Tintin's Top Ten: The Best of The Best Bollywood films of 2013

Tintin's Top Ten

The Best of The Best Bollywood Films of 2013

 

I've mentioned how 2013 saw some really terrific Hindi films. While not even close to a great year like 2012, 2013 holds the weight of being the 100th year of Hindi cinema. As such I was prompted to make the extensive lists I did, however I finally decided to separate the top ten from the top 30 because these 10 films deserve their own space to shine in. 

Like with the previous feature, this one will have a best ranking of where the film falls on my subjective favorite list of the year. 

Of the ten best you'll notice some great romantic films. Romance in Hindi cinema before was the epitome, but it was mostly melodramatic schlock by the 90's and modern romantic films needed that contemporary rom-com vibe to work. Old world/Old school (with new school thought) romance is back with a bang this year. 

There are also some really exceptional content driven films this year, that surprise surprise were promoted by big time production houses alluding to a dawning of a new age where content might just be King. 

There are a few films I missed; 

specifically Anand Gandhi's Ship Of Theseus which was a unanimously lauded feature. I haven't yet been able to find it, so I'm missing out on that experience. 

Then there's Farooq Sheikh's last feature film Club 60. 

And of course maybe some Indie features such as the documentary Hari Got Married and more. 

For now, enjoy this top ten

10. Raanjhanaa

Director: Anand L Rai

Cast: Dhanush as Kundan Shankar, Sonam Kapoor as Zoya Haider, Abhay Deol as Akram Zaidi/Jasjeet Shergill, Swara Bhaskar as Bindiya, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub as Murari, Shilpi Marwaha as Rashmi, Suraj Singh as Anand with Kumud Mishra as Guruji and Vipin Sharma as Kundan's Father

Genre: Romantic/Drama

Best Scene: The song sequence for title track where we see Kundan in high spirits as he realizes Zoya is coming back and he will get to see her after a hiatus of nine years

Best Performance: Dhanush as Kundan Shankar

Best Dialogue: 'Pyaar na hua, UPSC ka imtihan ho gaya. Dus saal se pass hi nahi ho raha.'-Murari, on Kundan's unfaltering affection for Zoya that isn't gone even after her departure

Pros:-The film is a slight subversion of typical Hindi love story elements, the subversion occurs unintentionally and only if the film is taken in a more positive light

          -Characters are interesting and complex, they all have certain grey shades and unlikable characteristics which make them well rounded

          -Some really great dialogues

          -The third act invigoration of the social message is impact full and really hits hard on the viewer

          -A really beautiful cinematography capturing Banaras

          -The director really gives the film a sense of grand cinematic romance 

          -Powerful performances from the full cast, Dhanush is charming as well as funny and strong while Sonam Kapoor really carries the weight of the depth filled character

          -The score is sensational while the music suits the genre

Cons:-In an attempt of subversion there is a need to look at typical Hindi romantic film elements, the use of these at times may send off the wrong image especially to the non-thinking audience

           -The film stretches a bit too long and gets dull at times during its second half

           -Rai's direction and the framing device unfortunately makes it to easy to glorify Kundan. Even though his character has very noticeable negative aspects

           -Few moments comes of as too cheesy and melodramatic in the screenplay, specifically Kundan's rise in the second half

           -Some of the political elements don't come off clearly to the uninitiated

Score: 8.6/10 (Story-8.2, Direction-7.1, Performances-9.3, Background score/soundtrack-9.8)

Favorite Rank: #13

The first of many grandiose romantic films on the top ten. The film is the story of the titular Raanjhanaa; Kundan, who from a young age falls in love with the local Muslim girl Zoya. His love and infatuation knows no bounds, and sometimes in his chase for the girl he crosses limits of decency and religion.

For this Zoya is sent away. She returns years later from Delhi having studied at university there, befriends a now grown and hopelessly romantic Kundan. Aware of his feeling yet unaware of how deep they are, she tries to make him that she is in love with someone else and wishes to marry him. Kundan convinces her father and she is about to be married off when Kundan realizes and notifies everyone that Zoya's Akram isn't Muslim. Akram is beaten to death. Can Kundan now ever pay for his crimes? And how far and in which way will he go to prove he is Zoya's true Raanjhanaa?

A controversial film on my list and outside of it. A lot has been said about the films aspects regarding Kundan's methods of chasing the girl being regressive and the film itself steeped in the old time style of romantic sexism where the girl chased in a stalkerish manner yet falls for the man.

However personally I felt a lot of the message in the film can be taken incorrectly, especially the writer was trying to convey. See Zoya never accepts Kundan's love, by the end of the film she comes to respect him and his greater romanticism for her but she doesn't love him in that traditional sense. To me it seemed that the situations and more importantly the character of Kundan was regressive.

Though of course it doesn't help that Anand L Rai's interpretation of the writing is misconstrued. He was quoted saying when the obviously regressive elements of the film were lambasted;

'…There is a life beyond Metropolises that some people grown up in the metros cannot understand…It's different cultural breeding…In a small town pursuing a girl until she says yes is a sign of true love.'

He is highly delusional and misguided in what he says, in fact in defense of Raanjhanaa and Himanshu Sharma it seems like Rai makes a botch job of the script. Although I'm not sure if Himanshu meant for the film to be regressive or not, but from it's execution you can blame Rai.

By no means do I agree that the story  creates or tries to create a 'sweet love story'. To me personally the film is better at navigating the moral grey areas of its characters. It's why then I'm willing to give the writer the benefit of the doubt, he crafts inherently complex and detailed plus intriguing characters. Specifically the women.

While it takes long for use to see Zoya's perception, she is far deeper than Kundan. She is ambitious, young, flirtatious, smart but she's also tied down her roots. She tries to suicide things don't work her way, a sort of hint back to her own regressive thought process borne from the origins of her unintelligent city and society, and balanced well against her more modern and thoughtful sensibilities. The film makes her easier to hate because of how she treats Kundan, yet the writer tries to show her side of the story by mirroring both her view of Kundan's obsession and her own idiotic Raanjhanaa-ness over Akram/Jasjeet.

In a way this is where you can see the mentality of the film and Kundan's much more negative aspects, not only does her do wrong by the way in which he chases Zoya but he also inadvertently creates a Raanjhanaa for himself. Bindiya is a character who dotes on Kundan, she gets herself embarrased just for his sake so as he can help Zoya. She is in a society that teaches women to be submissive, and is abused on a constant basis by Kundan. Yet she loves him till the bitter end.

Here altogether Himanshu uses typical romantic elements in order to subvert them and to realistically makes sense of them, which unfortunately highlights the films negative aspects further. You see Kundan state how in Banaras you either chase the girl and work hard to woo her or you take the shortcut and threaten her. Elements such as him getting slapped and her hating him yet then naively falling for him are used, or scenes when in rage he finally decides to slit his hand if she doesn't profess his love to him.

She obviously agrees like any filmy heroine. Yet there is a deeper meaning to it in the sense that she is raised in a place with this type of romance is norm, and consciously or sub consciously it isn't about love to her when he slits his hand but rather to comfort him before he dies cause she childishly likes him. It's enhanced better when, she returns home years later yet fails to recognize him; the reason behind why she was sent away in the first place.

Much of the dialogues are really great and convey the film in a more comedic yet lovelier tone. Specifically when the supporting cast of Bindiya, Murari and to some extent Jasjeet and Rashmi point out Kundan's frivolous and torturous chase for Zoya's affection which he will never get and possibly shouldn't deserve.

In the third act, the film takes a huge U-Turn. Post Jasjeet's death, Kundan is lost. He tries in vain to wash his guilt through religion but is instead told to do something about it because he will never gain true forgiveness. He decides to go to Zoya's university to pay for his crime, this once again points out Kundan's bigger heart yet also defines the negativity of his reasoning. He enters Zoya's life again due to his guilt, and in a way tortures her further and sends her down a darker path. Yet he also makes her far stronger in her determination to fight for Jasjeet's dream and helps it move along as he becomes the champion behind their 'common man' political party. This part of film while powerful in message is dull in tone and lags the script. Here there are also heightened amounts of melodrama that seem off putting and jarring in tone. The political protests are unfortunately unintentionally hilarious.

Not only that but it is the major crux point as to why the film can be hated. See overall the script or more importantly Rai focus and embellish Kundan's journey. He is given the narration of the film and in a way we see the wrong doings he does in a positive light, for some ignorant viewers even the scene when he exposes Jasjeet can be seen as a happy idiotic way to get Kundan and Zoya together (I mean really?! He just got the love of her life killed!). Anand L Rai cinematically glorifies his chase for the girl. This is where I really hated the film but I couldn't in the end because of one man…

…Dhanush. He is both the killer and savior of the film. His performances is so deft, layered and above all else charming that it's hard to hate Kundan and his unrequited love. Dhanush makes his Hindi film debut with Raanjhanaa.

On a side note, I hate how people point out that what a debut he has made in cinema. There is movies beyond Bollywood, Dhanush is a far accomplished actor than his senior compatriots in the Hindi film industry. After all he is a National Award winning actor.

It was fun to also see Dhanush play deep into character, while also making fun of the fact that he isn't such a good looking man. He takes reign of the second half especially with his style of Body language, a style that most South Indian actors have from the hand gestures to the head movement. He is definitely someone worth watching on screen.

The surprise package though is Sonam Kapoor. Not the best actor of her generation, she is given a powerful character that allows her to explore her skill like never before. Great writing can elevate an actor to perform better than they are, and this is true here yet you also need Sonam to be able to carry the burden of this character specifically making the audience hate you at times and she does this too.

Abhay Deol was good as usual but he did seem slightly disinterested and at times phoned in his performance. The supporting cast was great, and it's one of the superb things Anand L Rai as a director.

Not only does her extract sensational performances from his leads especially molding their weaknesses into strengths (like Sonam's delivery here and Kangana Ranaut delivery in Tanu Weds Manu). But he gives them a supporting cast that can hold their own.

Swara Baskhar is a dynamite, she plays it feisty and bold yet timid with naturalness. Watch her when she finally breaks down at the sight of a blood spouting Kundan. She takes out her frustration on Zoya with brilliant expressiveness and echoes the fleeting love she had for the man once.

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub is another talented fellow always stuck playing the best friend, in this film he does just that with impeccable comic timing and great dialogue delivery.

The music is by A R Rahman, do I even need to say more. It's romantic and heartfelt and best off all is weaves into the narrative perfectly.

Overall Raanjhanaa can be divisive, it's not an easy film to like but it is good if you can interpret it better than it is presented even if the director and writer had the opposite intention. Dhanush is a live wire highlight and Sonam gives the best performance of her career yet. In a way Raanjhanaa works because of them and the other actors. 

