Recap 2011 : Performances

Below is my list for various categories of 2011 Films, with 1 winner and next 4 deserving nominees.

Best Actor Male : Ranbir Kapoor (Rockstar)

• Shahrukh Khan (Don 2)

• Pratiek Babbar (Dhobi Ghat)

• Ajay Devgan (Singham)

• Irffan Khan (Yeh saali Zindagi)

Best Actor Female : Priyanka Chopra (7 Khoon Maaf)

• Vidya Balan (No one killed Jessica)

• Kalki Koechin (That girl in yellow Boots)

• Vidya Balan (The Dirty Picture)

• Monica Dogra (Dhobi Ghat)

Best Director : Imtiaz Ali (Rockstar)

• Zoya Akhtar (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Raj Kumar Gupta (No one killed Jessica)

• Kiran Rao (Dhobi Ghat)

• Vishal Bharadwaj (7 Khoon Maaf)

Best Film : Rockstar

• 7 Khoon Maaf

• No one killed Jessica 

• Don 2 

• Dhobi Ghat

Best Supporting Actor Male : Farhan Akhtar (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Naseeruddin Shah (The Dirty Picture)

• Hrithik Roshan (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Rajeev Khandelwal (Shaitan)

• Neil Nitin Mukesh (7 Khoon Maaf)

Best Supporting Actor Female : Rani Mukherjee (No one killed Jessica)

• Parineeti Chopra (Ladies vs Ricky Bahl)

• Poorna Jagannathan (Delhi Belly)

• Kriti Malhotra (Dhobi Ghat)

• Nushrat Bharucha (Pyar ka Punchnama)

Best Actor in a Comic Role : Divyendu Sharma (Pyar ka Punchnama)

• Bobby Deol (Yamla pagla Deewana)

• Paresh Rawal (Ready)

• Vir Das (Delhi Belly) 

• Deepak Dobriyal (Tanu weds Manu)

Best Actor in a Negative role : Prashant Narayanan (Murder 2)

• Prakash Raj (Singham)

• Vidyut Jammwa (Force)

• Boman Irani (Don 2)

• Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub (No one killed Jessica)

Best Music : A R Rahman (Rockstar)

• Vishal Bharadwaj (7 Khoon Maaf)

• Ram Sampath (Delhi Belly) 

• Vishal Shekhar (Ra.One)

• Chirantan Bhatt (Haunted)

Best Lyricist : Irshad Kamil - jo bhi main (Rockstar)

• Irshad Kamil - saadda haq (Rockstar)

• Gulzar - awaara (7 Khoon Maaf)

• Irshad Kamil - rabba main toh (Mausam)

• Prasoon Joshi - accha lagta hai (Aarakshan)

Best Playback Singer Male : Mohit Chauhan - saadda haq (Rockstar)

• Master Saleem - awaara (7 khoon Maaf)

• Mohammed Irfan - phir mohabbat (Murder 2)

• Mohit Chauhan - tum ho (Rockstar)

• Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - ishq risk (Mere brother ki dulhan)

Best Playback Singer Female : Usha Uthup & Rekha Bharadwaj - darling (7 Khoon Maaf)

• Harshdeep Kaur - katiya karoon (Rockstar)

• Neha Bhasin - dhunki (Mere brother ki Dulhan)

• Shreya Ghoshal - teri meri (Bodyguard)

• Sunidhi Chauhan - aa zara (Murder 2)

Best Debut Male : Vivaan Shah (7 Khoon Maaf)

• Kartikeya Tiwari (Pyar ka Punchnama)

• Saqib Saleem (Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge)

• Gulshan Devaiah (Shaitan)

• Partho A. Gupte (Stanley ka Dabba)

Best Debut Female : Parineeti Chopra (Ladies vs Ricky Bahl)

• Saba Azaad (Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge)

• Monica Dogra (Dhobi Ghat)

• Nargis Fakhri (Rockstar)

• Poorna Jagannathan (Delhi Belly) 

Best Debut Director : Kiran Rao (Dhobi Ghat)

• Bejoy Nambiar (Shaitan)

• Nupur Asthana (Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge)

• Amol Gupte (Stanley ka Dabba)

