What A Character

'Character actors' have always been the loved yet neglected species in Bollywood, unless they are of the imposing stature of a Nasiruddin Shah, or an Amrish Puri, for instance. Mukesh Rishi, the 'Salim' of 'Sarfarosh' has since then, as before, been the punching bag of Mumbai's macho heroes. Ashutosh Rana's steller performance as a psycho, 'Lajjashankar Pandey' was acclaimed by one and all. But his acting potentials have been left largely unexploited on the silver screen. In recent times, Amitabh Bachchan has added an extra bit of glitter to 'character roles' with his memorable performances in 'Aakhen', 'Aks', 'Kaante' and of course, 'Black'. And traditionally 'character' actors like Vijay Raaz ('Raghu Romeo'), Irrfan Khan('Rog'), Rachpal Yadav('Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon') are venturing into lead roles with varying degrees of box-office success, though their acting and entertaining capabilities are beyond doubt.