Bollywood Hungama Newsmakers of the year 2020: Akshay Kumar, Kangana Ranaut, Sonu Sood and Pratik Gandhi feature in the list

The year 2020 has been a rather odd year with most of us spending over half of it within the comfort of our homes. In fact, the year that started off on a rather disastrous note soon got worse with the Covid-19 pandemic sending countries into lockdown and economies spiralling. Though the pandemic is far from over, with hopes of a vaccine on the horizon, life has begun to return to normal. While it still is a long road ahead to complete normalcy, in India the film industry was badly hit with shoots being cancelled and film releases being pushed indefinitely. However, in these times of crisis some names from the talents within the industry stood out to make headlines either for their charitable work or for their talented performances or for that matter just their in dominatable human spirit. We at Bollywood Hungama decided to take a look at some of the men and women from the film industry who can aptly be called as the ‘Newsmakers of the year 2020’.

NOTE – Names in alphabetical order

Akshay Kumar

A name that comes to mind when talking about the pandemic is that of Akshay Kumar. Bollywood’s action hero who has in the past reached out to people to show his appreciation went above and beyond during the pandemic. Not only did Kumar donate a whopping Rs. 25 crore to the PM Cares fund to help those suffering during the pandemic, he also went ahead to personally help industry members who had fallen on hard times. Besides this, Akshay Kumar also made headlines by being the first actor whose film Laxmii released during the pandemic, as well as the first actor to commence work on a film.

Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone had made an impactful film on a major social issue, acid attack. Even though Chhapaak did not perform well at the box office, it had a massive impact along with the social media going viral in favour for the film. Apart from this, just a couple of days prior to her film’s release, Deepika Padukone was seen standing in support of JNU students after they were attacked in the university’s premises.

Kangana Ranaut

After taking over her social media account recently, Kangana Ranaut has stayed in the news for her rather controversial statement and has been making political statements regarding the current affairs on a daily basis. Her recent feud with Punjabi singer and actor, Diljit Dosanjh, has grabbed a lot of eyeballs. She will also be seen starring in Thalaivi portraying the role of Jayalalitha.

Pratik Gandhi

Pratik Gandhi took the audience by storm this year with his performance in the film Scam 1992. The stellar director, scrip and of course Pratik’s acting chops lent a surreal realism to the film that connected with the audience. Making it to our list this year on sheer performance power alone is Pratik Gandhi who seems to be a rising talent we need to keep an eye on.

Rakul Preet Singh

Rakul Preet Singh has stood up for herself time and again. This year she consistently and bravely fought back to all the false allegations on drug use related to the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The actress, after her name was cleared, ensured to send across legal notices to news channels and media houses that defamed her without proof.

Shefali Shah

Shefali Shah has been one of the most coveted actresses with her impeccable performances in movies like Waqt: Race Against Time and Dil Dhadakne Do. However, this year, she outdid all her previous performances with the hard-hitting web show Delhi Crime, that went on to win hearts and an international award at the Emmy’s.

Sonu Sood

Sonu Sood’s selfless offers to help those stranded and left jobless, homeless and forsaken during the pandemic has certainly granted him a massive boost to his fan following. From playing the proverbial bad guy in films to be being christened as Bollywood’s Good Samaritan, Sood’s humanitarian work on field at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic has endeared him to many.

Sushant Singh Rajput

Earlier this year the entire film fraternity and nation as a whole were stunned to hear of the sudden demise of Sushant Singh Rajput. The late actor who had carved a niche for himself in the industry took his life, which left many bewildered and confused. However, what came in the wake of his suicide was a series of never-ending investigative probes and allegations that implicated a number of people. With the entire nation wanting an answer to mystery of why Sushant Singh Rajput decided on taking his own life, the media went into a frenzy reporting both fact and fiction, blurring the line between the two.

Sushmita Sen

The 90s diva, Sushmita Sen had stayed off the radar for quite a few years after the release of Main Hoon Na only to make a solid comeback with the recent web show, Aarya. Playing a role like never before, Sushmita Sen clearly left us all bowled with her acting, proving yet again why she is an unparalleled baroness.