9. Special 26

Director: Neeraj Pandey

Cast: Akshay Kumar as Ajay Singh/Ajju/A.K Vardhan, Anupam Kher as PK Sharma, Manoj Bajpai as Wasim Khan, Kajal Aggarwal as Priya, Jimmy Shergill as Ranveer Singh, Divya Dutta as Shanti, Rajesh Sharma as Joginder with Kishor Kadam as Iqbal and Neeru Bajwa in a cameo

Genre: Period/Crime Caper

Best Scene: The first and also the final heist

Best Performance: Anupam Kher as PK Sharma

Best Dialogue: 'Asli power dil me hoti hai'-PK Sharma, ('Real power, comes from the heart')

Pros:-A tightly scripted taut thriller and entertaining heist flick

          -Utilization of interesting subtleties to explain narrative points, character back stories and the period setting

          -Some crisp dialogue with great scene by scene interactions between characters

          -A great twist that spices up the film

          -Writer and Director Neeraj Pandey really understands the concept of the face-off action theme between dual protagonists on different sides

          -Some great cinematography and lighting that emulates the period setting making the film realistic

          -Sensational performances from the lead cast, especially Anupam Kher

          -A scintillating score that matches the mood of the film

Cons:-A distracting romantic sub plot with sub par acting and chemistry

           -Some scenes really stretch, making the film overlong and a tad bit boring

Score: 8.6/10 (Story-9.1, Direction-9.3, Performances-9.1, Background score/soundtrack-6.9)

Favorite Rank: #7

Based on reported incidents, this is the story of four thieves/conmen. In 1987, four men under the guise of CBI officers raid and proceed to loot a corrupt Minister's house. The incident isn't blow out because the Minister wishes to hide his embarrassment among the fact that he had black money stashed.

Officer Ranveer Singh and Constable Shanti are suspended for unwittingly aiding the team in their heist. In a rut and out for revenge, Ranveer sees real CBI Wasim Khan in action and puts in motion a plan to catch those four.

His motives collide with Ajay and his team's aspirations, when the four decide to pull of their final heist; the big Special 26. Who are the Special 26? What are Ajay motives for doing this? And most of all, What kind of X-Factor is Ranveer in the fight between Wasim and Ajay?

Let me get straight down to it. Special 26 is one heck of a thrill ride, that boasts a lot of masala entertaining film element yet proves that you can be entertaining and still have substance when it comes to script and story.

Take for example the opening heist of the picture. It does well to establish the characters in the now and their real respective roles in the scheme of things, it adds some intriguing sub text but most of all as any heist; it just rises and rise in exciting tempo. 

The subtext in this case would be the method with which the protagonists conclude their operation, their efficient yet like with their leader PK Sharma's early hesitance you can sense a nervousness in them apart from Ajay. One of the men takes picture in an oddly amateur style yet not enough to raise suspicion as he's collecting evidence. The minister being robbed is shown to be highly unintelligent and overall uneducated where as his PA fairs better. Yet in ironically a hilarious scene where he chastises his PA's way of talking, he himself is a slave to his roots and accent and makes mistakes with the language.

This is just a primer for the level of breadth writer/director Neeraj Pandey adds to his firm script. On a surface level he paces the narrative at a riveting speed, without ever letting go of the plot points and still giving the dramatic moments reason. The dialogues are a cracker and vividly help the much more subtle physical comedy the film employs, each character in their own right is as much a hero or intense personality as they are a comedian or characters stuck in comedic ally compromising situations. 

Then theirs the layers underneath, the exploration of the characters specifically the four protagonists and antagonist Wasim Khan is done in a very contained manner that it lets the audience interpret the situation rather than telling. For a film brimming with filmy masala this is simply stupendous and applause worthy.

Debunking the charismatic and charming performances are the fact that at the end of the day these characters aren't wholly likable but definitely relatable barring the period setting. We have Kher's PK Sharma, a man as he notes born before the TV (an important fact mind you). When we visit him at his eldest daughters marriage, we along with Ajay are introduced to his vast amount of members of the family (basically just his children). Ajay quips 'that, is that it' to which PK aptly and vigorously retorts 'That in our time there was no TV for entertainment'. It's a scene in which Pandey establishes the core drive for Sharma to steal and earn quick cash while also highlights an issue that is sadly relevant today. To top it off, by the time we see Sharma again leaving for the final heist his wife is expecting another child.

Rajesh Sharma's Joginder is in a worse of situation than that, he seems to be the only breadwinner in a family that is probably not his alone (as an elder). He wakes up early and with haste yet precision walks through a foyer full of sleeping people. It's basically pitiful but also makes the man much more endearing. Iqbal is preposterously bullied by his wife, it seems the money can either be an escape fro the hellish life or a way through which he can provide for his son he dotes on and satisfy his wife. Nothing much there in his case.

Wasim is an honest officer and one with an abhorrent hatred towards criminals. What's funny yet also eye opening is that the man notices how far he can go if he were to be corrupt, and also uses it with genuine effect without well using it. Sample this, he threatens his boss for a promotion or calmly asks him whether he should start taking bribes.

Barring his contrived and unnecessary superstar (Akshay Kumar) required love story, Ajay is basically an enigma. He seems well off, no note as to whether this is because of his thieving ways and doesn't have a core reason or person to get this money for apart from starting anew life with his girl. By the third act of the film, we do get a reason; he was rejected from the CBI and all this is just some blind revenge plot. It makes the character come off as a bit childish in nature yet at the same time compelling, what Pandey does wonders with is that he keeps this reasoning ambiguous since the person telling Wasim (PK Sharma) is basically playing him at that point.

Beyond that there's also the Special 26 themselves. The 26 CBI 'fake' interns (but they think their real) among which are jobless honest people and one unfortunately verbally handicapped man, who all just validate the point that the four are charismatically selfish and more human than heroes of the film. They are left hanging so as the four can pull of their actual heist.

Shanti and more importantly Ranveer are the wild cards in the equation. I don't want to spoil their characters by saying anything.

Pandey also does well both as a writer and a director to visually construct scenes where his characters interact in the most meaningful form of dialogue. Take for example the first and only scene of interaction between Wasim and Ajay, its spiced with some tense reparte and the biggest compliment I can give; it's reminiscent of Michael Mann's masterpiece Heat when Pacino Vincent Hanna faced off against DeNiro's Neil McCauley. He keeps the sense of lightheartedness intact while also making the viewer realize that both men know the other in a form such as honest cop and crooked thief. Nobody has imitated the scene better than Pandey, yet also keeping it's own hilarious identity.

Where Pandey falters I believe is partially due to his casting, in this case I just mean Akshay Kumar. Not that Kumar gives a terrible performance, heck I would welcome him doing work like this compared to his more overt style of action-comedy. I can excuse the addition of song sequence (After all they do put butts in the seats), but at the same time with star power in your film it tends to overshadow the story itself and to satisfy fans of Kumar with a certain image of the actor. This is why the half baked romance seems forcefully inserted into the plot; does it give Ajay some much needed development? Yes, but at the end of day is it better?

No! No! No! I feel if a lesser actor had essayed the role of Ajay we would have been simply left with the ambiguous back story of the man. Making him that more charismatic, and a hell of a lot surprisingly appealing than the film made him likable. Still in some way I'm willing to accept the mainstreaming of the film since it needs to make money, but as a movie buff it didn't connect with me and on the contrary really dragged the film unnecessarily.

Cinematographer Bobby Singh also gets kudos along with the editing team for really forcing in the period setting onto the film. The lighting and texture nails it especially when it transitions from TV recordings to real life, even the simplest idea to have only minimal cars on the road and such other things in the long run makes the feel natural.

Of the performances, the all star cast is terrific. Kajal Aggarwal is a bit too over the top though, but you can chalk that up to her side of the plot more than anything else. Her and Kumar's chemistry is virtually as annoying as the sub plot itself.

Obviously Rajesh Sharma is terrific as ever even in limited scope. With him Kishor Kadam is also great specifically in his confrontation with his loud mouth wife.

Akshay Kumar has as clichéd as it sounds, never been better. His comic timing meshes with the subtlety of situations easily. Manoj Bajpai as ever is terrifically reliable. Jimmy Shergill while justifiable underused is great in expanding the depth of his cheated character while relatively playing it smooth in the final reveal. Divya Dutta was surprisingly funny. 

It's Anupam Kher though who literally takes the ball and runs with it. I've maintained a point where beyond the fact that Kher is a chameleon and can sink into any role he is given, there are two typical modes of his that are easily noticeable. The first is his upright and chest puffed body language when he is given a character who is strong and relatively powerful physically or in stature (like with his Police Commissioner in Pandey's debut feature A Wednesday)  then there's times where he plays timid characters who even with Kher's belly look wiry and as if they will fall over in a moments notice. This type of character he portrays is timid and his body language slouches (like KK Khosla in Khosla Ka Ghosla).

I noticed both of these in Kher shifting and blending together with a character who like the actor himself is a chameleon and that shift was smooth and natural as it should be. He has some terrific comic timing, plays off the worried father well and at a moments notice turns into his CBI persona like he's the real deal. You can never beat a veteran like Kher at his own game.

The music was a bit off a distraction as I mentioned, yet that score used through out the film is perfect and exciting.

Overall Special 26 was indeed something Special. Neeraj Pandey's second feature might not be as good as his first, but it is an example of when substance and style can make a commercially viable film better than it's thought to be.

8. Bombay Talkies

Director: 'Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh' Karan Johar, 'Star' Dibakar Banerjee, 'Sheila Ki Jawaani' Zoya Akhtar and 'Murabba' Anurag Kashyap

Cast: 'Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh' Saqib Saleem as Avinash, Randeep Hooda as Dev and Rani Mukherjee as Gayatri. 'Star' Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Purandar and Sadashiv Amrapurkar as Masterji. 'Sheila Ki Jawaani' Naman Jain, Ranvir Shorey and Katrina Kaif. 'Murabba' Vineet Kumar Singh as Vijay, Sudhir Pandey as Vijay's father and Amitabh Bachchan as Himself

Genre: Anthology

Best Short: 'Star' by Dibakar Banerjee

Best Performance: Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Purandar and Saqib Saleem as Avinash

Best Director: Dibakar Banerjee

Score: 8.7/10 ('Ajeeb Dastaan...'-8.6, 'Star'-9.0, 'Sheila...'-8.8, 'Murabba'-8.4)

Favorite Rank: #8

Be it a collection of short or long films in an anthology. When among them a fine storyteller like Anurag Kashyap gives the worst of the bunch, then you know that the film is definitely one of the best you'll ever see.

Bombay Talkies the anthology film was built around the base that it is a celebration of cinema in its centenary year. As mentioned it's an anthology film with four distinct stories that only delve into rich thematic aspects of Bollywood but also give their own important and effective messages whether small or big. The four stories are told by some distinctively great directors (and Karan Johar, I kid) from the Indie auteur Anurag Kashyap, to the intelligent Dibakar Banerjee and the creatively smart and spirited Zoya Akhtar and the surprise package; the filmy Karan Johar.

The film begins with Karan Johar's Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh, a smart move since the film begins with a bang, dispells the notion that Johar can't work outside his lavish comfort zone and pierces you with a very thought provoking message.

