Recap 2016 : Best Hindi Albums

It was a year dominated mainly by Amit Trivedi and Pritam. With 'Fitoor', Amit Trivedi once again exceled in pure romantic genre just like he did last time with 'Lootera', hope Imtiaz Ali works with him someday. Also, 'Dear Zindagi' and 'Udta Punjab' had trademark Amit Trivedi stamp over them with some memorable tracks. Pritam striked gold in later half of the year with 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' and 'Dangal', such contrasting music they both had. Some of his songs in 'Dishoom' were catchy too. Who cares if he copies, I dont.

Shankar Ehsan Loy may not have lived upto the expectations for Rock On2 (frankly I found songs good enough to hear, just in comparison to 1st part it looks weak), but with 'Mirzya' they showed why they are still worth having expectations from.

While 'Befikre' didn't make my top10, with 'Akira' and 'Banjo' having mostly mediocre songs.. it was 'Sultan' where Vishal-Shekhar were impressive giving good variety of songs.

Both Sachin-Jigar duo and Sohail Sen had a not-so good year as their respective albums 'A Flying Jatt' and 'Happy Bhag Jayegi' had nothing much to like about.

AR Rahman seemed to be back in form with 'Tamasha' last to last year, but 'Mohenjodaro' failed to impress me at all. The wait for next awesome album from Rahman since 'Rockstar' continues.

Amaal Malik continued to rise, with not just his singing but his work as composer in 'Kapoor & Sons' , 'Azhar' and 'MSD The Untold Story' was very good. Maybe, in 2017 he would give that perfect album and make it to top3.

Other Notable Mentions would be Clinton Cerejo for his super music in 'Te3n', and likeable tracks in 'Kahaani2' also. There's Jasleen Royal whose songs in 'Baar Baar Dekho', 'Dear Zindagi' and 'Shivaay' were pretty good, only worry though is that she doesn't get repetitive as 'Kho gaye hum kahan (Baar baar dekho)' and 'Raatein (Shivaay)' had similar style of composing. And lastly, Ram Sampath for his music in 'Raman Raghav2', qatl e aam song had me on repeat mode for weeks.

'Shivaay', 'Befikre' and 'Raman Raghav2' just miss out... Here's my list, the order is based on the albums that have more songs I like to listen on repeat mode.

TOP 10 HINDI ALBUMS 

1. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 

When it comes to romantic genre, Pritam in past has given many great songs/albums who are as appealing today as it was then. 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' is easily among Pritam's top5 albums ever, and you knew it happening the day title song got released which is the best track from album sung by Arijit Singh describing the pain of one-sided love so well. Amitabh Bhattacharya who is the lyricist has combined well with Pritam as you feel the songs working completely, both the music and lyrics. 'Channa Mereya' of Arijit, I may not love, like most people do, but still find it a good track, specially the unplugged and reprise version in the movie. I didn't like 'Bulleya' initially but listening repeatedly, it grew on me and is not far away from title track now, Amit Mishra rendition has given it a nice pain-angst feel and could easily be referred as lighter romantic version of 'Saadda Haq'. Both 'Breakup song' and 'Cutiepie' are catchy dance tracks, I specially love Cutiepie tune and ofcourse the way it ends in the movie. 'Alizeh' is the only weak song in album, and the english part at end doesn't help, it still is a good song but in comparison to rest songs it fails. Special mention to the songs included in deluxe album, Shilpa Rao's 'Aaj jaane ki zidd' is super seductive track, one of rare occasions of old classic song re-done perfectly. Reprise version of 'Bulleya' sung by Arijit doesn't appeal to me one bit. Special mention to the old classics of Mohammad Rafi used in the film, my fav being 'an evening in paris' with Arijit vocals.
Favs - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Bulleya (amit version), Cutiepie


2. Fitoor 

Its surprising how a failed bad movie means the music must be forgotten and not praised even if it was awesome. That's how I felt when Fitoor was hardly in any awards nominations list. Even random people I see talk more about 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' or 'Udta Punjab' than 'Fitoor'. To be frank, Fitoor was very close to been no.1 in my list. Amit Trivedi after 'Lootera' gives another gem of album in the pure romantic genre, he should do this genre a lot more often . Title track 'yeh fitoor mera' by Arijit is very good and addictive, only complaint was it didn't have more antara stanzas which in movie is present but not in the audio album. 'Pashmina' is a beautiful song which Amit Trivedi sang himself, it was promoted through seductive dance moves in the video but in movie you could feel it lot more as the lyrics match-up with how the love is growing slowly. 'Haminastu' sung by Zeb Bangash is easily among best songs filmed on Kashmir, the music is really haunting and so are the lyrics, kudos to Swanand Kirkire. My song of the album however is 'Tere liye' sung fantastically by Jubin Nautiyal and Sunidhi Chauhan, its great to listen Sunidhi in romantic tracks something she doesn't do often, but its Jubin who owns the song, a soft romantic track that's hard to not love. Although Sunidhi has sung the hindi version of 'Ranga Re' very well, its the English version by Caralisa Monteiro that I love a lot more, deeply romantic and seductive in a way. I am fond of Nandini Srikar songs (dua, bhare naina, harjaiyaan etc) but 'Hone do Batiyan' was my least liked song in the album.
Favs - Tere liye, Pashmina, Ranga re (english)


