2014 would best be remembered for some good women oriented films as well as performances. But if you compare the year with the last two or even 2011, then its been a very low year for hindi films with not much of spectacular movies coming out. Not talking of 100/200 cr clubs, those craps are aneways meant for fanatics and people associated with them.

Despite that, I still ended up watching around 52 movies, out of which Queen and Haider stood out by miles.


Here is my list of Top 10 Hindi Movies of 2014 -


                                                                                                              1. Queen

One of those light hearted movies that made me feel good every time I watched, no wonder I rated it 5 out of 5, first such movie since Rockstar for me. What worked was Vikas Bahl’s excellent direction and narration style, very well mixing Rani (Kangana Ranaut) past and present life. Also, the humor touch in dialogues and editing was top notch. But, without a doubt, Kangana’s performance made this movie special, her career best since Gangster and Fashion. You could see that typical innocent Delhi girl in her, and then the transformation she goes through when she goes to her honeymoon alone was something to watch. Her drunk dialogue scene and various misinterpretations of situations were hilarious. Also, nice emotional touch to her romantic story with Rajkumar Rao. All actors enacting roomies of Rani in Amsterdam, along with Lisa Haydon when in Paris did very well in supporting roles. Amit Trivedi’s music once again adds much more to the film with each and every song specially Kinaare at right end, though my personal fav was re-worked version of ‘Hungama ho gaya’. Special mention to the end credits ‘kutta’ scene!
yeh log boat khareedne gaye hai ki rent karne…..mera sense of humour bahut accha hai, aapko dheere dheere pata chalega.
                        2. Haider

Based on Shakespeare book ‘Hamlet’, Vishal Bharadwaj almost nails this adaptation if and only if he had kept more of the insane madness of Hamlet i.e Haider (Shahid Kapur). Whats outstanding about the film is how beautifully Kashmir and its political angle is used as the backdrop for the story. Its not Haider-Arshia (Shraddha Kapoor) romantic angle that you remember after end of movie, but its Haider-Ghazala (Tabu), for their mother-son relationship. Shahid’s ‘hum hai ke hum nahi’ monologue is easily the standout scene of movie and 2014. Cinematography is very good, love the entry scene of Irrfan Khan with the Aao na bg. Dialogues have kashmiri influence making it as real as it can be. Vishal’s music is as always very well used in narrative, specially the deeply haunting 'So Jao'.  My only complain was why Dadlani version of Aao Naa not used in movie. To my liking, Vishal underplays Oediplus complex between Haider-Ghazala. Shahid and Tabu specially are scene stealers. Kay Kay hammed in some portions, while Shraddha looked beautiful in kashmiri outfits but her acting is still below par. Special mention to Haider’s expressions in entire Bismil song, his eyes portrays all the hurt, anger and revenge feelings, when its promo was out I knew Shahid will be my fav actor of year.
dil ki agar sunu toh hai, dimaag ki toh hai nahi.. jaan lun ke jaan dun, main rahun ke main nahi.

                                                                                              
                                                                                             3. Two States

Chetan Bhagat’s novel gets screen adaptation by a new director, but the gamble of Arjun-Alia pairing paid off. I was slightly skeptical of them if they would be able to bring the romance-joy-pain Krish and Ananya did in the book, but they both didn’t disappoint at all. Amrita Singh however was the main limelight in the movie in almost all her scenes, playing role of a Punjabi mother who is over expressive and caring towards her son. Director was able to quickly move to the lovers trying to convince each other’s families part and yet get most out to Krish-Ananya college love life. Krish scenes with Ananya’s father were hilarious. Ronit Roy was very good in a lighter version of Udaan’s strict father role, wonder why they kept his role so short almost looked more like a extended cameo. I love the bg that plays in his scenes with Krish throughout the movie. S-E-L music was a let down though, except for Locha e ulfat and Chandaaniya, rest songs failed to impress me. Two States for me is Chetan’s second best film adaptation of his novel, after Kai Po Che.
baat communities ki nahi hai, baat yeh hai ki hum kis tarah ke insaan ke saath apni zindagi bitaana chahte hai.
                         4. Mardaani

