Best Performances Of September 2023

This is a monthly series where we highlight performances from the film and streaming universe that caught our eye. Since Film Companion watches widely, we compile this list to foreground exceptional work, even if these actors did not have the proverbial spotlight on them.

Abhijit Das, Tora's Husband 

Theatrical Release

Everyone in the film calls him “Jaan” and Abhijit Das lives up to this moniker, giving life to Tora’s Husband (2023). The camera shadows Jaan as he navigates the everyday turbulence of life in the Covid era. He’s worrying about his restaurant business, looking for the family’s lost dog, comforting those in need. He’s also the distant husband whose wife can’t reach him, the hapless son caught between squabbling family members, the delighted amateur footballer who feels his age on the field, and the alcoholic patriarch. Das’s extraordinary performance makes us fall in love with him to the extent that even his angularities seem endearing. There’s an earnest goodness to Jaan that never feels inauthentic and there’s no hint of artifice in the world of Tora’s Husband. Despite the camera dogging his every step and zooming in close to catch every flickering expression, it never feels like Das is acting. Instead, it’s as though we’ve been allowed into his life to witness the kindness, despair and strength that makes Jaan the extraordinary ordinary man that he is.

Gagan Dev Riar, Scam 2003: The Telgi Story

Streaming Platform: Sony LIV

As with Pratik Gandhi's breakout performance in Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, the first part of Scam 2003: The Telgi Story shines because of another uncut diamond, Gagan Dev Riar. His presence seeps into every frame – a supporting character trying to trick the spotlight into focusing on him – thus turning Abdul Karim Telgi into a larger-than-life kingpin who looks jarringly like life itself. It’s not just the fact that he’s a physical ‘counterfeit’ of the real Telgi. Or that his voice sounds like he’s almost amused by our popular notions of a mastermind. Or that his everyman gait – untucked shirt, pot-bellied walk, sly grin, middle-class twitching (one where his fingers constantly roll invisible boogers) – makes the scam feel strangely personal. It’s also the fact that Riar allows the viewer to detect the subtle grammar of Telgi’s ego. His brilliant turn reveals that Telgi is more like a pressure cooker waiting for the right altitude to explode at. All the pain isn’t forgotten, but conserved and accumulated until he is powerful enough to break bad.

Naveen Polishetty, Miss Shetty, Mr Polishetty

Theatrical Release

Naveen Polishetty's performance in Miss Shetty, Mr Polishetty (MSMP, 2023) cements the charm of his brand of humour. While he began carving a niche for himself with Agent Sai Sreenivas Athreya (2019) and Jathi Ratnalu (2021), it wouldn't be an overstatement to say that MSMP is a star-making performance because Polishetty single-handedly makes the film effortlessly watchable whenever he is on screen. The actor effectively uses his stand-up comedy background and boy-next-door charm to create an immensely likeable character that compels you to look beyond the film's rough edges.

Rukmini Vasanth, Sapta Saagaradaache Ello

Theatrical Release

For a film that’s been in the making for over two years and had hyped up Kannada cinephiles for the Rakshit Shetty-Hemanth Rao reunion, lead actor Rukmini Vasanth’s phenomenal performance as Priya came, as the Gen-Z kids say, out of syllabus. Vasanth brings in pity, love, loyalty, commitment, concern, spirit, and softness, all through her brilliantly expressive eyes. Priya is the one on the outside, fighting for her beau Manu’s (played by Rakshit Shetty) release from prison, but she seems to be the one who suffers the most. She loses her passion, her hope, and her “sea” due to her circumstances and Vasanth expresses all of these without any hint of melodrama. Fitting in perfectly with Rao’s understated poetry, Vasanth became the putti of the entire state, not just for her adorable rendition of ‘Katthe’, but for her standout performance as well. And this is just her second film.

SJ Suryah, Mark Antony

Theatrical Release

If SJ Suryah is a genre, his performance in Mark Antony (2023) can be considered a genre-defining outing.  In this time-travel action comedy, Suryah aces the father-son dual role with his trademark eccentricity and hysteria, making his antics a treat to watch. The film's period setting is merely an excuse to make everything about Suryah funky, loud, and eye-catching, from his moustache to the funny wig, to the colourful retro costumes he dons. Suryah is decidedly loud and it feels like everything in the film, from his co-actors to the score, is just trying to catch up with him and match his energy. Such is the wildness he brings to the screen.

Sahasra Sree, Chithha

Theatrical Release

Sahasra Sree plays Sundari, Eswaran’s (Siddharth) niece in Chithha. When we first meet Sundari, she is a naughty kid who pranks her uncle. There is a lot in the writing that tells us what she means to Eswaran. But Sahasra, through her acting, shows Sundari’s love for her uncle, whom she sees as a father figure. Once, after she nicks a magic pencil, she confesses to her uncle with heads down, and words hardly leaving her mouth. Yet, in her hesitation, Sahasra manages to reflect the fear of admission, coupled with a sense of relief in finally revealing the truth to her uncle. Later, when she decides to sneak out of school to go watch a deer, she sees her uncle through the back window of an auto. Her wide eyes, filled with regret, tell volumes. When a life-changing event happens, all that she utters is “Chithha”. While the story has already affected you, watching Sundari tired and wounded scares you the most. Sahasra painfully shows what hope looks like for an exhausted soul, and for Sundari, it was her Chithha.

Shah Rukh Khan, Jawan

Theatrical Release

We got two Shah Rukh Khans for the price of one in Jawan (2023). The de-aged Azad, whose face looks like it might just be made of plastic, is the one who gets the monologue and spotlight at the climax, but the star of this spectacle is the grizzly Captain Vikram Rathore. Khan enters his daddy (zaddy?) era quite literally in Jawan, when Vikram returns from the dead with lines on his face, greys in his hair, a ganji on his ridiculously buff torso, and a cigar between his lips that sets everything on fire — from bad guys to the lustful hearts of SRK fans.