Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Siddhant Chaturvedi And Parineeti Chopra: Leading Actors Of Today Who Started Off As Supporting Actors

Bollywood is an industry where every actor has their own journey. Some start at a high and go on to assert dominance for a long time, like Varun Dhawan or Alia Bhatt, while some take their time to get their moment in the spotlight, like Kartik Aaryan or Nushrratt Bharuccha.

Similarly, all the leading actors from today didn’t start their Bollywood journey in the same capacity. While some started that way only, some took their time to showcase their histrionics capability in supporting characters or parallel leads before they made their mark as leading actors. Here are some of them:

While it is unimaginable to even think of Salman not being the centre of attraction in a movie today, yet when Salman started, the scene wasn’t the same. People remember the actor for his amazing performance in Maine Pyar Kiya, for which he also won the Filmfare Award for Best Debut, but it wasn’t his first on screen performance. A year prior, he appeared as Rekha’s brother-in-law in Biwi Ho Toh Aisi. His performance of an angry and impulsive man who is changed by love wasn’t that eye-catching, but it only took one year for him to change that and make a mark for himself.

When Priyanka came to Bollywood, the stage was all set for her. She was a Miss World winner with several offers at her door. And she even won the Best Debut Award at Filmfare for her stint as the parallel lead in the 2003 release, Raj Kanwar’s Andaz, also featuring Akshay Kumar and Lara Dutta. But the same year, before she mesmerised everyone with her sex appeal and acting skills in Andaz, she featured as the second lead in Sunny Deol’s Hero: The Love Story Of A Spy, where the main lead was Preity Zinta.

Who can forget the amazing MC Sher from Ranveer Singh’s Gully Boy? Even though he was the supporting actor in the film, he indeed gave one of the most impactful performances of the film. So much so, that he even bagged the Filmfare trophy for Best Supporting Actor for the same and now has just short of half a dozen films in his kitty as the leading hero—Shakun Batra’s next with Deepika Padukone and Ananya Panday, Phone Bhoot with Ishaan Khatter and Katrina Kaif, Yudhra with Malvika Mohanan and Bunty Aur Babli 2 with Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji and Sharvari.

Seems like Parineeti followed big sis Priyanka’s footsteps too seriously, as just like her, a few months before making her debut as a leading actress in Ishaqzaade opposite Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti appeared as one of the three supporting actresses in Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma’s Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl. But even with four actresses present in the film, Parineeti went on to make a mark for herself and shine on her own, and even received the Filmfare trophy for Best Debut.

Not many people know that Dangal’s Geeta Kumari, Fatima, indeed began her film career long ago. She was a child actor in Kamal Haasan’s Chachi 420. Although, even that is known to a lot of people, what not many people know is that even in her career as an actor, she did a supporting character before bagging the humongous project that was Aamir Khan’s Dangal. Fatima was seen as the supportive friend in Luv Ranjan’s most underrated film, Akaash Vani featuring Kartik Aaryan and Nushrratt Baruccha.

Talking of Nushrratt, even she did not get leading roles right away. While her first film, Jai Santoshi Maa, was a blink and miss, she got her first commercial film in Jackky Bhagnani’s launch vehicle, Kal Kissne Dekha. She played the starry-eyed friend of Jackky who is mesmerised by the new boy in college. She was a supporting actor there and after that she did Love Sex Aur Dhokha followed by Pyaar Ka Punchnama, which had an ensemble cast. It took time for her to establish as a leading force but now she is doing wonders with several big projects in hand, including Akshay Kumar’s Ram Setu, Hurdang with Sunny Kaushal, Janhit Mein Jari with Pavail Gulati and Chhori.

Aparshakti had a very different journey from his brother Ayushmann Khurrana. While Ayush began his career in full flow as a leading actor in Shoojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor opposite Yami Gautam, Aparshakti took it slow and steady with supporting appearances in Dangal, Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Stree, Luka Chuppi and Pati, Patni Aur Woh. But now, he is all set for his first film as a leading hero in Helmet opposite Pranutan Bahl.