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My favourite Hindi film released in 2012 is not on
this list. That’s because it’s a documentary, and since there are so few of
those that come to our theatres, I thought it made sense to restrict this list
to fiction features alone. It’s crucial though to celebrate the fact that Faiza
Ahmad Khan’s heart-warming docu-feature Supermen of Malegaon actually managed to get a release in mainstream halls. The
breakthrough came courtesy PVR’s pioneering Director’s Rare initiative –
launched in late 2011 – for which no praise is too much. The release of SoM was just one among the many interesting
new developments in Indian cinema in the year gone by.
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2012 was a good year for Bollywood in particular … a
year in which the lines between mainstream and offbeat were further blurred
with films like Gangs of Wasseypur 1&2 and Vicky Donor; when the film industry’s assumptions about the box-office
prospects of heroine-centric projects were further challenged by Kahaani and even English Vinglish; when Paan
Singh Tomar ended up as an unexpected hit, hopefully sending a message to its
producers who kept it in the cans for too long after it was ready; a year in
which cash continued to flow into the industry’s coffers despite the challenges
facing the Indian economy. Yes, there are many bad films still being made,
sexism still prospers and there’s more clever strategy & PR involved in the
fabled “Rs 100 crore club” than film makers would like you to know, but there’s
also more good news than bad. Some of the good news is contained in this list of
the Best Hindi Films released in 2012:
My Best Film #1:
OMG Oh My God!
Gutsy as hell … that’s director Umesh Shukla’s OMG Oh My God! It’s the story of Kanjilal
Mehta (Paresh Rawal) who sues god when his antique shop is destroyed in an earthquake and his insurance claim
is rejected because earthquakes fall within the category of “act of god” as defined
in the policy’s fine print. Based on the Hindi play Kishen vs Kanhaiya and the Australian film The Man Who Sued God, OMG
combines gravitas with great humour to question the existence of god and slam the
commercialisation of religion in India. Rawal is gorgeous, as is Mithun Chakraborty
irreverently spoofing a famous real-life guru. Akshay Kumar – the film’s
surprise package – is charmingly under-stated, making you wonder why the star
short-changes his talent by largely confining himself to loud comedies. The
production values should have been better, but all is forgiven in the light of Team
OMG’s immense courage in a country where violence-prone
religious bodies are constantly on the prowl with “sentiments” ever ready to be
“hurt”. That the Censors cleared this film is a heartening sign of changing
times. That no bigot called for a ban is not merely a miracle; it’s also proof
that when a film’s PR managers want to avoid controversy, they usually can. Smoothly
written and smartly directed, OMG is a
quiet triumph for Indian cinema and society.
**** (For the original review of OMG Oh
My God! click here)
My Best Film #2:
Kahaani
Bollywood
rarely makes good thrillers... Bollywood is sexist... Bollywood’s idea of a
“woman-centric” project is rona-dhona
and hard-core social issues... All true. Now turn all this on its head, and you
get Kahaani. Directed impeccably by
Sujoy Ghosh with a story by Ghosh & Advaita Kala, the film takes us to Kolkata where the very very
pregnant Vidya Bagchi arrives, in search of her missing husband. Why does no
one remember Arnab Bagchi? The answer comes in an excellently executed climax,
but the beauty of Kahaani is that
there’s so much more to it than just the wonderful suspense. Every tiny
character has been so well-etched-out, every actor so well cast, every part so
well played, that you come away from the film remembering not just the three
leads - Vidya Balan’s spirited Ms Bagchi, the immensely cute Parambrata
Chattopadhyay’s kindly policeman Satyaki and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s hard-nosed Intelligence
official Khan. You also come away remembering the likes of Saswata Chatterjee
playing the spooky hitman Bob Biswas although he barely gets a few minutes of
screen time. Who would have thought that MCP Bollywood could give us a
strong-willed heroine in an advanced stage of pregnancy as a metaphor for
feminine resilience? Who would have thought MCP Bollywood could portray a woman
with a baby bump as an object of romantic desire? Team Kahaani tujhe salaam!
