TOP-20. Review on Twenty Best Acting Performances of 2003

I don't think this is the best topic to write a detailed review on since it is about 2 years old. So I will just list the top 20 performances here quickly.

20) HRITHIK ROSHAN (KMG)---A decent performance in a quite tough role from Roshan Jr. Though why he sweeps all the awards is a mystery.

19) SUNIL SHETTY (KHEL)---A brilliant negative role via which Shetty finally came back into his spark for at least a little while.

18) JIMMY SHERGILL (HAASIL)---A wonderful, sincere performance by the playful Jimmy Shergill. Hats off for demonstrating such versatility and talent.

17) GOVINDA & SANJAY DUTT (EK AUR EK GYARAH)---An unnoticed comedic performance from both these wonders. There team is fantastic and they entertain hilariously in this movie.

16) FARDEEN KHAN (KHUSHI)---Fantastic performance from the highly underrated Khan. In KHUSHI he was good in all sorts of sequences: comedy, romantic, and action/serious.

15) PARESH RAWAL (HUNGAMA)---Hilarious execution of a hilarious character by a wonderful actor.

14) PRIYANKA CHOPRA (ANDAAZ)---Silencing performance by ex-Miss India whose critics believed beauty queens cannot act. A performance that demonstrates how easily a newcomer can hide the amount of time spent in the industry by great energy and talent.

13) ABHISHEK BACHCHAN (ZAMEEN)---An otherwise demented movie where Abhishek was the show saving grace with his decent execution of a decent character.

12) SHAHRUKH KHAN (CHALTE CHALTE)---Hard to say this but SRK was better here than in Kal Ho Naa Ho because here at least he wasn't given all the sympathy to get even more over with the fans. In CHALTE CHALTE, he was rather given a more challenging task to re-play what Vivek played wonderfully in Saathiya. So kudos to SRK to still make his presence felt with his entertaining performance in an otherwise half-baked role.

11) JOHN ABRAHAM (SAAYA)---A wonderful performance worth remembering. After this movie John failed to impress again but still Saaya will surely be remembered for his good act.

10) BIPASHA BASU (JISM)---A wonderful performance in the role of a vamp, which was kind of overshadowed by her own image of an exposing hot chick.

9) HEMA MALINI (BAGHBAAN)---A great return from this veteran actress who quickly made even the best actress nomination list at such an age.

8) AJAY DEVGAN (BHOOT)---A wonderful performance here where Ajay keeps his ground despite a wonderful, histrionic performance from Urmila.

7) ARSHAD WARSI (MUNNABHAI MBBS)---A highly underrated actor who made a fantastic comeback with this movie, becoming an instant choice of many prestigious film makers for their light-hearted movies.

6) ABHISHEK BACHCHAN (MAIN PREM KI DEEWANI HOON)---Another great performance from Abhishek, overshadowing all opposition from then big stars Hrithik and Kareena. Now Abhishek shares the high-profile status with them after MPKDH, where he surprised one and all by stealing the show.

5) AMITABH BACHCHAN (BAGHBAN)---A performance that stands tall. AB senior knocked everyone out in this movie, since no one could do anything to stop this determined veteran. He is too good in all the sequences although what prevents him from being on the top spot is the fact that he has done similar roles in the past and continues to do them.

4) SAIF ALI KHAN (KAL HO NAA HO)---A performance that got the Nawab Junior the recognition he deserves. He swept a Samsung style icon award as well as all Best Supporting Actor awards. Truly knockout, to me, the hero of this flick had Aman's role been portrayed by anyone except SRK, who obviously got a lot of footage.

3) SANJAY DUTT (MUNNA BHAI MBBS)---How Sanjay Dutt failed to win a best actor award for this marvellous performance is a mystery. Sure Dutt is type cast as a don, but Munna Bhai is a don hard to portray for any actor, Dutt being no exception. Still, he delivers an outstanding performance here that has him win only a few best actor nominations and actor in comedy role award, so sad only this much for such a great performance.

2) IRFAN KHAN (HAASIL)---Irfan enters the top three with a wonderful, hard-hitting performance as the antogonist of this otherwise unnoticed movie. His performance made the movie a great watch for any audience, despite so much violence in the movie. Still, a performance to remember from the magical Khan.

1) SALMAN KHAN (TERE NAAM)---This place is shared. But Sallu deserves equal amount of praise as the other star here. Sallu might be the king of controversy and negativity to the media. But how he silenced all his detractors with a ground-breaking performance in Tere Naam is still quite evident. Even then he was surrounded in a controversy with Vivek. However he simply overtook Vivek easily with his best actor nomination for the movie, for which he actually deserved the award the most. Even a year later he beat the Vivek-Aish combo as Mujhse Shaadi Karogi beat the opposition of Kyun Ho Gaya Na easily to emerge the winner. Sallu Sahib, cheers!

1) URMILA MATONDKAR (BHOOT)---A fantastic performance that even in this male dominated list, stands out by a female artist. Urmila was the critics' winner here for the best actress awards while even the public award was supposed to be hers as no other female was competent enough to give her a tough time for this place. Bhoot was a class act on her part, period!