Best Motion Picture
Comedy/Musical/Romantic
As I've mentioned
before, the non-drama section [I'm calling it such, because it's harder to
constantly type comedy/romantic/musical, of course realizing the futility of
explaining the whole thing in a lengthy bracket] hasn't been the top dog this
year and we will have to see what this entails for our Best Pic nominees.
Anywho TM.
After a Screenplay
win, Kapoor and Sons is at the top of its game with 3 wins and 9 nominations
barring Best Picture. It's other two wins being from Leading Male Actor and
Supporting Female Actor.
As for the other two
acting awards, they go to Nil Battey Sanata thus giving it 2 wins from 6
nominations.
3 nominations yet 0
wins marks the run of Dear Zindagi. Dhanak is also haunted with 0 wins from 3
nominations and Jugni scores one higher with 4 nominations but again 0 wins.
This trio might not have big wins but remember it is always the nomination that
counts.
A collectively good
film always trumps a film with just one or two great aspects. Filmmaking at the
end is about a wonderful but unified piece of art.
As for films that
failed to leave their mark altogether, there weren't many but the few that did
do get a mention without of course mentioning details, let's just see what lost
out in rankings [PS They are not many]
6. Tere Bin Laden:
Dead or Alive
7. Happy Bhag Jayegi
Well then, now onto
the nominees...
Hiroo Johar, Apoorva
Mehta and Karan Johar for Kapoor and Sons [Fox STAR Studios]
How
Dharma has changed.
Once
their films were about tight knit families highlighting the importance of
family and loving your parents, in the most grandiose manner.
Here you
have warring parents, warring siblings, disenchanted families struggling to
make ends meet while a plumber haplessly watches on fixing the pipes.
Three
secrets, three wonderfully structured arguments and a whole lot of drama in
between is what makes Kapoor and Sons both the funniest and most profound
dysfunctional family film that begins with an attack and a reunion and ends
with death and reconciliation.
It is
this measured approach and an experiential understanding of family dynamics
that makes Shakun Batra's dysfunctional family film just as much an indictment
on the structure as well as celebration of loving loved ones. It truly is about
understanding and even loving your parents, but mostly understanding them and
them you.
With some
intutive character work comes breezy comedy and romance that also finds its
heart in two characters that could have been one note, yet both supporting
players and the performers in Rishi Kapoor and Alia Bhatt find way to enhance
the picture.
At the
centre is this family of four and the explored dynamics have interesting twist
and turns I still wish would have been worked wonderfully at the end with the
potential in hand, but even then Kapoor and Sons turns out something
entertaining as well as profound.
Hats off
of course to Ratna Pathak Shah and Fawad Khan as well as the ensemble cast, you
cannot get enough of them.
Gauri Khan, R
Balki and Karan Johar for Dear Zindagi [Red Chillies Entertainment]
Opening
the gates on the conversation of depression and reminding you why women just
write better women.
After the
year saw a myriad of films with an agenda to exploit feminism to sell their
portrayals of its complex ideas to the world [including Gauri Shinde's own
husband absurdly sexist film Ki and Ka] it was refreshing to see a woman
honestly tackle the subject and prove one thing;
At the
end of the day, every film is in one form or another a commentary on the
cumulative appearance of the filmmaker behind it and in some form Dear Zindagi
could be no different.
Situating
at first Shah Rukh Khan as an omniscient voice of conscious with his charming
smile intact, Dear Zindagi becomes a breezy examination of a young working
woman facing depression in a society with a stigma of it.
Yet at
the end it is all about her, so this woman in question; Kaira, is strong,
resolute, insecure, self absorbed, spirited yet also very naive even though
mature. To sum it up she is a full fledged character like most and at the
centre of it is her rising conflict made engaging by the play by play that goes
on between Shinde's soft subtle yet spectacular sensibilities and Alia Bhatt's
intution to follow through with this vision.
It
creates sparks on screen and hopefully sees to that these two will become a
tandem to be recognized as filmmaker and muse. Proving for one of the most
cathartic experiences of the year!
Anand L Rai, Ajay
G Rai and Alan Mcalex for Nil Battey Sanata [EROS International]
Anand L
Rai's expansive understanding of milieu doesn't just add to his own films but
rather his decision to back films, this is what builds the foundation for Nil
to become an intriguing piece of art.
