First the Oscars, then Corona, then my laziness and then my exams.. all this has meant this decade lists got late by over a year.. but it had to be done, since its the decade where I grew up watching lot more hindi films then I ever did before and also it was the time when I got interested in English movies to an extent that its very much on par with Hindi Movies now. Maybe next decade could be one where I take a step into Regional and World Cinema.

Wonder what would had been my top picks for 2000-2009 decade, Chak De India, Rang De Basanti and Dev.D definately would had featured in it.

Coming to the 2010-2019 decade, it was a very uneven decade at theatres, with the last 3 years specially giving very few great movies. Inspite of that I believe our films have been doing much better and taking up different interesting stories going the unconventional route, be it Piku, Lootera, Vicky Donor, Bala, Udaan, Band Baaja Baraat, The Lunchbox, A Death in the Gunj, Anaarkali of Aarah, Mukti Bhawan etc. Even if some of them didn't work fully for me, it was a delight to watch something fresh on the big screen.

Then there were some lovely biopics (was a overdose though with many turning out to be bad) like Dangal, Shahid, Neerja, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, MS Dhoni, Paan Singh Tomar and Aligarh. Among the South Indian Remakes, films like Son of Sardaar, Simmba, Drishyam, Singham, Rowdy Rathore, Kick were some of my guilty pleasures.

Talking about the directors that matter, Imtiaz Ali started with a bang giving us 'Rockstar' following it up with likeable 'Highway' and another impressive with his 'searching for himself' template in 'Tamasha', ended on a sour note with his weakest movie 'Jab Harry Met Sejal' (I did like it though). I liked Anurag Kashyap's 'The Girl in Yellow Boots' and 'Ugly', but it was easily 'Gangs of Wasseypur I & II' that stole the limelight. Also, worthy mentions would be 'Raman Raghav', 'Manmarziyan' and 'Mukkabaaaz'. His short stories in 'Bombay Talkies' and 'Lust Stories' were bit average to my liking and 'Bombay Velvet' was a total disaster. 

Liked Zoya Akhtar's 'Gully Boy' a lot even though it felt very restrained, something similar I felt in 'Dil Dhadakne Do' too, would be nice to see her go all out or maybe thats not her style. Sanjay Leela Bhansali remained in news for his controversial history based movies, starting the decade with 'Guzaarish' that was okish (Hrithik's act didnt work for me), 'Ram Leela' (sparkling Ranveer-Deepika chemistry) that I loved and followed up with 'Bajirao Mastani' and 'Padmaavat' both working in patches. It may sound odd but I madly loved Anurag Basu's 'Kites' then, I am sure won't be the case now, emotions get better sometimes in liking a movie more than what it deserves. I do however still love 'Barfi' and even 'Jagga Jasoos' I felt was very nice movie despite the issues I had with it. Rajkumar Hirani impressed with 'PK' minus the preaching tone at places,while 'Sanju' was a Ranbir Kapoor movie I don't wanna remember ever happened for the narration style that tried to show Sanjay Dutt mistakes in as positive way as possible or the label it got 'whitewash'. 

Mix decade for Maneesh Sharma, starting with brilliant 'Band Baaja Baaraat' followed by average 'Ladies vs Ricky Bahl' (but a positive, it gave us Parineeti Chopra), then a fun concept well executed in 'Shuddh Desi Romance' but then a failed concept in 'Fan'. Abhishek Kapoor gave a brilliant adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel in 'Kai Po Che' (the debut of Sushant Singh Rajput), then a surprise with how bad 'Fitoor' turned and ended with 'Kedarnath' that was strictly okay. Vikramaditya Motwane's 'Udaan' I didn't love as much as many others do, but 'Lootera' was awesome, still remains the only film where Sonakshi Sinha acted. 'Trapped' was a little underwhelming for me while 'Bhavesh Joshi' worked in bits. Sriram Raghavan totally disappointed in 'Agent Vinod' but boy how did he turn it around with 'Badlapur' and then 'Andhadhun'. 

Karan Johar gave 'My Name is Khan' that I loved then, not sure if I still do because of a certain actor involved. I totally enjoyed 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' and also his short stories were fun to watch in both 'Bombay Talkies' and 'Lust Stories'. Its the other directors Karan launched during last decade that had lasting impression and hope of many great films to come in future, 'Shakun Batra' with interesting rom-com 'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu' and my very favourite  'Kapoor and Sons'. While Ayaan Mukherjee followed up his great work of 'Wake Up Sid' by giving us 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'. Abhay Chopra's directorial debut in 'Ittefaq' remake was pretty good watch too.