• Luv Ranjan (Pyar ka Punchnama)

Best Story : Ruskin Bond & Vishal Bharadwaj (7 Khoon Maaf)

• Amol Gupte (Stanley ka Dabba)

• Imtiaz Ali (Rockstar)

• Pankaj Kapur (Mausam)

• Zoya Akhtar & Reema Kagti (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

Best Scene : Rajjo's outburst in a 5 mins long monologue (Pyar ka Punchnama)

• Conversation of Khatana and Jordan on road (Rockstar)

• Sussanna dances on 'Darling' after knowing truth of her husband (7 khoon Maaf)

• Imran after meeting his father, with the shayari 'dil tu kyun rota hai' (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Ra.one enters a ground where raavan is being burnt on Dussehra (Ra.One)

Best Jodi : Saqeeb-Saba (Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge)

• Priyanka-Vivaan (7 khoon Maaf)

• Ajay-Kajal (Singham)

• Hrithik-Katrina (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Rajeev-Soha (Soundtrack)

Best Trailer : Agneepath

• Shaitan

• Murder 2 

• Rockstar 

• Don 2 

Best Screenplay : Imtiaz Ali (Rockstar)

• Bejoy Nambiar & Megha Ramaswamy (Shaitan)

• Zoya Akhtar & Reema Kagti (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Raj Kumar Gupta (No one killed Jessica)

• Sudhir Mishra (Yeh saali Zindagi)

Best Dialogue : Farhan Akhtar & Javed Akhtar (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Akshat Verma (Delhi Belly)

• Luv Ranjan, Sumit Saxena & Vaibhav Suman (Pyar ka Punchnama)

• Rajat Arora (The Dirty Picture)

• Farhan Akhtar (Don 2)

Best Editing : Aarti Bajaj (Rockstar)

• Namrata Rao (Ladies vs Ricky Bahl)

• Shan Mohammad & Dipika Karla (My friend Pinto)

• Archit Rastogi (Yeh saali Zindagi)

• Nishant Radhakrishnan (Dhobi Ghat)

Best Choreography : Bosco Caesar - senorita (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Farah Khan - I hate you like I love you (Delhi Belly)

• Ganesh Hegde - chamak challo (Ra.One)

• Sandip Sopparkar - darling (7 khoon Maaf)

• Pony Prakash Raj - ooh la la (The Dirty Picture)

Best Background Score : Ranjit Barot (Shaitan)

• Gustavo Santaolalla (Dhobi Ghat)

• Vishal Bharadwaj (7 Khoon Maaf)

• Amit Trivedi (No one killed Jessica)

• A R Rahman (Rockstar)

Best Cinematography : Carlos Catalan (Zindagi na milegi Dobara)

• Binod Pradhan (Mausam)

• Ranjan Palit (7 khoon Maaf)

• Anil Mehta (Rockstar)

• Tushar Kanti Roy (Dhobi Ghat)

Best Action : Allan Amin (Force)

• Vijayan Master (Bodyguard)

• Feroz-Parvez/Andy Gill/Spiro Rozatos (Ra.One)

• Matthias Barsch (Don 2)

• Jai Singh Nijjar (Singham)

Best Art Direction : Subrata Chakraborthy & Punita Grover (7 khoon Maaf)

• Samir Chanda (Mausam)

• Dhananjay Mondal (Saheb Biwi aur Gangster)

• Haris Umar Khan (Mod)

• Shashank Tere (Delhi Belly)

Best Costumes : Manish Malhotra, Aki Narula & Dolly Ahluwalia (Rockstar)

• Lovleen Bains (Mausam)

• Aarti Pathkar (Yeh saali Zindagi)

• Anaita Shroff Adajania & Manish Malhotra (Ra.One)

• Jaimal Obedera (Don 2)

Distribution of Winners (films wise) --

Rockstar                                           : 9

7 Khoon Maaf                                  : 5

Zindagi na milegi Dobara                   : 4

Pyar ka Punchnama                          : 2

Force/Mujhse Fraanandship Karoge : 1

Agneepath/Dhobi Ghat                     : 1

Ladies vs Ricky Bahl                        : 1

No one killed Jessica/Murder 2        : 1

Shaitan                                            : 1

Rockstar easily takes away most categories for me, its impossible to choose Shahrukh over Ranbir even though I loved Shahrukh a lot in Don 2. Priyanka Chopra in 7 Khoon Maaf was too  good to be ignored just because the film was a flop at boxoffice. Imtiaz Ali was easily the pick of the directors, zoya's direction in luck by chance was much better, not denying that I liked zindagi na milegi dobara very much.