So we
open on Chanda's little cove, it's dusky and each crammed space and sensation
comes to life with wonder, the contrast with locations; the free spaces where
Apu and friend dawdle, the dreary daunting Math class, or the grand pristine
white locations where Chanda works or sees for her daughter each in turn add
little and little to the overall world of a film.
It's this
world that allows thus to become the foundation for Tiwari's characters and
especially protagonists situation against her hopes and desires and just not
for her, but her daughter. Thus making this an engaging underdog tale.
For such
a stirring dramatic yet also light narrative you need the write type of
underdog and Nil finds it in the affable Swara Bhaskar, with a wide eyed
innocence; Bhaskar portrays doltish and confused with sharpness, she has an
essence to her that isn't necessarily comedic but lends itself to levity and
she can heavy lift dramatic moments with the best of them yet never let them be
overwrought.
Bhaskar
along with her peripheral co-stars, a brash Riya Shukla and a deadpan Pankaj
Tripathi among others makes for the most feel good film of the year. She is the
lynchpin of the story and with Tiwari creates a piece and people worth rooting
for, a film worth celebrating cause just like Chanda it's the underdog picture
that managed to succeed this year.
An
absolute fairy tale.
Nagesh Kukunoor, Elahe
Hiptoola and Manish Mundra for Dhanak [PVR Pictures]
Speaking
of fairy tales, Dhanak is aptly titled Rainbow as the films colorful road of
twists and turns. An exciting high towards a tense low pays dividends with a
pot of gold at the end, feel good is the hit of this year and Dhanak with its
sweet portrayal of children's dreams is the epitome of this.
That pot
of gold also pays off to Nagesh Kukunoor, with the film sparking him back after
some unfortunate misfires. In Dhanak he finds the right tale, a film that is
sweet and is aware of its potential to not really deter the audience and make
it fear the outcome, but rather use this post modern knowledge in creating the
most unexpectedly enjoyable slice of life road journey.
At the
centre are two protagonists and the always omnipresent Shahrukh Khan, building
of the myth of celebrity idolism comes the true 'Fan' story which seeks to
build the notion of hope with ease yet also maturity thanks to it's two lead
characters and the young performers that add spice to it.
Under the
watchful veteran eye of Kukunoor, Hetal Gada and Krish Chabria give fine turns
that would put most performers to shame. They are the heart and soul of a film
full of love and sometimes that rainbow filled happiness is what the viewer
needs.
Thanks
for this one.
Shefali Bhushan, Manas
Malhotra and Karan Grover for Jugni [PVR Pictures]
The
relentless passion of music is what stirs the fire in the flies of Shefali
Bhushan's Jugni.
It is
thus after all that the films finest scene is Vibs and Mastana's duet rendition
of 'Haat Mulla'. As the two cozy up near a fire in an abandoned fort site, the
isolation from the world stirs the music within and reaches an intoxicating
high right to the precipice from where they make love.
It's this
passionate take that is then so smartly subverted into a mature and realistic
understanding of love, relationships and more importantly the difference of
worlds between the two characters.
The film
feels like an intimate expression of a profound episode in the filmmakers life,
so it takes some resolve for Bhushan to never really shy away from making Vibs
a flawed and at times even unlikeable protagonists.
This
methodological take, turns Jugni into a character study tethered by the
omnipresent world of music that is within and around everyone.
With her
efforts and more, not to mention the actors in charge especially a brightly
burning Siddhant Behl, make Jugni the little firefly that could. That in itself
deserves untold accolades and applause.
A rousing
lyrical piece of its own tune.
And the
Winner is...
Kapoor and Sons!!!
FOX Star Studios and Dharma secure this one, the former hasn't had the smoothest of rides in Hindi cinema and Kapoor and Sons is probably one of their biggest hits. For Kapoor and Sons, it's about redemption from reconciliation despite some massive flaws, the picture still comes together and has a great rewatch quality.
Up Next; The Big Daddy of the Big Daddies, who wins the Best Picture Drama and claims the spot as number 1 best Hindi film of 2016
'Nuff Said,
Aneesh Raikundalia
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