SUmmer aayo movie hernu pareo suggestion ! thanks in advance.

First of all  it is important to understand the difference between Acting and Performance ( Tamasha). Most of Bollywood actors and the audiences call Tamasha an acting. Greater the tamasha greater the acting they think it is. An actor is a person who brings life to the character in the script for the audiences. In bollywood and kollywood, first of all there is no concept of acting and second the "actors" present themsleves as opposed to the character that is in the story. Performers like Sharukh Khan and Amitabh Bachhan present Sharukh Khan and Amitabh bachhan no matter what character they play. But actors like Naseeruddhin Shah and Om Puri try to bring the character into life. Being said that here are the list of some of my favorite actors:

Hollywood Actors: Kevin Spacey, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Bill murray, Merrril Streep, Guy Pierce, Robert Dinero, Don Cheadle
Hollywood Honorable Mentions: Ed Norton, Al Pacino, Kevin Costner, Robert Duval, George Clooney, Clint Eastwood

Bollywood Actors: Nasseruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amol Palekar, Nutan, Shabana Aazmi ( i could have missed one or two on this list here but there are not many Bollywood actors who knows what acting means.

Bollywood Honorable Mentions: Irfaan Khan, Vidya Balaan, Amir Khan, Raj Babbar, Smita Patil, Kadar Khan


Kollywood Actors: ZERO, NONE, NADA

Kollywood Honorable Actors: Rajesh Hamal ( Believe it or not but if you have to rank any of the Kollywood actors then is the number one. Not that i think he is a good actor but he is the best among all we have in Kollywood.

Thanks no_quiero and druggist, when it comes to watching movies I get very intense. In the last 15 years I have watched 90% of the movies alone, and I dissect every bit of acting, direction and technicalities. That said, I am a parallel cinema guy when it comes to Bollywood. I watch the mainstream cinema just cos I have to. For example I prefer 'Revolutionary road' to 'The dark Knight' (Excuse me Chris Nolan) any given day. I recently watched 'Avengers' for no apparent reason - I felt violated.

So when it comes to '3 Idiots' I take a back seat. The movie had so many flaws but was cleverly masked by comedy. For instance, how can you find a principal so keen in taking notes of every single student? I wonder if he has that sort of time. Also, that south Indian guy's acting is far too cheesy than credible. Again, studying in an Indian version of Ivy league college incognito? How often do you have a runaway bride in Indian Culture? Aamir should have known better. it was an above average movie, but definitely NOT the Aamir Khan type. The movie was clearly over the top.

I am not disturbed that Aamir has chosen to act in Dhoom 3, I am more disturbed that I am going to watch it and lose my sleep over what went wrong with him. But then again, he might do something good in that movie unlike Shahrukh in that crappy 'Don' and that might be praiseworthy. I do not know at this point.

There are some movies are incredibly stupid yet the combination of acting, direction, and screenplay makes it a good watch. And there are few who stick to being credible yet fail to get a nod. I think Govinda was a great actor even when he acted in utterly stupid movies, and then there is Irfaan Khan who acts so 'seriously and credibly' it sometimes puts me off. There are a LOT of variables that make a good actor and a good movie. I watch movies for 'escapism' which also has a 'tinge of reality' with 'comedy'. I know it is hard to interpret what I am looking for, but I hope you guys do understand.

Then we have Kollywood. I know few would draw daggers, but I never liked a single Nepali actor or actress. Although I did witness a spark of brilliance in Gauri Malla and Brijesh Khanal, their stint in Nepalese movies were shortlived. I never liked Haribansha - he gets into my nerves. So do Rajaram Paudel and others. They do not make me laugh. Not at all. I really wanted to see that Namrata Shrestha movie but never got a chance. Some say the movie is good, other swear by its name, and I sincerely believe it is good. What I fear is, it might turn out to be one of those love triangle overkills.

I watched maitighar a decade ago, and was pleased that a Nepali Actor CP Lohani, at that time was quite an effective actor even when pitted against Mala Sinha. The movie was well made for its time. I wish they still have choreography like 'Kala Kurtaile'.

