Today is the last day of the year. It is also the last day of utility for my calender both at home and work - the day when it loses its pride of place on my desk and goes into the storage shelf waiting for the Kabbadiwala to arrive. I woke up and took one last look at the calender. It got me into a reflective mood, remembering and re-living the year that has gone by. At 34, I seem to forget much more than my mother does at her age. But a few things have remained with me which bring back memories - some good, some not-so-good. 2008 has been a mixed bag with politics of all shades, economic meltdown, the sporting highs for our nation & the hits and misses in entertainment. For the purposes of this piece and to keep it short, I will dwell only on the last in the list.

When you talk entertainment, you talk of entertainers and even here, the primary argument always revolves around the Khandaan and who among them is the first among equals. Equals, did I say? Well surely not. Though I have stayed out of this debate all of 2008, I will use this last day to add my two-bit. Frankly all debates have narrowed down to the Big Two - Shah Rukh & Aamir. Here's my take on this. While Aamir's clearly the better ACTOR, Shah Rukh is LIVEWIRE both on and off the stage.

Aamir's repertoire is extensive. He choses his films carefully, does one film a year and gives it everything he has. He practices till he gets it right. To his credit, he always gets it right. He has also proved that stereotyping him (even the thought of it) is foolhardy. It's hard to believe that the chocolate-boy-hero can look so menacing as he does in Ghajini. He has also in his own way made a statement: what SRK can do, he can do better. For all those who went berserk with Shah Rukh's six-packs, all that can be said is, you ain't seen nothing yet. Watch Ghajini for more (no, the producer hasn't paid me).

Shah Rukh is clearly the bigger star. Infact he is the sole SUPERSTAR (not including Big B in this race anymore) today. SRK's energy, quick wit and charisma is unmatchable - not even by all the other Khans put together. Ask any journalist who has interviewed him and they will be unanimous on one thing: ex-tempore, SRK rules. On stage, he seems to exude the maximum magnetic energy, enough to enthrall the audience. Aamir will always try and say the right things and in the process spend a lot of time to find the right word. SRK thinks on his feet and therefore any attempt to baffle him usually doesn't succeed. Like him or hate him, it is difficult to ignore his infectious energy and irresistible charm. Good actors are many, SUPERSTAR, there is only one. That's why I guess he is KING KHAN.

Having settled the Shah Rukh-Aamir debate, the field is wide open for the next spot. Though many would place Salman here, in my humble opinion, Saif belongs here. Salman does manage to create a lot of buzz with his antics and is therefore always in the limelight (I guess that's how he's in the reckoning). In contrast, Saif seems to have matured with every film. He has not stuck to just one kind of role and has excelled in his past few performances (though it can be argued that he has also stayed in the news more on account of his liasons).

Having contributed to the debate No 1, I guess I can safely move on to what else created a buzz this year. The biggest blockbuster of the year was a three letter word - IPL. Hats off to Lalit Modi for coming up with the most lethal concoction to hook millions of TV viewers - a heady cocktail of cricket & bollywood. Not surprisingly, IPL brought down the TRPs of all entertainment channels for 60 full days. All skeptics who had predicted that IPL won't sell were forced to shut up or take their words back. I must confess that, with IPL, I got back to watching cricket religiously for the first time after completing school. Once a die-hard cricket buff, I had lost interest in watching the game over the years and only switched on my TV set during a Indo-Pak one day encounter (that's what I like to call it). I didn't miss a single game of IPL even when it came to the Royal Challengers or the Deccan Chargers, when even their respective owners (at least in the case of the former) had possibly lost interest after seeing the team's dismal performance. Lalit Modi is clearly my entertainer of the year.

The next big thing to have happened this year (in terms of the impact it had in the world of television) is Colours. Having been one of the last to enter the race, it seems to have given sleepless nights to all the other General Entertainment Channels which occupy that space. While the others had big launches which fizzled out faster than a soda, Colours occupied top of the mind space for the entire year. From Khatron Ke Khiladi to Sajid's Superstars, from Big Boss to Jai Shri Krishna, it seemed to have got everything right. But the biggest of them all, which swept the competitors away and forced Saas Bahu serial makers to rethink on alternative sources of livelihood was Balika Badhu. It became an instant hit from the time it launched and has stayed that way since then. What a relief it brought to the TV viewers whose lives seemed to revolve only around the saas or bahu.

Though Balika Badhu had much more mass appeal than anything in its genre, Big Boss this year seemed to be a talking point in the metropolitan and big cities. I knew many English programme watchers who secretly watched every single episode but were reluctant to say so for fear of being perceived in a certain manner. Luckily, I didn't share that fear and was happy to admit that I got back every night at 10 to watch a full hour's episode (in the last eight weeks) before I hit the pillow. For me, it was a clear stress buster to watch so many weird people on one platform who were constantly engaged in the most bizarre thoughts, exchanges and action. It was like going to a zoo but with a difference - where you didn't tire of seeing the same animals every night - because of their ability to shock or amaze you with their antics.

Let me now come to who I think is the find of the year - someone who has done many things to legitimately stake a claim to this title. I am talking of someone who hitherto (before this year) was known only as a director and screenplay writer. And boy! did he surprise us. This year he did three things new - he acted, sung and played television host. What's better, he did fairly well in all three. Some actors have in the past tried their luck in playback singing with varying degrees of success but what Farhan did has not been done before. He became an instant hit - both with the Minus 30 & 30 plus generation. Though he was among the last to enter the world of television anchoring, he has come across as what I call "a natural" (in more ways than one). Good genes rarely go wrong, especially when it is of the variety of Javed Akhtar & Honey Irani. One clear reason why I think Farhan had clicked is because he has chosen to remain his own self. He doesn't talk like most TV anchors do, he speaks his own language and delivers it in his own style.

In conclusion, before anyone reading this piece gets me wrong, let me go back to the Best Actor (Khan) debate and declare my favourite. And the wnner is......no, it's not Aamir, Shah Rukh, Saif or Salman. Its Irrfan Khan and I think he leads the race by a long, long way. He may not possess the looks like the others in the Khandaan, but his abilities as an actor (pick his last five films and you will know what I mean) clearly surpass his peers. If I have offended the fans of any of the Big Four, my apologies.

Happy New Year