3. Dangal

To see Pritam excel in this kind of album, really surprised me and its the same composer-lyricist combo i.e Pritam-Amitabh Bhattacharya at their best yet again. 'Haanikaarak bapu' sung by young Sarwar Khan is a hilarious father-daughter take that works as well without visuals too. 'Dhaakad' aamir version is way better than the raftaar one, and no wonder makers of movie realized it too by having it in movie.  Jonita Gandhi is soon reaching the league of Shilpa Rao kind of singers if she hasn't yet, i.e those female singers who you love to listen for their different voice and not typical like Shreya etc. Jonita's 'Gilehriyaan' tells how the habits of a person is changing whether to good or bad, and great reference is made with gilehri. 'Dangal' title track is one of best tracks of year, highly motivating and Daler Mehndi is perfect choice for this song. Arijit meanwhile fails to impress in 'Naina', the song works with movie though. Nooran sisters are very likeable yet again in their rendition of  the fun track 'Idiot Banna'.
Favs - Dangal, Haanikaarak bapu, Gilehriyaan


4. Te3N

Easily the most under-rated album of last year. Clinton Cerejo does a commendable work as composer making each of the 5 songs worth listening. Also, with Te3n, Amitabh Bhattacharya makes it three entries in top5 as lyricist. 'Kyun re' has two versions, one by Clinton and other by Amitabh Bachchan. Both with same lyrics and arrangements, while Amitabh one works better in relation to the movie story, I prefer Clinton more with the song talking of loss of someone very dear to you (grand-daughter in the movie), a good depressing track. Clinton's rendition of 'Haq hai' is a very motivational track that talks of hope and not giving up with excellent use of chorus. 'Rootha' has Benny Dayal and Divya Kumar who effectively talk about opposite of what 'Haq hai' did, which is feeling lost and tired with everyone. Bianca Gomes has few bengali lines too in the track. 'Grahan' has a rock feel to it, and great choice of Vishal Dadlani who fully nails the song that is combined tale of pain and angst.
Favs - Kyun re (clinton), Haq hai, Grahan


5. MS Dhoni The Untold Story

For music pundits or intellectuals, this would be just a routine average album. I am sure there will be many music lovers like me though who loved this album a lot, specially talking of the die hard romantics. Armaan Malik as composer is at his best in giving a complete good album. Usually seen Armaan sing soft romantic tracks, so was a surprise to listen him in 'Besabriyaan', a track that shows the routine of Dhoni from college to cricket practice, and very well written by Manoj Muntashir. 'Padhoge Likhoge' is a fun take on the everheard phrase of 'padhoge likhoge toh banoge nawaab' that works only with film else forgettable song. 'Parwah Nahin' is a missed opportunity by Armaan, lyrics have that angst and frustration feel and so does the singer Siddharth Basrur rendition but the composition doesn't really take off keeping the same tempo throughout. Its the trio of 'Kaun tujhe', 'Jab Tak' (both versions) and 'Phir kabhi' that is the major usp of this album. 'Phir kabhi' is a take on falling in love/just fallen in love and not caring about anything else feeling with Arijit vocals. While 'Jab tak' basically is a follow up to 'Phir kabhi' about someone who is deeply in love, with Armaan Malik vocals in the kind of song we are used to hear him and undoubtedly he is excellent. I like 'Jab tak' version slightly more than the redux one. 'Kaun tujhe' is the best melody you would had heard last year from a female singer, which is Palak Mucchhal here. Easily the best track from the album. The additional track 'Har gully mein dhoni hai' composed and sung by Rochak Kohli didn't work for me at all.
Favs - Kaun tujhe, Jab tak, Phir kabhi 


6. Dear Zindagi

This album is much better than 'English Vinglish' as Gauri Shinde worked with Amit Trivedi again. 'Tu hi hai' and 'Taarefon se', both beautiful soft melodies which I liked more in Ali Zafar's voice in movie, wish they kept it part of original album too. Vishal Dadlani's 'Lets break up' is a good listen too, a fun take on break-up pretty much like Ae dil's 'Breakup song'. Jasleen Royal's rendition to the light-hearted title track 'Love you zindagi' is good but its not kinda of track that I like to listen repeatedly. Its Sunidhi Chauhan who steals the limelight in the album with a terrific track 'Just go to hell dil' where music may remind of some older heart-breaking tracks composed by Amit Trivedi specially 'Lehrein' from Aisha. Its a song very well written by Kausar Munir that keeps shifting from painful heartbreak to angst and to total angst in the end followed with an emotionally touching chorus. Then there's two versions of famous song 'Ae zindagi gale laga le' re-done by Amit. Alia's version just never really works, as the composition comes out more like a remix version. But Arijit version is really good that has a slight rock feel, keeps original lyrics intact and makes sure the essence of the loved classic song stays.
Favs - Just go to hell dil, Ae zindagi gale laga le (arijit), Taarefon se


7. Sultan 

Always good when Vishal-Shekhar come up with a quality album like they do here with Sultan. Consisting of 7 original tracks and 2 different versions, there's a lot of variety both in terms of genre and singers here. Inspirational title track 'Sultan' is very well sung by the reliable Sukhwinder and Shadab supports well. But unlike Dangal, this song works better with visuals. There is a smaller version of this song called 'Rise of Sultan' sung by Shekhar which gives a vibe of someone trying to motivate himself back and again is brilliantly used in film. Best song comes in form of 'Jag Ghoomeya', which has 2 versions too, one by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and other by Neha Bhasin. Though I love both, I am slightly more inclined towards Neha version as it feels more fresh with her voice, an excellent romantic track. Mika's '440 volt' also much like the title track, is appealing only with the movie, otherwise quite ordinary track. Papon's 'Bulleya' is likeable for the Irshad Kamil lyrics more than the composition which I didn't really love. 'Baby ko bass pasand hai' is easily my guilty pleasure song of last year, it has that salman special stamp all over it which most of his movies usually have, but Vishal-Shekhar makes it quite a fun filled track with rendition by Vishal and Sharmali and added rap by as usual Badshah. 'Tuk Tuk' I personally love a lot, at times more than Jag Ghoomeya, as Nooran Sisters are amazing yet again, the english part is slightly off-track but luckily its only for some secs.'Sachi Muchi' is a nice light-hearted track by Mohit Chauhan and Harshdeep Kaur.
Favs - Tuk Tuk, Jag ghoomeya (neha), Baby ko bass pasand hai