The title is taken from the yesteryear classic song that is sung in the film by a beggar girl at the train station.  It also has a double meaning since when translated the title is 'A Queer tale is this', because the story is about a gay protagonist fighting the prejudice of society and trying to make another man reveal the lie he has been living with his wife in for many years.

Avinash is an openly gay man, in the beginning he walks in to his fathers room and declares this in a brazen attitude leaving his home and teaching his ignorant father a lesson between being gay and being a eunuch. From the onset Johar establishes the tone of his film and also the issue at its core. Avinash is a magazine intern, here he meets Gayatri who to his surprise and liking neither judges him or even awkwardly acknowledges his orientation. Slowly they become friends, and she invites him to his house. To her cold, distant and indifferent husband Dev especially towards Avinash and his lifestyle.

The two men bond over classic music and Avinash makes him meet a little poor girl who can sing classics with a soulful tune. He makes advances towards Dev and tries in vain to make the man come out of the closet and accept who he is and the lie he has lived, that is breaking Gayatri's world.

It's a morally ambiguos film, not in it's theme but rather in its driving plot point. There's no question that Avinash's heart and intent is at the right place, yet the method may be considered a bit faulty. In the end Gayatri is freed from a life and a man who was never truly hers, but which part was she happier in is left to the viewers imagination.

If you know me and my love for Hindi cinema, then you know that to me Karan Johar is one of the most overrated directors of all time. Not only are his films highly over indulgent, fluffy but importantly just hollow style with no substance the only cater to a small and what you may consider snobbish elitist group of audiences. Their not even enjoyable for the masses like masala films are.

This however is his coming out party in true fashion, another stepping stone after the thoughtful yet still frothy My Name is Khan (we wont count the huge dent that was Student of The Year).

 Karan Johar from a writing and technical stand point steps out of his comfort zone, bar the fact that he has only about half an hour or even less to tell his densely layered story and deliver a power packed message from it. He latches onto the narrative with a restrained and firm hand, steering the story in the right direction and exemplifying the themes it alludes too. He uses irony in a great way, such as the aforementioned title and the first time Avinash asks Dev to come out (a sly reference to coming out of the closet) and see the girl sing. Specially when Dev opts to give the girl money only on the pretext if she is actually using this to feed herself and her siblings and not lying to him, something he ironically notes is a bad thing.

The irony is that, his intent may be taken wrongly because of the content of the story. Avinash in his way is responsible for the final nail in the coffin of Dev and Gayatri's marriage. Many ignorant/prejudiced and even not so ignorant/prejudice people may misconstrue this as the gay man breaking up a straight and 'holy/lawful' marriage. Yet when seen in a perspective, the marriage was already crumbling and Johar forced too dictate this through dialogue (so as to get the point across) simply uses Avinash as a beacon of truth and hopefully a semblance of happiness in these two people's lives.

The dichotomy of the two men well explored as well, here is one man who is open about his sexual life and is unashamed to fight against the injustices on him yet due to society is also surprised at the acceptance he gets from someone like Gayatri. He once against ironically also slightly stereotypes gay men by stating 'That gay men typically love Sridevi as compared to Madhuri Dixit'. Witty and definable, but maybe not true in most cases.

On the other spectrum is Dev, a man who is in a loveless marriage with Gayatri due to his sexual preferences and him hiding it. This causes him to be emotionless, nervous around somebody like him and somebody open about it as well as to try define his masculinity in its stereotypical way whether it be forcefully sleeping with his wife after the good time he had with Avinash or by beating Avinash around after just embracing him.  This highlights the deeper message of the film, of living lies and telling truths. The case of a community forced into making the decisions they do.

From a cinematic standpoint it's hard to place this film, which part of Bollywood's history is it alluding too. You could chalk it up to the fact that it has a link to the fact that both Avinash and Gayatri are working in a Bollywood magazine company or whatever. There is the mention of the MAMI festival, one of the many film festivals in India today.

Beyond that I was confused to what part it was alluding too. Although I think partially it has something to not only do with Karan's own history as a director and person, but film making as a general being about style with no substance. This is specifically sub textually presented when Rani's Gayatri washes of her makeup revealing her 'uglier' and real visage while she points out Dev's own lies and identity beneath his 'manly' surface. Both alluding to her making him come out and also exposing the depth underneath style that he himself as a director or any director can do but choose not to. Sort of proving the naysayers wrong, the commercial cinema and its directors are better than you think but they choose to keep to a certain image in an image obsessed industry. Maybe I'm a bit wayside with this idiotic analogy. 

On the performances side, Rani Mukherjee is as dependable as ever. Being out of the limelight has done a great wonder for her, because she has simply matured as an actor and shown a growth of a higher level. She wasn't particularly overrated and was far off from bad during her stardom period (I mean seriously go watch Black or Veer-Zaara) but in the past few years she has dome eclectic and magnetic work in films like No One Killed Jessica, Aiyaa and now Bombay Talkies. She is basically the person stuck between a rock and a hard place in this story, someone you also pity yet are happy for and hoping that she can recover from this experience beyond how she says it herself.

Randeep Hooda's Dev can be easily hated, yet you see the sadness behind his situation and it unease's the audience because we know that his situation and reasoning is created by a society like ours who is still in some form unable to accept a gay man's basic rights. He is charismatic and restrained with efficiency as ever.

But the real revelation is Saqib Saleem. After some great comic performances in Mujhse Fraandhsip Karoge and Mere Dad Ki Maruti, Saleem gives an emotionally unhinged performance here. Not only does he steal the show from his veteran co-stars but he threatens to steal the whole film from even the great Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He is evocative and his body language emotes the soulful pain hidden by this slightly cheery façade. This is a young actor that would have definitely gone unappreciated knowing Bollywood, if it weren't for the fact that big banners are willing to take risks with him. An example of the tantalizing awesome phase that Hindi cinema is going through.

The music is also worked in brilliantly, the classic songs used to effect and sung with a heartfelt melancholy that easily reels in the audience into this awkward and mistaken love story (if you could call it that) between Dev and Avinash.

The second story is Dibakar Banerjee's Star. A smart choice to go on second since in terms of likability and best overall this comes at the top and therefore ramps up the tempo of the film, while also being lighthearted enough to rest the audience from the initial intense drama. 

An adaptation of Satyajit Ray' short story 'Patol Babu, Film Star', Star explores the story of struggling actor who is disillusioned by films himself and believes that work should come to him rather than he going in search for it vigorously. He lives in a chawl with his not well of family, his supporting wife and a daughter who looks up to him and his pet eemu or ostrich (?).  On one chanceful day, he gets picked from a crowded group to be an extra in a shot between him and latest Bollywood rockstar (pun intended) Ranbir Kapoor.

While practicing his lines and action in an isolated place, he is visited by the spirit of his Acting Master and is taught the lesson of working hard to get his work and to be successful. He takes this to heart completes his shot, and heads home to vividly explain this story to his amazed daughter.

Star is specifically hilarious in scene with the dead master and the actor's pet who pops up at the oddest moments. Banerjee crafts a lighthearted and very odd story, while the type of film and narrative are in the range of Banerjee's working styles and origins they are not something he is used too. Dibakar Banerjee has delved in comedy before, but in a more satirical or darker manner than this. He is in his zone (Indie films to be specific) but not in comfort (light work).

Props to him for delivering a film that is equally as enjoyable as it is thoughtful, on a plus side it also has a very great message to it about the importance of facing rejection and going above and beyond to fulfill your dreams. In a way it wonderfully mirrors the realistic struggles of its Star (pun intended) Siddiqui and many more like him in the industry. Cinematically it speaks to those still looking to break through, and is smart casting when it comes to using both the poster boy for a new age content driven commercial cinema and typical good looking star Ranbir Kapoor against the symbol of perseverance and talent with a bit off luck taking you to where you need to be in the form of Nawazuddin Siddiqui (the not so good looking actor, who unconventionally is a success story). 

Even the end is great when the struggler gives some great ideas to make his scene better than it's been half heartedly written. Although it's sad to see that he is treated badly called a joker when Kapoor off screen keeps on making the mistake yet the cinematographer calls him 'sir'.  Siddiqui himself leaves without collecting his payment, having created a path to his dream.   

There's also the fact that Banerjee points out the very unorganized way that big blockbuster films are made beyond its focus on the big actors. The structure itself is well and the film production is littered multiple bodies for work, yet it falls upon itself when the titular commercial 'director' is unable to control his/her team efficiently. Even among the team a person doesn't know the actual story and neither and the dialogues are simply written on scraps of paper. It's a double sided sword, since at the same time Banerjee points out how hard the work is for everyone. Especially to control a gathering crowd of fans who are hypocritical with one saying how this is nothing he could do what Kapoor does.

There's few funny pointers, from one not well off kid saying how he likes Bhai's films (Salman Khan) rather than Kapoor who is too subtle for him. And the aforementioned other guy who feels Kapoor only got to be a star due to nepotism rampant in the industry.

It's the performances that get to you, obviously in this case Siddiqui. He is, once again pun intended; the star of the show. He clearly has some great comic timing (another film on this list solidifies that) yet he can also handle the weigtier angst and arrogance of his character among the goofiness. He plays off well with veteran Sadashiv Amrapurkar, who appears after a long time in a hilariously spot on role.

The background sounds aren't much but they're okay especially defining the silent moments for Siddiqui.

The third story keeps the tempo well and alive, Zoya Akthar's 'Sheila Ki Jawaani' is about the love for the song and dance of Bollywood that defines and makes it unique than any other cinema. It's also a look into making your dreams and aspirations come true and expressing yourself no matter what the world says or even expects of you.

A 12 year old boy, is inspired and enamored by Katrina Kaif and her dancing skills. He wishes to be just like her. His conservative and strict father wishes forces him against his will to like and become a footballer, yet when his parents are not around he dresses up as 'Sheila' (A Kaif character) and dances for his sister.

She is unfairly not allowed to go to a trip, because her father is spending money on him to get football coaching. When they discover his true aspirations, they shout at him and shut him out. In the end to fulfill his sisters wishes, he decides to dance as Sheila for the neighbors in a secret show. Here slowly but surely he wins the audiences hearts, changing their laughter at him into applause for him.

Here the film is emotionally powerful, it builds on the theme of chasing your dreams against the will of society using the deeper motifs and issues of a sexist institution and the cause for people who identify with the opposite sex and are androgynous in gender.

It's beautifully narrated by the Akthar, who does well not to only point out the lead protagonists obstacles but his sisters as well so as to mirror the issues and also use them to understand the other. I love that opening montage of each children dressed in the uniform of the career they aspire to be in, Akthar uses his actors who physically it is hard to judge in some cases which sex they are off and also does well to point out the different aspirations of each child beyond their gender.

Sequentially well layered, the tale unravels from their on in a great pace from pointing out the child's plight on the football field to his simple perceptions of dance and the female form and characteristics. That final dance sequence is lyrical in the way it flows, and it's all thanks to a director that you know believes in the message she is evoking.   

