As the year draws to a close, several prominent Indian actors have selected the films from 2024 that have inspired or touched them. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Kareena Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Rajkummar Rao, Shabana Azmi, Kani Kusruti, Anna Ben, and Pratik Gandhi share their recommendations for their favourite Indian movies of the year.

Kareena Kapoor

Kareena selected three films, the first being "Laapataa Ladies," which was co-produced by her Laal Singh Chaddha collaborator Kiran Rao and is noted for its "beautiful direction." This film was chosen as India's official submission for the Oscars, although it ultimately did not secure a place on the shortlist. Produced by Aamir Khan Productions, it features newcomers Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goyal, and Sparsh Srivastava, alongside Ravi Kishan.

Additionally, Kareena highlighted her brother-in-law Kunal Kemmu's "supremely funny" directorial debut, the successful buddy comedy "Madgaon Express," which stars Pratik Gandhi, Avinash Tiwary, and Divyenndu. Her final selection was her own project, the crime thriller "The Buckingham Murders," directed by Hansal Mehta. Kareena acknowledged her bias but clarified that her appreciation stems from the film's courageous choice to be predominantly in English, comprising 70% of the dialogue, with the remaining 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 actor from Stree 2 also selected Madgaon Express, in addition to C Prem Kumar's Tamil dramedy Meiyazhagan, featuring Karthi and Aravind Swamy, as well as Blessy's Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life. He remarked that Prithviraj Sukumaran's performance in the Malayalam survival drama was “extraordinary.”

Pratik Gandhi

The roster of actors from the Madgaon Express features Payal Kapadia's Golden Globe-nominated bilingual film, All We Imagine As Light, alongside Hansal Mehta's The Buckingham Murders, known for directing Scam 1992 and Gandhi, as well as Maharaja.

Shabana Azmi

The seasoned actress expressed her profound admiration for Shuchi Talati's coming-of-age film, Girls Will Be Girls, which is available for streaming on Prime Video India. This film represents the inaugural production of Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal's company, Pushing Buttons Films. She remarked, “The exploration of this girl's sexuality is portrayed with utmost sensitivity, devoid of any exploitation or voyeurism.”

Anna Ben

Anna additionally selected "Girls Will Be Girls," describing it as "an absolutely wonderful film." She also chose Rahul Sadasivan's Malayalam period folk horror film "Brahmayugam," which features Mammootty and Maharaja.

Kani Kusruti

The actor known for All We Imagine As Light and Girls Will Be Girls has mentioned several films, including Christo Tomy's Malayalam production Ullozhukku, featuring Parvathy and Urvsashi, Anand Ekarshi's Malayalam film Aattam, and the forthcoming Sister Midnight, a genre-defying comedy directed by Karan Kandhari and starring Radhika Apte.

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