Vishal Bharadwaj also had a mix kind of decade, '7 Khoon Maaf' was a joy to watch though majority didn't like it, 'Matru's Bijlee Ka Mandola' suffered from poor leads casting, I still had fun watching it, 'Haider' was easily his best of the decade and oddly it took me 2nd viewing to love it, 'Rangoon' was my most disliked movie of Bharadwaj (and I didn't hate Kangana then) and 'Pataakha' had one of hilarious 1st half I had seen in last decade. Hansal Mehta was very much on the same lines,with a brilliant 'Shahid' to begin the decade, 'CityLights' that worked in patches as I found it too manipulative, 'Aligarh' on the other hand was super and heartbreaking to watch, 'Omerta' was very underwhelming given Rajkumar Rao as lead and great trailer had expectations high and 'Simran' was fun at places in what was otherwise a film that failed in the execution. 

Among new notable directors, Gauri Shinde made a mark with 'English Vinglish' and a decent follow up 'Dear Zindagi'. Meghna Gulzar gave two brilliant movies 'Talvar' and 'Raazi'. I didn't see Nitesh Tiwari's 'Chillar Party' while 'Bhoothnath Returns' was fun in parts, but his next 2 movies 'Dangal' and 'Chhhichhore' were so brilliant and also made me feel he's a better version of 'Hirani' with less manipulative style narration and yet entertaining while delivering a message. Shoojit Sircar another director that made his name giving some great movies working with talented writer Juhi Chaturvedi, 'Vicky Donor', 'Madras Cafe', 'Piku' and 'October', they all worked very well for me. Could easily say the decade belonged to him with the 100% record with that many movies.

There were some interesting horror films, like 'Ek Thi Daayan', 'Aatma', 'Stree', 'Ragini MMS' and arguably the best been 'Tumbbad' with that terrific cinematography and a very fun story with a take on greed. However, there's still a long way to go in this genre, certainly a right step from those Bhatt camp regular horror films that only works on cliche jump scares. 


If you been following my blog in this last decade then you would know that 'Rockstar' was always gonna be my no.1 movie of decade. It was pretty close battle for 2nd spot though between Badlapur, Kahaani and Dangal, can almost say it was like a joint 2nd.

Since I have written in detail on most of these films before, so keeping it bit short this time, here's my list  :


Decade (2010-2019) : Top 10 Hindi Movies


1. Rockstar (2011)
 Mujhe bilkul acha nahi lagta, main khud apne aap ko acha nahi lagta..



Imtiaz-Ranbir-Rahman-Irshad-Mohit, each one of them came up with their best work giving a gem of a movie that I madly loved and still do. Easily, the best hindi musical movie, and I had no issues with Nargis performance too, unlike the critics I won't have enjoyed any other actress, not even Deepika.  Imtiaz Ali uses non-linear narrative showcasing Jordan's journey of passion, fame and destruction perfectly. 9 years goneby, I would still rate it 10 out of 10 today.

Fav scenes
 • Jordan and Heer's magic touch hug.
• Jordan telling Khatana bhai that he feels no happiness despite having the fame he always wanted.


2. Badlapur (2015)
Log kehte hai apne dushman ko maaf kar dena chahiye.. main bhi yehi maanta hoon...
Lekin, unhe tadpa tadpa ke maarne ke baad.

 

Sriram Raghavan with a brutal and insane way presenting the revenge angle along with his routine way of using old film references at right moments.Was fun watching Varun Dhawan in a non-comic role, and how his character slowly turns grey with a perfect ending. Nawazuddin was as always in super form, and the supporting cast of Vinay Pathak, Kumud Mishra, Divya Dutta chipping in with good performances. Lovely music by Sachin-Jigar.

Fav scenes
 • Raghu doing a solo dance remembering Misha with background of 'Jeena Jeena' track.
• Liak telling Raghu how he was never as cold brooded person as Raghu has turned into now.


