To celebrate Kartik Aaryan’s birthday, Subhash K Jha shines the spotlight on 10 films that prove the actor is here to stay!
1. Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011):
Playing Rajat, a.k.a Rajjo, Kartik’s stole the show from his co-stars Divyendu Sharma and Raayo S. Bakhirta, who unfortunately got left far behind as Kartik’s Rajjo caught the nation’s attention. It was a performance that youngsters connected with, of a guy totally dominated by his girlfriend to the point of asphyxiation. The role and, the character and his relationship with his girlfriend reminded me of a certain actor who is no more with us and whose live-in similarly smothered him.
2. Akaash Vaani (2013):
In one of the film’s high dramatic moments shot on a small deserted railway station in the night, the film’s protagonists, Kartik and Nushrat Bharucha, now estranged by an unfortunate series of circumstances, sit on the bench and…well, they sob. Yes, they simply cry their hearts out. First, the girl. Then, in a melancholic celebration of the me-too syndrome, the boy, now alas no longer a boy (and he smokes to prove it), also breaks into little sobs that build up into a wail as the shehnai, indicative of a cruel marital joke, plays in the background. Though the film belongs to the female protagonist, Kartik Aaryan manages to hold his own with a sensitive, empathetic performance far removed from what he attempted in the director’s Pyaar Ka Punchnama. Someone should cast him as a modern-day Devdas.
3. Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015):
Luv Ranjan’s follow-up to his 2011 sleeper hit again succeeded without the props. Ranjan used relatively new but talented actors to address that age-old question: what do women want? Surprisingly, even women loved this seemingly misogynist film with no Khans in the lead. The script and Kartik Aaryan were clearly the rock stars of the show. Kartik Aaryan’s ‘penis monologue’ (as opposed to Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues) comes on full-throttle. By the time he bursts into his phallic harangue, we are so bloody hooked to the very familiar, very mortifying, and yet very comforting love life of our three protagonists that we are positively rooting for the underdogs—big applause for the male victims of gender inequality. I came away with a huge chuckle and a deep sigh from the film and with images of Kartik Aaryan’s ‘love dance’ with his deceiving girlfriend and her two sahelis. As Aaryan twirled and pirouetted with the ladies, he seemed to be tokenizing the Great Modern Urban Tragedy.
4. Satyaprem Ki Katha (2023):
Sameer Vidwans’ Satyaprem Ki Katha opened new doors into actor Kartik Aaryan’s subconscious. It most assuredly marked a new phase in Kartik’s career. This was a new beginning for him. Kartik’s Satyaprem is a man who would do anything for love, and no hurdle is too much for him to cross. At one point in the story a seemingly insurmountable crisis arises in Satyaprem’s relationship with his beloved Katha (Kiara Advani) when she is raped, and Satyaprem , like Dharmendra in the Hrishikesh Mukherjee classic Satyakam, is advised to call off their relationship. Satyaprem has the guts and integrity to take on the world and stand by his love. The role required Kartik to deep-dive into his subconscious and ferret out emotions he had never felt before.Satyaprem Ki Katha changed him forever.
4. Luka Chuppi (2019):
Kartik’s Guddu Shukla trying desperately to hide his live-in relationship with his girlfriend, was a laugh riot. Displaying a comic talent far ahead of all the other contemporary actors, Kartik stole the show, low lock stock, and barrell. Kartik’s Guddu was endearingly guileless and eager to score. There are no kisses between Kartik Aryan and Kriti Sanon in this film. And yet they communicate a warm, easygoing alliance that comes not from singing songs together but from recognizing your life partner for who she is. Most of the humour is generated organically and without making strenuous efforts to induce humour into social statement. Make no mistake about it. Luka Chuppi is a comedy with an underlying layer of dark satire and a social statement on moral policing and communal biases in small towns.
6.Silvat (2018):
If you haven’t seen this 2018 digital film which you can easily locate on Zee5, you haven’t seen what Kartik Aaryan is capable of. We can safely say it is a tailormade role for the young actor. Playing a Muslim darzi in the crowded gully of what looks like Mumbai’s Haji Ali locality, Kartik is every bit Anwar, the shy sensitive tailor who develops a secret passion for his favourite client: a lonely abandoned wife Noor (Meher Mistry) whose husband has migrated to Riyadh for a job with nary a glance back for the woman he has left behind. The focus of the passionate plot, pulsating with unspoken ardour, is Noor. But it’s Kartik’s Anwar who silently steals the show. There is no exhibition of outward passion here. And yet so much is said through Anwar’s eyes. Every stolen glance is laden with longing. When she asks if he would like a cup of tea, Anwar knows it’s just a ruse to make him stay longer than his job allows. His reply to the kind offer, ‘Maine kabhi chai ke liya naa bola hai?’ says everything without saying anything. This is Kartik’s only film with a female director. It is evident that he blossoms as an actor under the female gaze.
7. Freddy (2022):
Kartik Aaryan’s dentist’s act has a whole lot of sharp teeth. And that’s the whole tooth. It takes guts for an on-the-rise star like Kratik Aaryan to play a down-and-out loser with no hope of ever finding the love that he craves for. Kartik’s portrayal of desolation is near-perfect. His slouch, his slow walk , tentative demeanour and hesitant body language secretes thsecretes, anguish, and humiliation Freddy faces on a daily basis. Kartik Aaryan walks on the dark side of the moon without inhibition. His is aware he is going into uncharted territory. But he sinks deep into the morass of Freddy’s doom. More power to this enterprising actor.
8. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 (2024):
To get Kartik to play a crossdresser (albeit in a double role playing a character from a previous avatar) is no small matter. Full marks to the young actor for doing what very few A-listers of Filmistan would dare do. Kartik has reached a stage in his career where he is thirsting for new opportunities.
9. Chandu Champion (2024):
Kartik comes into his own with a performance that is redolent with industriousness. While Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan’s 83 attempted to impersonate the original, Kartik Aaryan doesn’t try to walk, talk and behave like Murlikant Petkar. The actor makes Petkar his own without mimicking the original.
10. Shehzada (2023):
From the first frame to last, Kartik Aaryan has himself a blast. He makes sure we forget the original as he launches into a celebration of pure tomfoolery. The original Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo was very 1980s in theme. Writer-director Rohit Dhawan retains the flavour and energy of the original allowing Kartik Aaryan plenty of room to improvise. Kartik elbows out nearly all the characters. Except for Paresh Rawal who plays the scummiest father on this earth, and not the least embarrassed about it, the rest of the characters are a blur in Kartik’s showmanship. He is required to be a one-man show and still hold the show together. The orchestra conductor’s avatar suits him well. He is effective in both the comic and melodramatic moments.
