Before
the film awards calendar takes off in our country, come lists by film critics
of their choice of Best Films from the year gone by. This is mine. Keep in mind
that this is a compilation of best Indian films released in 2015 from among
those I watched; it covers fiction features in all languages, not
documentaries.
Feel
free to disagree – civilly, of course. After all, IMHO – as we say in this age
of acronyms – the whole point of watching films is the fun of arguing over them
with friends afterwards.
Here
you go then: my list of Best Indian Films 2015.
BEST FILM:
Winner:
Ottaal (The Trap)
/ Malayalam
If Alfonso Cuaron
had decided to set Gravity in Kerala’s
backwaters, Ottaal is what it might
have been.
Veteran director
Jayaraj’s film revolves around a bright-eyed little boy called Kuttapaayi, his
relationship with his grandfather who is a duck keeper, and their bond with
nature. It is the sort of film that can overwhelm you with its awareness of the
immensity of Creation, a reminder of the little dots that we are – tiny yet significant – when
seen in the context of the expanse of the universe. It is about innocence lost
and exploited, a child cruelly plucked out of his placid surroundings to be
chucked into the country’s labour force, as an allegory for the havoc humans
wreak on the natural scheme of things.
Kuttanad is so
scenic that an amateur could point a cellphone camera in any direction and
capture loveliness, but cinematographer M.J. Radhakrishnan takes this handy
beauty to another level altogether through his lens, delivering poetry in
motion and stillness on screen. The unspoilt, untouched feel of the film is
further enhanced by the effortlessness of the non-actors playing the leads, Ashanth K Sha as Kuttapaayi
and Kumarakom Vasudevan (a fisherman in real life) as the old man.
Ottaal is derived from the 19th century
Russian short story Vanka by Anton
Chekhov. The film is so rooted in its surroundings, that few viewers would have
figured out the foreign literary source if the filmmaker had not credited it.
The acknowledgement is a reminder though that its rootedness is accompanied by
a certain indefinable timelessness and placelessness that lends itself well to
this universal theme.
After all, every age has had its enemies of innocence and harmony.
Chekhov found them 130 years ago in a shoemaker’s establishment in Moscow.
Jayaraj found his in the 21st century, stealing from the wetlands of
Kuttanad. Beautiful.
(For a related article by the
author, click here)
First Runner-Up:
Court / Marathi with Hindi, English, Gujarati
Court is debutant writer-director
Chaitanya Tamhane’s slap in the face of India’s judicial processes, layered
with insights about caste, class and gender.
A sewage worker in Mumbai dies
and instead of investigating the terrible work conditions that led to his end,
the government cries suicide, charging an inconvenient Dalit activist-singer
with performing an inflammatory song that allegedly incited the poor man to
take his own life. The bizarre yet believable story is augmented by an
excellent cast and unobtrusive, supremely confident direction.
Imagine an Indian lower court
being transposed to a non-sensational, non-gossipy Bigg Boss house where
cameras stay switched on for 24 hours to record the proceedings – that is how incredibly realistic Court
is. Tragic, thoughtful, touching.
(For the author’s original
review of Court, click here)
Second Runner-Up:
Kaaka Muttai / Tamil
A deceptively
simple film about a couple of slum children in Chennai, M. Manikandan’s Kaaka Muttai is as sad as it is
curiously uplifting. The pivotal characters – as lovable as two little humans can get – nickname
themselves Chinna Kaaka Muttai (Crow’s Egg Jr) and Periya Kaaka Muttai (Crow’s
Egg Sr) after their unusual eating habits that see them stealing from birds’
nests. When a swish pizza outlet opens up right next to their slum, they begin
craving those slices of cheese-laden promise that they have seen in television
advertisements.
Their food quest
sets off a chain of events that casts a spotlight on the horrendous class
divides in our megapolises where hovels abut high-rise prosperity, luxe malls,
homes and eateries, where the welfare of the poor is a mere tool in the hands
of a city’s power-brokers.
Iyshwarya Rajesh is
impeccable as the boys’ composed, hard-working mother. The little ones themselves, J.
Vignesh and V. Ramesh, are cute as buttons and good actors to boot.
Kaaka Muttai is one of the sweetest, most charming commentaries
on poverty, hypocrisy, self-respect and the human spirit that you will ever
see.
Third Runner-Up:
Dum Laga Ke Haisha / Hindi
A reductive description of Dum Laga Ke
Haisha could be this: a good-looking boy, forced to marry a fat
girl, mistreats her because he is repelled by her weight and his own inability
to withstand family pressure. But being reductive would go against the very
essence of writer-director Sharat Katariya’s marvelously uncommon film, which
refuses to limit its heroine to her physicality. Sure, she is the antithesis of
the stick figures that crowd today’s cinema and catwalks, but she is also a
brand ambassador for resilience, education, aspirations and a sense of
self-worth. Yes, her husband’s response to her proportions is a pivotal point of the film, but neither she nor the director’s gaze defines her by it.
