Recap 2013 : Best Films

Another year goes by, finally I saw more movies than I ever did in a single year previously. Of the 72 seen movies, I am listing my top 10 here. Each of these 10 movies were loved by me, Kai Po Che and Lootera however gets top two positions by a long margin.

I consider no.3 to no.9 positioned movies pretty much at same place, just numbered for the sake.

Here is my list of Top 10 Hindi Movies of 2013 -

1. Kai Po Che 

Excellent adaptation of Chetan's novel '3 Mistakes of Life' by Abhishek Kapoor. Special mention to how he uses earthquake, godhra train and riots events into the friendship story. Sushant makes excellent debut, RajKumar is effective as always, and personally Amit Sadh impressed me most. Amit Trivedi's music and specially the background score increases the emotional quotient. The pre-climax scene in novel was very dramatic, but Abhishek handled it in a subtle way, that proved good for the movie. Kai Po Che adds to the list of great movies made on 'friendship'.
Main ambani ban jaayunga, Omi ko CM bana denge.. chal ab rickshaw pakarte hai.


2. Lootera 

The best romantic movie I saw in 2013. Sonakshi's performance in the 2nd half is so good that if you combine all of her rest masala movies performances they will still fall short of Lootera by a huge margin. Only problem in movie was the loud background themes that were cutting the dialogues in the 1st half and not using Ankahee song with narrative or maybe final end credits with moving pictures. Amit Trivedi's music is made special by Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics, and Shilpa's vocals in Mann Marziyaan making the song in the movie much more emotional.  Liked how the 'last leaf' inspiration is used into the narrative. Yes the pace of movie is slow, but if you love what you are watching, it doesn't matter.  Also, with Lootera, Vikramaditya moves to 2 out of 2 great films in his filmography, with his first being Udaan.
Kya likh rahi ho ? Koi kahaani likh rahi ho ? Hmm. 
Kya kahaani ? Bas kahaani hai. 
Ladka hai kahaani mein ? Aur ek Ladki ? Hmm. 
Dono pyar karte hai ek dusre se ? Nahi. 
Pyar mein padne wale hai ? Pata nahi. 

3. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

I have loved Farhan Akhtar's acting in all his films, but with this he goes one step ahead showcasing how much effort he can take and come up with a performance that is near to flawless (Sorry Mr Naseeruddin Shah, disagree to ur criticism). Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra, makes a extremely inspirational movie that I can watch any number of times, and feel motivated towards anything I want to. Two weak points in film were Dalip Tahil and Yograj Singh, who hammed and looked misplaced into the movie. Divya Dutta except for 1-2 melodrama scenes, acted very well. SEL's music was very good, specially Zinda and the romantic number 'Mera yaar'. One of bio-pic movies that will always be remembered. Unchayi pe udne wale panchi chote chote pedho se dil nahi lagaate.

4. Shahid 

Hard-hitting movie from Hansal Mehta who keeps the storytelling realistic, with just one song used in background. RajKumar Rao in his best performance of career, completely flawless. This film is prime example of how to tell a message without preaching, 'If you got courage, you can achieve anything you desire'.  Also, the film has some of well directed court-room scenes. Special Mention to Mohd Zeeshan Ayub who is excellent in supporting role.
Mujhe nainsaafi dikha kar khuda ne insaaf sikhaya, dard beijjati zulm ka saamna karke, mujhe ladna sikhaaya, unn logo ki madad karna sikhaya jo khud ki madad karne ke kaabil nahi hai. 

5. Dhoom3

Who won't like to see Aamir in a double role, in a franchise that is stylish with cool punchlines, Aamir's perfection in acting makes it even better. Katrina's seductive kamli moves. Best 2nd half in a dhoom franchise till now, tough to choose between Samar and Shahir, both are equally good. 'Tu hi Junoon' is filmed very romantically. The chase sequences, specially the 1st one gives goosebumps. Aamir's entry scene one of best ever. While 'Bandhey hai hum uske' would be a line I would like to remember as much as I do 'hum duniya ki parwah kare kyu' (from dum maaro dum). Special mention to the background score, the overture instrumental easily adds to my fav bg themes.  The entertainer of the year easily belonged to Dhoom3.
Ek aisi ladaayi jismein audience ko lagta hai ki jeet unki ho rahi hai, lekin jeet-te hum hai, hamesha. 


