Riteish Deshmukh

Riteish Deshmukh, man, he’s got one of those careers that just keeps zig-zagging all over Bollywood—and somehow, he makes it look easy. Born into politics (his dad was Vilasrao Deshmukh, you know, the bigwig in Maharashtra), Riteish could’ve easily taken the political route. But nah, he went for movies instead. He kicked things off with Tujhe Meri Kasam back in 2003, working alongside Genelia D’Souza (yep, the one he ended up marrying), but let’s be real, it didn’t exactly set the box office on fire. Then, bam—2004 rolls around, and Masti drops. That movie basically put Riteish on the map. Suddenly, everyone’s paying attention. He even snagged a Filmfare nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Not bad for the guy who started off as “the politician’s kid.” After that, he just kept landing hits: Heyy Babyy, Dhamaal, Housefull, Double Dhamaal, Housefull 2, all those madcap comedies where he gets to just let loose. But he didn’t just stick to one genre—he pulled off a solid turn in the thriller Ek Villain, too. Dude’s got range, I’ll give him that. Riteish didn’t stop at acting, either. In 2013, he tried his hand at producing with Balak Palak, a Marathi film that turned out to be a sleeper hit. Next thing you know, he’s acting in Marathi cinema too, making his debut with Lai Bhaari. All in all, he’s one of those guys who just keeps hustling, and you never really know what he’ll do next.