8. Baar Baar Dekho

Its one of those rare albums, where I like each song, but none of them is worthy of calling gem. With 5 composers used for the six songs in album, often it results in just one or two that are good enough, luckily not the case here. Baadshah's recreated version of 'Kaala Chashma' is very catchy and despite his rap (which more often than not ruins songs) and new lines inserted for Neha Kakkar's part, the song works alright. 'Teri Khair Mangdi' is a good romantic song, specially love the line 'ik teri khair mangdi, main mangaan na kuch aur', wish it would had been more than just a good song though. Arko's 'Dariya' has very nice lyrics, but vocals kinda of spoiled the song for me. 'Sau Aasmaan' works mostly for Neeti Mohan's vocals, with lyrics and Armaan rendition not making much effect. Jasleen Kaur Royal both composed tracks 'Nachde ne Saare' and 'Kho gaye hum kahan' are lovely tracks, specially the latter that I like a lot. 'Aloo bade karare' is very well used in Nachde track, and also like the fun filled lyrics, a good punjabi flavour dance song. 'Kho gaye hum kahan' is composed in a very simple way with fewer musical arrangments, with soft vocals of both singers Jasleen and mainly Prateek Kuhad who is very likeable in this song.
Favs -  Teri khair mangdi, Kho gaye hum kahan, Kaala chashma


9. Udta Punjab 

And Amit Trivedi makes his 3rd entry with Udta Punjab. The kind of movie where you expect Amit Trivedi come up with interesting compositions, and so he does but partially. There are 2 versions of 'Ikk Kudi', while Shahid Mallya definately sings it much better, I prefer Diljit Dosanjh who brings a lot more feeling to it instead. Babu Haabi sets up perfect mood with his rap for 'Chitta Ve' with Shahid Mallya and Bhanu Pratap taking over the rest song very well. 'Da da dasse' is easily Kanika Kapoor's career best song (not babydoll or the hugely over-rated chittiyaan kalaiyaan) and Babu Haabi rap is once again so efficient here. Maybe something for Badshah to learn, how a rap can actually work for a song rather than spoil it. Shahid Mallya's 'Hass Nachle' didn't appeal to me, while Amit Trivedi's rendition to 'Vadiya' has a very heard before feeling to it. What disappointed me most however was the title track 'Udta punjab' as the catch line 'andar da kutta ajj kadiye' in the trailer raised expectations of a terrific song, but the song turns out to be very mediocre.
Favs - Da da dasse, Chitta ve, Ikk kudi (diljit)


10. Mirzya

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra films have always had great music, be it Aks, Rang De Basanti, Delhi6 or Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Mirzya doesn't quite fall in that league, mainly for the fact that the songs here are folk based including some classical tracks. And I am not really fond of this genre, yet the album has some songs that were simply too good to ignore. Comprising of 15 songs, out which 6 are background scores that are 30 sec pieces sung by Daler Mehndi and serve for a different narration style in film. Title track 'Mirzya' has its moments, sung by Daler Mehndi and various other singers but it fails to be a typical Daler Mehndi special plus found it loud too. 'Ek Nadi Thi' is beautifully sung by Mohan Kannan and Nooran sisters, and lovely lyrics by Gulzar. 'Hota Hai' is a fantastic track about what happens when falls in love with Nooran sisters dominating most of the song, I specially love it post 3 mins mark from Shankar Mahadevan lines 'kabhi kabhi yun bhi hota hai, dost bichad jaate hai' and the final 15 secs music is just too good. And another fav track is 'Teen gawah hai ishq ke', a sweet romantic song very well sung by Siddharth Mahadevan, except for the start of the song I liked this one fully. 'Chakora', 'Aave re hitchki', 'Doli re Doli' and 'Kaaga' were 4 tracks that ain't bad but just not my cuppa of tea. Special mention to the instrumental 'broken arrows', love the use of flute in it.
Favs - Hota hai, Teen gawah hai ishq ke, Ek nadi thi

Recap 2016 : Top10 Hollywood Movies

Just like Hindi Movies, 2016 was a year I found incredibly good at the Hollywood movies. I am gonna list my top10 movies here in details, but I can safely say that there are minimum 5 more movies that I feel bad they didn't make to top10.

As far as worst films are concerned, 'Batman v Superman', 'Suicide Squad', 'Shut In' and 'Hail Caesar' (which is favourite of many) I found completely ridiculous and time-wasters.

Among major disappointments, 'Silence', 'Doctor Strange', 'The Girl in the Train' and 'Jason Bourne', all of which I liked but they should had been much more than that.

Pleasant surprises of the year were 'The Nice Guys', 'Kubo and The Two Strings',  'Fantastic Beasts and where to Find Them', 'Moana', 'The Accountant' and 'Lights Out',

'The Junglebook', 'The Witch', 'Nocturnal Animals' and 'Hidden Figures' just missed out on my top10 list, as I told it was a very good year.

Now, talking of the Top10, there are 6 oscar nominated pictures in them but the omission of 'Moonlight' will surprise a lot of people reading this, and also a horror movie I have included. Frankly Moonlight had a very weak 3rd act, after two superb chapters. Sorry Oscars, lets agree to disagree.

I love all the listed top10 movies here, the order is strictly on the basis of which film has higher repeat value for me.

P.S. Just a reminder, the post will be full of spoilers, so read at your own risk. 

