Shashikala and Iftekar were both very popular , also another actor I like from the black and white and later color films era was Rehman, very dignified and subtle ! However, Smitha Patil was not a character actress since she was one of the top leading ladies f her times..

Divya wrote:

Amrish Puri, Anupam Kher, Waheeda Rahman, Annu Kapoor, Ashutosh Rana, Boman Irani I think the list goes on. I personally have liked different people in different roles. Like Amrish Puri in Pardes, Ashutosh Rana in Dusman... There are so many other talented actors as well. Here mostly we are mentioning Hindi films but there a lot more people in regional language movies as well 

Waheeda Rehman was one of the top leading ladies of her times having acted with almost all actors right from Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand to Amitabh Bachan..She switched on to mature roles much later with Kabhie Kabhie if I am not mistaken. 

My favorite supporting actor press Rawal He is adjust in all roles like villain, comedian, Father, Teacher and so on and one of the best role of Babu raw ganpat raw apte in Hera pheri 1 & 2. I love anupam khair too.

Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher,Om Puri have all been doing a great job with whatever role they get to play and so does Boman Irani...In fact character and supporting actors sometimes have better and more interesting roles than the leading man or leading lady.

Not other than Pran because as we all known that he was one of the kind in this world who can play any character in the film. 

I should accept the fact that Anupam Khair and Paresh Rawal can do justice to any role from villain to good role and from comedy to serious role. They can change the whole scenario with their versatile acting talent of a movie and even outclass the hero of any movie. 

suni51 wrote:

I should accept the fact that Anupam Khair and Paresh Rawal can do justice to any role from villain to good role and from comedy to serious role. They can change the whole scenario with their versatile acting talent of a movie and even outclass the hero of any movie. 

yes, definitely sir they are the actor which make the whole scenario of the film changed and looks better, they are hero who make the film live in the absence of lead hero of the film. And no film can be successful without this character heroes, if one has the doubt in the mind then he or she see the zanjeer of Amitabh where supporting hero Pran makes the whole things go nicely and film was a super hit because of supporting actor Pran.

I remember the film Want where Balraj Sahni in a much smaller role than the leading stars is still remembered because of his screen presence and the lovely song  picturized on him " aye mere zoharajabee tujhe maloom n.nahin .." where his and Manna dey's voices blend in so well..

Om Prakash and Kanhaiya Lal (Mother India) were very powerful character actors.

Although we have discussed many names, I think we have missed the name of Ashok Kumar. He started his career as a hero but later in his career he played supporting roles too. He was wonderful as father-in-law in Khoobsurat, a strict father in Anand Ashram, Shaukeen, Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi and many more.