My Best Film #3:
English Vinglish
“Like two drops of coffee on a
cloud of milk…” Of all the words used over the years for Sridevi’s beautiful
eyes, none have been more apt than this description by a character in English Vinglish. This low-key film
marked the smashing comeback of the country’s most successful pan-India,
multi-lingual superstar, 15 years after she hung up her boots for marriage and
motherhood. Sridevi is flawless as the film’s Indian housewife who has for
years faced derision from her husband and daughter because she is not fluent in
English. The language divide is representative of much else. This is a gently
nuanced film about the need for respect in relationships, about how wives and
mothers get taken for granted by husbands and children, about how men tend to
believe their work is more significant than their spouse’s, about a woman
learning to respect herself without the need for affirmation from others. The under-stated
writing is complemented by Sridevi and the strong supporting cast that includes
Adil Hussain playing her husband and French actor Mehdi Nebbou who gets to paint
that memorable picture of her eyes. Debutant director Gauri Shinde – so
evidently not in awe of her awesome heroine
– is one of the big discoveries of 2012.
My Best Film #4:
Vicky Donor
Imagine a film about a sperm donor in the hands of
the Farrelly Brothers or Sajid Khan or Rohit Shetty! Oh dear! Now thank your
stars for director Shoojit Sircar. With Sircar at the helm, Vicky Donor ends up as an intelligent
satire on sperm donors, with a canvas covering infertility, adoption, mixed marriages, family and our
stress-ridden modern lives. VJ Ayushmann Khurana makes an assured debut as the titular
hero and his lady love is played by the pretty and talented model-actress Yami
Gautam. The two are blessed with a formidable supporting cast that includes
Annu Kapoor as the owner of a financially strapped infertility clinic and Kamlesh
Gill as Vicky’s remarkably liberal grandmother. Juhi Chaturvedi’s writing is at
the heart of this funny yet emotional film. Though the action revolves around
the hero, the highlight of the film is his strong bond with the three very strong
women in his life – mom, grandmom, wife – and the immense respect he has for
them. Thrown into the mix are some hilarious interactions between the hero’s
out-and-out Punjabi family and the heroine’s all-Bengali clan, good music and John
Abraham’s well-muscled bare chest in the Rum
rum rum rum rum song. The result: a pathbreaking, thought-provoking, highly
entertaining film. Vicky Donor marks
Abraham’s debut as a producer. Ah, a hot guy with a vision!
My Best Film #5:
Paan Singh Tomar
Based on the true story of an international-level
Indian athlete compelled by circumstances to become a dacoit, Paan Singh Tomar is the sort of film
that could make all Indians hang their heads in shame. Irrfan plays Tomar, an army
jawan with a bottomless pit for a stomach who takes to running for reasons
other than a love of sports. Tomar retires to manage home affairs but picks up
the gun when an apathetic establishment scoffs at his contribution to the
country and fails to protect his family. The actor gives the character an
irresistible raw charm in a way that only Irrfan can, but goes beyond even what
we’ve come to expect of him by rising up most remarkably to the physical
challenges of playing an athlete. His performance is complemented by Sandeep
Chowta’s disturbing background score
and cinematographer Aseem Mishra’s haunting no-frills take on the Chambal. Director
Tigmanshu Dhulia has had some experience in the genre since he was earlier
associated with Bandit Queen. Some of
the supporting characters in Paan Singh
Tomar could have been better fleshed out, and the denouement is not
entirely convincing, but Dhulia still deserves to be ranked as one of the most
multi-faceted, richest talents of the year gone by with his performance in Gangs of Wasseypur 1&2 and his
helmsmanship of this heart-breaking film.
***1/2
My
Best Film #6: Harud
This is a stark film that rises above the usual
partisan voices we hear speaking up for Kashmir. Aamir Bashir’s Harud (Autumn) is about an entire
generation of Kashmiri Muslims who have grown up without knowing what it is to
live alongside Kashmiri Pandits; it’s about the state after the exodus of its Hindus
driven away by militancy; it’s about the all-pervading presence of the Army and
mind-numbing tension in the lives of the Muslims left behind; it’s about the
everydayness of bunkers and guns in the state; it’s about how the gloom of the
Kashmiri autumn mirrors the seeming hopelessness of the situation the people face;
it’s about one family struggling to cope with a missing son and a father
descending into depression. The wonderful cast consists primarily of non-actors
and amateurs, many drawn from a workshop held in the state by Naseeruddin Shah.
