Great Cameos in Indian Cinema…..
iView Author: ANAND (Chennai, India)
Email: With Held
Great Cameos in Indian Cinema:
Yesterday I saw an article in rediff mentioning about top 10 cameos in recent times. I could not go through the article but it made me open my notebook to pen down my list. This is in no particular order and from the top of my mind.
1. Karthik – Mouna Ragam: This must be the all time best cameo in World Cinema!! Anyone who understands Tamil and who has watched Mouna Ragam in a theatre when it was released in 1986 would agree with me. I must have watched this segment at least 100 times and the 20 minutes Karthik is on screen, he sets it on fire. The concept of this segment is partly taken from Mani’s own Pallavi Anu Pallavi. Raja’s BGM, PC’s camera work and the way Karthik and Revathi defined the word called ‘Chemistry’ made this the best of all times. In one of Revathi’s post in PFC, I saw a comment by someone remembering how she holds her coffee cup in this segment!! That’s the impact guys. If you have not seen it, buy the DVD now.
2. K. Bhagyaraj – Vidhi: The year was 1983 (I think). Bhagyaraj had just given the biggest hit of his career – Mundhanai Mudichu. He was all set to marry Poornima. And this movie got released where Poornima was the protagonist and Bhagyaraj played the cameo. And what a cameo it was! It was like reliving the Mundhanai Mudichu experience all over again. It was just 10 minutes but it was hilarious. The fact that Vidhi was a very serious film made this appearance even special as it added to the ‘relief’ (as Sanjay Kapoor says it in LBC) of the audience.
3. Juhi Chawla – Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa: This defines the word cameo! Juhi appeared in a fleeting 1 minute appearance in KHKN. But the movie was about a loser who tries to win by cheating and realizes that it is not worth it. So he ends up losing. Or does he? The smile of Juhi brought what the Director intended to bring out. Hope in the heart of the audience and smile in their faces. This cameo led to so many cameos in Hindi films in the last scene, but none were able to match Juhi’s smile!
4. Shah Rukh Khan – Tabu – Saathiya – Arvind Swamy – Khushboo – Alaipayuthe: It was again a 10 minute appearance in Maniratnam film. The only difference is Shaad Ali got more benefit in Hindi due to the energy created by SRK and Tabu. Arvind Swamy and Khushboo performed the role with equal competence but Madhavan had so much of energy in that scene that I felt there was a lack of balance. In Hindi, SRK and Vivek were able to do better justice to what Mani had in mind.
5. Kamal Hassan – Kovai Sarala – Sathi Leelavathi: Only Kamal has the guts to do it, to pair up to a comedienne. (David Dhawan made Tabu do this role in Hindi!). This was more of an extended cameo which came throughout the film, but what effect it created. Watch it for the nuances Kamal brings to the role and for the spontaneity of Kovai Sarala. When Balu Mahendra said that he was stunned by both the performances, it said a lot. The scene where Kamal talks to Heera and invites her to a function at home, you’ll see the actor in full form.
6. Rajnikanth – Peddarayudu: A run of the mill film but Rajnikanth made this film memorable. It was played by Vijaykumar in Tamil. Mohanbabu, the lead actor of the film, requested Rajnikanth to do this role in Telugu. I am sure he benefited in terms of box office performance but I vaguely get a feeling that he must be regretting that he asked Rajni, his close friend, to do the role. For Rajni packed the role with magic and nobody remembered Mohanbabu when they stepped out of the theatres!
7. Shah Rukh Khan – Hey Ram: In terms of absolute necessity for the script, I think this one scores so well! SRK played Amjad Ali Khan, a friend of Saket Ram, who eventually changes Saket’s hatred towards Muslims. When the police inspector asks Amjad in his death bed, who was responsible for the riots, he looks at Saket and says” I have never seen that animal before”! Watch out for the camaraderie between Shah Rukh, Kamal and Saurabh Shukla in the initial scenes. For an actor, one of the most difficult scene to enact is talking on the phone. You need to imagine that there is another person talking on the other side and get the timing right. Just take a look at that scene where all the three of them talk to Rani Mukherjee on the phone. Sheer Joy!