6. AkaashVani 

Maybe a surprise entry for some, but I personally loved this movie despite the marital rape scenes were hard to watch. The romantic chemistry between Kartik and Nushrat is so adorable, specially in 1st half. Love the moment in 2nd half when Nushrat recalls old memories spent with Kartik over ipad. And when Kartik tries to bring happiness in Nushrat's life back so that she can become strong, the whole 'Bas main aur tu' song is pure love. Music by Hitesh Sonik another plus point of movie. After Fanaa, we get to listen quality shayaris too.
Humne jo ki thi mohabbat, aaj bhi hai. 
Teri zulfon ke saaye ki chaahat aaj bhi hai. 
Raat kat ti hai aaj bhi khayalon mein tere. 
Deewano si woh meri haalat aaj bhi hai. 
Kisi aur ke tasawwur ko uthti nahi. 
Beimaan aankhon mein thori si sharafat aaj bhi hai. 
Chah ke ek baar chaahe phir chorh dena tu. 
Dil todh tujhe jaane ki ijaazat, aaj bhi hai. 

7. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

After Wake up Sid, Ayan entered commercial cinema.. and still made a mark. If 1st half shows how well he can entertain, then 2nd half shows the maturity in direction with some great conversations about relations, friends. Ranbir-Deepika chemistry is fantastic. Except for few dramatic dialogues, there's no weak link in movie. Pritam's music is excellent, with all songs making mark, Batmeez dil and Kabira my favs. In current lot of actors, if there is one actor who can do what Shahrukh has successfully done over years i.e full fledged romantic films (fantasy or non-fantasy), then its only Ranbir Kapoor, he's just too good.  Farooque Sheikh has a small but lovable cameo. Special Mention to Kalki who slips in a entertaining supporting performance.
Waqt kisi ke liye nahi rukta. Gujarta waqt hai, aur kharch hum hote hai. 

8. The Lunchbox

Two people fall in love without meeting, a concept used very less before without much success. But its very well explored here, with Lunchbox playing the medium for Irrfan and Nimrat to form a bond that grows. Their conversations over routine life goes to personal and the liking develops into love. Ritesh Batra handles the post love part so effectively, with a scene where Irrfan feels he is too old for Nimrat. Then, there's Nawazuddin in a brilliant supporting act. Irrfan's acting looks so effortless, when he tells about memory of his dead wife or when he runs away from Nawazuddin early on. Climax with a open ending, though I would have loved one extra scene.
Kabhi kabhi galat train bhi, sahi jagah pahuncha deti hai..

9. Madras Cafe

Love to see John in non-commercial movies, he gets it almost right leaving the church sequences. Powerful performances by Prakash Belawadi and Siddhartha Basu. But what was beautiful about this movie, was the way it was shot, political story development and the tight editing. Not a single song used in a hindi movie is like a slap to all others who feel indian films need to have songs. The tension over Rajiv Gandhi's assassination day is well created. Rabindranath Tagore lines at the end could had been used in better way.
Jo hum dekhte hai, sunte hai, sach sirf utna nahi hota hai. 

10. Go Goa Gone

Hilarious 1st half, with Vir Das and Kunal Khemu sharing cracking chemistry. Its first hindi movie on zombie though not in horror genre, a zom-com. 2nd half could had been better with twists or special power to zombies, still its good enough to sneak a place at 10th in my list. Also, Slowly Slowly and Khoon Choosle songs were highly entertaining. Spoof on running behind trees when Kunal runs away from a zombie was super funny.
What do we know ? What have we learnt ? 
We know nothing. We have learnt ghanta. 