Vasudev was another movie that caught my attention when I was in lower elementary school (Yes I am in mid thirties). While I didn't understand it much then but I was conscious enough to understand the acting by that protagonist. He was brilliant.


 

Actually if you say Kollywood outside Nepal, people would think of  Tamil Film industry.  just google  Kollywood and we would know.


To see kollywood for nepali film industry we need to type   Kollywood nepali...............so sad. Our film industry cant compete with one regional language of india.


While pakistani film industry is very popular in the name of Lollywood (lahore) our film industry is still far behind.

Spot on Sap dude, applause.

I completely forgot about Bill Murray. But I am not sure about that Don Cheadle thing. Murray's 'Lost in translation' and 'Broken flowers' were one of the better movies I have seen. I am certain when you mentioned Don, you were thinking of 'Hotel Rwanda' but I am not sure a single movie should provide enough wisdom about one's acting acumen.

Also, I concur about Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri. But the reason I didn't mention them was becasue they both became overly commercialized towards the end. I know, that still doesn't take anything from their greatness, but I seek consistency in every piece of acting they perform and their choice of movies.

Nana Patekar was a good actor, still is. But his acting is steroetypical. I am not sure if i like him so much.

Behoove,

Its is hard to stay idealist in such a commercilized market like Bollywood where there is no customer for Art. In hollywood commercial garbage sells but there are also customers who seek Art in the movies. In bollywood, there are no customers for the Art thus the real artists will have to make compromises to stay in business. You should watch youtube interviews of Shaban Aazmi, Nasseruddhin and Om Puri, you can tell these guys have substance. If bollywood had intelligent audiences as they have in hollywood those actors are good enough to deliver steller performance.

For Don Cheadle, yes it was just Hotel Rawanda that qualified him as an actor. It only takes one good performance to prove whether you are an actor or a performer.

Nana Pateker as an angry Indian is entertaining and he has also done some good acting in few movies but he seems to do the same angry indian role over and over reminds me of Samual Jackson in Hollywood. A consistent angry black man.

 behove me:

imana send you a binder lol, 

 behoove me

Dude you should be writing in a movie blog. Very good analysis. 

Paul Giamatti have played significant role of campaign manager Tom Duffy in 'Ides of  March'. If it counts as a mainstream cinema. Needless to say  Spacey, Crowe, Washington, Hanks, Clooney, Damon are amongst the best. I will like to add   Michael Douglas, Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, Forest Whitaker, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Clive Owen, Ralph Finnes to the list. And the list goes on.

 

I wonder why you don't like Christian Bale, I think you have not seen 'Fighter' ‘The Machinist’ yet. For Ryan Goslin see 'All Good Things'/ 'Drive' No one can do it better than him I bet you. Actress; Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Charlize Theron, Britney Murphy, Jodie Foster, Reese Witherspoon, Keira Knightley, Kate Winslate tops my list. 

 

In the context of bollywood Dev Anand, Guru Dutta, Rehaman, Sanjeev Kumar, Raj Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Pran, Jeevan, Rishi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Amitabh Bachhan, Amol Palekar, Utpal Dutta, Nasiruddin Shan, Om Puri, Amzad Khan, Omrish Puri,  Waheda Rahman, Sabana Azmi, Smita patil, Nargis, Sharmila Tagore are my all time best. 

 

Nepali haven’t seen much movies. I remember watching Rajesh Hamal’s Deuta and I enjoyed it. 

We should start a thread for Art Movie Lovers

Ron Jeremy - best actor
Nina Hartley - best actress

Jonny,

You got me there. I forgot DiCaprio. A great piece of acting before he reached his puberty (perhaps) in 'what's eating Gilbert Grape'. (but I do not want to give him total credit, Depp was splendid in that movie and he should take the majority of accolades) But then there were some sloppy loverboy episodes in 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Titanic' which I am not sure boosted his acting ability to a different level. But then there were 'Aviator' and 'Blood diamond' and 'Departed'. He needs to win an oscar, badly.

nayapidi,

Think big, I might need a library.

