SUNDAY POST DEC 28th- JAN 3rd
PIYUSH ROY
A Review of 2014 @ The Cinemas
What a year at the movies it was, with equally gripping drama happening both on and off screen. Successes and heartbreaks, surprise revelations and long awaited resolutions, here’s a review of the truly headline deserving moments of pride and possibilities in the Indian movie industry in 2014.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Gulzar sa’ab
Finally a Dadasaheb Phalke Award that wasn’t too late in coming, with its recipient still contributing actively to his calling! Gulzar also is the second lyricist after Majrooh Sultapuri to be bestowed with Indian cinema’s highest honour.
1000 Weeks of Dilwale Dulahaniya Le Jayenge
Undisputedly the most loved love story of our times, and undoubtedly one of Bollywood’s fondest tributes to its NRI (Non-Resident Indian) audiences, DDLJadded another high to its record of being ‘the world’s longest continuously running film of all time in a theatre’, as it entered its 1000th week at Mumbai’s iconic Maratha Mandir this year!
Haider, Highway & Hirani
The three ‘H’s’ that made going to the cinemas this year a provoking, enriching, and uplifting experience that also entertained. If Vishal Bharadwaj’s Hamlet as Haider proved that no one Indianises Shakespeare better today, Hirani reaffirmed the faith that Bollywood can still tell a new and unusual story, while celebrating each of its traditional ‘masala’ story-telling attributes, and send the audience home with something to think about as well. Aamir Khan impresses once again as perhaps the cutest ‘alien’ ever on the Indian cinema screen, as PK signs of 2014 as a relevant and must watch commentary of some of the major concerns of its times that not only provokes and stimulates, but also abundantly entertains. Imtiaz Ali took the often seen ‘kidnap and abuse’ narrative to an unseen experience of empathy between a kidnapper and the kidnapped, underlined by a subtly stated plea for social equality with a ‘humanist’ anchor in one of the best shot and sounding films of 2014, Highway.
The Rise & Shine of Marathi Indies
If Fandry was the lone toast of good Indian ‘art’ and festival cinema circuit last year, this year was a double, with two Marathi films – Killa (debutant Avinash Arun’s moving capture of a young boy’s anxiety in a new school environment) and Court (another impressive debut by Chaitanya Tamhane that explores India’s justice system in the context of class, education and access to power) – capturing audience imagination and critical accolades to emerge Indian cinema’s most celebrated toasts at independent and international film festivals.
Bangalore Days
The most memorable youth film of the year by one of south Indian cinema’s rising female directorial voices, Anjali Menon’s tribute to the garden city revisited themes of the three friends growing up saga started by Dil Chahta Hai (2001), but with a distinct spin of her own. One of the best films on bonding between brothers and a sister, served with three deliciously engaging love stories, Bangalore Days would be my pick for the Best Wholesome Entertainer for 2014!
Queen Kangana &Rani Ranaut
In a year that definitely belonged to the heroines, Kangna Ranaut’s was a spectacular ‘double dhamaal’ that stood out for the believability that she brought to her extremely diverse parts. From a ‘homely’Delhi belle convincingly tugging at the audience’s affection chords in Queen, she turned into a compellingly adorable public menace as the trigger happy Revolver Rani, in an imaginative and thrilling desi adaptation of Uma Thurman’s Kill Bill.
The World Before Her
Nisha Pahuja’s revealing first ever documentation of the life motivations and daily momentums of two contemporary Indian girls – an activist (with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s right-wing Durga Vahini organisation) and a Miss India beauty pageant contestant – chartering contrasting life journeys in two different, but not non-overlapping socio-cultural spaces, is perhaps the most important documentary featuring female protagonists to have come out of India in recent times.
Back With A Vengeance’
The ‘sweet and romantic’ Juhi Chawla, and the ‘fun and comic’ Govinda, both debuted in their career’s first villainous avatars. While the debate rages as to who was more vicious, Govinda’s stylish Bhaiyaji in Kill Dil or Juhi’s Machiavellian Sumitra Devi in Gulaab Gang, one conclusion for sure is that nothing beats bad better, than when the ‘good’decides take that bad turn!
Rang Rasiya Releases after Six years/Libaas finally screened after 25
Ketan Mehta’s poignant ode to the passionate love story of 20th century India’s most popular painter Raja Ravi Varma and his muse Sugandha, went past years of Censor Board doubts and distributor apprehensions to emerge the most relevant biopic of 2014, while Gulzar’s forever awaited, Raj Babbar-Shabana Azmi-Naseeruddin Shah triangle-tangle, Libaas (1988) finally got its first Indian audience showcase at this year’s IFFI (in Goa), 25 years after its making and receiving of critical acclaim (outside India).