Movies that just missed entry in my top 10  : 

Special 26
B.A Pass
David
Shuddh Desi Romance
D-Day

Movie Analysis : Dhoom3

Directed by : Vijay Krishna Acharya
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1833673/


Aamir's top notch performance makes this best dhoom film. 

Read this post at your own risk.. its full of spoilers.


If you have been a regular reader of my blog, then you must be knowing how much I have hated masala movies this year. This post therefore will come as a surprise, because Dhoom3 though essentially a action movie very much falls in same category, yet I have loved it madly. Finally an all-out commercial movie that didn't dissappoint me. The reason mainly, is the Dhoom franchise that has always made me mad. Dhoom machale of Dhoom was the reason I became a music lover (before that I hardly use to listen songs all day), John's performance as a cool theif, was followed by Hrithik in Dhoom2. The very idea of a cool theif who will make it hard for cops to tackle amazed me (ofcourse I am always anti towards cops).

The only worry with Dhoom3 was the failed director Vijay whose last outing Tashan was a serious headache for me. But, thank goodness, he looks in super form. Yes, there's one scene where he looked in Tashan hangover, the intro scene of Jai (Abhishek Bacchan) and Ali (Uday Chopra) with the total over-the-top stunt sequence in auto-rickshaw and bike. Infact, if I ever think of editing the movie for personal use, I will definately cut this sequence, and bring them into the story with the scene where they head over to Chicago. I don't think their characters require filmy entry in every new dhoom series.

Now coming to the best part of the movie, which is breathtaking stunt sequences, and a brilliant 2nd half. The last two series lacked in one thing only, and that was a weaker 2nd half which meant we had to wait for the climax to see that last stunt. But in Dhoom3, there's a very good drama built over Shahir and Samar (twins, both played by Aamir Khan). This meant, there was no side plots of Jai-Ali unlike last two parts, they have no romantic interests (apart from Ali's regular dreamy scenes). The fact that its an all out Aamir Khan based story makes the impact large. For the first time in Dhoom series, we have a theif whose background is told to us, the theif is still cool and stylish with the manner he steals but the reason here lies the revenge of his father's Iqbal Khan (Jackie Shroff) death.

Aamir's entry scene is spectacular, if I tend to write a blog post on Best Entry scenes in future this scene is gonna be part of it for sure. The camera-angles, way its cut, the background theme and the lines 'bandhey hai hum', everything perfect. The 1st chase sequence gave me goosebumps, it had many stunts, something I felt 2nd chase sequence lacked a bit. Specially the bike roll beneath truck, kick to cop and the standing on bike while crossing cars. The final chase was super, loved the theme that plays when Shahir-Jai fight over bike. All the twists in each three of these chases made them look even better.

The idea of twins in a magic trick (taken from Nolan's 'The Prestige'), and bike that transforms into various shapes when required (taken from Nolan's 'Batman series') was applauable, for a change how inspiration can be used to own benifit is showcased here without lifting complete hollywood movie.

Only flaws apart from the intro scene of Jai-Ali, were the exessive use of slow motions, especially when chicago cops are lined up to shoot at Shahir/Samar, it made them look very stupid, plus the magic of that particular stunt got reduced. I would had preferred to see cops failing while trying, and not failing without trying (they didn't knew guns are used to shot). Editing was actually very weak, film could easily had been tighter with 10-15 mins cut.. or maybe have additional Shahir heist.

Also, I felt Shahir-Samar should not have died. When they escape away from Jai-Ali, they could had ended it there with a next scene showing where they both are, and what happened to Aaliya (Katrina Kaif). The dialogue 'isko nahi pakad sakte' would had fitted too. But yes, it would had denied the great emotional use of 'Bandhey hai hum uske, humpe kiska zor' in the current climax.