Adventurer,

I did not know that amid most sajhaites who swear by the name of Penelope Cruz and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, there could be few who could admire Smita Patil and Naseeruddin shah. I am extremely delighted that there are people who have an eye for a good piece of acting. Didn't mean to say there was anything wrong with their choice but I watch movie for a lot more reason than to escape from my humdrum life.

Speaking of your choices. I'd like to pick Clive Owen. That Brit is amazing. A very talented actor who also has enough personality and swagger to pull it off. Also, I reiterate I am not a big fan of Christian Bale, and that is a personal choice. I know he is a good actor and have seen both those movies which that much hyped Batman Trilogy (soon to be) and that magician flick with Jackman, but for some reason he is not my type. One reason why is - his acts well only when he loses weight. And movie pundits unanimously laud his 'seriousness' in depicting that character other than his acting skills (which is good, don't get me wrong). Also, I wonder what made you list Jake Gyllenhal and Britanny Murphy, but maybe that is your personal choice.

 I am big fan of Dicaprio specially his teen roles in 'This boy's life' 'What's  eating gilbert grape' 'Marvin's Room' and 'The Basketball Dairies' . May be 'The Great Gatsby' will give him the opportunity to win an Oscar. 
I do like Angie, Pitt, and Depp. Angie in 'Girl, Interrupted', 'Gia' 'Changeling'and 'Mighty Heart'. Yet to watch her Directorial Debut in 'In the land of blood and Honey'. Pitt for his role in 'A river runs through it', 'Legend of Falls', 'Babel', 'Seven', and 'The tree of life'. Depp in 'Whats eating gilbert grape', 'Donnie Brasco' , 'Blow', and 'Sleepy Hollow' . 

I like Jake Gyllenhaal because he is very talented actor. After watching 'Jarhead' and 'Love and other drug' I am his huge fan. Britney Murphy for her role in 'Girl, Interrupted' and 'Uptown Girls'. Talking about 'Uptown Girls' I have to mention Dakota Fanning as a child actor she was way better any leading actress. I haven't seen any of her recent movies. 

In bollywood my personal favorites are  Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Abhay Deol, Rahul Bose, Ranvir Kapoor, Abhishek Bacchan, Tabu, Rani Mukherji, Konkona Sen, Nandita Das, Soha Ali Khan, Siphali Chhaya, Priyanka Chopra.  

i watched 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest' and wow Jack Nicholson was really awesome but did not like 'The Artist (this years Oscars movie), almost felt like watching a hindi movie without the dialogues.  
Being a girl, i do enjoy chick flicks if they are smooth especially like Devil wears Prada and it has a lot for a girl to see (i mean all the desiner wears???)
I love Rahul Bose movies a lot too. I watched 'The japanese Wife' and could not sleep for 2 days.

Am so glad there are Nepali men out there who are as emotional as i am  - feels very good, even though our tastes in movies could be little different...

Guys, i think we need to start talking about books as well as I am recently dreaming a lot of jack Reacher and equally disturbed that Tom Cruise will be (mis)presented as Jack in a movie soon..... 

Interesting thread. Let me summerize what I like .

Hollywood:
Actors: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Meryl Streep, Cameroon Diaz,  Sandra Bullock
Movies: Sleepless in Seattle, You've got mail, Forrest Gump, There's Something About Mary, Twilight series 1 and 2 (do not remember the names now),The blind side,  Into the Wild( Do not remember the actor's name and feeling lazy to google, he did a fabulous job though)  .. Beside these I can watch any romantic comedies, chick-flicks  :)

Bollywood: 
Actors: Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Jaya bhaduri, Amol Palekar, Rajpal Yadav, Madhuri Dikshit, Ajay Devgan, Amir Khan, Rani Mukharji, Bidya balan
Movies: Almost all the Amitabh Bachchan movies of the 70s, Golmal (old one and the series of the new ones), Andaz Apna Apna, DDLJ, KKHH, kal ho na ho, Veer- Zara.. there is a lot in  the list , I am not an acting-pro and I do not think I can  judge the acting properly either, but I almost like all the romantic comedies and in the comedy movies I love love love Rajpal Yadav's work. He is just tooooo good.