Farhan proved how good he can be even with Hrithik and Abhay in the film. Rani Mukherjee shutted the mouths of her critics, with a superb performance in a supporting role, though have to say the role was written very much in sync with her image, dhinchak and daring girl. Parineeti and Kriti didn't make it that easy for me to chose Rani over them.

Divyendu speaks so much in the film, that too at a rapid pace, the film begins with his comic sequence too. He brings a humour in even emotional scenes with Rajjo. Bobby Deol might appear a surprise in top5 for some people, but I felt his comic timing was very good in the film. How can I forget Prashant Narayanan's menacing laugh in Murder2 promo, easily the top winner in villian category.

Music awards had to go to Rockstar, AR Rahman the clear winner.. special mention to Chirantan Bhatt for Haunted making to my top5. While Irshad Kamil's lyrics for Jo bhi main, I can't stop praising about everyday when I listen or think about the song. Mohit Chauhan had a brilliant year, but all that got noticed mainly with Rockstar, and the anthem song 'Saadda Haq'. Special mention to Master saleem's rendition in 'awaara'. Usha Uthup made a great comeback to singing, with Rekha Bharadwaj co-singer.. 'Darling' was the only thing almost everyone loved who didn't like the film.

I don't believe in child categories otherwise Partho would had won it. Vivaan Shah might not get nominated even in any award shows, but the moment I saw 7 Khoon Maaf, I knew he is my pick for best debut of the year. And, no one came that close to take his position. Monica Dogra and Nargis Fakhri did give some good performances, but Parineeti Chopra was just so much lively and lovable to miss out. Kiran Rao was simply outstanding in her creative debut as director.

I loved the story of 7 Khoon Maaf, a lady who kills every of her husband because she always used to marry a wrong guy having a very bad defect. Rajjo's outburst when I saw that scene, I knew it would be impossible for any other scene to replace it. Its a tough act, to do a 5 min long monologue with such conviction that too from a debutant and not to forget the pace at which he had to deliver all the  dialogues. Special mention to the sussanna scene, it brings the real madness of the character.. and the emotional side of Jordan in khatana-Jordan road scene where he questions the fame he has now which doesn't give him any joy.

Saqeeb-Saba as Best Jodi, many would laugh or call it baisedness. But, who else was deserving ? Shahrukh - Priyanka didn't deserve to be among top5 even. Hrithik-Katrina were the closest but somehow the fact that their screen time was less than saqeeb-saba made me keep them at no.2 Also, Priyanka-Vivaan is one of different choice too.. I felt they both shared excellent chemistry in the entire film, and a jodi could always be of 2 friends.Agneepath's trailer was too good because of those taglines 'revenge', the ganesh chaturthi background theme, the action and the anger in eyes of Vijay Dinnanath Chauhan, with the final Kancha line 'vijay dinnanaath chauhan ko marna padega'.

Rockstar had a amazing screenplay, non-linear and lots of montages, flashbacks. Also, the costumes reflected very much the kind of phase Jordan-Heer are currently in. The editing of Aarti was fantastic, the way she keeps the continuity while taking different shots of Jordan at different times in his life, and the experimentation of jump cuts during Heer's hospital scene.

Zindagi na milegi Dobara had a great cinematography, the sea shots or the entire khawabon ke parindey sequence is so beautiful. Senorita was the best choreographed song, total fun. The dialogues were real, connectable to easily and the poetic shayaris by Javed Akhtar further enhanced the quality of the film.

Shaitan had a brilliant sound design and background score, which can be felt right from the opening credits. Allan Amin's action in Force was different, the climax was exceptional. The art direction in 7 Khoon Maaf gives it that dark feel, which makes us feel what Sussanna is or is about to go through.

------

Yash.