Music of Pritam is as good as Dhoom. Dhoom2 had only 2 good songs (title and crazy kiya re). Aditi's title rendition appeals more with video though unlike previous title versions that I loved listening without video. Love that stunt scene of Shahir-Samar during 2nd stanza in the song. My favs though are Kamli and Tu hi Junoon. Kamli is outstandingly picturised on Katrina, with her unbelievable dance moves and stunts, just like Shahir says 'koshish toh bahut ki', I couldn't take eyes off her during those 5 mins. It can well be termed as a strip dance number. Sunidhi has sung it very well, if you notice the change in her voice modulation during song. Tu hi Junoon is extremely romantic, love the cuteness Aamir brings into the song picturisation, Katrina looks hot in red dress specially. Malang is magical for the use of various props filling up the frame, love the Samar part in it which isn't there in audio version. Only 'Tap dance' didn't gel well with me.. must had been tough to practice it, I doubt even Hrithik would had made me love it.. feel tap dance should had been part of the choreography and not base whole dance on foot tap.

Background themes is another plus point of the movie, something I missed in Dhoom2. Here, we have the regular tune re-worked in great way, and there are some additional themes, all of them are fantastic. And happy to see 'Overtrue' theme presented in audio album.. one of best themes I have ever heard.

Dialogues are very well written, many punchlines work, my fav is 'jo duniya ko namumkin lage, wahi mauka hota hai.. kartab dikhaane ka'.

Aamir ensured that the year ended with a bang, another praiseworthy performance added to his list. As Shahir, his angry expressions in entry scene, the revenge look when he says 'main ghar aa gaya baba', his way of telling 'fuck you (tumhari aisi ki taisi)' to Jai during the entire conversation sequence (love the bg that plays when he throws coin in air). As Samar, he was too lovable right from the moment he says 'bandhey hai hum kiske', or when he talks about his secrets, when he tells Jai 'chor toh sab hote hai, chori karne ko milna chahiye kuch'. The two argument conversations between Shahir and Samar, especially the 2nd one was example of class acting, anger vs emotions.. that was infact my 2nd most fav scene after the entry scene .. very emotional (Tu mastermind, aur main khatra). We get to see him play a autism character, to do 2 different characters in same movie, and not faltering at any moment is commendable.

Abhishek at places (as I wrote during trailer blogpost) was repeating his dialogues from previous dhoom films.. still in comparison to Dhoom2, he looked and acted much better.

Uday Chopra was funnier, thanx to the fact that he has less screen time. There are two long sequences where he does irritate, which tells that its better off to have small dialogue scenes of his along with dreamy thoughts.. asking more than that from him won't work.

Katrina Kaif has small role, but in her dance moves, in all 4 songs she features in.. she is terrific. In acting, she falters during 1 scene badly.. when she asks Samar for date. Other than that, she is pretty fine. She has good chemistry with Aamir, but I would prefer to see her having larger role next time she acts with Aamir.

Jackie Shroff is excellent in his cameo role. Very good to see him do good meaningful roles, first in Aurangzeb and now Dhoom3.

Tabrett Bethell, australian actress who plays Victoria, hardly gets any scope to perform. Might had been better to let her lead cops in few scenes. To add to it, she was made to enact those dreamy Ali sequences, specially that kamasutra sequence.



Dhoom3 exceeds above all the expectations, Aamir's excellent acting, background themes, chase sequences, music and Katrina's dance moves. Flaws are there, but they don't come in the way of loving the movie.


Verdict : EXCELLENT

Movie Analysis : Club 60

Directed by : Sanjay Tripathi
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361148/

Raghuveer Yadav steals the show, good performance from Farooque Sheikh too. 

The concept of the film is 'how do you see the glass - half full or half empty'.

Dr. Tariq Sheikh (Farooque Sheikh) and Saira Sheikh (Sarika) are doctors by profession, and have moved in Mumbai. One day they get news of their son's death who lives abroad, and it completely shakes them off. Saira is much more stronger to move on but Tariq isn't. In his 60's, Tariq starts to live in his son's memories, having no relation with the world. Saira is worried about his mental state, and therefore takes psychiatrist help. Tariq's life changes when he meets one of his flatmate  Manubhai (Raghuveer Yadav), who despite being above 60 lives life like a 20 something guy.