8. Sunny Deol – Damini: When goons chase Damini and she runs and crashes on to a person on the street, the theatre was filled with whistles and cheers; it was apna Sunny! A National Award winning performance, A role that plays to the galleries, A good sensible film..what more can you ask for!
9. Mammooty – Kathaparayumbol: A reinterpretation of Sudhama and Krishna’s tale, Mammooty plays superstar Ashokraj and Srinivasan, the friend who is poor. A good script by Sreenivasan, effective direction by debutant M. Mohanan, great acting by Sreenivasan and a climax that belonged to Mammootty made the film a superhit. Lets see what Priyan can do with Billoo!
10. OM SHANTI OM: 31 stars in one song! Do I need to say more?
Tags: Alaipayuthe, Arvind Swamy, damini, Hey Ram, Juhi Chawla, K. Bhagyaraj, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, karthik, Kathaparayumbol, Khushboo, Mammooty, Mouna Ragam, Om Shanti Om, Peddarayudu, Rajnikanth, Saathiya, Shah Rukh Khan, sunny deol, Tabu, Vidhi
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Some examples i recall
* Sivaji Ganesan in Thevar Magan- Just has around 20-30 minutes, but what a performance. You have that scene between Kamal and Shivaji, where the latter tries to convince him to stay back in the village, and Kamal is reluctant. Even after everything Kamal tells he is not interested, he loses his cool, and grabs Kamal’s collar. And then immediately, he calms down, and dusts Kamal’s shirt affectionately like a father. I mean the way he changes his expression from anger to compassion to empathy, was a lesson in acting. I never was a big admirer of Shivaji’s acting, but this scene, just bowled me over, and realized why he was so highly rated.
* Naaser in Roja- Very underrated actor, but his performance was brilliant as the Army Captain.
Others i can recall off hand
Nagesh in Mugalir Muttam as the corpse.
Again the cameos by Nagesh, Mannivannan, Nasser in Avai Shanmughi.
Janakraj in Apoorva Sahodaragal.
Will come back with some more.
My bestest cameo..Govinda in Andaz Apna Apna..cannot beat that..aaahhh!
liked the post oye!!!
javed jaffrey in salam namaste.
i still watch it on youtube & crack up!
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rishi kapoor in hum tum.
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AB Jr. in hum tum.
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soorma bhopali in sholay.
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mc mohan in luck by chance.
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srk in luck by chance.
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aamir khan in luck by chance.
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hrithik in luck by chance.
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sanjay kapoor in luck by chance.
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deven verma in golmaal.
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anu malik in rock on!!
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anurag kashyap in luck by chance.
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karan johar in luck by chance.
I would definitely put up SRK in LBC. Amazing cameo! The best line in the film, the best man to say those lines, the best moment to insert it in!! BRILLIANT stuff!! That one scene was the whole film in a nutshell.
Awesome…guys, really SRK played his role in Hey Ram excellently, you really need to watch to know his role…He did a great job!
Following are the ones which I liked apart from the ones mentioned in this wonderful post…
1. Jandyalas role in Apathbandhavudu
2. KVishwanaths in Kuruthi Punal
3. Saurabh Shukla in Satya
4. Jagapathi Babu in Anthapuram
5. Om Puri in Ankuram
6. Atul Kulkarni in Hey Ram
7. Sarath Babu in Sagara Sangamam
8. Janakraj in Nayagan
9. Prabhu in Kaala Pani
10. Last but not the least, Nagesh Sir in most of roles as a cameo excelled. He is like a acting encyclopedia when it comes to cameos….
Can add a few more to the list :
Nagesh in Nammavar
Arun Kumar (the mechanic kid) in Kadhal
Poornam viswanthan and thulukanam in Mahanadhi
Akash Khurana in Falak. One of the most sensitive performances delivered in the three scenes he had.