Adding to the entertainment
quotient of Dum Laga Ke… is its
tribute to the music and dance of 1990s Hindi cinema, especially through the
hero’s love for Kumar Sanu. In this context, the choreography in the final song
is particularly enjoyable, as is actor Ayushmann Khurrana’s ability to
transport us back two decades through his moves.
Debutant Bhumi Pednekar as the
central character and Ayushmann as her under-confident spouse, shine despite
being surrounded by a cast of very strong supporting actors. Their
performances, like the film’s narrative, are pitch perfect.
(For the author’s original
review of Dum Laga Ke Haisha, click here)
THE CONTENDERS:
5: Talvar / Hindi
This fictionalised
account of the Aarushi Talwar-Hemraj murder case, almost-documentary-like in
its storytelling style, is chilling in its take on how the system could consume
ordinary citizens to cover up its mistakes. Meghna Gulzar’s direction partnered
by auteur Vishal Bhardwaj’s flawless writing throws new light on a double
killing that rocked this nation in 2008.
There is a
commendable matter-of-factness to the Rashomon-style
narrative, which offers multiple accounts of the crime and its investigation,
variously portraying the parents as guilty or innocent of the murders. The
detached tone is sustained throughout, barring a few moments in a strand that
holds the parents guilty, in which Neeraj Kabi indulges in some seemingly
deliberate, farcical acting when he, as Aarushi’s father, discovers her body.
That being said,
there is no doubt about who the film sides with and where it stands. Some
people see this as a lack of objectivity. Since when did objectivity come to
mean not having an opinion?
Talvar offers the sort of unrelenting, meticulous
scrutiny given to the case by the few responsible journalists who covered it
noiselessly in the midst of the cacophony unleashed by the rest of the media.
It is a film about the gaping gulf between co-existing social classes, about
the inherent problems in India’s criminal justice system and about news
professionals gone berserk.
The stellar cast is
led by Irrfan Khan who is, in a word, brilliant.
6: Pathemari /
Malayalam
When he is at his
best, Mammooty has the ability to reach into our weeping bosoms, tear out our
hearts and rip them to tiny, tiny shreds. This is precisely what he does in Pathemari.
Director Salim
Ahamed’s emotionally gripping film has the veteran playing Pallickal Narayanan, a man who spends
50 years of his life slaving away at menial jobs in Dubai to make life better
for his family back home. The kudumbam
does not know his struggles and for the most part, remains indifferent to his
suffering.
As much as this is
a film about immigrants, it is also about how patriarchy saps men of so much in
its bid to dominate social power structures, to retain power and wealth in male
hands. The film begs the question more people ought to ask: Why, oh why, do men
fight so hard to preserve a back-breaking, potentially life-destroying system
where they are the primary breadwinners of a family and women the care-givers?
Though it wouldn’t
have hurt the story to reduce the halo around Narayanan’s head just a tad bit,
so much can be forgiven considering the emotional heft Ahamed achieves in this
film. My heart broke for Pallickal Narayanan when I watched Pathemari. It aches now each time I
think of him. What more can you ask of a film?
(For a related article by the
author, click here)
7: Drishyam /
Hindi and Papanasam / Tamil
When Malayalam
director Jeethu Joseph made the Mohanlal-Meena-starrer Drishyam in 2013 (considered by many to be an uncredited adaptation
of the Japanese novel The Devotion of
Suspect X), it seemed unlikely that anyone would better it. And then
someone did. Twice in 2015. One of those someones is Jeethu himself.
Director Nishikant
Kamat’s Drishyam improves upon the
lovely original with a casting touch here and an acting moment there, in what
is a legit Hindi remake of the Malayalam film. This is the story of two
socially divergent worlds colliding, a crime of self-defence and an absolute
genius of a cover-up. The architect of the whitewash is a small businessman in
rural Goa (Ajay Devgn) who is out to protect his wife (Shriya Saran) and
daughters from a police investigation.
The differences
between the Malayalam and Hindi versions are barely discernible yet unmistakable.
The wife here is portrayed as a stronger woman. As the film rolls along, she
progresses from being a mere participant to the man’s partner in his plan.
There is more liberalism too in their traditional household and their
conversations with each other. Besides, the reduced age difference between the
lead actors here automatically makes her appear more like his equal than his
ward.
This Drishyam is, without a doubt, one of the
best thrillers ever to emerge from the Hindi film industry.
Papanasam is Jeethu Joseph’s own Tamil remake of his
Malayalam film. Starring
veterans Kamal Haasan and Gautami – both superb – it released just weeks before the Hindi film. Although it is more faithful to the
original’s conservatism than the Hindi film,
the one element that puts it on an equal footing with the Bollywood
interpretation is the central casting.
Unlike his
contemporary Mohanlal, Kamal here is not acting with a woman who looks and is
young enough to be his daughter. The generational proximity between him and
Gautami makes theirs automatically come across as more of a partnership than
the senior-junior dynamic between the leads in Malayalam, even though both
stories feature conformist patriarchal set-ups.
