m wearing a small size for the first time in my life,” she says excitedly), has an all new, fuss-free wardrobe, and a repaired shoulder thanks to Ashtanga yoga. As for everyone who told her she was making a mistake playing a mother in Laal Singh Chaddha, she can only shrug her shoulders, toss her hair back and roll her eyes. Just like Bulbul Jauhari.

Konkona Comes into Her Own

It’s been quite a year for Konkona Sen Sharma. She directed Tillotama Shome and Amruta Subhash in her segment of the second season of Lust Stories (Netflix), played a survivor of abuse in Mumbai Diaries Season Two (Prime Video), and had an intense cameo as a Maoist guerrilla in Netflix’s Kuttey. “For the past five years, I’ve been getting roles where women are exerting their power to get what they want,” she says. The means haven’t mattered. So whether it is Dolly in Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare (2019) or Swathi in the forthcoming Killer Soup on Netflix, these are all aspirational women. “They’ve had enough of sacrifice and living their lives for other people. Now they want something for themselves, even if they have to eliminate a few people who get in the way,” she says. Even in ‘Geeli Pucchi’ (a segment in the 2021 Ajeeb Daastaans on Netflix), for instance, she is quite happy to put her lover in a spot to get the managerial position she has always craved for herself. And yet, she doesn’t play these women of limited means and circumscribed circumstances like victims. She has a movie The Rapist, directed by her mother Aparna Sen, Killer Soup and Metro…In Dino (a sequel to the 2007 film, Life in a… Metro) releasing soon. It was when she was replaying the screaming scene in Metro…In Dino that she remembered her co-star the late Irrfan Khan in the original film. “The body remembers,” she says. “It just hit me in the gut that he was gone.”

Manoj and His Method

“When I was washing the baby, her head was touching the basin tap, the train was moving. And I was asking myself what if the baby was to get hurt and yet I was so immersed in my work that anything could have happened.” That’s Manoj Bajpayee talking about how immersive the experience of Joram, his latest release, was. He shot the film at one go, getting used to scampering around, dodging bullets, ignoring calls to stop. Bajpayee has had a banner year but he seems to have had enough intensity for now. “I’m doing a couple of mainstream movies now, beginning with Silence 2, a thriller, and Despatch by Kanu Behl.” He will also start shooting for the beloved Prime Video franchise The Family Man, in its third edition. Bajpayee’s discipline is legendary, which is why he doesn’t look his age or mileage. He is a great entertainer, cooks all kinds of dishes when on location, but whatever time he ends the day, he is back in the gym at 4 in the morning. Not for nothing has he been able to renew himself almost every decade since his breakout role in Satya in 1998.

The Cast of Cla$$

If the cast of The Archies (Netflix) was publicised excessively, much of the reason goes to the famous last names of the top three of the glam seven. The cast of Cla$$ (like an alternative version of The Archies, also on Netflix) had no such luck but they are now organically on to other things. Zeyn Shaw, who played the prickly inheritor, was seen as a manipulative senior student in Farrey (which saw the launch of star child Alizeh Agnihotri, whose uncle is Salman Khan). Naina Bhan, who was a spoilt rich princess in Cla$$, played a clingy girlfriend in Made in Heaven Season Two, and Gurfateh Pirzada who was the boyfriend who steals his brother’s woman, has been cast in a Dharma movie which has been in workshop for over a year now and is meant to launch Shanaya Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor’s daughter.

Pirzada’s scenes in Brahmastra were cut, but the actor has been philosophical about it in interviews, as he has to be. Madhyama Segal, who played a Kashmiri refugee in Cla$$, and comes with an incredible legacy, being actor Zohra Sehgal’s great-granddaughter, was cast in Kaala (Disney+Hotstar), a series about financial fraud set in Kolkata. Compare this with the key cast of The Archies. Agastya Nanda has replaced Varun Dhawan in Sriram Raghavan’s Ikkis, and Suhana Khan is acting with her father Shah Rukh Khan in Sujoy Ghosh’s upcoming star-studded thriller. Also, Khushi Kapoor has four films lined up, including one which launches another star child, Ibrahim Ali Khan, the son of Saif Ali Khan.

Dance of the Year

Pippa is a war film but perhaps its most outstanding achievement is the brilliant dance to the song, ‘Main Parwaana’, choreographed by Vijay Ganguly and performed by Ishaan Khatter. Ganguly is also responsible for the smoky and sensuous song ‘Yeh ek zindagi kaafi nahi hai’ from Monica, O My Darling in 2022. The son of the late director Anil Ganguly and the brother to the phenomenal actress Rupali Ganguly, Vijay has been in the business only for a decade but has built a formidable reputation for dances with an old world charm to them. The ‘Main Parwaana’ dance has a devoted fan base of its own on the Internet already, with good reason. It has a Shammi Kapoor vibe to it, and AR Rahman’s music just adds the perfect zing. Ganguly has increasingly become the person to go to for retro dances, whether it is the dance between Sam and Siloo Manekshaw in Sam Bahadur or the beautiful ‘Little Little’ in Atrangi Re (2021). His active Instagram account and his own recreations are huge social media hits. Whether he is dancing to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ (his first inspiration) or creating the haldi Holi in this year’s Satyaprem ki Katha, he is able to connect to audiences with his infectious enthusiasm. At a time when song and dance is becoming extinct in Bollywood, Ganguly’s glamorous period touch is just what the world needs.

BollywoodcinemaKonkona Sen SharmaManoj BajpayeeMona SinghNaina BhanVijay GangulyZeyn Shaw