Not many actors would be able to do what Sunny Hinduja has done this year. Earlier he was known for doing small characters here and there, but now, he has changed colours like a chameleon and has started giving performances that are making him stand apart from the rest. He has played a quintessential commercial movie antagonist this year and has also turned into a journalist with a motive to bring the government down. Not just that, he has even gone ahead and reprised the character that made him popular and done his own spin-off of the character for an entirely new show.
His performances leave a lasting impression in the minds of one and all. There is no doubt about that. If that wasn’t the case, this year would not have turned out this good for Sunny Hinduja. He had three notable performances and all of them were so strikingly different from one another that you’re left without a choice to call him a breakthrough performer of 2023.
‘Shehzada’
While the film turned out to be a massive box-office failure, it was Sunny Hinduja’s performance that still had some semblance of a character. The film, directed by Rohit Dhawan, saw Sunny Hinduja play Sarang Paul, the quintessential bad guy of a commercial Hindi film. What was so compelling about his performance was that he managed to pull off the character with a striking blend of intensity and utter conviction. Despite the fate of the film at the box-office, it was Sunny Hinduja who got the lion’s share of the praises for the film.
How many actors can boast of getting their own spin-offs from a popular web series? It may have happened in films, but in web series, it definitely is something new. Sunny Hinduja’s character in ‘Aspirants’ was so good and people loved it so much that the makers were compelled to turn this character into a full-fledged story. Playing a UPSC aspirant in the web series directed by Parijat Joshi, Sunny Hinduja showcased his versatility by adding different shades to the original character. He even went on to add numerous layers which demonstrated his hold on the character and its surroundings. The show went on to give some insights into the character of Sandeep Bhaiya from ‘Aspirants’ and gave audiences some depth into why the character was the way it was.
Sunny Hinduja may not have been on the initial announcement posters of ‘The Railway Men’ as he wasn’t still considered a lead role material back then, but now with his own popularity soaring, the character in the Netflix thriller definitely becomes one of your favourites. Directed by Shiv Rawail, ‘The Railway Men’ showed Sunny Hinduja in the character of a journalist, Jagmohan Kumawat, who will go to any lengths to bring out the truth, even if it goes head-on with the government of the country. The essence that Sunny Hinduja manages to capture through the portrayal of a reporter makes you feel like this is how real journalism should happen and this is how reports should be impartial and try to fight for authenticity rather than just numbers.
From being just a character artiste in the past few years to now becoming the lead of shows and films, Sunny Hinduja has definitely come a long way. His versatility is his strongest suit. He manages to not just act but get into the skin of the character in such a way that even if the entire project is a dud, you’ll not be able to forget his portrayal of the character. Let’s wait and watch what he has in store for us in 2024.