The lead couple’s
raging libido too gets an unspoken new dimension in the Tamil film because of
the casting. Rarely are stars of Kamal’s seniority shown lusting after wives
played by actresses their age. Equally rare are actresses in their 40s
portraying women who are openly sexually active. The 14 years that separate
Kamal and Gautami is not a small difference, but it is still a refreshing
change from the two- and three-decade age gaps between him or his male peers
and actresses they romance in commercial Indian cinema.
This unexpected progressiveness
is somewhat marred by the completely needless couple of references to rape –
however passing they may be – in Papanasam.
It is a good thing that those distasteful few seconds whiz by towards the
beginning of the film, before Papanasam
settles down into being what it is meant to be: a socially perceptive,
edge-of-the-seat suspense saga. That it could hold the attention of even a
critic who had already seen two versions of the same story on screen, is a
measure of its extreme effectiveness.
(For the author’s original
review of the Hindi Drishyam, click here)
8: NH10 / Hindi
A brave, gritty thriller
cum social exposition that marked actress Anushka Sharma’s debut as producer.
Set in the part of Haryana that is just adjacent to Delhi’s posh suburban
sibling Gurgaon, NH10 is a
terrifyingly revelatory film.
There are worlds
within worlds in this country, and just off the arterial National Highway No.
10 is a world where a professional woman in non-traditional clothing zipping
past in an SUV with a husband she chose for herself is no less than an alien
from outer space. It is this misogynistic space that Meera accidentally enters one day in Navdeep Singh’s
tautly directed, breath-stoppingly told NH10.
The outstanding
satellite cast is headlined by Darshan Kumaar whose second screen outing here
shows him up to be a remarkably versatile talent. His first was as Priyanka
Chopra’s low-key, supportive husband in 2014’s Mary Kom.
Anushka is a worthy
fulcrum, inhabiting her character with a vengeance that her more bubbly roles
have not necessarily allowed. Explosive and memorable.
(For the author’s original
review of NH10, click here)
9: Piku / Hindi
An entrepreneur
with a short temper, her father who is obsessed with his bowels and his beti, and an exasperated cab company
owner – this odd trio forms the focus of the very unusual Piku. It is a risky film that pays off.
How often do we see
a mainstream film anywhere in the world filled with poop humour that is
ridiculous but not yucky, distasteful or immature? This
is director Shoojit Sircar’s latest team-up with writer Juhi Chaturvedi. In Vicky Donor they pulled off an
unexpectedly sensitive film about a sperm donor in which, as storytellers, they
knew precisely what not to say to avoid being icky. This time they roll out a
ream of potty jokes that do not diminish Piku’s
gentle heart, its progressive, feminist core or
its courage to speak up about a hugely taboo topic in this country, selfish
parents.
Amitabh Bachchan is
delicious as an affectionate stereotype of Bengalis, not a contemptuous
caricature. Deepika Padukone as the titular heroine is her usual easy self
before the camera. And Irrfan should now be anointed The Other King Khan.
Seriously. At least
in the Hindi film awards scenario, it might be safe to permanently reserve a
slot for him on annual nominations lists. That Piku, without warning, serves up crackling yet comfortable
chemistry between him and Deepika is a testament to their talent as much as the
intelligent writing.
I did long for some
moments of quietude between the father and daughter in the film, but
compensation for that grouse comes in the form of the many mellow conversations
between the girl and Irrfan’s character.
One of the nice
things about Shoojit is the manner in which he has generously ensured that Juhi
has been equally celebrated for the successes of Vicky Donor and Piku.
Theirs is a writer-director match made in heaven. Inshallah, for the sake of good cinema, may they work together
repeatedly in future.
(For the author’s original
review of Piku, click here)
10: Killa /
Marathi
This has been a good year for
films on children. What makes Ottaal,
Kaaka Muttai and Killa stand out is that they are not condescending towards the little ones at the centre of their stories and they do not thrive on precociousness.
Killa is about a boy struggling with
the loss of a much-loved father and the simultaneous pain of moving to a new
town. It is a lyrical, slow-moving, ruminative film filled with moments of
deep, deep affection and empathy between Chinmay, played by young Archit
Deodhar, and his gutsy mother (Amruta Subhash).
The fine acting is complemented
by Avinash Arun’s lovingly composed frames. This is Avinash’s first film as
director, although he already has an impressive CV as a cinematographer that
includes Nishikant Kamat’s Drishyam (No. 6 on this list) and the much-lauded Masaan that is not on this list only
because 2015 has been such a wonderful time for quality Indian cinema that
there has been a rush of films to choose from. Killa – written by the director’s FTII junior Tushar Paranjape – is
one of the little gemstones in the year’s accumulated wealth.
This
article has also been published on Firstpost:
Photographs
courtesy:
(2)
Still from Court:
Parull Gossain Associates