The film's pace is very slow in the beginning, its Manubhai character's entry that lifts the movie from a total emo mode to fun mode. The way Manubhai dresses up, flirts with half aged or same aged girls, jokes around, drinks and basically does everything that he feels is good to enjoy life. At times, his character irritates, like Tariq feels. But slowly, you understand Manubhai's style of living is anytime better than what Tariq has made himself gone into.

Love the scene where Manubhai comes over Tariq's place to celebrate his dead son's birthday. Also, the scene where Saira asks psychiatrist that did she love her son less than his father as she has overcome the sadness but her husband hasn't. That was a very well written scene.

Its only at right end, we get to know the story of Manubhai, which for me is narrated weakly. Jay (Satish Shah) story is also nicely used, without trying to over-show the differences between father-son due to rich family he got married to. Sinha (Vineet Kumar) and D.S Dhillon (Sharat Saxena) have good roles too, specially Dhillon who in one funny scene gets stuck in a hotel with the girl he comes with running away with his clothes too. Ali (Tinu Anand) story deals with son gone abroad and having no time for him. Though, his farting was touch irritating in the movie.

The ending is very emotional, maybe real but its hard to see a character like that whom you had loved throughout.

I didn't knew this would be Farooque Sheikh's last movie, his performance was very good as a lonely father who had forgotten that he has a life to live.

Sarika does very well in her part of Tariq's wife. But its Raghuveer Yadav who takes away the limelight with his great performance, he's a live wire throughout the movie, full of energy and helping, naughty friend who loves flirting.



Club 60 is a well made light hearted movie that shows various relationships past 60 age, and how maturely they tackle it.


Verdict : VERY GOOD

Movie Analysis : R.Rajkumar

Directed by : Prabhu Deva
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2369154/

Yeh film sehat ke liye bahut haani-karak hain. 

Labelled as Prabhu Deva's first non-south remake movie, the movie fails to make any mark on me.

The plot of a hero Romeo Rajkumar (Shahid Kapur) working for a gunda Shivraj (Sonu Sood) who controls major portion of the village, falls in love with Chanda (Sonakshi) who is bateeji of Manik Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi). Manik is a rival to Shivraj, and Romeo helps Shivraj demolish his status over the village. What happens post that, is any intelligent movie goer guess.

No solid story is further saddenned with poor dialogues, there is a scene when Shivraj tells how he will have honeymoon with Chanda, and few mins later Chanda tells how she will have honeymoon with Romeo. There are some more of such disgusting scenes present in the name of masala movie. Then, there is overdose of maar dhaar action, watching Romeo beat 50 guys alone once is acceptable, but 2-3 times in movie was trying to do way too much, specially when the hero isn't known for action sequences.

Few punchlines work, though Romeo wierdly says the main line 'silent hoja, warna main violent ho jayunga'. Shivraj has his main line 'hum sehat ke liye bahut haanikarak hain'. There's one hong kong sequence which is shot typically south manner, Prabhu Deva's touch.

Leave aside 2-3 scenes that entertains, and the songs 'Gandi Baat', 'Saree ke Fall sa', and 'Mat Maari', there is nothing that makes you appreciate what you are watching. Choreography of Gandi Baat is awesome, specially the steps which Prabhu and Shahid do together. Same goes for Saree ke fall sa, that has typical mavaali mad steps along with that background violin person making appearance.

Performances wise, only Sonu Sood to some extent does well. Shahid never looks like enacting Romeo, the character was not made for him, all the time it appears like he is trying hard to say the dialogues like Romeo should do. Sonakshi came straight out of Rowdy Rathore sets and continued her role, someone needs to tell her to give up her stubborn attitude of doing only masala movies (she is heroine in next Prabhu deva film too), she is going no where like this.


R.Rajkumar is complete waste of time if you aren't a Shahid die hard fan. Another masala movie this year goes into my disliked list.


Verdict : POOR

Movie Analysis : Frozen

Directed by : Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/

Elsa, Anna and Olaf make this animated movie enjoyable. 

Animation movies for me can't be just about story, the characters should look innovative and adorable. Elsa (Idina Menzel), Anna (Kristen Bell) and Olaf (Josh Gad) are the ones that made me enjoy the movie.

