2019 In Recap: The Bollywood Actors Roundtable 2019

There have been a lot of interesting ensemble interviews this year. There have been no time to review all individually so we decided to just do a recap of all at one shot. It’s not that hard since most of these discussions came out last month so it might also be fresh for you.

It’s been a while now since these ensemble discussions have been going on. It’s no longer as special as it once was to see an actor talk about the craft and other things. Unless the actor does not give that many interviews like Akshaye Khanna and Vijay Sethupati.

These days, everyone is overexposed so there is really nothing new to learn in their interviews. Plus, they have turned these ensemble discussions like some kind of MET Gala event! Most of them use this opportunity to show off their fashion sense, which is ridiculous because then the clothes become a distraction. Whatever happened to dressing normal?

Also, let’s put it out there. Something that we have been wondering for a while now. Is Ayushmann copying KJo’s style? For some reason, when we see Ayushmann in these fancy clothes, we see KJo.

Let’s get started.

Feel free to drop in your views or comments on these discussions.

 

The Bollywood Actors Roundtable 2019

In the first of CNN-News18’s year-end Bollywood Roundtable series, meet the five men who delivered some of the strongest performances at #TheActorsRoundtable2019. #RajeevMasand sat down with #RanveerSingh (for #GullyBoy), #ShahidKapoor (for #KabirSingh), #AyushmannKhurrana (for #Article15 and #Bala), #AkshayeKhanna (for #Section375) and #VijayVarma (for #GullyBoy), and spoke to them about their craft, and their process of getting into the heads of these complex characters. This show first aired on #CNNNews18 on December 14, 2019.

The 2019 roundtable discussions were not really available for those living outside of India. Now it is available so you can watch it via the link above.

In this 2019 Roundtable, there’s Ranveer Singh, Ayushmann Khurrana, Akshaye Khanna, Vijay Varma and Shahid Kapoor. Hrithik Roshan is missing and so is Nawazuddin Siddiqui or even Vicky Kaushal, who gave 2019 its first surprise hit. Speaking of HR, has he appeared on Rajeev’s show since the Kangana interview happened? Rajeev was then clearly on KR’s side, but has HR made an appearance since then? We remember it was Anand Kumar promoting the film on Rajeev’s show and not HR.

Throughout the discussion, Akshaye took a step back and listened to everyone of them. He wasn’t even making conversation with the other actors unless he was asked a question. Of course, he’s the oldest in that group but if that was Anil Kapoor, you know what would have happened. But Akshaye has always been like this, he never liked the limelight. He even stays far away from everyone else in Mumbai and keeps to himself only. The only person that he is quite close to is Anil Kapoor, but that does not seem to be the case anymore since he was not at the wedding of Sonam. Or maybe he’s the actor-version of Mr. India aka Mr. Rani Mukherjee/Mukerji aka Aditya Chopra!

It’s disappointing that Rajeev didn’t ask him about the years of sabbatical he took to get recharged and come back to the big screen since Ayushmann’s 3 months break was being mentioned many times and they were all reacting like it’s a big deal!

Let’s move on to the appearance details because it is inescapable!

Fancy clothes should be left for the red carpet, not for a serious discussion about your craft.

This is Bollywood’s roundtable of actors:

And this is Hollywood’s roundtable of actors:

What Ranveer and Ayushmann wore is so distracting. The glasses Shahid, Ayushmann and Ranveer were wearing looked like what our headmaster use to wear and we used to joke that it covers half of his face! Do they need these glasses or are these for fashion statement only?

The whole time we are trying to figure out what do Ayushmann’s clothes make him look like? At the end of it, we figured it out: He looks like someone who is going to cut hardcore ice, with the shield glasses and the oversized body suit. It doesn’t look like a jacket, it looks like a fat body suit.

And Ranveer, did Kapil Dev wear similar clothing back in his day? Because lately, Ranveer has been dressing for interviews as if he is an extra on Narcos or El Chapo. Basically, he dresses like if he’s the big boss of a big drug cartel. All he needs is a cigar on hand and his look will be perfect.

Vijay Varma and Ranveer Singh were together in ‘Gully Boy’ so they did a lot of chit-chatting about their experience shooting the film. Midway, Vijay asked Ranveer what the hell is going on with his shirt and why is his chest showing! Why not, right? How is it hairless and shiny?

Ranveer asked everyone to guess what his favorite film of his career is. Vijay playfully and quickly answered, “Befikre”. Ranveer gave him that stare. Quite ironic considering how he considered Aditya Chopra his mentor!

 

 

Ranveer mentioned this is from Sabyasachi and our question is, is Sabya making Ranveer’s clothes from the same cloth that he makes Rani’s clothes? Or is it the other way around because Rani is not known for her great fashion sense either!! The blouse or shirt Ranveer wore looks like it’s made for a woman and let’s not forget this:

Back to the discussion, Ranveer, Shahid, Ayushmann and Vijay spent the most of this discussion to talk while Akshaye just listened. They spoke about their admiration for Hollywood actors a lot and named Hollywood films as their favorites. Shahid praised his dad, instead, which was kind of sweet. And, they are big fans of Amitabh Bachchan!

The topic of Kabir Singh was brought up again, Shahid sounds like he has the flu but he’s much better in terms of putting across his views. Maybe now he has one of the biggest hits of Bollywood so he’s not that conceited and insecure as he used to be. (remember the stories about he and Ranveer during ‘Padmaavat’?)

Ayushmann spoke about his two successes Article 15 and Bala. He mentioned Article 15 is the first film to talk about caste issues in India. Coincidentally, Akshaye did a film called Aakrosh about honour killing in Bihar in 2010, which is also about caste issues. Surprised that no one asked him about that.

Vijay spoke about his experience in shooting Gully Boy but not without being interrupted many times by Ranveer and some times by the others excluding Akshaye. Ranveer is like that, he does react verbally when others are speaking instead of listening attentively like Akshaye was.

Closing this roundtable, let’s move on to the next.