Pradeep Sarkar strikes back (after two duds ‘Laaga Chunari Mein Daag’ and ‘Lafangey Parindey’) and how! A intriguing thriller based on child sex trafficking that keeps you to the edge of the seat in a cat and mouse battle between Shivani (Rani Mukherjee) and Karan (Tahir Raj Bhasin). Tahir comes across as a very interesting new find by yashraj, so much at ease in his negative act. Aggressive cop role as expected suited Rani to the core, wish her final action scene with Tahir was well executed though. Screenplay is very tight, no songs at all. Special mention to the scene where Shivani reacts to the insult of her husband in public and challenges Tahir on phone that she will find him. Also, Julius Packiam continues his good work in bg score. It may sound weird but I enjoyed Tahir’s performance much more than Rani, which just proves how brilliant he was.
aaj mujhe yeh toh pata nahi ki tera naam kya hai, tu kahaan se baat kar raha hai par 30 din mein pakrungi tujhe.. yaad rakhna, 30 din. 
                                                                                                               5. PK
Can a Raju Hirani-Aamir Khan movie really fail to deliver? Answer is a big NO.  1st half was so hilarious that I had tears rolling out of my eyes, specially when PK (Aamir Khan) tells his initial days of struggle learning how to live on this planet. The different ways people say ‘accha’ was one of my most fav scenes, and so was the stuff he takes while going to church first time and the gandhi pics scene. 2nd half reminds of OMG, but still holds it own. But PK-Jaggu (Anushka Sharma) love story was completely forced, could easily had kept PK love hidden from audience too just like Jaggu and bring a bigger surprise at the end. Also, Jaggu-Sarfaraz (Sushant Singh Rajput) separation looked pretty silly. And Anushka’s hairstyle was a big turn-off. Despite all this, Hirani once again provides a quality entertainer unlike the crap masala films that keep coming out of our industry. Aamir can just do anything, be it look cool and stylish in his last movie Dhoom3 and now speak bhojpuri and yet be so lovable, just enjoy watching his films. Also, good to hear Shaan voice after a long time in ‘Chaar kadam'. Special mention to PK theme and Sonu Nigam’s brilliantly sung track ‘Bhagwan hai kahaan re tu’ with very good visuals.
karte kya ho? Astranaaut hoon. Woh jo moon pe jaate hai? Ek baar gaya hoon moon pe, bahut hi Lul place hai. 
                          6. Ek Villain

Yes its copied or inspired from some korean movie, but the hindi version works and that’s what matters in the end! You see Aisha (Shraddha Kapoor) die in 1st scene of movie, and you also know who did it so its more of how Guru (Siddharth Malhotra) takes revenge from a psycho lover (Ritiesh Deshmukh). Their first face-off scene is magical, if only Mohit Suri had lived upto the words Guru said in that scene ‘main tujhe marne nahi dunga lekin main tujhe roj maarunga, ek baar nahi, hazaar baar maarunga'. The non-linear narration of romantic story between Guru-Aisha is well executed, with the excellent music and background score. Shraddha Kapoor does irritate with  her non-stop blabbering, though not as much as Remo Fernandes does with his funny dialogue delivery, clear case of poor casting. Siddharth delivers another praiseworthy performance getting away from the chocolate boy roles, he does falter in dialogue delivery at places though. Milap Zaveri dialogues for a change were appealing and good. It was Riteish Deshmukh however who stole the show and quite rightly. It was a delight to see him do a non-comic role with so much conviction (last time it was Rann), and his dialogue ‘phikr mat kijiye madam, aaj ke baad aapko shikayat ka mauka nahi milega’ would not be forgotten at all. Wish we see more of this Riteish in future.. Apart from him, the emotional connect Guru-Aisha story provides was a major reason for my love for this movie.
tere hi gunaah laute hai, ek ajnabee ke roop mein tujhe saja dene. 


