Vidya Balan (Tumhari Sullu)
She is the bindaas actress who takes your heart with her arresting roles. For this year, she was Tumhari (and everybody’s) Sullu, a loser housewife who makes it big without changing her personality. Her film Begum Jaan may not have done well but the actress held her ground. Balan slammed a journalist on camera when he asked her if she would lose weight for a glamourous role. “What’s the connection between women-centric roles and weight loss,” she asked.
Bhumi Pednekar (Toilet: Ek Prem Katha)
Bhumi Pednekar was brilliant as a woman who touched the most sensitive issue plaguing the nation — open defecation. As Jaya, an educated woman who files a divorce petition on the ground that there is no toilet in her husband’s house, she encapsulated the courageous of a small town girl and made a mark on the industry through her undertoned acting skills
Kangana Ranaut (Aap Ki Adalat)
The style icon, at constant war with the industry, could not really prove herself, this year thanks to an insipid films Simran and Rangoon but proved her mettle as the style icon of the industry. She, however, caught eyeballs and ears in a different manner — through her interview on Aap Ki Adalat which was full of startling disclosures about her relationship with Hrithik Roshan. The actor, for the first time, spoke her heart out about her personal life and how it was made public. The bold, honest and unapologetic diva commanded national salute.
Zaira Wasim (Secret Superstar)
After being a part of the super hit movie Dangal, Zaira Wasim took up the challenging role of a young girl with big dreams and the capability of fulfilling them. This Aamir Khan movie was low and slow on publicity but made quite a big splash this year with Zaira scripting the pivotal role with aplomb and being loved by all. As a Muslim girl who stands for her mother, a victim of domestic violence and helps her come out of an abusive marriage, Zaira looked like quite veteran she is not.
Taapsee Pannu (Naam Shabana)
Taapsee Pannu plays the role of a spy. After her thrilling performance in Pink, Taapsee Pannu played the role of an undercover agent in Naam Shabana. There are very few actresses in Bollywood who can carry this kind of role and Taapsee is one of them.
Parvathy (Qarib Qarib Singlle)
She made her debut in 2006 with Malayalam film Out of Syllabus. But it was her Rosshan Andrrews' Notbebook in which she grabbed the media attention. Over the next few years, she went on to do a few more films that were critically acclaimed. But it was in 2017 that with Take Off the film industry sat up and noticed. The film, a drama-thriller based on the ordeal of the Indian nurses in Tikrit, Iraq had Parvathy as one of the leads. This was probably why Tanuja Chandra cast her in Qarib Qarib Singlle (her Bollywood debut) opposite Irrfan where she plays an urbane, polished, understated, well-mannered, well-read Tamilian woman.
