It’s almost the end of the year, and your favourite Indian actors have picked the films from 2024 that inspired or moved them. In an interview to The Hollywood Reporter India, Kareena Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Rajkummar Rao, Shabana Azmi, Kani Kusruti, Anna Ben, and Pratik Gandhi recommend their favourite Indian movies of this year. (Also Read: Kareena Kapoor fans call out Pakistani actor Khaqan Shahnawaz for ‘age shaming’ after he jokes he can ‘play her son’)
Kareena Kapoor
From the three films Kareena picked, the first one was her Laal Singh Chaddha co-producer Kiran Rao’s “beautifully directed” Laapataa Ladies, which was selected as India’s official entry for the Oscars. However, it didn’t make it to the shortlist. Backed by Aamir Khan Productions, it stars newcomers Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goyal, and Sparsh Srivastava, along with Ravi Kishan.
Kareena also picked her brother-in-law Kunal Kemmu’s “supremely funny” directorial debut, blockbuster buddy comedy Madgaon Express, starring Pratik Gandhi, Avinash Tiwary, and Divyenndu. Her third pick was her own film, Hansal Mehta’s crime thriller The Buckingham Murders. Kareena said “she’s biased, but actually not biased because I think it was brave to make the film 70% in English and 30% in Hindi.”
Vicky Kaushal
Vicky picked Amar Kaushik’s horror comedy Stree 2, which became the only Hindi film to cross ₹600 crore at the Indian box office. It stars Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor among others. His favourites also included two South movies – Nithilan Saminathan’s Tamil action thriller Maharaja, starring Vijay Sethupathi–and Chidambaram S. Poduval’s Malayalam survival thriller Manjummel Boys. Vicky claimed that these are the only three films he’s seen this year.
Rajkummar Rao
The Stree 2 actor also picked Madgaon Express, along with C Prem Kumar’s Tamil dramedy Meiyazhagan, starring Karthi and Aravind Swamy, and Blessy’s Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life, adding that Prithviraj Sukumaran’s performance in the Malayalam survival drama was “mindblowing.”
Pratik Gandhi
The Madgaon Express actor’s list incluced Payal Kapadia’s Golden Globe-nominated bilingual film All We Imagine As Light, his Scam 1992 and Gandhi director Hansal Mehta’s The Buckingham Murders, and Maharaja.
Shabana Azmi
The veteran actor said she “absolutely loved” Shuchi Talati’s coming-of-age film Girls Will Be Girls, streaming on Prime Video India. It marks the production debut of Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal’s banner Pushing Buttons Films. “The awakening of this girl’s sexuality is done without the slightest exploitation or vicariousness.”
Anna Ben
Anna also picked Girls Will Be Girls, “an absolutely wonderful film,” along with Rahul Sadasivan’s Malayalam period folk horror film Brahmayugam, starring Mammootty, and Maharaja.
Kani Kusruti
The All We Imagine As Light and Girls Will Be Girls actor listed Christo Tomy’s Malayalam film Ullozhukku, starring Parvathy and Urvsashi, Anand Ekarshi’s Malayalam film Aattam, and the yet-unreleased Sister Midnight, Karan Kandhari’s genre-bending comedy starring Radhika Apte.