                                                                                                        7. Dedh Ishqiya

Abhishek Chaubhey returned with the next installment of Ishqiya, Khalujaan-Babban (Naseeruddin-Arshad) once again leave us in laughter scene after scene. Specially the scene where they stand all night with gun in hand or the initial Joker-Batman dialogue. But the sad part of film is the female characters, Begum Para (Madhuri Dixit) and Munniya (Huma Quereshi), who are very weakly written and end up not providing anything to the film as Vidya did in 1st part. Still there are plenty of hilarious sequences, one where Jaan Mohammad (Vijay Raaz) forces Noor Mohammad Italvi (Manoj Pahwa) to write shayari for him which he would later read out in a shayari -e-mehfil to win heart of Begum Para. That mehfil song which Naseeruddin lip syncs was very well sung by Raju Singh. And how Noor takes revenge in another awesome finale sequence. Only one song of Rahat ‘dil ka mizaaj ishqiya’ works, rest were just passable.  Special mention to Mushtaq’s evil laugh, might get as famous with time as Samba became for that one dialogue in Sholay movie.
aapko pehle kahin dekha hai ?
yaad aaye toh itliya zaroor kijiyega, hum bhi dhoondh rahe hai kabse apne aap ko.


                            8. Ugly

Anurag Kashyap can never disappoint me, Ugly adds to the list of his great movies though unlike many others I won’t call this as his best or my favorite movies from his filmography. The best thing about the movie is the twists and dark side of every character that surprises you to an extent that like the characters you also forget the simple answer to the missing girl case. Girish Kulkarni as inspector is brilliant in a 10 min long police station sequence. The entire ensemble cast of Rahul Bhat, Vineet Singh, Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Surveen Chawla and Siddhant Kapoor were splendid in their performances. Love the sarcastic take on item number through ’tu mujhe nichod de’ song, specially the way Girish describes it in a scene to Ronit. There is a heavy dose of hindi abuses in the movie, main reference to Vineet jail scene with Rahul Bhat, which was at times hard to watch. Yet the film serves its purpose, a thriller that keeps you guessing. Special mention to the use of ‘One day’ track in the narrative and the love-making scene of Siddhant with the money he gets.
Sir actor log aisa karte hai, ghar pe ek naam aur parde ke liye doosra naam
Kyoon, amitabh bachchan ka kya hai naam ghar pe? 
                                                                                                       9. Ankhon Dekhi
A philosophical take on life as a 50 yr old man played by Sanjay Mishra decides he would only believe in things that he either watches or listens himself. One of very under-utilised actors in our industry and to see him in a lead role brings joy to the eyes. Watch how he handles the love affair of his daughter, or manages the conflict he has with his brother (Rajat Kapoor). All the humor situations that happen when he goes to zoo to see if lion does roar in real or when he tries to see if a naked wire gives current or when he finds his regular job not doable due to his new rules. Wish they had kept some more of his life sequences before he goes to vacation with his wife for that very well done climax scene. Seema Pahwa,Rajat Kapoor and Manu Rishi were as always very efficient in their performances.
main har uss baat ko maanne se inkaar kar dunga, jisse maine khud dekha ya suna na ho. 


                10. Hasee Toh Phasee 

Not a typical rom-com with backing of Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Karan Johar as producers, the movie has many light hearted moments to cherish specially when Parineeti acts insane. Siddharth in a chocolate boy role fits in and so does the supporting cast. Love the scene where he tries to bring his father-in-law to terrace. Nice to see Adah Sharma (1920 fame) get a good role and she looked smashing hot in ‘shake it like shammi’ track. The problem however lied in Parineeti flashback role which looked silly and also why would she again run away from his father when everything is sorted. Also the climax was a let down, as the typical dharma production tag was visible all over it. Still pretty much enjoyable movie. Special mention to the wonderfully done daya (C.I.D) spoof scene.
tum oxygen ho aur main double hydrogen.. hamari chemistry ekdum paani ki tarah hai.



Movies that missed my list but worth a mention : 

Highway
Finding Fanny
Kick