6. Aishwarya Rai
If possible, flip back to the early pages of the year and zoom in to Mani Ratnam’s Guru and you will find a superb performance from Aishwarya Rai. After an extremely long time, reactions were unanimous that Aishwarya managed to capture the authenticity of the character while providing a performance natural to the very core. In fact, one review even stated, “Watch Guru to rediscover Aishwarya Rai”. Emoting with her eyes in stark silence, she showed us that not all great performances have to be loud and overbearing but can be silent and simple as well. On the international front, her first mainstream Hollywood film The Last Legion flopped in the USA but did well in other countries around the world. On the other hand, Jag Mundhra’s Provoked garnered her fantastic reviews and gave her ample scope to prove herself as an actress once again. Get ready to drown yourselves in her eyes once again in the upcoming Jodhaa Akbar because it doesn’t look like Rai is ready to slow down one bit.
