AKSHAY KUMAR
Akshay brought out his A-game, delivering three money-spinners out of his mandatory four annual releases, showing that when it comes to mixing it up and also making money, no one does it better than the Khiladi.

BHASKOR BANERJI
Eccentric and off-centre, with a caustic tongue and a constipated system, Amitabh Bachchan lent a special something to the Bangali septuagenarian we so loved in Piku. EveryOldMan.

CORSICA
Tamasha gave us a travel goal: a walk on the cobbled streets of Corsica and a lazy breakfast along its azure seafront. And no, you don’t have to be a fan of Asterix in Corsica to fall in love with this picture-perfect French town.

DUBSMASH
Khan to Kapoor, Singh to Sinha, Bhatt to Balan — almost every star went the Dubsmash way, gleefully mouthing scenes and songs from films old and new (and sometimes from each other’s films) — to make this tech tool a rage on social media.

EX-FACTOR
They make exes look cool. Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone  — RanPika for fans — gave a bro-buddy spin to their former relationship, not only starring together in Tamasha, but also being oh-so-comfy off the sets. And yes, they look soooo good together!

FUNNYBONES
Twinkle Khanna aka Mrs Funnybones continued to be a hoot on Twitter, making us LOL with her wit and even penning a bestseller — Mrs Funnybones — towards the middle of 2015. A star with a rare twinkle.

GULAABO
Shaandaar was anything but, but the melody and moves of Gulaabo made it a huge hit on music charts and nightclub floors. We loved: Alia Bhatt in a moustache!

HALF-FACE SELFIE
Team Dilwale innovated the first-look poster with a half-face selfie that soon went viral — college campus to virtual world.

ICELAND
The Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol romance in Dilwale got a picture-postcard backdrop in the virgin locale of Iceland. From the black beach to the blue sea, Gerua looked better than it sounded.

JEE KARDA
The defining song of Sriram Raghavan’s revenge saga Badlapur was brought alive on screen by Varun Dhawan, with Divya Kumar’s vocals lending power and pathos to this angsty number scored by Sachin-Jigar. Chhalni karde seena mera....

KATAPPA
Why did Katappa kill Bahubali? Everyone who has watched the first part of S.S. Rajamouli’s magnum opus wants to know. But who is Katappa? The trusted general who was shown treacherously killing his king at the end of Part I. Does he, doesn’t he ? Wait till late-2016 to find out.

LIAK
Nawazuddin Siddiqui delivered the villain of the year in Liak from Badlapur. From that cold stare to that chilling laugh, the small big man of Bollywood was the best thing about this film that impressed on many other counts too.

MATARGASHTI
Mohit Chauhan brought masti and magic to A.R. Rahman’s fun Tamasha number, with Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone living it up in Corsica. From the quirky lyrics to the crazy dance steps, we loved it all.

Special mention: Cannes double winner Masaan.. for some the film of the year.

NEIL NITIN MUKESH MEMES
The man who impressed us on debut with Johnny Gaddaar a few years ago, was the theme of many a meme this year — from the ones making fun of his ‘triple’ name to the social media bashing that came his way after the Game of Thrones boo boo.

OCTOBER 2
“2 October ko hum Satsang ke liye Panjim gaye thhe, aur 3 October ko waapas lautey thhe.” Those who have watched Drishyam know how significant a role October 2 — no, it wasn’t just Gandhi’s birthday — played in the plot of one of the best thrillers of 2015.

PIDDLY
Bathroom singing became oh-so-cool with Amitabh Bachchan lending quirk and class to this Shamitabh number, scored by maestro Ilaiyaraaja and sung by @SrBachchan himself. Piddly si baatein tum karti ho sharma ke...

QISSA
This powerful film on Partition starring stalwarts like Irrfan Khan and Tillotama Shome was one of the best indies of 2015, creating waves on the festival circuit and notching up quite a few awards. Wanted in 2016: more such qissas, please.

ROAST
Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor teamed up with the boys of All India Bakc***d to pull the pants off Bollywood — in a gutsy ‘Roast’ — that pulled no punches. But the trio then had to spend the rest of the year battling court cases. Get a sense of humour, India!

SWAGGER
Entered the Bolly dictionary, courtesy the quirky lyrics of Tanu Weds Manu Returns. Banno tera swagger, scored by music men Tanishk and Vayu, was a total winner. Many mistook ‘swagger’ for ‘sweater’, contributing to the fun factor, while Kangana Ranaut’s cool moves took care of the rest.

TABU
Like Haider last year, Tabu showed what a powerhouse performer she is, bringing shades of grey to her 
no-nonsense cop in Drishyam. We can’t wait to see what the 41-year-old stunner does with her Miss Havisham in February film Fitoor.

UNCENSORED
Pahlaj Nihalani and co. ran riot with their censor scissors, but some managed to escape... unfortunately for us. Like the trailer of Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 which has eeewwww written all over it — from Aftab Shivdasani masturbating to Gizele Thakral thrusting her cleavage at the camera.

VARUN DHAWAN
He hasn’t had a flop in his seven-film career and Varun was the young star of 2015 — packing in a new turn in Badlapur, showing his pull in ABCD 2, and rounding off the year with a biggie in Dilwale. 

WOW WOMEN
Girl power dominated the Bolly box office of 2015, with films frontlined by her — Dum Laga Ke Haisha to NH10, Piku to Tanu Weds Manu Returns raking it in. Even the behind-the-scenes ladies — directors Zoya Akhtar, Meghna Gulzar and Shonali Bose and Piku writer Juhi Chaturvedi — scored. And we also got Angry Indian Goddesses, Bolly’s first female buddy film.

X-RATED WINNERS
Sunny Leone’s cleavage grabbed eyeballs in Ek Paheli: Leela, but Zareen Khan’s thighs and Daisy Shah’s curves scored bigger in Hate Story 3, making this sex fest one of the successes of 2015.

YO YO HONEY SINGH
He continued to rule the dance floor, especially with his reworking of the Aashiqui hit Dheere dheere. The song may have earned more nays than yays, but we have to thank Yo Yo for giving us a welcome dose of Hrithik Roshan (with Sonam Kapoor) in a Hrithik-less year at the box office.

ZIPPED!
They gathered  the guts to speak out loud, but then faced brickbats — from Aamir Khan and SRK expressing their views on intolerance to the Bolly brigade talking about the FTII fiasco.

What word would you change in this Bolly A to Z? Tell t2@abp.in