By Vaishnavi
It’s safe to say every person who ever ventured their way into English romantic movies, per se British romantic movies harboured a massive crush on Hugh Grant at some point. The 63-year-old actor, once used to be the epitome of a ‘leading man’ and portrayed characters that stayed with us irrespective of the time that has passed.
Hugh Grant is one of Britain’s best-known faces and carries a presence that can charm anyone, even now and mind that the man is past his prime. He established himself as a romantic leading man and then slowly transitioned into a character actor, his choice of scripts is diverse and commendable. They are a little bit of everything. He continues to work till now and delivers with his characters, mannerisms, comic timing and sarcastic remarks.
Here’s a list of a few such movies that made the man a dream for so many generations.
- Maruice. (1987)
The movie follows the story of two young boys in Cambridge in the 1980s and how they deal with university, love and society. It dives into the complex relationship between the two main leads and continues to explore their characters, their love, their mistakes and the transition from young in-love boys to adults who need to leave things behind. Maruirce was a brave attempt and move to showcase such a story in that period and Hugh Grant deserves the praise for portraying such a complex character with sheer brilliance and honesty.
- Bengali Night. (1998)
The controversial yet brave attempt of a movie featuring Hugh Grant and Supriya Pathak. The movie follows the story of an English man who while regaining his health back after an illness fell in love with the daughter of his hostess. The movie tells the tragic toxic love story of the two and shows the crisis of late adolescence and the Westernisation of the world.
- Four Weddings and A Funeral. (1994)
As the name suggests, the movie follows four weddings among the characters and interlinks the stories and their lives around it. It also navigates a funeral between the chaos of the weddings and shows real love, friendships and relationships in its raw purity. Hugh Grant plays the main lead and beautifully portrays the chaotic man that every woman falls in love with through the screens.
- Love Actually. (2003)
A collection of stories circling Christmas and depicting the theme ‘that love actually is all around’ through different relationships and citations. From best friends to father and son, to a silly childhood crush to one-sided love, to an old couple juggling it all. It portrays all of it binds it together and works as a cute watch when you just want to feel loved, happy and comforted. Hugh Grants voice-over in the start and his character brings a softness to the story and gives the audience yet another work of his to marvel at.
- Notting Hill. (1999)
And just how can we forget this classic if we are talking about love or Grant? Following the story of a bookshop owner and a superstar actress who met in the bookshop and fell in love, juggling fame, life and some past decisions. (The main lead who is a little dumb because who doesn’t realise that the woman wants him when she quite literally asks him directly, the woman being Julia Roberts, hilariously dumb I’d say). Hugh Grant charmed the audience with his English accent, cheeky smile, messy hair and the iconic ‘stay forever’.