TOP 10 Hollywood Movies : 

1. La La Land 

No, there ain't any mistake like Oscars did. La La Land indeed is the no.1 movie on my list, and its the best movie I have seen since 'The Dark Knight' in 2008. A movie where people talk about jazz, yet its not on jazz. One of major reasons why I love La La Land so much is that its not a routine musical movie from Hollywood like Les Miserables (which I really couldn't sit through as I hate such musicals). Instead here we get only some moments where characters would have conversations through songs, rather than having a whole film where characters keep breaking into songs every minute. That is why Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone), even when they dance or sing, and appear so not prepared or perfect in that department, it comes off so well, because suddenly you feel that I can be that too, I could also sing and dance like that, and it gets relatable. Thats how the movie is, a tale about dreams and love, and the choices we make, but narrated in a very magical manner. I didn't get all the homage or references paid to past musicals which I haven't seen.
'City of Stars' and 'Someone from the Crowd' are my favs from the soundtracks. Mia requesting  'I ran' song and Ryan explaining jazz to Mia were two of my most fav scenes. Special mention to the starting song 'Another day of Sun' that sets the tone of movie right from beginning, it wants you to think that its real even though it isn't. Love the sizzling chemistry between Ryan and Emma, wasn't a surprise at all to see Emma win Oscar for her performance, completely deserved it. Like how the signature Mia-Sebastian relationship tune is used at 3-4 places very effectively. Final 15 mins of movie is simply heartbreaking, and so are the words from Sebastian 'Welcome to Sebs'. And still there's a smile on your face when the film ends despite a realistic and sad ending. Very few films can do that. La La Land is full of lighthearted humor, romance, drama and almost makes you cry, its a perfect five star movie for me, one that I will fondly remember with other all time greats. If you are a romantic, then La La Land should work for you surely. 

This is the dream! It's conflict and its compromise, and it's very, very exciting. 

2. Manchester by the Sea 

When this movie was getting great reviews from critics and getting applauded at awards, I was wondering this will be one of those typical oscar movie that won't appeal to me. But that wasn't the case, I loved Manchester by Sea so much that I had to see it atleast 4 times even when I was on a 15 day non-stop oscar movies watch spree. Its easily the most depressing movie I have watched ever that doesn't involve physical suffering (like 12 years a slave or Revenant or Silence or any other movies do). Here, we see Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) dealing with a past trauma that happened in his life when he lived in Manchester, and now he is forced to go back there and be guardian of his nephew after finding his brother has died. Director uses non-linear narration, one shows Lee before trauma, happy and friendly guy spending time mostly with wife, children, friends and sometimes nephew on boat.  And other one where Casey really excels is the post trauma, when he keeps suffering inside, not letting the pain come out, we see him get angry on random people at drink place twice, been cold to a girl at the bar, or the scene at hospital when he is finding it hard how to react on his dead brother news. Director does well, by taking time to reveal as to why Lee has a personality that makes people not like him. There's one terrific scene between Lee and his ex-wife Randi (Michelle Williams) where she is trying to be sorry for her poor behavior or words she used for Lee, which we are never shown when the incident happens and also when Lee explains the entire incident to police and is surprised to be told he can leave as if he wants to be punished for what he did unintentionally. Personally, I love the scene when Lee finally seems to break-down and cry when he is getting first-aid, or when he dreams his daughter asking him that 'can't you see we are burning', and the one where he tells Patrick 'I can't beat it' (the trauma). Happy that Casey won the Oscar, no one else deserved it more than him, liked how he played the character internally, and making it thereby look even more depressing. Lucas Hedges (Patrick) is the only character who gives some light-hearted moments through his scenes with both girlfriends or talks with Lee on them, though I was wondering if his character was deliberately kept like that, as was surprised to see less emotions towards his dad's death. I like his dining scene with his mom most, and the one where he stares at the 3 photos kept in Lee's room which are never shown to us. Manchester by the Sea is definately a movie you should watch, as long as you don't mind a depressing movie.
I can't beat it. I can't beat it. I am sorry. 

3. Arrival 

Denis Villeneuve has soon become one of my fav directors in no time, Prisoners (yet to watch Enemy), Sicario and now Arrival. The best thing about his movies is that he uses the music so beautifully to build the tension, which here are the twelve spacecraft that have landed on earth and Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguistics professor is asked to help decode what is the purpose of Aliens on earth. The story thereby leads to amazing discovery of how well Louise handles the communications she has with the aliens when she goes inside the spacecraft. Also, excellent editing regarding Louise continuous past thoughts about her dead daughter, which ofcourse turns out to be something else as the story unfolds. Amy Adams was totally snubbed of not just a oscar nomination, but probably a win, I would certainly have rooted for her despite Emma being there. Amy carries the entire movie on her shoulders, without faltering anywhere. If La La Land showed in end, 'what could had been for Mia and Sebastian', Arrival shows us 'what it will be in future' for Louise and her family in an excellent montage with a background score that makes it even more emotional. I love the scene when Louise daughter from future says 'Daddy' and we are cut to Louise looking at Ian (Jeremy Renner) in present. Arrival is easily one of best sci-fi movies I have seen, it is slow-paced but if you are patient enough then its a movie that most likely you would love to have watched when it finishes.
If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things? 


