Nothing dislodges Big B, but SRK sees the biggest jump in popularity in six months and Deepika Padukone is back at No. 1. OTT stars shine bright too, playing relatable characters with thespian panache
Amitabh Bachchan (Photo by Milind Shelte) and Deepika Padukone (Photo by Rajwant Rawat)
The brightest stars may flicker but they finally find their shine. In the past few years, the holy troika of Khans—Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salman—lost a bit of their lustre. Salman’s dominance at the box office wavered; Aamir, the most private and pickiest of the lot, saw his fortunes swing; and Shah Rukh, after two back-to-back duds—Jab Harry Met Sejal and Zero—took a sabbatical and laid low, his appearance limited to occasional AMA (ask me anything) sessions on Twitter. But order is restored in the latest edition of India, Today’s Mood of the Nation poll. The Badshah a.k.a. Shah Rukh is back in business, pushing Akshay Kumar down to third, simply on the basis of announcing that he has three releases in 2023—YRF’s Pathan, Atlee’s Jawan and Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki. Audiences, it appears, are keen to see these films. If Shah Rukh is the biggest riser, the legendary Amitabh Bachchan sees his popularity dip by a few points but not enough to dethrone him from pole position. Salman ‘Bhai’ rounds off the top five.
Among actresses, Deepika Padukone reclaims the throne from Katrina Kaif on the back of her affecting performance in Gehraiyaan, which had a direct-to-digital release. Another powerhouse performer of 2022, Alia Bhatt, ascended to No. 3. She started the year with a commanding act in Gangubai Kathiawadi and then made headlines for tying the knot with actor Ranbir Kapoor.
The favourites in MOTN’s OTT section highlight how audiences have become more appreciative of actors who may not have millions of followers on social media or a big PR machinery promoting their airport or gym looks but do have a body of work that draws admiration. Manoj Bajpayee and Pankaj Tripathi emerged as the most beloved, for making Srikant Tiwari (The Family Man), and Kaleen Bhaiyaa (Mirzapur) and Madhav Mishra (Criminal Justice), respectively, household names. Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the first actors to board the streaming bandwagon back in 2018 with Netflix’s Sacred Games, appeared in the top five alongside Abhishek Bachchan, who dropped four places.
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It’s a similar uplifting story on the female front. Topping the list is Sushmita Sen whose acting career has seen a renaissance, courtesy the crime drama Aarya (Disney+ Hotstar). Actresses like Radhika Apte (Forensic), Huma Qureshi (Maharani, Mithya) and Shefali Shah (Delhi Crime, Human) are busier than ever before thanks to a wave of female-driven shows and films that the OTT revolution has spurred.