I also love the scene in the theater when the child first sees Sheila play out. Like with 'Star' it highlights both the bad and the good, as an item song it shows how a general adult populace witnesses it hollering like wild ravenous wolves presenting the negative image that item songs connote. Yet the child in question who could be corrupted by such images in a normal circumstance is saved by it, and his pure eye sees this as the path through his subdued dreams. It's beautiful and really makes you miss your own innocence frankly.

Once again the performances are vital in creating all these scenes with great atmosphere, since they are short films. Ranvir Shorey is great in making you hate him, even if you could understand his side you just cannot like him as a man or a father. The sister (sorry don't know the actors name) also does well. Katrina Kaif was a disappointment, she's not by any means a good actor and she doesn't give off the inspiring vibe but if seen from the child's perspective (hard to do) she is something else as a character.

Which makes me come to Naman Jain, the child artist is a marvel. He emotes, expresses and above else boldly takes up this role and with it transforms into the protagonist and transcends the film. Over everything, it's great that he is a terrific dancer. The scene where the protagonist dances to their hearts content, is felt much more because of his effort.

The music in that case also boosts everything. Sheila Ki Jawaani heightens the feeling that the child feels, the same can be said for his own dance sequences.

Finally the film ends with Anurag Kashyap's Murabba, in the cinematic theme quite important but a bit sluggish in pace and basically as mentioned one that really affect the whole film altogether. It's not the best of the bunch, a surprise coming from someone like Kashyap yet it's also not that bad therefore just elevating the rest and showing how great the film is.

Murabba is about filmy fans and the sort of extent they would go to, to get a glimpse of their stars. Vijay's father is dying and he believes that to lengthen his life, Vijay must head too Mumbai and meet his fathers favorite superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Feeding the man half a piece of Murabba (sweet) and bringing it back for his father, to lengthen his life. This is the same thing that Vijay's father once did for his father, when he took honey for Vijay's grandfathers favorite superstar Dilip Kumar.

Vijay struggles and for days waits outside of Bachchan's house, eventually his insistence pays off and he meets the star and gives him the Murabba. On the train home he boasts of his accomplishment, and a malicious man throws the glass holding the Murabba down subsequently squashing it in the process.

Vijay replaces the bitten Murabba and jar with a new one, his father catching him because back in the day he had done the same with his father and the Honey. Life coming back full circle.

The message her is a bit contrived, and Kashyap do well to full acknowledge the depth of it from a cinematic standpoint. You can see that he is trying to point out that fandom over chasing /obsessing on stars is hollow and pointless. He doesn't do well though to highlight it, and rebukes it at the same time as a great learning experience for Vijay that doesn't work like it did for the other three directors.

Still in spades the film is great, that comedic touch that Kashyap refined through the years is better than ever here. The ending especially while highly predictable is delivered with hilarious uproar. But it also does kind off negate the whole character struggle and basically can be considered a waste of our time.

This is where Vineet Kumar Singh comes in, for a bland and subtle actor he surprisingly keeps you hooked on his journey. So I guess I shouldn't call him bland then. His scene with Amitabh Bachchan is a highlight.

While I feel not allowing Vijay to meet Bachchan would have given Kashyap's fan against star message off better. Seeing Bachchan on screen was fun. To me and bear with me on this, Vineet goes beyond holding his own against the star and it might be because in real life the youngster is a fan of the man (after all who wouldn't be). IMO, he might not have the same charisma as Bachchan but Vineet has the better acting prowess beyond the same area of origin and look to be an actor if not star of Amitabh's caliber if given the opportunity. This is a high compliment for the talented actor.

The music is great, as always Kashyap has an ear for tunes. Here Murabba the title track plays well.

Overall each of the director brings a great flavor to the film that is special, different and spectacular. I was bowled over by Karan Johar, as usual enjoyed Banerjee's work (my favorite director of all time), mesmerized by Zoya's piece and enjoyed Kashyap's effort. The positioning could have been better, and that final song with all the stars no matter how lavish actually felt tacky and stupid. Also I wish they could have made it more related to films in a way, or not billed it as an ode to 100 years of cinema because the messages themselves were great beyond films. Unless the point was that how films leave you with great messages. 

7. D-Day

Director: Nikhil Advani

Cast: Irrfan Khan as Wali Khan, Arjun Rampal as Captain Rudra Pratap Singh, Huma Qureshi as Zoya Rehman, Shruti Hassan as Suraiya, Rishi Kapoor as Iqbal Seth AKA Goldman, Aakahs Dahiya as Aslam, Chandan Roy Sanyal as Goldman's Nephew with Nassar as Chief of RAW Ashwini Rao and KK Raina as Gen. Razzak

Genre: Espionage Thriller/Action

Best Scene: The opening capture of Goldman and the final twist sacrifice that Wali undertakes

Best Performance: Rishi Kapoor as Iqbal Seth AKA Goldman

Best Dialogue: 'Mera sapna hai, ke me use iss mulkh se kich ke leke jau aur Hindustan ke logo ke hawale kaardu'-Wali, on capturing Goldman ('My dream is to drag him out of this country and give him to the people of India')

Pros:-An exciting and dramatic narrative and structure with a slick framing device

          -Some great dialogue especially for Goldman's intriguing character

          -A supremely complex and dynamic lead protagonist in Wali

          -Goldman's character is partially based on Dawood Ibrahim, the character is efficiently humanized in bits but is also presented as a very enigmatic and threatening villain 

          -The other two lead characters are given good back story to develop from

          -Advani steps away from his comfort zone and directs a superb film, he utilizes his prior experiences in romantic films very well

          -Camera shots and the style make the film feel very realistic and gritty 

          -Performances are superb all round especially from Irrfan and Rishi Kapoor. Rampal has scintillating chemistry with Hassan. Qureshi, Nassar and the supporting cast is spectacular

          -The background score is used at perfect points, the soundtrack is superb

Cons:-Rudra's character arc is very typical where as Huma's character doesn't get much to do

           -Advani uses no subtlety in presenting his films message and by the climax he produces it in an annoying in your face manner

Score: 9.0/10 (Story-9.1, Direction-8.9, Performances-9.4, Background score/soundtrack-8.7)

Favorite Rank: #5

Like with Karan Johar in Bombay Talkies, D-Day is an example of a mediocre director coming out of his comfort zone and doing something that proves to be a much more superior effort than anything else he's done before.

D-Day is an espionage thriller based on real events and inspired by Zero Dark Thirty. It is the story of four spies sent undercover to capture know terrorist and gangster Goldman (based on Dawood Ibrahim). The film begins to Goldman's sons wedding and goes into flashback.

Narrated by RAW agent Wali Khan, who has been undercover for nine years in Pakistan to spy on Goldman. His mission has long been abandoned by his superiors, and he himself wallows in daily life as a barber. He harbors the dream to capture Goldman and drag him off to India for justice, yet he knows it will destroy the lei he has created all these years in the form of his wife and child.

Nine days before Goldman's sons wedding, after much urging from Wali; about to retire RAW leader Aswini Rao sends a team to Wali to finally capture Goldman after his hand in the Hyderabad bombings and urged by America's killing of Osama on Pakistani soil. Among them is a car thief Aslam, explosives expert Zoya and silent mercenary Captain Rudra Pratap Singh.

These four create an elaborate plan to take out Goldman at his son's wedding, which he had been banned from by the ISI. They botch the plan and now with Goldman and Pakistan aware of their existence, the four must race against time, against their own country and Pakistan to bring Goldman to justice. In a game filled with political machinations and a brewing war between two countries, how will these four survive? And will Wali ever be fulfill the mission he has struggled for the past nine years? And what will it cost all of them?

First of I would like to point out how great it is to see D-Day have Irrfan Khan. When I first read the directors name and the cast involved, I was apprehensive. Forget the fact that Nikhil Advani hasn't made a good film in a decade, or seems tailored for a thriller with his directorial sensibilities and limitations. 

So when I read Irrfan Khan's name not only did I think this would be at least a good movie, but I got worried that once again Khan would be straddled with a supporting role in a commercially viable film with the slick and tough Rampal as the leading man. Yes, Rampal is the tough dude and maybe the movie heavily focuses on the enigmatic and chilling but yet deserving Rishi Kapoor. Yet when it comes down to it, it's Irrfan Khan's Wali that is the poignantly portrayed heart and soul of the feature.

The screenplay in it's slower moments is a wider exploration of these characters and their struggle in the most darkest of moments, Wali is a man with broken dreams that created that dreaded burden of failure he carries. He is also a husband and a father of a broken home in a way no one can see because no matter how happy, it's built on a lie. 

Adhvani and his other writers craft this character with a great sense of detail and in him give the humanity that the fast paced film would have lacked. Entry to his world in an indirect way opens up the other three protagonists, specifically Rudra. Rudra in a way is a stock character yet one that requires heavy development, he's the typical serious tough guy with a skewed attitude and simmering rage. He of course typically falls in love with the Prostitute (with the golden heart) at the Brothel he hides out in, and this slowly turns him into a more human figure by the end of the film.

Zoya, the explosive experts is shown to be coming from a deteriorating marriage because of the line of work she is in. It's miniscule but understandable development for the run time. Aslam isn't explored much beyond the point of his stressing and worrying once the going gets tough.

The real picture is of course Iqbal AKA Goldman. He is obviously based off an older version Dawood Ibrahim, a rarity in Hindi cinema. He obviously isn't as filmy or flamboyant as other version portrayed on celluloid. But Goldman does have a taste for the fine things in life, is somewhat stylish since he did wallow in the pleasures of filmy company.

Yet Advani beyond that to explore the depth in the man. It reminds me of Oliver Hirschbiegel's Der Untergang (Downfall),where the director explored the last days of Adolf Hitler's life and in turn sort off highlighted the own misery and guilt the man felt. Obviously Advani doesn't have time to go that deep, but we witness a greater understanding of Goldman's own concept of what he did preventing him from ever truly being safe. Of course you cannot pity any of the two.  

Advani though with genius, keeps Goldman's reasoning at time for his actions shallow and also uses the technical aspect of the film well in making the audience question whether this man is the devil or just truly believes and grieves his actions. The whole ambiguity of the situation is just perfect.

With the age factor in question, the Ibrahim like Goldman here seems to have toned down and is complacent of his position. He is also sly and cunning more than ever, and in a way far chilling than in his dread aspiring youth.

In the film he is after all the cause for much of the issues that befall Wali and the team whether directly or indirectly.

Beyond the characters, the film is structured superbly. Each scene crafted with great precision. That opening bust into Goldman's sons wedding and his kidnapping is written well and executed much better. In the action scenes it’s the pacing of the action and the dialogues that work well in helping the film fare better.