3. Kahaani (2012)
 Kaun ho tum? 
'Kya fark padta hai'.


Excellent suspense thriller from Sujoy Ghosh that delivers in its final act and there's a high percentage chance that you won't be able to guess the final twist coming. Vidya Balan in one of her best performances, and also introducing two great actors Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Saswata Chatterjee. Also, its the film that started the 'Nawazuddin Siddiqui' fame (Paan Singh Tomar to be more precise). Special mention to the crisp editing by Namrata Rao capturing the Kolkata streets very well.

Fav scenes
 • Milan Damji final conversation with Vidya Bagchi.
• Bob Biswas scaring Vidya Bagchi after almost pushing her in front of coming train at metro station.


4. Kapoor and Sons (2016)
 Hum phir se khush nahi ho sakte? 
We can try.


Of all the directors coming out from Dharma Productions, there's only two that have made a mark and looked like they are ones to watch in future, Ayaan Mukherjee and Shakun Batra who made this amazing movie thats very close to my heart still. Based on dysfunctional family mainly setup in lovely surroundings of Conoor, Shakun explores various family fights, love, betrayals in a very non-melodramatic manner, everything is so subtle and yet so full of emotions. Rajat Kapoor and Fawad Khan stole the show, however I enjoyed performances of entire cast. Still in awe of that Nolan kind moment (I don't know if others feel same way too) when Shakun cuts 3 parallel scenes together, revealing many secrets of characters, some to us and some in the story.

Fav scenes
 • The plumber sequence when the entire family is arguing.
• Harsh singing 'Chaand si mehbooba' during one of rare moments when the family is happy together.


5. Dangal (2016)
 Agar Silver jeeti toh aaj nahi toh kal log tanne bhool javenge. Gold jeeti toh misaal ban jaavegi.
Aur misaale di jaati hai beta, bhooli nahi jaati. 


A sports drama with inspiring real life events of Phogats family masterfully directed by Nitesh Tiwari who very much falls in league of Rajkumar Hirani and Aanand L Rai, entertaining thorughout. Won't term it as biopic because of all the changes in the match scores done. Despite being predictable the finale and the national anthem still gives me goosebumps. Aamir Khan is splended, be it the physical transformation or the kind of father he portrays so well, a character or person you should hate but you can't. Zaira Wasim and Fatima Sana Shaikh, both playing young and adult Geeta perfectly. Girish Kulkarni with a one-dimensional filmy villian coach was the only weak link. Pritam's music was lovable, specially the motivating title track.

Fav scenes
 • Mahavir Singh Phogar having a dangal bout with her grown up daughter Geeta Phogat who feels his moves are outdated now.
• Geeta Phogat remembering the advices given by her father in past as she makes the 5 point daav to win the gold medal.


6. Band Baaja Baraat (2010)
 Bread pakore ki kasam.


Maneesh Sharma's debut as director in a movie based on wedding planning setup in Delhi, which is beautifully presented by Namrata Rao's cuts. Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma chemistry was very sizzling. It was Ranveer's debut and he just gave that feeling that he maybe the next big thing in our Hindi Films Industry which now in 2021 holds very true. 'Ainvayi Ainvayi' and 'Tarkeebein' my favourite tracks, and also some great dialogue writing too as I still remember that funny 'bread pakore ki kasam' line. Its easily the only film in this list, that grew on me in years much more than the 1st time and also its my 1st film I saw in theatres in Mumbai when I got settled in here.

Fav scenes
 • Bitto Sharma convincing Shruti Kakkar for partnership in wedding planning, promising he won't cross line.
• Their conversation on the terrace in the climax sequence.


7. Piku (2015)
Kamaal hai, aap har baat ko peth se kaise jodh dete hai..

I am picky when it comes to enjoying lighthearted movies, but Piku was hard to not love as Shoojit Sircar delivered another masterful film on unusual constipation theme. He tackles it in a fun drama screenplay with help of Juhi Chaturvedi's well written witty but realistic dialogues and the trio of Amitabh-Deepika-Irrfan with performances that compliment each other completely. The film also deals with ideologies of parents and the aging problem when we develop a love-hate relationship with them due to their habits. Lovely to see Moushumi Chatterjee in a supporting role. I liked the simple ending.

Fav scenes
 • Bhaskor singing bengali song on road journey when Rana asks the meaning which he replies as 'this journey should never end', making Rana immediately ask him to sing something meaningful instead.
• Rana shouting at Bhaskor when he hears him argue with Piku for thinking he is a burden to her.


