1. Nandita Das
Nandita Das is an actress and director extremely popular in art cinema differentiating from the escapist Bollywood cinema that dominated the Bollywood for long. Her screen persona in films like Bawander, Earth 1947, Fire caught regional filmmakers eyes, and she acted even in English, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Oriya and Kannada languages too. The success of these films in Bollywood has paved the way for the development of the specialized cinema( the art- house cinema) in international film festivals that helped her to get audiences in the large cities and metro towns. She also acted in a Pakistani film, Khuda Kay Liye. This actress had never acted in films that produced a galaxy of commercial film stars. Hence, she was closely associated with Mrinal Sen, Deepa Mehta and Mani Ratnam.
3. Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah is an experimental actor and associated with theater. He had treated art-cinema as his serious endeavor requiring the dedication, discipline, and integrity. Throughout his career, he subjected his own acting to a process of rigorous artistic self-analysis and reflection. He was the discovery of filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who introduced actors like Shabana, Om Puri, Smita Patil and others in the Indian cinema. Undoubtedly, this actor has acted in some serious films such as Sparsh, Paar and Iqbal( three national awards). For his performance in Paar, he received the best actor in the Venice Film Festival. His growth even in art-cinema was slow, as he had acted in women-oriented films of Shabana Azmi or Smita Patil. Later, he was chosen to play lead roles in films of Sai Paranjpye’ Sparsh, ...
4. Paresh Rawal
The Padma Shri award winner who shot to fame with his role in the 1986 blockbuster film ‘Naam’, which told the story of a poor family that struggled to make ends meet, was born on 30th May 1950 in Mumbai. He completed his graduation from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai. Rawal made his debut in the film industry through the movie ‘Holi’ in the year 1984 but it was his next film, ‘Naam’, which brought him all the fame and attention as an actor. Success followed him, and he acted in over hundred films during 1980s and 1990s. Such was his versatility, that he has done roles from lead actor to Main villain. He did the role of main villain in most of his movies and he was considered as a character actor during those days.Â
5. Raghubir Yadav
Raghubir Yadav is an Indian movie, television and stage actor born on 25 June, 1957 in Jabalpur. He is also a singer, music composer and set designer. His debut film in the industry was Massey Sahib (1985) in which he played the title role of movie. He has been awarded with two International Awards being Best Actor in FIPRESCI Critic's Award in 1986 and the Best Actor Silver Peacock, IIFI in 1987. It is quite unusual that an artist with that much talent in so many areas has not received a National Award. Raghubir Yadav is from the 1977 batch at National School of Drama, New Delhi and has specialization in stagecraft. About his journey, he has worked as a singer and actor in more than 70 plays and had done almost 2500 live shows with Parsi Theatre Company starting at an age of 15 from 1967 to 1973 where they used to go from one vi...