They stand shoulder to shoulder with Iranian thespian Reza Naji (Children of Heaven) who plays a traffic policeman
driven to mental illness, as many people in the state have been in reality.
Debutant director Aamir Bashir is a confident
storyteller. His team-up with cinematographer Shanker Raman, production
designer Rakesh Yadav and sound designer Nakul Kamte gives us a Kashmir far
removed from the picture-postcard prettiness that Bollywood romances prefer.
Bashir’s Kashmir is grey, grim…and still gorgeous.
My
Best Film #7: Shanghai
Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai is about the maze of connections that nurture the
country’s corrupt political system. So Indian is the treatment of the story
that it’s hard to believe it’s based on the novel Z
by Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos which was made into the award-winning film
by Costa Gavras. Well it is, and Shanghai
is one of the many films of the past couple of years that comes as proof that
Bollywood is gradually moving away from its penchant for plagiarism; and is increasingly
legitimately purchasing the rights to adapt films and literary works that catch
its fancy. But that’s not the only cause for celebration that this film gives
us. There’s the fact that it’s darned good. Shanghai
is set in an Indian state where the ruling party has staked its future on an
International Business Park in the midst of protests against the resulting displacement
of the poor in the name of development. With the exception of the uni-tone Kalki
Koechlin playing a pro-poor activist, the rest of the cast deliver well on
their well-written roles. The pick of the lot is Emraan Hashmi (yes, Serial Kisser
Hashmi) in a career-best performance as a porn film cameraman whose friend
becomes collateral damage in a hidden political war. Shanghai takes its time to draw you in, but once that happens, it’s
hard not to be hooked.
My
Best Film #8: Chakravyuh
Director Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh is an indictment of the police-politician-industry nexus
that indirectly nurtures the country’s Maoist problem. The film stars Arjun
Rampal playing straight-as-an-arrow policeman Adil Khan, struggling to cope
with rebellious locals, a weak-willed senior, corrupt political bosses,
manipulative businessmen and a friend who has gone over to the other side.
Abhay Deol plays that friend Kabir, who initially infiltrates the Maoists as
Adil’s informant, but ends up so moved by the plight of the poor and their guardians,
so disillusioned by police atrocities, that he joins the movement. The
screenplay is not without its failings – we really did need to know more about
Adil and Kabir’s friendship before they became professional collaborators, and
the Maoists in the film are too one-dimensional to be compelling. But the pace
of the proceedings is so unrelenting, the machinations of the film’s netas and industrialists are so exhausting,
and the film’s amoral policemen are so coolly callous, that Adil’s frustrations
and helplessness are almost tangible. It’s also interesting that the hero has
an overtly Muslim name but the script does not make a song-and-dance about his
religion, which is unusual for Bollywood. After Raajneeti’s affectations and Aarakshan’s
sermonising, it’s a joy to have Jha back in the groove.
My
Best Film #9: Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1
Gangs
of Wasseypur 1 is the first of a 2-part film by
director Anurag Kashyap about an inter-family gang war in Dhanbad (today’s
Jharkhand). GoW 1 takes us to the
root of this battle, which is Sardar Khan’s hatred for mafioso Ramadhir Singh. The
blood-letting in the film is unending, as are the sexual appetites of these gangsters
who turn into simpering idiots in the presence of their wives and girlfriends.
The towering strength of those women, an unexpected sense of humour in the
midst of all that gore and Sneha Khanwalkar’s rustic music are among the many
pluses of this film about the pointlessness of violence. The big minus is the
initial portion that introduces us to a multiplicity of characters, some played
by two actors to account for the passage of time, that feels somewhat like a
confusing history lesson. Once the film gathers steam though, there’s little
time for thought or even the drawing of a breath, as the cycle of killings goes
on and on and on. GoW1 brings
together Bollywood’s Best Ensemble Cast of 2012. Richa
Chadda, Reemma Sen, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Piyush Mishra, Huma
Qureshi, Manoj Bajpayee, Jaideep Ahlawat … If I were an acting student, I’d
chant those names from GoW1 off a
rosary every day!