I watched a movie "Mujhse Frandship karoge" in netflix yesterday, I do not know the names of any actors and did not pay attention to the directors/producers. The movie is somewhat similar to "you've got mail" but I did not get bored throughout the movie.. its cute, young, college-story. It may not be able to leave a long-lasting effect on my mind though!!

Kollywood:
Hmm.. I agree Darpan Chhaya was a very nice try. After Darpan Chhaya, we went to see Jindagani because I liked the songs, I liked that movie too but the following day I watched some Ajay devgan movie (forgot the name but it was the exact copy). I have not liked any Nepali movie so far, but I have watched "behuli" so many times, just because it's hilarious and you get to laugh even on the emotional scenes :D. I had to accidently watch "mato bolchha" once , first and last Rajesh hamal starred movie I watched and 'piece of crap' I guess is the right term for that movie, No offence to anyone. I would like "Sanu sansar" if it was not a ditto copy of "My Sassy girl".

And hey, I watched a nepali movie "Andaz" in youtube the other day, and for me it was significantly better, way better than "behuli" quality-wise.

Jake Gyllenhal's in 'Jarhead' was poor man's Hanks in '...Private Ryan'. I am not sure I liked him. But I did like him in 'Donnie Darko' and 'Brokeback Mountain'. Still, i do not want to give him complete credit for those movies. They were just good movies where demanded good acting.

Rahul Bose's 'Shourya' was one amazing movie. He would have been a good actor if he got rid of his 'Hinglish' drawl. But I still prefer him more than Akshay kumar and similar likes. 

Ronit Roy in 'Udaan' was phenomenal. Wonder why he he didn't act well in those romantic flicks when given a chance. Maybe that was a director's call.

Also, many thanks for bringing up 'Rajpal Yadav'. Dude is a good actor, I mean, a really good actor. Except for that one movie 'Rama rama....' which I accidentally watched (thanks to a friend's wife who made us watch that movie, I was nauseate after 15 minutes), he has displayed almost flawless acting in many of his movie. His bihari twang in 'Mein Madhuri Dixit banna Chahti hoon' was immaculate.

Speaking of classy acting and movies that stirs up brain neurons, I have witnessed most of us urban Nepalese completely disregarding Indian movies, as if it is embarrassing to watch them. Which should not be the case, we should not mix patriotism with art and music. A vivid example is none other than my cousin who always called Hindi movies 'shitty' and 'ridiculous' adored Brad Pitt and Matt Damon whether or not he understood the American they spoke and always lived off listening to Nirvana and Radiohead.

He scored less than 430 in TOEFL. Twice. I know this analogy is not full-proof, maybe it is completely flawed, but gives me multiple reasons to question his comprehension of Hollywood movies and Western music.

 

Just read Behoove's analysis and I agree with most except for Haribansha's criticism.
I guess it is upon each person how he judges an actor, but if you don't like Hari dai then you are probably missing what he brings to the mix.

To understand Haribansha, you have to go back to his (and Madan dai's) theater days. I believe he said he started his career as a voice-over for a dog (barking) in a play. There might be some audio/visual recordings available for MAHA's panchayat era comedy like London Airport, Gaun Khane katha etc. They were so bold for their time that they used to get arrested every now and then from the theater itself. Even post democracy comedy like 15 gate is classic MAHA. Madan Krishna brings a rather serious, subtle character while Hari Bansha is more over the edge kind of wacko character.