8. Kai Po Che (2013)
Main ambani ban jayunga, Omi ko CM bana denge.. chal ab rickshaw pakadte hai..

A very good adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel 'The Three Mistakes of my Life' by director Abhishek Kapoor based on 3 friends who go through events like earthquake, godhra train and the riots. It could been easily melodramatic specially the scene where Ishaan dies, but Abhishek handles in a very subtle manner yet there's no lack of emotions. For me, 1st half belonged to Sushant Singh Rajput (brilliant debut) as a father like figure to Ali, obsessed in making him become a perfect cricket player, while 2nd half to both him and Amit Sadh who would get manipulated a lot. Rajkumar Rao was effective as always playing a kanjoos friend. Hitesh Sonik's background score along with Amit Trivedi's music was other highlight of the movie.

Fav scenes
 • Omi asking Ishaan if he would come with him for Ayodhya yatra to which Ishaan replies 'Tu jahaan kahega, chal padunga"
• Govind introducing his son 'Ishaan' to Omi who gets emotional with the excellent theme running in background.


9. Barfi (2012)
Umeedein ho toh kaagaz ki chidiya ke bhi pankh hote hai..

Anurag Basu's sweetest movie that compliments the title 'Barfi' with Ranbir Kapoor's another finest performance playing a character that is deaf and dumb. Priyanka Chopra is lovely to watch calling 'Buh fii' or always holding hand with little finger which is her way of telling she trusts the person, as she played a autistic character. While Ileana D'Cruz in debut showcased her acting skills in a well written role. Enjoyed how Anurag develops comic situations like the Ranbir's bulb test habits or running away from cop Saurabh Shukla a lot, some are inspired or copied but I still do enjoy watching it. One of my fav feel-good movies that has heartbreaking moments in all the 3 leads characters.

Fav scenes
 • Barfi heart-broken lets all his emotions and angst out at Shruti, then leaving but making sure she has a smile on face.
• The expression on face of Shruti when she hears Jhilmil call 'Buh fii' just when they were about to leave the place in the climax.


10. Talvar 
 Tumne insaaf ka murti dekha hai? Uss murti ke haath mein ek talvar bhi hai. Magar pichle 60 saalo mein uspe jang lag gaya hai.


Based on the Aarushi Talwar Case, a double homicide that took place in Noida, 2008. A 14 year old girl and a domestic help is found dead and the fingers go over the parents for committing such horrendous crime of killing own daughter. Meghna Gulzar narrative shows both angles, one where you feel parents can't have done this, and another where you think maybe they actually did it. However you can easily see that she does take side of parents in the story which is a reason why those people who don't agree parents are innocent may not enjoy or like the film. I ofcourse loved film because I believe the parents didn't do it. Coming to the movie, the performances of Konkana Sen Sharma and Neeraj Kabi as parents is spot on, going through a tough loss and then getting labelled as murderers with the constant media who grills on news channels. Irrfan Khan in top form as the CBI 1st team leading guy who goes through the every possible proof to come to conclusion only to be taken off case later because of stupid reasons. Gajraj Rao as the casual inspector is also fun to watch and also irritating because had he done his job well, the case wont had even gone to CBI. Tabu is only weak link of film, mostly because everytime her scene comes it feels like trying to give forced lighthearted moment, except for the final scene where she is watching news of Talvars getting arrested with Irrfan sleeping having lost the faith in the system. Its a tough movie to watch whichever narrative you wanna go with, having a tight screenplay with no songs there. 

Fav Scenes : 
• Ashwin taking complete class of Inspector Dhaniram, totally angry at how poorly the scene of crime was handled by him. 
• Ashwin and Ramashankar Pillai having a dig at the other CBI team telling how they came to a conclusion first and then searched for proofs to support their theories. 


SPECIAL MENTIONS : 

Baahubali 1&2

Mahishmathi chain ki saans lo.. mera beta aa gaya. Baahubali laut aaya.


Seen hardly 4-5 Regional movies in last decade, Baahubali (both parts) stands out as the best movie that very much tells how a masala movie should be done which our hindi industry often fails at. 