Naseeruddin Shah – Khuda Ke Liye
Madhuri Dixit – Dharavi
Sudhir Mishra – Khamosh :P
Shabana Azmi – Muhafiz
Ratnakar:
“Sivaji Ganesan in Thevar Magan
Naaser in Roja
Nagesh, Mannivannan, Nasser in Avai Shanmughi.
Janakraj in Apoorva Sahodaragal”
All the above are supporting roles. And Sivaji saab even won his first National Award for Thevar Magan!
“Nagesh in Mugalir Muttam as the corpse” – I agree, it did strike my mind, but I thought the concept was borrowed from JBDY (Satish Shah), so I left it out.
“I never was a big admirer of Shivaji’s acting’ – Wow! Really?!
Arati: “That one scene was the whole film in a nutshell” – Was it really?
On second thoughts, I’d like to modify one in the list. Instead of Om Shanti Om, Naseer in JTYJN. I enjoyed his bit better than all 31 stars put together!
Anand really and i guess i have never seen his real good movies, growing up, most of what i had seen of Shivaji was his more masala stuff, which was not too great. But i liked his performance first in Muthal Mariyathai, and of course thanks to cable, DVD caught some of his earlier movies, and also the reccos of my Tam friends.
Well i still feel Nagesh and Naseer’s roles in AS were cameos.
BTW also liked Kamal’s cameo role in Mugallir Muttam too.
Pushpak had a great cameo from Samir Kakkar,as the sozzled rich man.
Praveen Kumar’s Bheem Boy act in Michael Madan Kama Rajan.
Dharam Paaji in Guddi playing himself.
Mazhar Khan in Shaan( in fact he was the only saving grace in that otherwise lousy flick).
Satya of course had some great cameos, Sushant Singh as the guy whom Chakri slashes at, Jeeva, Paresh Rawal.
Ratnakar: Try Mudhal Mariyadhai. Sivaji saab plays a middle aged guy who is in a bad marriage for the past several years. He hasn’t had tasty food in years and Radha offers him Meen Kuzhambu( Fish with gravy). Just watch him eat it! I do not think any one can surpass THAT!! :-)
Anand i have seen Muthal Mariyadhai, fantastic performance, and one of Shivaji Sir’s best ones.
SOme other Shivaji’s performances i loved
Paasamallar, and the movie with K.R.Vijaya where he plays a childish youth, who is beaten, runs away from home, and later becomes a movie star.
BTW speaking of Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Naa, loved Goga Kapoor’s cameo in it as the Don with a kind hear, hilarious.
Sridhar Mayur:
“KVishwanaths in Kuruthi Punal
Saurabh Shukla in Satya
Atul Kulkarni in Hey Ram
Sarath Babu in Sagara Sangamam
Janakraj in Nayagan
Prabhu in Kaala Pani” – Boss, these were great performances. Atul even won the National award for Hey Ram. But IMO, these were not cameos, they were full fledged character roles.
Ratnakar: Goga Kapoor was fantastic!!
One more great cameo was in the movie ‘Ini oru Sudhandhiram’ by Sathyaraj. Sivakumar plays the protagonist who is a retired government school teacher who does not get his pension; he protests; police is asked to lock him up and Sathyaraj plays the Police Constable who is an ex-student of Sivakumar. Lovely 5 minutes!
Paresh Rawal in Satya and Om Puri in Ghayal are my absolute fav cameos of Hindi Cinema…
i was sure k koi south indian hi yeh article likha hoga. no wonder
Anand- great post – liked all the performances in your list.And yes Sathyaraj in Ini Oru Sudandhiram was damn cool.If my memory is correct- he ends up removing his uniform & leaving his police job right?
Some of the other cameo’s I like are
1. Amitabh Bachchan in Golmaal ( old)
2. Kamal Haasan in Thillu Mullu
3. SRK in Shakti-The Power ( remember the Ishq Kamina song?)
4. Ajith in Nee Varuvai Ena ( Tamil)
5. Emran Hashmi- Kalyug
6. Mohanlal in Summer in Bethlehem
7. Amitabh Bachchan in Amritadhare ( Kannada)
Will keep adding more.
