Anil Kapoor The Man On A Mission

The indefatigable 67-year-young actor, who have had back-to-back hits in The Night Manager, Animal, and Fighter, has recently made his debut as a reality show host.

- Ananya Ghosh

According to him he is here to run a marathon and not a sprint, and looking at his more than four-decade long illustrious career in the movies, one has to agree that he is on the right track It might seem a bit of a stretch to call two-time National Award-winning actor, Anil Kapoor 'underrated'.

Over the year, he has headlined so many massy superhit movies that the man is now an integral part of the country's pop culture. But while we are still floored by his Jhakkas charm both on and off the screen, maybe we don't give him enough credit for his acting chops. That might be also because he is so effortless.

Be it the toxic dad in Animal, or the strict Group Captain in Fighter or the uber-cool antagonist in The Night Manager, his performances are always impeccable, if often understated. He becomes each character with a casual ease in a way only he can. He is one of the rare few who is equally successful while playing the quintessential Bollywood hero as he is being part of an ensemble cast-he makes each of his on-screen outings count.

And that is not easy, especially given that the man has been acting for over 40 years now, his first outing as a leading man being in the 1983 film, Woh Saat Din. He ruled the box office as the 'hero' in the late '80s and the '90s with superhit movies like Mashaal (1984), Karma (1986), Mr. India (1987), Tezaab (1988), Ram Lakhan (1989), Beta (1991), etc.

Beyond playing the massy hero and box office glory he also found critical acclaim for his turns in Parinda, Lamhe, Chameli Ki Shaadi, etc-movies that would later be considered as landmarks in Hindi cinema. But it is how he has continued to be relevant and upgraded himself with the times while cinema itself went through a tectonic shift, that is truly awe-inspiring.