Total Recall's episode of Spectacular Debuts

I've already mentioned about Total Recall, the regular weekend show on Times Now once in my blog; that is a show I absolutely adore and never miss. I have lots of respect for the Times Now folks who have decided to air such a show every weekend without fail. Sometimes I even watch it about three times that very weekend (with partly a reason being to boost it's TRPs, if my watching it is going to make much difference). What started off as a half an hour show about two years back has now extended to one hour, besides having another half an hour show specifically dedicated to songs. Not only is the show very inspirational, nostalgic (in some cases) and imformative, it's biggest achievement is probably establishing a connect between the Golden Age of Bollywood and the youngsters of today who have no idea about those times.

While I've always loved each and every episode of Total Recall, there was just this one episode that frustrated me a little. This was the episode dedicated to those actors who made a huge mark in their very first film. While this list could be endless and since Times Now acknowledged only the leading actors and actresses and not character actors, I'm going to speak only about 'heros and heroines' as well.

The episode started off with Asha Parekh whose first film, Dil Deke Dekho, became a huge box-office hit - her name obviously had to be there; and so should have been the other actress who made her big Bollywood opposite Shammi Kapoor as well - in the classic Junglee, Saira Banu.
I especially liked the inclusion of both the stars of Love In Simla - Joy Mukherjee and Sadhana. I am so glad they were not ignored, as not only was the film so sweet and their acting impeccable, but like the other two names mentioned before, this pair also made it big in Bollywood after this film.
Talk about debuts, and the one name that immediately pops up is Jaya Bhaduri in Guddi. I just wish they could have spent a couple of minutes more on her section in the show. What a performance ... and what a film!
No list of spectacular acting debuts could be complete without the names of Shabana Azmi and Naseerudinn Shah, for their performances in Ankur and Nishaant, respectively. These were probably the best ever first performances in the history of Indian cinema, in my opinion; in fact these rate quite easily in the best ever performances overall, so it's no surprise that their names were mentioned. I can never ever forget these two impactful performances by Shabana and Naseer. They had left me in a daze after the movies got over. It seriously took a while to get back to reality after watching these movies, for I was still lost in the world of these two movies and kept thinking about them for a long long time.

It was the list of actors after this that had me baffled and upset.
First of all, I don't know why Anant Nag was left out from the list even though the research team had selected Shabana for the same movie.
Also, when they mentioned some of the female stars who acted alongside Shammi Kapoor in their first movie, how could they leave out Sharmila Tagore for Kashmir Ki Kali? That was such a sweet and charming performance, just as the role demanded. They probably considered Apur Sansar as her first movie; but even if they did, that was such a great debut as well. Perhaps they decided to only concentrate on Hindi debuts ...
Next, the actors who were talked about on the show were Sanjay Dutt for Rocky, Shahrukh Khan for Deewana, Preity Zinta for Dil Se and Vidya Balan for Parineeta.
I ABSOLUTELY agree with the name of Vidya Balan on that list. Her's was a stellar performance, and really deserving of all the accolades she received.
Sanjya Dutt was good, no doubt; but he was in no way 'spectacular' as the episode wanted to convey. Moreover, if they wanted to have Sanjay Dutt in that list, then why leave out Sunny Deol (Betaab) and Kumar Gaurav (Love Story), whose films were even bigger hits?
What about Rishi Kapoor? What more can anyone do to make that list??!! Rishi, as a leading actor was the first person to win a Filmfare Best Actor Award for his first movie, he became a HUGE star immediately after Bobby released and had a huge line of producers anxious to meet him right after. The only reason I can think of the show creators not including his name there is if they considered his first movie to be Mera Naam Joker, where he made a wonderful debut as a teenage actor ... but come on!!! That was such a touching and memorable performance as well!
Also, two major actresses became overnight stars with their debut movies - Zeenat Aman (Hare Rama Hare Krishna) and Dimple Kapadia (Bobby). I am SHOCKED that their names were left out. I just don't know what was going in the makers' minds when they were making their list and came towards the '70s decade.
Talking of actresses, Preity's name for Dil Se is surprising, because not only did Preity's role end with the blink of an eye, the film too came and went by without many people knowing. If at all they had to pick Preity, then why leave out Raveena Tandon for Patthar Ke Phool. That film was a hit at the box-office and Raveena was the leading lady, who went on to become a star as well.
And lastly, Shahrukh Khan for Deewana???? You've got to be kidding me! I have no comments to add on this inclusion, however I can something about one's exclusion - Hrithik Roshan for Kaho Na Pyaar Hai!!! He became a craze in the nation after his terrific double role performance in the film, and his rubbery dance moves. How could the show creators / research team forget his name, except if they considered his first movie to be Bhagwaan Dada, or his 'actual' first roles in Aap Ke Deewane or Aasha where he just appeared for a single scene, which would be a real shame.

Again, thankfully this was just a list of leading actors; otherwise if they were to mess up with a list of powerful first performances of character actors, that would be just TOO MUCH!!!