Best of 2025: Cinema: Star Performers

Mohanlal, Hridayapoorvam

 Playing Sandeep, Mohanlal is like Puck in Hridayapoorvam, interjecting and interfering where he needn’t. The recipi­ent of a heart transplant, he travels to Pune to attend the engagement of the donor’s daughter Haritha, only to find himself stuck there with a broken back. Watching Mohanlal ease himself onto a couch, play reluctantly with a dog and develop feelings for the younger Haritha, played with confidence by Malavika Mohanan, is a joy. Whether the joke is on him or others, Mohanlal’s quiet comedic flow is delightful in a year where he delivered other spectacular performances in Thudarum and L2: Empuraan.

Rukmini Vasanth, Ace

She was brilliant as a warrior princess in Kantara: Chapter 1, but it is in Ace, playing Rukku—girlfriend to Vijay Sethupathi’s titular character—that I first noticed Rukmini Vasanth. The actress, who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art of London, is poised and passion­ate, as a young woman in Malay­sia who is caught in a domestic crisis. Little wonder then that the Kannada speaker is being snapped up for movies in Tamil and Telugu as well.

Vijay Varma, Gustaakh Ishq

Perhaps it was the Hyderabadi in Vijay Varma that gave him wings to perform in Gustaakh Ishq, as Pappan, the wannabe poet from Old Delhi who wants to publish the poetry of the reclusive Aziz Baig (an on-point Naseeruddin Shah). Varma’s Pappan falls in love with poetry and with the poet’s beautiful daughter. His anger, hurt and frustration are all beautifully expressed, as is the idea of intezaar (wait) for the love of your life. Gustaakh Ishq has an old world, unhurried charm to it, reminding one of the Muslim socials of the ’60s. The language has a cadence and the music by Vishal Bhardwaj is outstanding.Sigh.

Vineet Kumar Singh, Superboys of Malegaon

Playing Farogh, Vineet Kumar Singh doesn’t amount to much in Superboys of Malegaon, go­ing off to Mumbai to become another Javed Akhtar. “Writer baap hota hai (The writer is the big daddy of filmmaking),” he says. But as he realises later, it is not as easy as he had thought. In a year where he had strong roles in Nishaanchi and in Chhaava, Singh is perfect as the chastened Farogh, grateful for the place in history given to a filmi deewana (fanboy) like him by Malegaon’s Nasir Shaikh.

Dulquer Salmaan, Kaantha

Bring the camera closer, for a close-up, Dulquer Salmaan says with irritation, as he throws himself into the part of TKM in Kaantha, a fiction­alised take on 1950s Tamil superstar MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. The film, with flashes of Iruvar and Mahana­ti, sees Salmaan transform from naive newcomer TK Mahadevan to a manipula­tive star, who wants to show his mentor his place. Shot in black and white, with Salmaan getting the period mannerisms spot on, the film is an exploration of the dark side of fame, with no accom­modation for niceties.