The flashback framing device is worked in well, as it also uses the typical espionage film element of noting day and time of Operation Goldman

More importantly the technical team is left to carry the load of this work. As a whole package the film looks slick while being gritty and realistic. The cinematography really works well in this sense in capturing Karachi, lighting is used to effect specifically in some great scenes with Goldman that sort of metaphorically allude to his darker being while using the highlights of his red shades to tint the idea of the amount of blood on his hands. Another scene(s) would be the interactions between Rudra and the prostitute he falls in love with; Suraiya. There scenes of course are shot in a dark and dank room, yet the cinematography does well juxtapose this against the point that in this darkness the two found light with each other. 

Action are choreographed with finesse yet they also have that realistic vibe to it in the way it's executed and how the camera uses shaking motion.

As both a director and writer it was great to see Nikhil Advani efficiently execute a film right out of his comfort zone, yet his experiences in delving in romantic dramas allowed him to craft the two love stories (both Wali and Rudra's) with understanding. Smaller scenes just scream the emotions and tragedy that the characters face, whether it be Wali remembering the times with his family or a particularly passionate yet painful scene of Suraiya washing off the blood on Rudra's hands and body. Specially there's the scene of Rudra walking through the decimated Brothel and imaging the actions that just happened a moment ago, where Goldman's nephew beat and raped Suraiya in order to extract information on Rudra. The light and camera work along with Rampal's own performance, dignifies the situation and the characters haunted, broken and emotionally vulnerable mood.

I wish though that Advani hadn't tacked on the films message in the final. It is not only clunk-ily narrated by Rudra, but also is a bit heavy handed.  

Which brings me to the performances. In their small roles, Shriswara as Wali's wife Nafisa and Hassan as Suraiya are good. Hassan especially has sensational chemistry with Rampal really elevating his typical arc.

The film is littered with some great supporting cast beyond that, specifically the underappreciated Chandan Roy Sanyal who is equally funny and scary to watch. His scene where he brutalizes Suraiya is performed with immense intensity and the actor sinking into character presenting a sickening glee and unnerving the viewer. Nassar as usual is dependable with a great smaller sub-plot/arc relating to the political front of the fight between India and Pakistan to get Goldman.

Huma Qureshi is great in her shorter role, she presents her characters toughness and struggle with her husband much better and beyond the written word. Arjun Rampal is efficient and portrays that suits to his strengths. He pulls of most off the action with aplomb.

Irrfan Khan is who you watch though, his character is the point that binds the whole film and grounds it. He is emotionally explosive and presents the conflicts of this stretched man from all sides with effective  body language and delivery. 

But it's Rishi Kapoor who steals every frame he is in. He is bone chilling and fearsome to watch, yet at the same time he is able to give the character a veil of realism in the way he tries to manipulate Wali yet comes off as a weak coward as well. Kapoor is a damn sight for the sore eyes, and brilliantly rises the tempo of the feature especially when it gets a bit to slow and heavy.  Playing his third villainous character in his career in just a space of a year, he has mastered the art with brilliance.

The songs are well placed and specifically flow with the scene their depicted in, the score itself is rousing and works well with both mood and tone of the film.

Overall is a technical brilliance, it's fast and powerful in its emotional aspect and its action. Nikhil Advani above else proves that he is terrific director when he writes a film that has a deep understanding off important concepts and issues. It's a film on a largely commercial sense that gives Irrfan Khan not only a meaty role but one that leads the film. Rishi Kapoor as I've said time and again in the past few years, has easily become one of my favorite performers on screen. 

6. Madras Cafe

Director: Shoojit Sircar

Cast: John Abraham as Major Vikram Singh, Nargis Fakhri as Jaya Sahni, Rashi Khanna as Ruby Singh, Siddhartha Basu as Robin Dutt with Ajay Rathnam as Anna Bhaskaran and Prakash Belawadi as Bala

Genre: Espionage Thriller/Political Thriller

Best Scene: The action sequence on the beach where the arms land. In all honesty I cannot remember the dramatic moments as well as I can the action

Best Performance: One of those unnamed supporting actors...or the director

Best Dialogue: '...they know your next move, much before you even implement it.'-Jaya, warning Vikram the kind of games played in this world

Pros: -A taut espionage thriller that entertains yet firmly establishes the realities of the plots social and political issues

           -The film is tightly scripted, and focuses well on an effective part of the Sri-Lankan Civil War on India

           -It sub textually and ambiguously alludes to a larger conspiracy, explaining it well enough without over complicating it like Agent Vinod did

           -The narrative develops a great stance between the political sides, it presents grey shades on all fronts without being particularly biased...

           -Vikram's character is intricately layered and weaved with relatable motivations and emotions

           -The little amount of female characters are neither bogged down, in a way Jaya is given her own sort of complexity

           -The films pacing throughout is brilliant

           -Sircar and his team develop the elements of realism and grit to the genre of espionage thriller very well and like never before seen in Hindi Cinema, it helps make the deeper themes and issues resonate

           -The camera work compliments this as well. Wider and cinematic shots establish the gorgeous locales around the world hopping narrative especially the Emerald Island while deeper camera angles really present the grime of Sircar's established vision of the plot setting

           -Abraham carries himself well in every aspect of his character whether it be determined, intense, haunted and broken, His body language and expressions have never been better

           -The understated class supporting cast does superbly as well

           -Some of the background score, especially in the more poignant moments of the film really elevate the emotions well

Cons: -…even then it is unable to balance the bias of the situation, at times the film will move from pro-Indian to anti-system. From the on set it can be mistaken as a Pro-Tamilian film without hinting on the Tigers own atrocities committed until it blows out into an Anti-Tamilian (Tigers that is) picture

           -Exposition in dialogue and before credit information is a bit too repetitive          

           -Fakhri neither deserves the semi-complicated character she plays, and neither boasts a confident performance in the film. She is stiff and has no detail to her expressions or dialogue delivery

           -Abraham doesn't shoulder the heavy plot material well though, he seems an odd fit for the narrative style and falters at points especially with his flashback exposition delivery in the beginning 

           -The background score during the thrill moments of the film doesn't always highlight the intensity that it should

Score: 9.1/10 (Story-9.4, Direction-9.7, Performances-8.5, Background score/soundtrack-8.7)

Favorite Rank: #17

An account of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination during India's involvement in the Sri-Lankan Civil War. The film is a hard hitting espionage thriller, which is the story of and narrated by Major Vikram Singh. Assigned by RAW to go undercover in Jaffna, after Indian armed forces are strained to retreat. Vikram along with his team is on a mission to disrupt the LTF rebels in Sri-Lanka. Trapped in the muck of espionage and politics, Vikram must fight to save his life and complete his mission. All this leading up to his discovery leading to the infamous assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

I've admitted it before and I'll admit it again; I'm not into politics and I don't understand it much. A such this film with heavily political themes and subtext at one level was hard to comprehend.

On the surface it's a powerfully evoked gritty thriller that looks into a very important aspect of Indian and even Sri-Lankan history. The writers really work in the political situation at hand and the social issues plaguing Sri-Lanka and it's effects on Indian politics with great detail. Sometimes it unfortunately does this through dialogue, as a critic this is a problem but for someone who isn't into such a film it made me understand the deeper subtext better.

There are no loose threads or plot holes which is terrific. The film easily and intricately delves into a large conspiracy at work and paints the world with a realistic grey view where each side is neither fully right nor wrong and at times is out for its own self even India. Yet the bias of the script remains because it incoherently jumps its positivity of each side between separated acts. For a moments the Tamilians are people fighting for their rights and then obviously turning them as villains for the climax. Simply put, it's a film of grays divided in typical whites and blacks. Thank god that the conspiracy idea is drenched in a real situation such that it isn't allowed to blow up on itself like the idea did with Agent Vinod last year.

Character wise, the writers try and do good give them some dimension. The framing device has Vikram narrating this story and he is shown to be a very honorable and determined individual. As an army man, the writing creates a dichotomy between his discipline and the largely uncertain and ethically questionable world of espionage.

The main female character, a reporter called Jaya who threatens to expose a wider conspiracy is also developed for a part well. She is willing to tough it out  to get the information she needs, yet it's not only because it's just a news story but because the world at large deserves to know dirty game being played under the surface of a war that is eating into Lanka.

Technically the film is a marvel. The editing is crisp and it really crafts a terrific and perfect to each note pace for the story. Shoojit Sircar masterfully capture the realities of the world and presents it in provocative visual context. His cinematographer compliments this with wider shots hiding the murkier detail in Lanka's beauty and small shots outlining vague figures while also congesting everything providing a tense atmosphere.

Off the performances, the supporting cast is stellar cause it's chock full of some fine thespians. Abraham himself as a performer improves and shows shades of skills he never had before, but when it comes to the material at hand it is too much for him too bear. The initial scene of his retelling the story too a father is rendered inorganic because of his uninspired delivery. No matter how much he puts in, with such detailed writing and nuanced direction; he falters.

Nargi Fakhri fares worse, she isn't an actor at all and as such is undeserving of the role she portrays. Plastic, expressionless and incompetent in every which way.

The background score works in well into the sadder moments of the film specially when Vikram loses his wife. In the thriller element, it doesn't match the tempo of the narrative.

Overall Madras Café is a very complicated film to understand, but one that is rich in the knowledge it provides. A technically sound feature and another example of Shoojit Sircar's mastery over content he is given and bringing it visually on screen.  

5. Kai Po Che!

Director: Abhishek Kapoor

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput as Ishaan Bhatt/Ish, Rajkumar Rao as Govind Patel, Amit Sadh asOmkar Shastri/Omi, Amrita Puri as Vidya Bhatt with Digvijay Deshmukh as Ali and Manav Kaul as Bittoo Mama

Genre: Drama/Sports

Best Scene: The Earthquake scene as a desperate Govind (Raj Kumar Yadav) races to check on his new store at the mall, his expressions show the despair as he witnesses his dreams of success crumble under the weight of mother nature.

Best Performance: All three leads

Best Dialogue: 'Yahi hai life Govi! Tere note ki khusboo se lakh guuna behtar.'-Ishant ('This is life Govind! A thousand times better than the stench of your money') 

'Yaha aane keliye mere note hi lagte hai'-Govind ('It's my money that makes it possible for us to afford to come here')

'Ssshhh...tere siko ki chaan chaan se meri hawa ki kimat kam nahi horahi'-Ishaan ('Ssshhhh...the grating sound of your coins will never match the value of this beutiful nature')

Pros: -Stellar performance from the main cast especially it's three leads
         -Some thrilling scene by scene, faithful adaptations of 'Three Mistakes of My Life'
         -Change in title also lifts perspective from Govind (Raj Kumar Yadav) onto all three male leads, providing a well rounded movie
         -A realistic approach and look at the early 2000's Gujarat earthquake and Godhra massacre and riots.
         -Beautiful background score and soundtrack. Tapping into Gujarati folk tunes to produce soothing music.
         -Dynamic camera work shows a majestic side of Gujarat especially the villages at the outskirts of a gritty but dazzling Ahmedabad.

