2010: Bollywood's Top Heroes

A canny cop from small town India, an Indian Muslim trying to negotiate life in post-9/11 America, an abandoned son turned assassin amid political divides and a wheelchair bound man fighting for the right to his own life and death – these are just some of the performances that separated the boys from the men this year

Dec 10, 2010 08:54 IST

A canny cop from small town India, an Indian Muslim trying to negotiate life in post-9/11 America, an abandoned son turned assassin amid political divides and a wheelchair bound man fighting for the right to his own life and death – these are just some of the performances that separated the boys from the men this year.

Salman Khan – Veer tanked but Sallu was back with a ‘bangg' as musclebound maverick cop Chulbul Pandey in Dabangg.
Shah Rukh Khan – The Badshaah of Bollywood won some rare praise from the hard to please critics with his sensitive performance as Rizwan Khan, dealing with Asperger's Syndrome in a world gone mad, in My Name Is Khan.
Ranbir Kapoor – Rishi's little boy proved that he had truly inherited the Kapoor chromosome with versatile performances in political thriller Rajneeti and feel good love story Anjaana Anjaani.

Imran Khan – With I Hate Luv Storys this unstoppable Khan is upwardly mobile in the cutthroat Bollywood hierarchy.
Ajay Devgn – Veteran of many acclaimed performances, Ajay proved once again that Bollywood was his playground with Rajneeti, Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai, Aakrosh and Golmaal 3.
Akshay Kumar – Khiladi Kumar did it again with his masterful comic timing in Housefull, Khatta Meetha and Action Replayy.

Hrithik Roshan – If there's a true thespian among the macho men of the silver screen, it's got to be Hrithik - his performance as a quadriplegic in Guzaarish will go down as one of the finest ever in Bollywood.
Abhishek Bachchan – The box office remained unconquered but AB Baby's villainous Beera in Raavan and revolutionary Surjya Sen in Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se set him apart from the crowd.
Shahid Kapoor – Bollywood's former chocolate boy left his teenybopper image way behind with Chance Pe Dance, Paathshaala, Badmaash Company and Milenge Milenge.

Rajinikanth – The Southern superstar brought his Midas touch to the Bollywood box office with the record breaking Robot.