The plot revolves around a place 'Mahishmathi' where Baahubali (Prabhas) and Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati) face-off to get the throne. But both act differently to get it, Bhallaladeva is real son of Sivagami (Ramya Krishnan) but very evil and believes in winning any manner while Baahubali grows up under Sivagami treating her like real mother and always wants to make sure his people are safe and fine while fighting enemies. Part1 very successfully shows the son of Baahubali slowly learning about where he belongs and how Bhallaladeva has kept his mother, Devasena (Anushka Shetty) in bediyan since his birth. Love how Avanthika (Tamannaah Bhatia) leads Baahubali to Mahishmathi even though at places she does ham. Devasena's dialogue 'mera beta aayega' (I had seen the hindi version first) totally reminded of Karan Arjun in a good way. Almost every character is given good time to develop, whether its BhallaDeva running Mahishmathi treating the people cruely or Baahubali eager to free Devasena or Katappa (Sathyaraj) who is bound to serve always. The  flashback scenes and then how the battle happens leading to Baahubali getting the throne is superfun to watch including the wierd talking style of Kalakeya (Prabhakar). 

Part2 is little cheesy for the portions where Katappa and Baahubali disguise as smalltown villagers at the Devasena place. And there's that unwanted Tree action scene, or the final cheesy dialogue of Bhallaldeva 'aao devasena saath mein mar jaate hai'. Also, Tamannaah got totally sidelined to my liking. Thats the only flaws in a otherwise very good end to the Baahubali series. Love watching the plotting Bhalaladeva and his father do in the mind of Sivagami who learns about the shadyantra bit too late. Prabhas and Anushka Shetty share excellent chemistry, specially the romantic part. Why Katappa killed Baahubali was well known yet the scene is emotional when the time comes and then that dialogue 'jab tak tum mere saath ho, mujhe maarne wala paida nahi hua mama'. And love the touch they give when Baahubali dies, going with a high 'Jai Mahishmathi' chant. The final battle between Bhalladeva and Baahubali (son) is well constructed too, never giving feel of being lengthy. 

Rajamouli succeeds in narrating this story largely because its so full of emotions, everytime you are rooting for Baahubali, and two other factors that help are the visuals and music. Even the title credit comes on screen in a mega manner and a total treat to eyes, so are the scenes involving battles, elephants, ceremonies and much more. MM Kreem's music was so good that I even enjoyed listening to the Telugu versions, 'Khoya Hai' & 'Jal Rahin Hai' from Part1 and 'Jiyo Re Baahubali', 'Jay Jaykara' and 'Shivam' from Part2 were my fav tracks. Also, the background music was so good, with 'WKKB', 'The King and His Sword', 'Mahishmathi Brace Yourself', 'Royal Love', 'Stoned Heart' and 'Lullaby of Death' being favourites. I certainly have slight preference towards Part1, but in the end I enjoyed both movies a lot with top performances from the entire cast.

Fav Scenes : 
• Baahubali (son) enters Mahishmathi palace with background music and Devasena's dialogue that follows.
• Katappa running towards Baahubali (son) with a sword to kill when in the rain and darkness he sees his face finally realizing who it is followed by the foot of Baahubali on his head. 
• Baahubali cuts off the head of one of Bhallaladeva sena who misbehaved with Devasena and other women. 
• Sivagami announcing new king as Baahubali's son after the demise of Baahubali. 


La La Land 
Welcome to Seb's.


I started watching English movies consistently by 2014 I think, which is why I am skipping the decade list for Hollywood. But there's no way I won't talk about 'La La Land' which would had been my straightforward no.1 movie pick.

The kind of musical movie I enjoy, first one from Hollywood, a romantic at core with backdrop of jazz where Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) got a sizzling chemistry as they try to make their careers as pianist and actress respectively while facing reality of letting their relationship go hand in hand become tough. There are still some conversations that happen through songs but they are far and few and even those worked for me.Also, Ryan and Emma not perfect dancers/singers gives that real feel. The story is narrated by Damien in a very magical way that you almost don't see the hardhitting heartbreaking climax coming. 'City of Stars' both versions, 'Someone in the Crowd' and 'Epilogue' were my favourite tracks. Like Rockstar, its a perfect movie for me that I can never get tired of watching. 

Fav Scenes : 
• Mia requesting 'I ran' song as Sebastian makes angry expressions for not liking the choice of track. 
• Sebastian's 'Welcome to Sebs' as he watches Mia come to his place with her husband.


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