Cons: -The final scene is unfaithful to the book and it does not resolve certain issues.
          - The story at the middle seems slightly bogged down due to a few necessary political scenes.

Score: 9.2/10 (Story-9.0, Direction-9.2, Performances-9.1, Background score/soundtrack-9.3)

Favorite Rank: #1

I extensively delve into Kai Po Che; here.

But between then and now, a lot has changed. I watched few more times and surprisingly enjoyed it that much more. So it mean that I really liked this film and it might be subjective to say; it is just that much better than I first thought it was (as you can see by comparing the scores).

You want to know story of the film…check my previous blog post on it. (Yay, more views)

So what was new that I can take from the film.

I found out that a lot of people think Chetan Bhagat's writing is juvenile. I get where they're coming from, but his 'fast food' style of writing is entertaining to read. The analysis of his work though, made me appreciate Abhishek Kapoor's contributions. Though I do maintain that the film is tighter because he himself didn't script it, what works is that Bhagat's style adapted and altered by the write director works well as a film script.

I cannot really explain why it just got better, the scores just go slightly up with the pros and cons being the same. I guess I just appreciated the film that much more, but maybe I'm biased since it's my favorite Hindi flick from last year. (Note: My overall favorite films of last year being Pacific Rim and In A World…).

I did also find some major negatives more prominent, such as the tacked on ending. It left the film unresolved, and not even in a smart Indie way rather just there.

The framing device was a neat idea, cause it gave insight into how far changed the both Omi and Govind are from the appearances of the initial scene.

Which brings me to the major aspect that constantly bowls me over and improves each time in viewing.

Amit Sadh.

 Neither was he touted as the stellar acting talent like Rajkumar Rao (formerly Yadav) but he also wasn't seen as charismatic like Sushant Rajput. Basically to me, the actor went underappreciated among the lead trio.

I still hold to fact that each of the three gave the best performance and while initially I might have been sliding in favor of Rao while keeping in mind the overshadowing presence of Sushant, In some place in my mind I truly know and feel that Sadh was the best.

He just wrenches your heart and soul away with his eyes. They simple transform from loyal goofiness to determined vengeance fueled rage and finally breaking point guilt. He saves the tacked on finale, gives breadth to the slightly rushed climax and foreshadows and produces from within him the major conflict at the heart of the film. What's so special is that beyond using his whole body, he just emotes all of this with his eyes.

Not to step on Sushant or Rajkumar's toes, those two are equally as great in their areas. But Sadh resonates that much more to me because he is the dark horse of the team, and because in the same year Sushant gave a much lovelier performance in Shuddh Desi Romance while I'll talk about the amazing Rajkumar Rao later on this list.

Manav Kaul would have made a much superior villain if he had been given the time, even he himself gets that much better for me to be able to say that. Amrita Puri won me over, faster than before.

The music is of course stellar as ever, and I've come to love it more than before.

Overall as I've said Kai Po Che is a favorite of mine. Hopefully I've at least partially looked at it without any bias, but I'm sure it deserves a lot of the praise I'm showering it with. 

4. B.A. Pass

Director: Ajay Bahl

Cast: Shadab Kamal as Mukesh, Shilpa Shukla as Sarika, Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Johnny, Vijay Kaushik as Phupaa Ji, Anula Navlekar as Choti, Raveena Sharma as Sonu with Rajesh Sharma as Khanna and Deepti Naval

Genre: Neo-Noir

Best Scene: When Mukesh finally goes wild and ends up murdering Sarika after realizes Johnny's betrayal

Best Performance: Shadab Kamal as Mukesh and Shilpa Shukla as Sarika

Best Dialogue: 'Mukesh, jaldi BA pura karel phir saab tere haat me hai'-Aunty, a dialogue that I find funny because you know some idiotic relatives who think it's easy to finish your education and that too accordint to your time. A BA finishes at a set time, Mukesh cannot do anything about how fast he completes it. 

Pros:-From the onset the script establishes a stirring mood and tone of a neo noir film with both the grey shades and garish neon colors in the background, the city plays a vital part in proceedings without overbearing on the script

          -Dialogue establishes a sense of continuity and depth regarding the developing plot points of the scripts

          -Both Mukesh and Sarika are such complex and intricately written characters. The progression of Mukesh is charted perfectly

          -The sexual scenes depicted between Sarika and Mukesh are not only passionate but underlined with a subtextual despair and foreshadowing for the protagonist. There's also a darker comedic vibe to it

          -Editing is so smooth that the film runs without really disengaging the viewer from proceedings

          -Bahl crafts the climax such that it's a thrilling ride

          -Kamal executes the shift between childlike innocence into darker descent and finally a broken man so effortlessly. His body language and expressions are constant indication of his characters development through the picture. 

          -Shukla plays her characters aspects with an ease and steel cool confidence

          -Deepti Naval sparkles in a cameo with a chock full of great supporting turns

          -Background score is used sparingly, thus when it is it truthfully heightens the emotions. Natural background sound creates a seamless and connected flow of the narrative

         

Cons:-The film isn't really for the weak hearted, it's not only bold but constantly melancholy and partially despair filled. Not an easy watch

           -Bahl's need to titillate in the prostitution montage sequence jars with the deeper character development of the screenplay. The two points run parallel and make a very clunky scene

Score: 9.4/10 (Story-9.6, Direction-9.2, Performances-9.7, Background score/soundtrack-8.9)

Favorite Rank: #6

Ajay Bahl's BA Pass is a dark and harrowing experience adapted from Mohan Sikka' short story 'The Railway Aunty'. Mukesh just recently lost his parents, he has just finished his final high school year and is set to begin his BA. His sisters unfortunately are sent to a home, while he lives with his greedy and cheap aunt and uncle. He works the houses odd jobs, pays living money and above else is treated with disrespect.

One fine day Mukesh meets Sarika, one of the aunties and friends of his aunt as well as his Uncle's boss's wife. On the pretense of needing some help, Sarika gets his aunt to make him help her. Here he seduced into a sexual confrontation which turns into something much more darker. Mukesh desperate to earn money is coaxed by Sarika to become a protitute and is pimped out by her. On occasion she teaches him to explore himself sexually. Now Mukesh mist navigate this world and try to get out of it before he falls deeper into the abyss.

A stellar neo-noir drama, the script from the onset establishes the character of Mukesh and his dank situation that will result in him compromising his life. Strangled by the burdens of responsibility, the character is developed with a tight hand and insightful complexity. Each beat in his life is given vast importance and charts a perfect character arc, this is writing at its best.

His tormenting experience going from his parents death to Sarika showering love in a way he misjudges and to his sexual manipulation finally to a disturbing scene where the writer points out (without being overt) that he has been raped. Finally all coming crashing down when his rage blows over as he kills Sarika and commits suicide. Everything just exemplifies the young man's pitiful downfall giving a vastly likable character in a hated situation. This is also a negative aspect, as there is no single ray of hope and the film is simply despair and dread.

Sarika is the much more exciting character in this case, she is bold, brazen, ravenous, arrogant and malevolent among many other things. A type of creature that sucks the soul right out off Mukesh, she is as evil as they come in a realistically tracked film. Yet she isn't a trope of any kind and like the grey moods of the film, she is grey without the writer exploring her positives. Which makes the character that much alluring and Mukesh's pull towards her justifiable.

The mood and tone is kept proper Neo-Noir both on paper and screen. The garish neon lights and the much more darker color palette works in the somber mood and the disgusting sexier secrets the film hides. As a city, Delhi works itself well into the plot with an array of nooks and crannies showing the narrow compromising positions people can get into. Dirt all round reflecting onto the dirty and murky characters off the world.

A nice juxtapose was between the much more likable people who do wrong things like Johnny (although he does steal Mukesh's money at the end) and the other male prostitute who Mukesh meets when he is bereft of money and disenchanted by Sarika and then the classier people. Like Sarika who lives in high society but is nothing more than a pimp, Mukesh's two face aunt who treats him badly and is cheap as well as Sarika's husband, a man who occassionally sexually abuses his wife to prove his masculinity.

It's the motif of 'things that happen behind the closed doors' that is well worked in, in this case where people are not what they seem. It really settles the theme of noir that is missing from the main plot of the film.    

Sarika and Mukesh obviously work well in a tandem. As a director, Bahl visually depicts their sexual tension in a slow burning and for Mukesh a slow learning form. At the beginning their unnervingly hilarious and then smolder with passion that is hard to liken too because of how forshadows and relates to Mukesh's plight. It all goes to a head in a montage sequence where he is prostituted to multiple women.

These scenes while necessary seem as if Bahl was trying to titillate his audience, it looks like he's trying to come across as if he is pointing out the hypocrisies of his viewers enjoying this but Bahl doesn't execute this one properly.

For all its drama and headiness, the film is edited so perfectly that your never aware when the time flies by and the film is at its end point apart from of course the actions of the climax.

The performances especially in focus to the leads are sublime. The supporting cast is great, Deepti Naval plays something I wouldn't have expected of her and I dreaded a scene with her and Mukesh because she has such a wonderful image as an actor. Now I can understand what Sharukh Khan fans go through, when he experiments in a role (not Chennai Express is not an experiment but just a piece of poo!). Rajesh Sharma is great and actually has some odd funny moments when he busts and once agains busts his wife, though his scene of abusing her is a bit too much too watch.

Shilpa Shukla is superb when she's playing a morally ambiguous character, here she gets to delve deeper into her villainous side. She is sensual without being elegant while sexy without being vulgar. Most importantly she is malicious as hell and makes you cheer in a despair filled film when she is killed, just because of how much she makes you hate her.

Shadab Kamil is something else entirely and as great as her, if not better. Watch him carefully and you will notice changes in the way he carries himself and delivers his lines between major plot points in Mukesh's character arc. Those changes are visible yet the transformation is effectively smooth. The final scene allows him to go off the rocks and he expresses this vividly, hopefully somebody gives him maniacal villain's role.

The background score I cannot particularly remember nor do I have any memory of an instance where sound was powerful apart from the sex scenes between Sarika and Mukesh.

Overall this isn't a film for the weak hearted, I watched it once and I doubt I'll watch it again. Surprisingly I did find it enjoyable (and honestly not for 'those' reasons) but because of how great the character arc was defined. One of the best and underappreciated of the year. 

