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.

J.Edgar [Views]

Directed by Clint Eastwood 

Imdb Link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1616195/

Do I kill everything that I love ?

I had no idea about who J.Edgar was, so this film was more like a history lesson I was taking. Only thing I expected was, the history would be shown with a good engaging screenplay, which wasn't the case!

The story is about J.Edgar rise to fame in FBI, and the truths associated with his rise, the arrests that he never does, and his personal life that is always kept secret.

Leonardo Di Caprio portrays J.Edgar quite well, except for the accent he has that reminds me of his old performances at times. Especially the sequences when he has a well established bureau of his own. The make up is really bad for the old life portrayal of J.Edgar as well as Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). I didn't like Armie much in totality, the same guy who was effective as Winklevoss in Social Network.

The film begins with Edgar asking the typist to write on his life, as he narrates everything. The whole story henceby, we view are from Edgar's point of view. The problem arises that we never get too involved into the main plot, instead what catches our eye is the relationship between Edgar & Tolson, and Edgar & his mother. The screenplay uses too many flashbacks and coming back to present, disturbing the effect a particular sequence was having. For instance, the kidnapping of a child plot starts on a good note, but when its given a break and later we see the case solved... it makes more or less no impact.

Few sequences worth mentioning are, Edgar taking Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) for a date at a library and proposing her with a sudden kiss, which he declines. Its probably the only time where we see Edgar having such interest in girls. Then, the scene where Edgar and Tolson get into a fight resulting in a kiss by Tolson. And, the one where truth of Edgar is revealed. Also, the scene where the problem in speech for Edgar arises again due to his inability to dance with womean, and his mother asks him to stand in front of mirror and then speak lines.

Some questions are left unanswered, like was Edgar homosexual ? Why he used to not go for arrests himself, why he used to be so confused, and away from facts ? Edgar always found himself incomplete, just like that painting he always sees while going to visit President at his place. He never accepted Tolson completely, even though he always admitted that he can't manage his life without his support with him all the time. He made Gandy his forever secretary, whom he proposed once.. and she was just so loyal to him all the time.


Overall, J.Edgar is a decent watch, its a film that could had been much better with a better narrative that emphasized more on Edgar's professional rise, highs and lows.. Still, for Leonardo performance its a watchable film, though nothing award worthy...

Good Night Good Morning [Views]

Directed by Sudhish Kamath

Imdb Link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740745/

I don't think we have to take love out of one person to give it to another. Love is a bottomless glass.

This film either is inspired from 'Before Sunrise' or I see it that way.. Whatever it is or not, the concept this time is little different, the strangers have a never ending conversation on phone, not in person.

Two strangers Turiya (Manu Narayan) and Moira (Seema Rahmani) happen to meet at a pub on New Year's eve. Turiya leaves without any conversation with his friends, on a car journey to Philadelphia. He decides to randomly call the same girl. Moira at first isn't keen to talk with a random stranger on phone, but feeling bored and having nothing to do, she thinks of trying him out. And hence the conversation on phone between the two leads begin that continues till the end of the film..

The impressive thing for me in this film was, how well the screenplay and narration is kept, because here you are gonna depend mainly on a phone conversation happening between the leads. There are just two locales available, one the girl's hotel room and other the boy with his buddies in car. Also, the film is filmed mainly in black and white, with very few coloured sequences.

The talks of Turiya and Moria starts from random flirting, goes to each other's personal information, pasts of theirs.. Their conversation talks almost everything about Love, Relationships and Life. There is a splendid spoof on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai too.

Also, the fictional stories both characters speak during the conversation are brilliantly visualised. Then, the conversation among the buddies or that photo taking act, helps the viewers get a breather from the split screen talks on phone between the leads.

My fav scenes would be, one where Moira talks about her opinion on relationships as a whole.. and the one where Turiya asks her to flush something out. Also, the geek sequence was humurous.

Writing is very good, its real, humourous and connectable easily. Dialogues are a major plus in the film, because the film is dependant on the conversations mainly, and they are very well written. Direction by Sudhish Kamath is top-notch, I like that he kept the climax way it is.. and not the other one he uploaded on youtube. Editing is good, the fact that its a short film helps otherwise the split-screen narration would had become tough to engage people for a longer period.

Both Manu Narayan and Seema Rahmani were excellent in their performances, had they faltered the film wont had worked because the split screen narration meant a lot of close up scenes, and hence the expressions mattered. Also, they both have good screen presence especially Manu who at times reminded me of Abhishek bachchan in appearance.. Vasanth and Raja Sen were fine as supporting characters, they hardly had much to do in film, except for 3-4 dialogue scenes.


Overall, Good Night Good Morning works for me.. for the reason that it talks about so much without preaching, its more like two people telling their opinions on the most common things that are part of everyone's life. It makes you think, think and have a answer to the same questions Turiya and Moira ask each other on phone, and when a film does that.. its likely that it has hit the right note..