4. Zootopia

Animation films are lot more appealing when it tries to tell a unique story, rather than just entertain with cartoon characters. Zootopia achieves to do just that, telling a story about a city where various animals of different sizes live together including predators and ones they prey on, and still manage their routine lifestyle like typical humans. When Judy (voiceover by Ginnifer Goodwin) becomes the first rabbit to join the police force, she is so delighted only to later find out that she is allotted parking duties. Until one day, she gets involved in proving her worth by solving a mysterious case, and takes help of Nick, a fox (voiceover by Jason Bateman) to find he missing otter within 48 hrs. Zootopia entertains a lot, specially that laugh out sloth scene which is easily the best of last year. But what it also does, is tell about all the prejudices and stereotypes prevalent in the society, which can easily be compared to racism or equality. It talks about how tough it can be to fit in and you have to believe in yourself and not give up. There's another super laughout moment with the Godfather reference of Mr big (ironically his shape is opposite to his name, voiceover by Maurice LaMarche). Its Judy and Nick super chemistry with some excellent humor, that keeps you engaged when they go through various adventures and coming close to the reality behind the missing otter. Definately an animation movie, not to be missed, delivers to both young and adult audience.
Life's a little bit messy. We all make mistakes. No matter what type of animal you are, change starts with you. 


5. Deadpool

Completely ignored at the oscars, and it was one of most pleasant surprise movie of last year for me. I mean the opening credits itself set me right into 'Oh yea, this is gonna be a some special kind of entertainer'. The story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelarated healing powers, adopts the alter-ego Deadpool as he hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life. To sum up the movie in 2 words, its Ryan Reynolds, he is so spectacular in his sarcastic humor with fast speaking, reminding of Robert Downey in Ironman. Whether the situation is happy/sad, tense/tricky it just won't matter, Deadpool has a sense of humor for all occasions and he makes fun of lots of movies whether superhero, or Taken series, or other random famous lines he uses in his routine conversations and he doesn't spare himself too. Told in a non-linear narrative by director Tim Miller, there's plenty of action, and good screen-time given to develop Wade's romantic life with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) before he became Deadpool, and we are talking of a different lusty relationship turned into love, and not a routine superhero love angle. Only weak point of movie is the villain Ajax (Ed Skrein) whose performance is rather good, but the character doesn't really offer much to be scared of or look forward to for that finale battle. Thats one curse many superhero movies go through sadly. Leaving that asides, there's nothing really to complain here, supporting cast is pretty good too but its just Ryan show all the way from the start for his witty adult humor and the writing that is top class.. Unless you are a sanskaari chela of Pahlaj Nihalani (who kinda of spoiled a lot of the movie with his stupid scissors), you are in for a laughter ride. Oh but I regret to have missed the hilarious end-credits scene. Waiting for the 2nd part..
You are probably thinking, "Whose balls did I have to fondle to get my very own movie"? I can't tell you his name, but it rhymes with "Polverine".


6. Lion 

I was worried that this could be another Slumdog type movie that shows India is a poor country n blah blah. But, Lion rather is about the struggle of young Saroo (Sunny Pawar), 5 yr old boy who falls asleep in an empty train only to find himself locked when he wakes up as train is headed to Calcutta, about 1500 miles away from his home. Saroo gets lost in the streets of Calcutta, trying to reach back to his family and avoiding wrong people he meets on the way, eventually an Australian family John Brierley (David Wenham) and Sue Brierley (Nicole Kidman) adopts him. Dev Patel plays the grown up Saroo, who hasn't been able to come out from his childhood trauma and goes on a obsessive path of finding his real family. To my pleasant surprise, 1st half is entirely in hindi giving a very authentic touch to the movie. Nawazuddin Siddique appears in a one scene role, and makes it look very creepy. That scene where Dev Patel looks at jalebi and instantly thinks of childhood memory almost makes you cry, and so does all the failed attempts he goes through using Google Earth to find his home, or when he finally successfully finds home connecting every path to his home. Director Garth Davis keeps the narrative moving despite a story that spans over 25 yrs, and he perfectly makes sure that he never indulges in melodrama which this film had a lots of scope to do, the only time you see overflow of emotions is the climax and to be frank you gotta accept that scene as its done. Only weakness in the movie was Saroo-Lucy (Rooney Mara) romance which felt got affected by the film's main plot and comes up as half-baked. Special mention to 'Urvashi' track, just loved the cuteness of that scene with Dev and Rooney having a great time. Dev Patel is splendid in 2nd half of movie, better than his Slumdog act and sad he couldn't win oscar this time. Nicole Kidman has one very good scene where she tells her reasons for adopting Saroo. But Lion belongs mainly to Sunny Pawar, he is the soul of the movie, the one you remember when you are done watching movie,and harsh truth as end credits say is many children of that age go through such life in India. Hard to forget that heart-breaking scene when he steps out of train that stops at Calcutta, as he looks on platform calling out ammi (his mother) and Guddu (his brother), hoping they are somewhere there, only to be left disappointed.
Every night I imagine that I am walking those streets home and I know every single step of the way and I whisper in her ear 'I am here'. 

7. Hacksaw Ridge

I am not really fond of war films unless they offer something very different which Hacksaw Ridge does. The story is about Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), the conscientious objector, who at the battle of Okinawa, won the Medal of Honor for his incredible bravery and regard for his fellow soldiers. Its a true story about a guy who believes that he would serve by saving soldiers rather than killing enemy soldiers, and refused to carry a rifle at the battlefield. 1st half mostly goes in exploring Doss childhood, his love at first sight with a nurse Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) and then the combat training he undergoes. When Doss informs Sergeant Howell (an excellent Vince Vaughn) that he won't touch a rifle, the proceedings thereby becomes interesting as Doss religious faith is put to question by everyone at training. Being labelled coward, Doss goes through court-martial hearing but only to win the trial and getting the permission to go at the battlefield as medic without a rifle. Mel Gibson is very brutal when it comes to filming war sequence in 2nd half, lots of dead bodies full of gore, or terribly wounded soldiers that is very hard to watch, and Gibson makes sure it keeps coming non-stop. My favourite moment (must be for many) is when Doss feels dejected to an extent that he almost starts wondering what his role is at war, if he won't be able to save lives while he questions his lord, and then he takes that  decision to save everyone who is wounded and can't return back, when artillery strike is on by his captain. Doss even tries to cure one of enemy soldier at one point. And then the goosebumps moment when Doss saves one by one, 75 soldiers, and after saving every one, he would plead to lord 'one more, one more'. Its really good to see Andrew Garfield in such a good performance, and glad he went away from Spiderman franchise. Hacksaw Ridge is cheesy at places, bit of melodrama in 1st half, but a powerful 2nd half specially the war sequences and fact that its a true story makes it a very good watch.
Please, lord, help me get one more. Help me get one more. 