3. Lootera

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha as Pakhi Roy Chaudary, Ranveer Singh as Varun Srivastav/Atmanand Tripathi/Nandu, Barun Chanda as Zamindar, Vikrant Massey as Devdas, Arik Zakaria as AK Bajpai with Adil Hussain as Inspector K N Singh and Divya Dutta as Shama

Genre: Romantic/Period

Best Scene: When you see what Varun has been up too on the tree and his final gift to Pakhi; her life

Best Performance: Sonashi Sinha as Pakhi Roy Chaudary

Best Dialogue: 'Beta Devdas, ek din me masterpiece banaunga'-Varun, and he did ('My friend, Devdas, one day I will paint a masterpiece')

Pros:-The writers develop a splendid and heartfelt romantic story from O Henry's short story 'The Last Leaf'

          -Scene by scene interactions between the lead characters are written with great narrative depth and engaging dialogue

          -Pakhi's character is written with a full dimension; she is independent, fearless and conflicted as well as intelligent. Her character has multitudes of complexity

          -The Lootera's character is also a layered character with profound development through the film

          -Vikram utilizes small montages to great effect, he really works some vital slow scenes such that they last in memory but do not linger in pace

          -The cinematography is stunning where as both the production and set design understand and apply the period setting properly

          -All round performances are great, Sinha shows a dimension of acting never before seen in her; she is brilliant. Ranveer steals the show, his range of expressions and body language convey the character perfectly

          -The background score is mesmerizing and the music is soothing

Cons:-The script tends to lag in portions and Vikram as mentioned above comes its rescue

Score: 9.4/10 (Story-8.9, Direction-9.8, Performances-9.2, Background score/soundtrack-9.7)

Favorite Rank: #2

I've already mentioned how Lootera was unfortunately snubbed by Bollywood this year.

I will mention that Vikramaditya Motwane is possibly the best director you will see today in Hindi cinema.

I know that his previous film Udaan beyond my 100 favorite Bollywood list could easily fit into my top ten favorite films of all time. Lootera is much better and in terms of favorites, not far behind.

A loose adaptation of O. Henry's short story 'The Last Leaf'. Set in Bengal in 1953, it sees the titular Lootera (thief) Varun Shrivastav enter the life of aspiring writer and zamindar's (aristocrat's) daughter Pakhi and turn it around forever. For both of them it is an undying, unwavering love but Varun's past catches up to him. In the guise of an architect he has come to rob the aristocrat off his riches and the two fall deeper in love but he forcefully leaves Pakhi heartbroken.

She is terminally ill and lives off the rest of her life in Dalhousie. Informed by Inspector Singh that Varun may come to pull off a robbery in the area, she is asked for her help which she refuses. When his job goes wrong, he forcibly hides at her place.

Pakhi doesn't turn him over but hates him for what he is doing to her, he tries in vain to comfort her and learns that she believes she will die once the last leaf on a tree outside her window will fall. He decides to leave, but comes back to take care of her and slowly win her over. As with O Henry's short, in this Varun paints a leaf and ties it to the tree every night, he finally face the police and is shot dead while Pakhi sees that as promised Varun has painted his own masterpiece.

From script to direction  to music and performances, Lootera is basically poetry in motion. At the heart of it is a soulful and old world styled romance. In this day and age it isn't easy creating an out and out beautiful romance without it easily becoming melodramatic and outdated (even last year a veteran of the genre like Yash Chopra was unable to succeed with Jab Tak Hai Jaan).   

The romance between the two characters, their falling out and beyond that everything else is written in a lyrical form. As mentioned its styled with the grandiose of an old world far beyond our reach. Even then the characters have such a complex contemporary yet not out of place feel to them that their interaction just lighten up the screen, sure the film script is off a very immaculate pace. But this just lets you revel in the sensory beauty of the world that the director creates.

Varun and Pakhi's first major attraction is so wonderfully punctuated by their silence and her stares at him that you already feel that romance coming through. Down to it, their scenes together just flesh out the characters so perfectly. An example would be when Pakhi wants Varun tot each her painting, only that he doesn't know when he botches up a leaf and she subsequently teaches him instead. He points out that one day he will make a masterpiece, and as it turns out it would be a leaf. A leaf that would save Pakhi's life.

It's predictable in the way it adapts O Henry's story. What rather writers Motwane and Iyer do well is that they use the basis of the simple story to create their own masterpiece.

Apart from the fact that his scene shows Varun's aspirations as a symbolic way of him trying to find freedom from the life of lie he is living. He also develops into a better person through the film as he does a painter. In the second half  he goes through turmoil that unfortunately writers didn't explore, he mistakenly murders his friend when they're being chased and hides out in Pakhi's home.

For himself here he finds the freedom he longed for trapped within the house, he sees that he must do right by Pakhi and that god has given him a second opportunity. He fixes her life and brings back hope in it, by the end leaving her again but this time reviving the Pakhi once lost and paying the price for his action happily. His life for hers, a conventional romantic plot point written and executed in an unconventional manner.

For Pakhi she may seem partially like a MPDG. But she is more than what you get, she is feisty, spirited and for the time and age bold and independent. A really great female character, she loves with no care for the world and its where she loses. By the second half she has become reclusive and deservingly cold like the atmosphere around her.  A will too live is as immense as her need to die and be freed from the physical and mental pain she has endured. A shell of her former self, Pakhi doesn't easily let Varun in once again but rediscovers herself in the process. Her arc is that of the Phoenix, who rises once again from the ashes and soars free.

All this once again poetically produced on screen.

Motwane is a genius man. From small things such as montages to pace the film better to giving the film a flowing feel yet creating a visually connected world and narrative, Motawane just firmly grasps the whole film and steers it in the right direction. The fact that he wasn't even nominated for any directorial award or his contribution was acknowledged heavily shows how ignorant the Hindi film industry is. Had to repeat this because it's sad world when someone doesn't get the due acknowledgment  they deserve.

Watch the making of the film and you will see the effort he puts into create a stimulating magnum opus. Beyond that the cinematography captures the beauty of Bengal and its old world flavor in all its glory. Production and costume design does a terrific job to adapt the period feel of the film. The editing is crisp and produces the poetic flow I've been speaking about.

And those song sequences. The whole soundtrack is so romantic and vivid, yet the way they are shot is that much better. It seeps the audience into the intimacy shared between Varun and Pakhi.

Above all else Motwane extracts two career defining performances from his actors, no mean feat from the director and his stars. The supporting cast is brilliant from Adil Hussain to Divya Dutta and beyond. But your eyes are fixtated on the couple.

Singh plays against type as Varun. Unlike his previous characters and real life personality, Varun is silent and reserved. Ranveer shows a level of maturity and improvement between a year of a film that you wont have seen in any other actor, this is a young man who has began to understand his craft and control his skill with admirable competence.

But the true beating heart is Sonakshi Sinha. After being an irrelevant part of blockbuster after blockbuster and being waved off as nothing but dressing, she proves everyone wrong. Her Pakhi is written with great detail and pictured delightfully but it is Sonakshi who breathes her to life. Her eyes express the mischievousness of the girl and steal your heart, in the second half they go beyond the physical and show you the mentally deteriorating and soulfully broken lover underneath.

When she made her debut in Dabbang, there was a song written specifically on her eyes. Back then you could see that for how her eyes were beautiful, but now you can see that from an acting standpoint as holding true to capturing our attention. In one fell sweep she breaks the record by improving far much more as a performer than Ranveer has himself from this film.

Overall Lootera is as I've said easy to describe; Poetry In Motion. It failed at the box office, hasn't got any awards but it will be remembered for a long time to come because it's just that wonderful.

2. Shahid

Director: Hansal Mehta

Cast: Rajkumar Rao as Shahid Azmi, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub as Arif Azmi, Prableen Sandhu as Mariam, Tigmanshu Dhulia as Maqbool Menon, Vipin Sharma with KK Menon as War Saab and Prabal Panjabi as Omar Sheikh

Genre: Biopic/Courtroom Drama

Best Scene: When an opposite lawyer dredges up Shahid's past regarding TADA in court, he goes off into an overblown rage that makes him seem guilty when he really wasn't

Best Performance: Rajkumar Rao as Shahid Azmi

Best Dialogue: 'If you want to change the system, be a part of it'-War Saab, teaching Shahid a very important lesson in his life

Pros:-The films narrative moves at a brilliant pace

          -The writers craft important scenes in ways the viewer has to also use his own knowledge, there is no spoon-feeding of information making the film much more engaging for an intelligent viewer

          -Characters are well fleshed out especially that of Shahid Azmi, the protagonist is not shown in an excessively good light but is made realistic

          -The films dramatization of the truth is handled in a matter of realism rather than excessive melodrama

          -Mehta constructs certain character scenes in such a way including actor postures and camera angles, that the viewer feels the emotion truly

          -Both the subtle but effective finale and the message after it create a deeply saddening impact, the message and truth of the film is laid bare perfectly

          -Raj Kumar gives a bold and mesmerizing performance, and is bolstered by a brilliant supporting cast

         

Cons:-Certain camera tricks such as dipping to black, shaky cam and depth of field are used over excessively

           -The film wont grasp audiences looking for entertainment

Score: 9.5/10 (Story-9.8, Direction-9.4, Performances-9.8, Background score/soundtrack-9.1)

Favorite Rank: #11

While Bhaag Milkha Bhaag got all the love last year, there was another biopic that was far superior and had one of the most stirring portrayals by a leading man you'll ever see. Shahid depicts the story of slain human rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmi. A man who went to prison under the TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act) unfairly and learned a lot in his experience especially the importance of fighting the system within the system. The story details in a fast pace his life and more importantly his fight for the justice of those wrongfully convicted in the attacks of 26/11 to the point of his assassination.

As mentioned Shahid is briskly paced, the opening sequence shows his death off camera and moves to flashback where it establishes his look into the injustices faced by his community early on and his misguided attempt to become a terrorist and escape from their camp. It then sees him unjustly sent off to prison and tortured and brutalized. He early one gets on with the wrong crowd but the is saved War Saab, who makes him realize and gets him taught to become a lawyer to fight and prevent for other people what he personally went through. It then moves to his time as a lawyer, courting of his wife Mariam and the struggles with his family as well as the outside world for justice. The meat being in the courtroom drama where his fight for justice threatens to shake him apart.

To put it simply this is a thought provoking, unbiased and unapologetic attempt to look at the vital aspects of the life of man who was unfairly taken from the world.

Even then the writers build a densely layered narrative without any single plot point being unnecessary or distracting, on top of that they prevent each path to the final for Azmi being spelled out. The viewer is justifiably and excitingly pulled into the picture by having to carefully understand everything good or bad that Azmi goes through.

At the center of this is Azmi. A man who Mehta paints in a positive light yet also doesn't shy away from the mistakes he makes especially his initial impulse to run off and try becoming a terrorist. He explores the concept of this man's family breaking apart because of his good quality of being brave, even other relations are explored parallel to him with detail. Specifically his elder brother Arif who we see at times pay and struggle due to Shahid's own naïve mistakes, from running up and down to the station to paying for Shahid's education and being left hanging when he needs monetary help but Shahid is too busy trying to establish his own family. In a way he is the man outside of Shahid's fight that tries in vain to ground him.

At the end of the day it's still all about Shahid, who is at the gist of it an honorable man. The courtroom drama are the best especially when Shahid's darker past is alluded to and the character is baited to express his guilty (yet not guilty) rage. The dialogue here works in an expressive form without ever being too dramatic or loud. It's essentially the backbone of the script.