The plot revolves around Elsa's childhood powers of converting anything that she touches into ice. She and her parents feel that her powers are only going to get dangerous with time, therefore they advice her to stay away from meeting anyone including her sister Anna. Time passby, and Elsa's powers comes into notice of everyone including Anna at a occasion. Anna realises why Elsa kept running away from her. But Elsa has dissappeared before making the town's summer into terrible winter full of snow which is only getting deeper. Anna has to find Elsa, bring her back and also the summer back in the town.

Narration follows singing style ala Les Miserables, and I didn't had good memories of that, reason being the genre doesn't attract me. But, good thing here was that there were equal amount of dialogue sequences, its not a total song narrated movie.

Anna was the pick of the characters, her hyper mood, the way she walks to a store, or the feeling of love. Elsa looks so beautiful when she runs away, and creates things on the way including a palace for herself.  Olaf in his small little role gives lots of laughs.

It was only the male/side characters that didn't impress me much, as well as the villain that didn't really look natural when the twist comes. The climax was very good one, liked how they created drama over whose love will make a character recover.


Frozen is a good enough animated movie, though it doesn't enter my favourite section.

Movie Analysis : Bullet Raja

Directed by : Tigmanshu Dhulia
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2551378/

Tigmanshu fails for a change, below average movie. 

Raja Mishra (Saif Ali Khan) and Rudra (Jimmy Sheirgill) gets involved into gangster world which they try to run away from but can't.  They start working for politician Ram Babu (Raj Babbar), and get famous as Raja-Rudra. But the world they have created for themselves, is full of danger and betrayal for power.

Easily Tigmanshu's weakest movie I have seen till now. The songs already had developed a bad vibe in me towards the movie. What works against him this time is lack of proper story or a good enough screenplay. Imagine a movie that has a title song with opening credits and is followed by a forgettable item song (both audio and visuals wise). Raja-Rudra are presented in Sholay's Jai-Veeru avatar, but its such a quick tribute that I felt not as bad as when Jai died in Sholay. Having said that Saif-Jimmy sequences were easily best moments of movie.

Other good thing was the dialogue writing, many dialogues had a fresh feel, sadly same cant be said about movie.

Songs come into narration as if a particular scene was created just to make them fit in, specially Tamanche pe disco and Savera.

There is definately good dose of style, but it fails to distract from all the weaknesses of the movie. Sonakshi is almost in a supporting cameo role, wonder if she did the movie only to be part of Tigmanshu cinema or pairing with Saif as her role has nothing to offer.

Saif Ali Khan hams at places specially when he isnt with Jimmy. Jimmy Shergill was easily the best performer, how well he gets his expressions, notice the small nuances he brings into his character.

Gulshan Grover and Raj Babbar are decent in their supporting roles.


Bullet Raja has very little to love about, only Saif-Jimmy friendship and climax works.


Verdict : BELOW AVERAGE

Movie Analysis : Last Vegas

Directed by : Jon Turteltaub
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204975/

Good entertainer with funny adult moments in plenty. 

Billy (Michael Douglas) who is way past 60 finally decides to marry his girlfriend who is almost half his age. He calls his childhood friends, Paddy (Robert De Niro),  Archie (Morgan Freeman),  and Sam (Kevan Kline). They decide for a bachelor party, and revisit their old days together having fun at a much older age. Also, the friendship between Paddy and Billy gets attention that has not been on track since death of Paddy's wife.

I quite enjoyed the movie, lots of good adult dialogues, scenes and humurous moments between all 4 friends when they meet. After 50 some years tag was hilarious. Diana (Mary Steenburgen) character was well inserted into narrative, if only Billy didn't overdo the sacrifice part.

Except for Michael Douglas, all get equal share of fun scenes. The bed rotate, jumping from ground floor window, judging girls in bikini (the guy part in end spoiled it though), the death joke over phone, and entire Diana part was lovely.


Not as entertaining as The Heat was, still Last Vegas was worth a watch.