8. Hell or High Water

After excellent work as screenwriter in Sicario, Taylor Sheridan has a very good follow up in form of 'Hell or High Water' and I had a very positive vibe right from the trailer itself. A robbery based movie where 2 brothers, Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) are trying to raise enough money to pay off the reverse mortgage and save their family's ranch in West Texas. Marcus (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto (Gil Birmingham) are two Texas rangers who try to understand their plan and catch them before they rob next bank. Tanner is a ex-con and prisoner before with a very impulsive attitude, but its Toby's idea to rob banks who has never been in the wrong line before. This makes for a very vulnerable sequence whenever they both go and rob banks, What makes this movie a compelling watch is the conversations Toby and Tanner have before the robberies giving an idea of their relationship, or the banter Marcus and Alberto share. There's a hilarious diner scene where the waitress asks 'what don't you want'. And a tense dialogue sequence between Toby and Marcus in the end, also I liked the open ending very much. Chris Pine gives a restrained performance that is quite likeable, but personally I loved Ben Foster a lot that I was surprised he didn't get the supporting actor oscar nomination instead of Jeff Bridges who was pretty good too. Hell or High Water is a smart heist movie, with great writing and well developed characters and robbery scenes when they come (opens with it), makes for a entertaining watch, Something for our film-makers to learn when they make these kinda of movies.
I have been poor my whole life, like a disease passing from generation to generation. But not my boys, not anymore. 


9. The Conjuring 2

My list is always incomplete without a surprise. The Conjuring 2 wasn't much liked by the critics or most people specially in comparison to 1st part. But, for me this part was lot more convincing. Be it 1st part or the two Insidious movies James Wan has directed, his horror movies always have a great atmospheric setting, he knows when to use jump-scares and when to fake it. Also, he is very good at developing the scare with long takes, and a haunting background score to go with it.  Story here revolves on a real life incident popularly known as Enfield Poltergiest, about an evil spirit that caused havoc to a Hodgson family of North London in late 70's with a particular liking for 11 yr old child Janet Hodgson (Madison Wolfe). We don't get the usual 'I don't believe there's a spirit' nonsense, the first time Janet informs her mother of something bad, we see spirit willing to scare her mother too letting her know its presence, and also the same when the police comes for a inspection in a somewhat comical scene. Wan uses songs like 'London calling', 'Bus Stop' very well, and also Elvis Presley's 'Can't help falling in love' showing Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) romantic angle. That was actually only part in film that felt un-necessary, even though it works if you look at it in context of the characters in the movie, but as a viewer you felt like it was more of a giving breather from scare element for a while which you don't want. All scenes of Valek are most scary, my favourite is when Lorraine goes looking for her in her home, also I love the painting Ed makes of her, think of living in a house daily with such a painting in your room. Or the train scene, where Ed and Lorraine finally are able to find the missing link to the motive of spirit. Just like 1st part, here also we have a toy game, a crooked man used many times to scare. Madison Wolfe comes up with a very good performance. Patrick and Vera are reliable as always, would like to see them always be in Wan's future Conjuring movies. The Conjuring 2 is easily one of those horror movies that I can watch repeatedly without getting bored, and getting scared every time.
After everything we have seen, there isn't much that rattles either of us anymore. But this one... this one still haunts me. 


10. Paterson

This ain't a film for everyone, because for 1st 10 minutes even I felt like what am I watching, but glad I didn't stop and it turned out so good. Paterson is one of those rare beautiful films that brings art out of daily routine life, without any drama or conflicts. Narrated linearly over a week span from Mon to Sun, Paterson is about a bus driver also named Paterson (Adam Driver) living in Paterson, New Jersey whose routine is getting up before 6:30 in morning (on his own, without alarm clock), listening to his wife Laura's (Golshifteh Farahani) wierd new dreams she had last night, eating bowl of cereals, going to work and noticing people on the way or while driving bus, coming home at evening to discover new creative activity of Laura, having a dinner where Laura experiments again, taking dog Marvin for a night walk, going to bar to have just one glass of beer. This routine repeats itself for 5 days of story-telling, and everytime we get to hear different poems from Paterson whenever he gets the lonely time to write it down. Even match-box is used to make a love poem out of it. Paterson also meets a little girl fond of poetry who herself has a secret notebook like Paterson, reciting a beautiful poem on 'Water falls'. Paterson is shown as a old fashioned, who doesn't like mobile phones, doesn't want his poem notebook to have any copies. The only drama in movie comes on Friday and Saturday which is very minimal too, and forgotten when Paterson meets a Japanese poet (Masatoshi Nagase) who gifts Paterson a new blank notebook to start penning down his poems again, after Marvin destroyed his old notebook last night. Love Masatoshi's 'Ahaa' and Adam repeating it after him. In a way, this gesture of the poet turns the entire movie into a poem, with Paterson's poem on 'would you rather be a fish?' Adam Driver's performance is very subtle, and hard not to draw parallel with Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, except for the difference that De Niro character went violent and different path, while Adam's Paterson never does that. Rather Paterson is about drawing inspiration from every small thing that exists, a very positive take on a boring routine life that can be enjoyable too if lived with joy. One can argue that its a 7 day period story, who knows what the equation between Paterson and Laura be, won't there be conflicts, with Marvin chipping in. Adam Driver was sadly snubbed of a best actor oscar nomination, and so was the film for various categories including Best Picture. Paterson is a beautiful movie, that you enjoy for been so simple and yet so poetic with wonderful visuals and musical score.
Would you rather be a fish? 