My
Best Film #10: Maximum
Yeh sheher jagah toh deta
hai, lekin apnaata nahin hai, says a politician in Maximum to a young journalist from UP. That’s
a courageous statement for any Bollywood film to make in this era of Raj
Thackeray’s violence-prone, North Indian-hating Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Director Kabeer Kaushik’s Maximum
takes many more such stances through its story of the life-long,
career-defining rivalry between two corrupt Mumbai policemen. Sonu Sood delivers
an excellent performance – as always – as Pratap Pandit, the suave young
encounter specialist with a roving eye. Veteran Naseeruddin Shah, playing his
older rival Arun Inaamdar, seems more involved in this film than he usually is
these days. Threading its way through their bitter competitiveness is the
builder-underworld-politician-police nexus of Maximum’s Maharashtra. With Amit Sadh’s journalist, the film even steers
clear of Bollywood clichés of mediapersons as either saintly or satanic. This
is an otherwise extremely well-written film with one unfortunate flaw: the
failure to explore Inaamdar’s character in as much detail as it acquaints us
with Pandit. Still, with its gripping narrative and lovely music, Maximum is entertaining in a quiet sort
of way ... and a good example of a fine film killed by poor publicity.
My
Best Film #10: Barfi!
True, the Internet is still abuzz with charges of
plagiarism against Anurag Basu’s Barfi!
Some of the criticism is justified (for instance, the scene in which Ileana
D’Cruz’s mother takes her for a drive to show her the man she once loved is an
embarrassing copy from The Notebook);
some of it fails to appreciate the place of tributes in cinema (the Buster
Keaton-inspired ladder scene and the Chaplinesque sequences are too widely
recognised to be anything but homages); and some of the criticism is downright
silly (one blogger went so far as to cite the scene in which Priyanka Chopra
lies down next to a dying Ranbir Kapoor as a lift from The Notebook. Oh c’mon! So that’s not a scene that’s appeared in a
zillion films, TV serials and real life?). Still, even over-reactions are
understandable considering all these years of dishonesty by Bollywood and
Basu’s own questionable track record in this matter. The debate notwithstanding,
Barfi! is still that rare Hindi film
that gives us a romance between two differently abled people without pity or
condescension or teary-eyed melodrama. It’s a deliberately light-hearted
telling of the relationship between a deaf-mute Murphy (Ranbir, excellent!) and
the autistic Jhilmil (Priyanka, brilliant!). The unnecessary switch to thriller
mode somewhere along the way and the overly elongated second half don’t alter
the fact that Barfi’s positivity is pathbreaking
for Bollywood. Wonderful music, locations and cinematography add to the package.
A very moving film.
***
My
Best Film #10: Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu
An unusual buddy movie about boy-girl bonding and
that eternal question: can two people of the opposite sex be friends without
falling in love? The answer comes to us in a completely unconventional,
completely un-Bollywood-like ending that goes well with the undramatic tone of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. Riana Braganza is a hairstylist
who does as she pleases and could bring sunshine to the darkest corner of the
earth. The somber Rahul Kapoor hates being an architect but wouldn’t dare defy
the expectations of his rich, uncaring father. They meet, they become friends,
he grows up, they get closer. Imran Khan as Rahul is charming, but the
scene-stealer here – not unexpectedly – is the charismatic Kareena Kapoor who
accomplishes the difficult task of making the free-spirited Riana sufficiently
unlike Jab We Met’s Geet, ensuring
that EMAET does not give us a sense
of déjà vu. In keeping with her performance, subtlety is the highlight of
director Shakun Batra’s film in which the Hindu-Christian angle is not rubbed
in our faces in the interests of secularism and there’s a passing mention of
Riana being a year or two older than Rahul, without a huge deal being made of
that either. Simple yet not simplistic, EMAET
is a gently entertaining film.
*** (For the original review of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, click here)
(Photograph
credits are listed with the reviews of individual films to which links have
been provided above)
