Mithya is great news for talented non-chocolate heroes like Ranvir, Vinay, Rajat Kapur

The surprise hit of the season, Mithya has been a encouraging success story for actors not in the good looking mould of Salman, Aamir or Hrithik. Bollywood is fueled by good looking heroes, vanity and glamour. Rarely do ordinary looking heroes and heroines get a chance to show case their talent. Producers prefer taking guys and gals who have way too good looks as they belive it will draw the audiences in. So if a actor is talented and perfect for the role, he might get passed over for the position. Therefore in so many years very few actors with modest looks have succeeded in Bollywood. Like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Seema Biswas, Ajay Devgun. In fact many of them ended up becoming character actors or comedians where at least they got to hold a regular job or got a chance to showcase their histrionics.

Thats why a movie like Mithya which has Ranvir Shorey and last years Bheja Fry which had Vinay Pathak are very important for talented non-chocolate heroes like Ranvir, Vinay, Rajat Kapur. They give a chance for a story to be told without the trapping of glamor, sincerely and in a heartfelt way. Bheja Fry made Vinay a ful fledged star and he started demanding a package of up to 1 crore plus. And why not? He is realy talented and funny. And he has taken the long road to success.

The same for his buddy and Channel V conspirator, Ranvir. Hardly the typical good looking Punjabi munda, he is a sensitive and natural performer. He was also seen in Jism, Traffic Signal, Khosla Ka Ghosla, and Aaja Nach Le.

Rajat was part of both films. A good role in Bheja... and the director in Mithya. So it looks like a nice (and funny) team is forming in Bollywood and it doesn't include SRK, Yash Johar, Yash Chopra and Farah Khan. And yet the result is a hit film. And a well made human drama.

Though the movie hasn't raked in tons of money, the fact that it was made on a small budget of 2.5 crore, allowed it to reach break even faster and now it is making money for its distributors. Bring on the bubbly.

Ranvir Shorey-Vinay Pathak to the fore...viva la new age cinema

Thanks to the parallel or new age cinema we are being introduced to actors who might have otherwise been languishing in the periphery of cinema and away from the recognition that they rightly deserve. One of the stars who has slowly and steadily worked his way up is Ranvir Shorey. This extremely talented actor started off as Channel V VJ and it was his double act with his funny twin Vinay Pathak that he came to the publics notice. At least he came to my notice. I don't know how many people remember his days as a VJ and his at times atrocious and at tongue in cheek humor. They had a ball and who ever watched it with them enjoyed the show immensely. It was only because of the presence of a Cyrus Broacha that they were not crowned the undisputed funny men of TV. And were they funny.

They then graduated to films where they picked up small buy significant parts. It seemed they could not act without each other or they simply liked each others company too much. Perhaps it gave a sense of security to them when they stepped in to the big bad world of Bollywood that they had each other withing shouting range. Vinay Pathak was first off the blocks with a smallish but funny role in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

I was watching Jism recently and realized that they were playing John Abraham's friends in the movie. It was around this time that Ranvir's name was splashed on the Bollywood scandal pages for his messy affair with Pooja Bhatt and his drinking problems. He reportedly ranted outside her house once after being punch drunk. He luckily managed to get out of that phase and started doing small but significant roles.

He was seen in small but important roles in Khosla Ka Ghosla, Traffic Signal, No Smoking, Bheja Fry, Aaja Nachle and major starring roles in Mixed Doubles and now Mithya. Bheja Fry was of course the huge sleeper hit of last year that catapulted his buddy Pathak on to the big league. And that is what Mithya will do for Ranvir I think. I hope it does well, as it is a brilliant film, with great reviews and has been getting great word of mouth publicity.

And the movies they have acted in together? Mixed Doubles, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Bheja Fry and Jism. Proves that buddies work and play together?