Oscars 2017 : Predictions & Snubs

Here's my predictions who will win oscars, along with who I want rather to win, and all the major snubs that I felt happened when nominees were announced.

Refer to Nominations list here - http://oscar.go.com/nominees

And the Oscar goes to 

Best Picture 

Will Win/Should Win : La La Land

Snub : Paterson

Its between La La Land and Moonlight. Would be surprised if Manchester by Sea or Hidden Figures win. Paterson deserved a nomination here instead of Fences. 

Actor in a Leading Role 

Will Win/Should Win : Casey Affleck (Manchester by Sea)

Snub : Adam Driver (Paterson)

Denzel Washington (Fences) at the moment only one who could take oscar away from Casey. Personally, I loved Casey performance lot more plus the movie is as good too. While Denzel performance is solid, but can't say same about the movie specially that 3rd act which falls flat for me. Ryan (La La Land) would be a pleasant surprise but don't see it happening. And Adam Driver was fantastic in Paterson, totally deserved a nomination.

Actress in a Leading Role 

Will Win : Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Should Win : Emma Stone (La La Land) 

Snub : Amy Adams (Arrival)

This is easily the most competitive category this year. Performance wise, Isabelle is well ahead of all here, but I badly want Emma Stone to win, consider it as baised opinion. Natalie (Jackie) has a good chance too but feel she will miss out. Oh, but how did Amy Adams not make it to the nominee list, seriously? And, Voila Davis should be in this category, not Supporting! 

Actor in a Supporting Role 

Will Win : Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Should Win : Dev Patel (Lion)

Mahershala Ali would definately win here, and I had loved his performance too. Want Dev Patel to win, only because as Indian that would be a great moment if it happens. Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water) only other nominee who has outside chance to win. 

Actress in a Supporting Role 

Will Win/Should Win : Viola Davis (Fences)

Snub : Janelle Monae (Hidden Figures)

This is also straightforward, Viola to win with only Naomie Harris (Moonlight) posing some threat. And I prefer Janelle over Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures). 

Animated Feature Film 

Will Win/Should Win : Zootopia 

Haven't seen Red Turtle and Zucchini. Moana was good, but no chance of getting oscar at all. Kubo I personally liked a lot but its no where close to how good Zootopia was. 

Cinematography

Will Win/Should Win : Linus Sandgren (La La Land)

Both Moonlight and Silence are strong contenders, but feel La La Land should sneek in with a win here. 

Costume Design 

Will Win/Should Win : Mary Zophres (La La Land) 

Haven't seen Allied and Florence Foster Jenkins. Out of remaining three, La La Land looks deserving to win, with Fantastic Beasts having slight possibility. 

Directing

Will Win/Should Win : Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Snub : Jim Jarmusch (Paterson)

Damien should win this one, though you never know if Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) pulls off a surprise win, would be harsh calling it upset. Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) did incredibly well in the war scenes but in comparison Jim direction was pitch perfect throughout in Paterson that didn't get a nomination.


Film Editing

Will Win : Tom Cross (La La Land)
Should Win : Joe Walker (Arrival)
Snub : Sebastian Sepulveda (Jackie)

Most likely Tom Cross will win it, unless they give to Gilbert (Hacksaw Ridge). Personally I would have Sebastian nominated instead of Gilbert as there were only 2 things that I liked a lot in Jackie, one being Natalie's performance and other editing. I would prefer Walker win it, but it won't happen.


Music (Original Score)

Will Win/Should Win : Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)

This is one award that no one else has no right in winning, just give it to Justin, else I am gonna be super angry. I understand Oscars have got some kind of rules where you can't have pre-existing music in films, still scores of Arrival and Manchester by Sea were too good for me. And I don't get it for what Jackie got nominated here, its score kept putting me off from the narrative.


Music (Original Song)

Will Win : Audition (The Fools Who Dream), Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul (La La Land)
Should Win : City of Stars, Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul (La La Land)

I love lyrics of Audition, but really prefer City of Stars. That whistle and the pleasant feel song has, can listen to it non-stop. Moana's 'How Far I will go' could play spoilsport here but I feel La La Land will win, just the question is for which song.


Production Design

Will Win/Should Win : David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco (La La Land)

La La Land favourite, but feel Hail Caesar has a great chance here just incase Oscar ppl want to give other films some awards too. I won't mind Arrival winning either, those spaceship sequences were really well done.


Sound Editing 

Will Win : Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright (Hacksaw Ridge)
Should Win : Sylvain Bellemare (Arrival) 

Hacksaw Ridge most likely will win here, La La Land has a outside chance too but I would be more happy if Sylvain wins it for Arrival. Best result would be Hacksaw Ridge winning Sound Mixing and Arrival Sound Editing.


Sound Mixing 

Will Win/Should Win : Kevin O Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace (Hacksaw Ridge)


Visual Effects 

Will Win/Should Win : Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R Jones and Dan Lemmon (The Jungle Book) 

Even though I liked visual effects of Doctor Strange a lot, the oscar has to go to Jungle Book only.


Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Will Win : Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight) 
Should Win : Eric Heisserer (Arrival)

Slightly confused here, want Eric to win for Arrival, but won't be unhappy if Moonlight wins too which in most likelyhood it will.


Writing (Original Screenplay)

Will/Should Win : Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

La La Land is a clear winner here, would be a surprise if Hell or High Water/Manchester by Sea pull off an upset.


Haven't predicted for 6 categories, as not seen majority of movies nominated in them.