Sure he is over the top sometimes, you might call it over acting but I protest. His acting is apt for Nepali audience of every level. THere are some who enjoy stupid facial deformations (started by Gopal Raj Mainali dai and now carried out by every comedian in Nepali TV serials); for those Hari dai presents uber-funny character with tonal voice makeover. Yet, he also manages to cater to the more "critical" class who crave for more artistic comedy. This is more apparent in his earlier works, including Chiranjivi and Gharbeti Nani (forgot the title).

I might be repeating things you already know, you belong to the generation that experienced this, along with me. I also haven't watched their later works, but in my account MAHA, and specially Hari dai, is the best actor Nepal ever produced. Santosh Panta, Saroj Khanal are few other that come to my mind.
Actress? No better than Tripti.

Daniel Day Lewis

Agree about haribansa - he is a phenomenon and I loved some of their TV series in the 90s.

Regarding Actress, i think of Nisha Sharma, Anshumala Shahi (I am also in mid 30s) and some of the like - they were so good in some of the TV serials (i have not watched a movie acted by them though).

Back then they used to produce really good TV show like 'Bhiddekhi Bhid samma, Gurans eki palta phulcha, Rupmati, etc and they were real good classic with Nepaliness presented very well. I really wonder why things like those not produced anymore. 

Cameroon Diaz as favorite actor..wtf.  Good thing no one has mentioned Ashton Kutcher so far.  Well I guess it's all about personal choice. Here are some of my favorite actors by the movie. 

 

Male:

Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption. 

Russell Crowe in The Insider, Gladiator and Beautiful Mind.

Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan.

Dicaprio in The Aviator, Departed and Gangs of New York

Denzel Washington in Training Day.

Matt Damon in Courage under fire, Bourn and The Informant. 

Kevin Spacey in Life of David Gayle. (better than Usual Suspect’s Keyser Soze)

Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven and True Crime (True Crime is relatively unknown Eastwood flick but a great one with Isaiah Washington)

Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt

Sean Penn in Mystic River.

Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade and One False move

Casey Affleck in The Killer inside me and The Assassination of Jesse James. 

 

Female:

Laura Linney in Life of David Gayle.

Meryl Streep in The Iron lady.

Rachel McAdams in The Lucky Ones.

Frances McDormand in Fargo.

 

 

I usually don’t like the hyped Bollywood movie with big actors as they are usually the same i.e in Salman Khan movies there is no more than him beating 50 dudes with his shirt off and in SRK movies it is same thing over and over i.e him playing a romantic college dude even if he is in him mid 40’s. I like Amir Khan though and his movie taare zameen par was his best. I don’t know why many independent and low budget movies in Bollywood don’t get much success as there are many good one like mumbai meri jaan & life in a metro. Also, I liked Saif Ali Khan in Ek Hasina Thi. 

 

About Nepali movies, the last one I watched was Chino when I was on 5^th grade so can’t comment on it.  

I hear you Stiffler. Maybe I was a little too critical about Haribansha. And the point you put forth reminded me of the tapes my grandfather used to play when I was a little kid. Those tapes were from a theatrical comedy show 'Rasaranga'. Yes, they were funny but then they were funny to me as a child because for one I couldn't understand what they meant and for two there weren't any other comedians present during that period.

But then as I was in my middle school Haribansha and Madan Krishna started appearing on TV and eventually in movies. That was when I became a little smarter and could discern between a good acting and the one that is superfluous. Did I laugh when I watched '216777'? Of course. Was I grim seeing that seral about AIDS? Definitely. But I wouldn't consider myself being 'moved' by their acting. Nepal tv was at its infancy. And at that era everything played there was supposed to be good cos we didn't really have any choice.

Quite honestly, I would have still admired Haribansha and MadanKrishna if they only stuck to radio shows or theaters. Cinema demands a lot more, both from the audience, and the director, and I am not sure if they fitted in aptly. Also, both of them later became 'do it all' actors. They were involved in singing, fighting, serious roles (which was clearly not there forte) which made me wonder about their exclusivity.

There is little doubt that we all  consider Haribansha as the best actor in Nepalese cinema,  But whether I like his acting or not is an entirely different question.