2021 was quite an extraordinary year for the Indian film industry, as many young and veteran actors rose to the occasion and impressed the audience with their stellar performances. While renowned superstars like Manoj Bajpayee, Vidya Balan and others continued their juggernaut run in front of the camera, there were a few notable performances that managed to win several hearts.

While South actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu made her Hindi web series debut with The Family Man 2 and left the audience stunned with her fierce and ominous act, Sidharth Malhotra gave his career’s best performance stepping into the shoes of an Army officer in Shershaah. Not only established actors but even many newcomers like Adarsh Gourav, Anupam Tripathi and others also garnered a lot of praise for entertaining the audience with their brilliant performances. And as we inch closer to the end of 2021, we take a look at the actors who stole the show with their incredible performances.

Check out the list of Indian breakthrough actors of 2021 here:

Samantha Ruth Prabhu

A renowned face in the South film industry, Samantha Ruth Prabhu starred in Manoj Bajpayee led web series ‘The Family Man 2’ as the main antagonist, Raji, leaving everyone stunned with their remarkable performance. Samantha is all set to make her Hollywood debut with Philip John’s Arrangements of Love soon.

Vicky Kaushal

National Award Winner Vicky Kaushal once again proved why he’s the best in the business. The 33-year-old actor teamed up with ace filmmaker Shoojit Sircar for a biopic based on freedom fighter Udham Singh. While the audience showered Vicky with praise for his brilliant acting, ‘Sardar Udham’ went on to score 9.2 on IMDb.

Adarsh Gourav

Not only did Adarsh Gourav share screen space with Priyanka Chopra and Rajkummar Rao in his debut movie, but he also stole the show with his enigmatic act. Gourav’s on-screen brilliance also helped him earn a Hollywood project, Extrapolations, where he would star alongside renowned stars like Meryl Streep, David Schwimmer and others.

Sunny Hinduja

After featuring in a couple of projects, Aspirants turned out to be a huge success for Sunny Hinduja. While Sandeep Bhaiya became a common household name, Hinduja’s performance as Milind in Raj and DK’s The Family Man 2 earned him a lot of accolades.

Sidharth Malhotra

After a string of box office failures, 2021 turned out to be a great year for Sidharth Malhotra. Apart from bagging several new interesting projects, Sid went on to deliver his career’s best performance in Vishnuvardhan’s ‘Shershaah’. Sidharth’s sincere attempt to showcase Param Vir Chakra-awardee Captain Vikram Batra’s story on the silver screen not only won several hearts but also turned out to be his career’s biggest hit.

Anupam Tripathi

Netflix’s most successful non-English web drama ‘Squid Game’ also starred an Indian born Korean-based actor, Anupam Tripathi. While the Korean drama turned out to become an instant hit with the audience, Tripathi’s performance as Abdul Ali, a migrant worker from Pakistan, did strike a chord with the audience.

Abhishek Banerjee

Abhishek Banerjee needs no introduction as he has been an integral part of the Hindi film industry for a long time now. But 2021 turned out to be quite an interesting year for the 36-year-old actor as he featured in a couple of interesting projects like Ajeeb Daastaans, Ankahi Kahaniya, Helmet and Rashmi Rocket and left a mark as an actor.

Amruta Subhash

A National School of Drama alum Amruta Subhash, who is well-known for essaying the role of Ranveer Singh’s character Murad’s mother in ‘Gully Boy’ also enjoyed a phenomenal year. From playing a bar dancer and single mother Lily in Netflix’s ‘Bombay Begums’ to an obsessive news producer in Kartik Aaryan starrer ‘Dhamaka’, Subhash gained a lot of attention with her incredible on-screen performances this year.

Nushrratt Bharuccha

2021 was quite a year of experiments for Nushrratt Bharuccha. The talented diva took a break from mainstream Bollywood movies and starred in an anthology project like Ajeeb Daastans. While her performance was well-appreciated by the audience, Nushrratt’s last release ‘Chhorii’ saw her stepping out of her comfort zone, carrying a horror film on her own shoulders.

Sharib Hashmi

Having featured in a couple of popular Bollywood films like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ and among others, Sharib Hashmi struck gold with Raj and DK’s web series ‘The Family Man’. The show gave him a platform to explore the intricacies of his on-screen character while sharing screen space with the likes of Manoj Bajpayee. And without fail, Hashmi once again brought up his A-game in front of the camera in the second season of ‘The Family Man’ which was released earlier this year.

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Cover Image: Bhavya Poonia/Mashable India – Instagram