The courtroom where Hansal Mehta comes in, he directs this and the whole film with a wider lens of reality and does justice to his material. You can see that Mehta truly admires Shahid Azmi and the work he tried to and did accomplish.  He crafts scenes in such a visually appealing way that the emotions truly come out.

The best example being when a naked Azmi is being tortured in jail, the lighting and the performance he gets from his leading man couple with the way his angled the shot really makes you embody the pain Azmi felt without diluting Azmi's struggle. The final death scene is the same, as it is kept in a moody lighting and the use of the score and camera work brings out that sense of foreboding. The idea to show the death off screen is also profound.

Sometimes however these things get a bit too much. The film is well edited after all it's just around two hours but there are too many scenes of cut to black or blurring of the visuals from the lens, it comes off amateurish more than artistic.

Off the performances, leading man Rajkumar Rao is supported by a terrific cast. Cameos by the likes of KK Menon and Tigmanshu Dhulia really elevate the films enjoyment factor. Prabal Panjabi after being seen in a comedic turn in Mere Dad Ki Maruti changes it up surprisingly as a terrifying and calculating terrorist who tries to befriend Shahid in prison.

Outside of it Prabhleen Sandhu is great as Shahid's worried and easily distanced wife. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub gets great scope to provide a learning curve as Arif for Shahid, he expresses with an impact especially when he highlights how selfish Shahid is being towards his own family.

As with any biopic, it's the title character that is…well, the title character. There's no denying the immense talent Rajkumar Rao has. With Shahid he gets to explore dimensions to his acting specifically delivering dialogue with a gutso. He gets a well deserved leading role where he simply goes deep into the skin of the character and becomes Shahid Azmi. It's a bold performance that is one of the best of the year. His intensity well exudes the harboring rage of not only one man but of a community who has faced the injustices of a broken system with confounded people. 

The background score in the silent moments just helps highlight the tense atmosphere in situations. In his darkest moment the tunes make Shahid dispel the notion of there being true justice and in the slower times they bring him back from the abyss.  Music can be even judged just by the way it is used in silences and Shahid is an exemplary illustration of that.

Overall Hansal Mehta's Shahid is a hard hitting portrayal of a very dark truth in the country, it is honest and brave about what it tries to convey and above all humanizes a man at one point unjustifiably considered inhuman. Like with Shahid fighting for the justice of those who could not, Hansal Mehta makes a heartfelt honest portrayal of a man who was unfairly never able to tell his story. A must watch, and a tie for the best film of the year with a rousing and brazen showing by the young Rajkumar Rao.  

1. The Lunchbox

Director: Ritesh Batra

Cast: Irrfan Khan as Saajan Fernandez, Nimrat Kaur as Ila, Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Shaikh with Bharti Achrekar as Mrs. Deshpande and Lillete Dubey as Ila's Mother

Genre: Romantic

Best Scene: The final ambiguos shot of Saajan on a train heading to finally meet Ila, he is congested among singing dabawallas while parallel to him Ila contemplates leaving the country. A poetic and fitting end to the film leaving the viewer thinking. At the cinema though, the people in front of me were visibly surprised and dissapointed. IDIOTS!

Best Performance: Nimrat Kaur as Ila 

Best Dialouge: 'Thank you to banta hai na'-Ila, when she receives a tin she sent with a note for the first time to Saajan who only acknowledges how salty her food was. 

Pros:-A superb cinematic experience

          -The concept for the narrative may seem odd but is fairly intriguing

          -Characters are well fleshed out and get some interesting developments to explore, the two main characters are presented in a way that makes their odd situation realistic and plausible

          -The dialogue as well as camera angles and framing add a stunning layer of subtlety to the film

          -The romantic angle between the two characters is explored in a unique and sweet yet balanced way. There is also a great use of spirited and laid back comedy

          -Some really great all round cinematography

          -A slew of powerhouse performances from the lead duo and their supporting cast with some exceptional chemistry and interactions

          -The background score is a clear winner, marvelously effective use of sound and brilliant editing in the same

          -The film ends in a very unpredictable way

Cons:-The ending may not please many an audience and to some will feel left dangling

Score: 9.5/10 (Story-9.2, Direction-9.6, Performances-9.6, Background score/soundtrack-9.4)

Favorite Rank: #3

If you ask anyone remotely aware of great cinema in Bollywood, they will most likely tell you that the best film of the year was The Lunchbox. Like with Lootera, this film is a visual experience worth taking and teases your taste buds in just the right way.

I've only watched it once, yet I vividly most of the important aspects of the story and scenes that mesmerized me. The greatest thing about such a deep and meaningful film like this is that it's also really enjoyable and easy to follow.

Saajan Fernandez is a widowed man, who has been toiling at his job for the better part of his life. He has a mechanical routine that involves him working on his desk only taking a break to eat lunch delivered to him by a Tiffin service through the famous Mumbai 'Dabbawallas' ('lunchbox deliverers').

Then once such day everything changes, he sniffs and checks the contents of his Lunchbox and he knows as well as you know something is different. The food has actually been mistakenly sent by Ila, who toiled in the kitchen to make this for her cold and distant husband. She is trying to prove the old adage 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach' right, and is flustered by the mistake caused when Saajan sends home the tiffin licked clean.

When the two discover the confusion, they build a relationship around the lunch box through delivered notes. In their most depressing times and among a world that has move on they find love in the most unlikeliest situations.

This is a cliché thing to say, but you'll not find a more endearing romantic film from last year then The Lunchbox; it's funny, poignant and above all ends in an ambiguous yet feel good way.

At its heart the script has a very quirky concept, yet one that evokes such terrific emotions thanks to how entrenched it is in a simpler more beautiful time. The idea of notes being exchanged and the apprehension yet expressiveness the characters show is wonderful to watch unravel.

The script is artistic in the sense it let's cinema be cinema, by visually speaking rather than through dialogue. The opening scene is just the example of that when Ila hands the tiffin in a green and white bag to the Dabbawala.

We distinctively follow it through the very detailed system of delivery as it moves from place to place, to reach its destination. (Mind you, even for the film this is not as realistic since rarely do the Dabbawalas ever make a mistake so don't question their efficiency through this film).

Then we meet Saajan, no dialogue nothing. We see routine unfold and the tiffin plops onto his table. He opens it without hesitation as part of his daily life. But you know something's a miss when the man begins to sniff it with suspicion. He tastes the food, it's different than usual, it's a reprieve from his dull and from there he is bound by Ila's magical touch.

We later see him head off to meet the lunch delivery service, and compliments them on their cooking to their own surprise. We see behind them a shelf full of green tiffin covers and you are aware of the plot point without having to be told about it. Pure genius.

Other scenes that come to mind are of course when the two talk to each other through the notes. Ila reiterates the story of her upstairs neighbor (who we hear but never see) whose ill husband believed his life was stuck within their fan. Such that the neighbor would never switch it off and keep it clean as well. It resonates because we feel Saajan's own feeling through the words as he looks up at the fan in the canteen.

Another scene would be when Ila sniffs her husbands shirt while washing it, see sense a hint of a females perfume. It's emotionally powerful just because how writer/director Ritesh Batra is restrained in every aspect. Ila is sans makeup and in fact doesn't have her shawl on her dress covering her properly. It plays her vulnerability into focus, she has felt her husband moving away but here she finally comes to the realization that all is but lost.

I could talk more. Like when background music soothingly plays as Saajan reads Ila's writing, and how it vanishes as quickly when his replacement to be Sheikh interrupts him. Or when Saajan reiterates the story of how he notices this painter painting the same scene on the street every time, only to finally realize that each painting depicts each day and learn the lesson of living life for each new experience. Or when he is nervous on his desk as he read the story of a woman and child who commited suicide (after learning off Ila's own depression about her husbands cheating) while in the backdrop everyone else's tiffin is delivered but not his. Scenes of where Ila listens to a song on the radio and the same song is sung tunelessly by child beggars on the train Saajan travels from, just showing how deeply connected they are and the same emotions they feel together. Trips of nostalgia through Saajan's own past, written on letters a thing itself of a world long gone.

From small scene to big, every part of Batra's film conveys something much deeper than we know and something visually powerful. Above all else as writer and director, Batra pulls this off by straddling the line of terrific subtlety neither making it contrived or pretentious.

Characters with deeply rich back stories to the use of minimal dialogue and camera work that explores the moments between the two worlds the protagonists occupy as well as the bubble they create for themselves, all of this is explore in the most brilliant cinematic fashion.

The Lunchbox far too much for me to alone comprehend. In all honesty, I just don't have the words to express how sensational this film was. 

Off the performances.

Bharati Achrekar is Ila's neighbour. Her voice is so distinct and great that it helps considering she is only heard.

 Nawazuddin Siddiqui is in a supporting role as Sheikh. He is set to replace Saajan once he retires, and is constantly bugging him to teach him the ways of the job. He brings much needed levity to proceedings at times being a thorn in Saajan's side yet not annoying enough to hate. This because Siddiqui has built up a great charming screen presence and shows that he has the chops and range to be immensely funny.

Irrfan Khan is obviously whom the film revolves around, justifiably so as he gives you that feel of a man unable to let go of his past and to constrained by his routines. It's also lovely to see the way his face lights up every time he reads Ila's letters, he brings out that genuine sense of love. Watch him specifically in the scene where he hides from Ila (who he had promised to meet), the way he looks at her you get a gist of his love but also the touch of sadness when he notices that she if far too young to be tied down by his own depressing life but that she also needs to be free from her own. Although that last scene where he realizes his mistake and feverishly tries to get back to her before she leaves India (which he doesn't know she's contemplating) is perfectly essayed especially when it cuts to black on Khan.

It is Nimrat Kaur however who steals the show, that is no mean feat when considering the two men she is up against. She is lovable whenever cooking, her expressions emoting her delight and aspirations to win over her husband and later her budding romance with Saajan. At the core of it, she ties the film neatly presenting a very mature performance and understanding of her dynamic character. Shee peels the layers of her character with effectiveness and portrays the nervousness, vulnerability and even the inner conflict with sublime ease. This is an actor to watch out for, who sadly didn't get the awards she deserved this year.

I've already mentioned how the background score is effectively employed. It ranges to mirror the emotions of it's two characters, breaks the difference between their romance and the reality of the world and ends the film on a high note as Saajan sits among a train full of Dabbawallas (yes I know, how poetic) singing a folk tune.

Overall this is a wonderful experience not to be missed, I'm thankful that I was in India so I got to watch this on celluloid. It is by far the best film of the year, and I'm not sure if it deserved to go to The Oscars but who cares…

…the important thing is that Hindi Cinema is in an exciting phase where hopefully content might just triumph over everything else. 

So that's the top ten. Agree? Disagree? Comment below, but don't dare tell me something like Grand Masti should have been on this list cause I will fucking kill you...I swear!

Anyways, hopefully 2014 is good as last year if not better.

'Nuff Said

Aneesh Raikundalia