Sethu: Yes he does!!
Sethu: I just got a sms from one of my friends after reading this post – The best should go to Arya in Naan Kadavul..LOL!
Sunny: You are a genius!! :-)
List is getting added:
Naseeruddin Shah in Omkara
Dharam paaji in Life in a Metro
Janakaraj in En Bommukutti Ammavukku
Mammootty in No.20 Madras Mail
Anand- yeah Arya hardly had any screen presence in Naan Kadavul.Had mentioned that as a disappointment in my write-up on the movie.
Dharam Paaji in Johnny Gaddar.
i didn’t like Dharam Paaji in Johnny Gaddar. I thought he was wasted. There was no charm or genuineness in his acting in that film. in fact, the entire film lacked that feel.
from recent… Saurabh Shukla in Luck By Chance & Anurag Arora in Oye Lucky. Everytime I think Oye Lucky.. it reminds of that capture scene. Hilarious.
there is an old dev anand film by the name of “Kala Pani”.. Just watch the cameo by Chetan Anand… I think he will put our most popular and recent stars to shame……
Sorry guys the movie’s name was “Kala Bazar”.. not kala Pani .. sorry for the goof up……
Hey dude the movie’s name was “Kala Bazar”…not kala pani…get ur facts right..though i agree with ur statement.. It was a great cameo by chetan anand
Honhaar Goonda: Who is Anurag Arora? Which scene are you referring to?
Amitabh – Andha Kanoon, Jalwa, Hero Heeralal
Shashi Kapoor – Ijaazat(I haven’t come across a better cameo than this, till date)
List getting added:
Khan Brothers in JTYJN
Big B in the Beverly Hills Cop remake (Shucks – I forget the name of the film – it starred Naseeruddin Shan and Archana Puran Singh – Help)
Hum & Tum in Hum Tum
Satya: Jalwa it is. Thanks.
my fav is akshaye khanna in luck by chance. what an acting! and all he’d to say was no.
some good cameos from telugu movies:
* sanjay dutt in chandralekha.
* rallapalli in ladies tailor.
* spb in vivahabhojanambu & mallepandiri.
* veturi in mallepandiri.
* sirivennela in gaayam.
* vamsy in kanakamahalaksmi r.d.t
* krishna in subhamastu
Sethu yaara,
SRK in Shakti was good. But thoda zyaada lamba cameo tha, especially the death scene was stretched too far. What do you think?
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Even AB Junior in Hum Tum was nice.
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On the other side,
few cameos that were totally wasted
AB in Lakshya.
AB Junior in Salaam Namaste.
Vishesh mere dost- yeah I agree with you about SRK’s death scene in Shakti.Guess it became a bit too melodramatic
And yes Abhishek in Hum Tum was good.I liked him in Salaam Namaste too- he was doing a Robin Williams act
But yes Amitabh in Lakshya was a big waste.In fact that was a time in 2004- when Amitabh had 3 straight back to back releases over 3 weeks-
Dev, Lakshya & Deewar
hmm Sathileelevathi has found a place in the list.amazing cameo by kamal-sarala pair . The way they use coimbatore tamil accent leaves us in splits .This one is the best among the spontaneous comedy tracks kamal has done.
why did no one mention akshay kumar 1.5 minute brilliance from om shanti om .. (an otherwise forgettable movie) ??
kailash kher in Waisa bhi hota hai pt2….that scene just cracked me up :D
pankaj kapoor in Gandhi…who else noticed who he was? he bloody gave character to an ordinary extra’s role!
cameo… screen presence, taking the screenplay to a differnt level of fun by just wlaking down stair case… SALMAN KHAN .. DEEWANA MASTANA… the movie is a crazy one… and with all of it going on, SALMAN KHAN lands up right at the end… whattanend… makes ur face erupt into a 440V smile!!!