Recap 2016 : Best Hindi Films

End of another year, which some have called very average. But not for me. And why would it be, if I have 6 movies in my top10 list that are all near to perfect!

Bad films and disappointments are always there (more on them here), 2016 gave us many films that we will remember after 5 or more years.

Personally, I saw 47 movies in theatres, and the 1st half of the year was easily better than the 2nd. Wasn't easy to choose no.1 and no.2 movies, Aamir has a habit of coming up with a terrific movie in the last month of year always. Also, choosing between Neerja and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was tough, the latter worked more for me in terms of connecting to the characters.

So, here's my list of TOP 10 HINDI FILMS OF 2016 :



1. Kapoor and Sons 

Its my no.1 movie of the year, and irony is that I totally dismissed it off when trailer came as I felt its another 2 brothers falling for same girl based story. Rather it turned out to be fully on how a typical indian dysfunctional family looks like, make it middle class rather than the rich class of Dil Dhadakne Do. I could totally feel like its a part of my story that was told when intial arguements happens in 1st half or when lots of twists get revealed in the end. Shakun makes the proceedings very subtle rather than melodramatic and this movie offers many places where he could had gone for a higher emotion which he doesn't. Even during the Nolan-istic scene (I always feel it that way) where he runs 3 twists parallely with a beautiful background score, the next scene that is demise of one character is shown with minimal rona-dhona. Also, he makes 'Bolna' song used as instrumental in the movie, which I really liked as it went well with the Conoor locales.  The tension in the pre climax of movie is so high, that the scene where Rishi Kapoor asks for a 'mari huyi photo' which was hilarious in trailer, it didn't make me laugh one bit with the film. Entire ensemble cast did great work, though personally I loved Rajat Kapoor and Fawad Khan performances the most. The screenplay doesn't give a single moment of dullness and keeps you engaged for the entirety of the movie. Special mention to the hilarious plumber scene! And Rajat's lovely rendition of 'Chaand si mehbooba ho meri kab aisa maine socha tha, haan tum more or less waisi ho, jaisa maine socha tha', gives a feel of happy family reunion until Shakun brings the mayhem in the next morning scene. 'Kapoor and Sons' will always be very close to me, and also at same time its very uneasy to watch because of various real life connects I have with it.
Phir se khush nahi ho sakte? 
We can try. 


2. Dangal 

Not a biopic with all the changes made including the change in final Common Wealth Games gold match scores which Geeta won easily. But Dangal worked for me perfectly as a sports drama inspired from real life events of Phogats, mostly how Mahavir Phogat (played by Aamir Khan) transforms his daughters Geeta (played by Zaira Wasim and Fatima Sana Shaikh) and Babita (played by Suhani Bhatnagar and Sanya Malhotra) into wrestlers with hard training who would then go on to make India proud. Think of the training scene without 'Haanikarak bapu' song, it wont had worked, we would have felt that Mahavir is exploiting them badly, rather now we enjoy watching him train them. Love how the inspirational Daler Mehndi title track is used thrice at right places of the movie. Sakshi Tanwar (playing wife of Mahavir Phogat) has very few dialogues in the movie, yet she impresses with the way she uses her expressions while watching her daughters suffer in training or when she sees a certain rift between Geeta and Mahavir. I love the innocence of Suhani when she says 'papa teekha kam hai'. Of the elder roles, Fatima was easily the better but then the story is fully based on her. The wrestle scene between Geeta and Mahavir is easily among best of the year, on one side you have Geeta who has the anger since childhood for not having lived the life she probably would had wanted, and on other side Mahavir thinks Geeta has gone wrong way and will result in her downfall. The only weak link in movie was Girish Kulkarni (who plays Geeta's coach at the academy), he was way too one-dimensional and I would had preferred a coach who had different point of views but atleast worked like a proper coach instead of coming as a filmy villain. But then, how would we have got that epic lock up scene, and all the amazing emotions Aamir portrays after listening to anthem that tells him Geeta has won gold. A rare case of national anthem worth standing up for. And even with all the predictability that the gold match will go to the 3rd round involving Geeta going for a 5 point daav in final 10 secs, doesn't it give you goosebumps with the slo-mo reactions of everyone as Geeta successfully does it along with the good use of background score. Aamir goes through amazing physical transformation, and his performance is flawless and pitch-perfect including the haryanvi accent that looks much more authentic than it did when Salman played such character in Sultan. And its good to see Phogat Sisters own the movie as much as Aamir did. I may still have Chak de India as my fav sports based movie, but Dangal comes very close to it. And the good common thing in both films is, they have no romantic angle in them. You can't ask for a better commercial movie than Dangal that not only makes you feel proud but also lets you see someone do so well at a sport which is poorly supported by our own country's federation.
Agar silver jeeti toh aaj ni toh kal log tanne bhool jaavenge..
Gold jeeti toh misaal ban jaavegi
Aur misaale di jaati hai beta, bhooli nahi jaati. 


3. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has Karan go into the territory that Imtiaz films explores, i.e when the characters go through vulnerability and do/say things you may not wanna see or hear. Its easily Karan's best work till date, a story that talks about unrequited love and also friend-zoning. Leaving aside the final 15 mins of movie where Karan goes to the cancer angle and one too many other films references, the movie works perfectly for me. Whats really good though is that even the cancer angle is played very subtly, unlike say Kal Ho Na Ho when similar scenario was done in a hammy melodramatic manner (which worked for that film). Reason why Ae Dil works so much for me, is firstly the deep connect I had with characters of Ayan (played by Ranbir), Saba (played by Aishwarya Rai) and Alizeh (played by Anushka Sharma). Anushka herself said she couldn't identify with Alizeh character and found it fake, though I don't see it like that and find it very real. Ranbir has been playing man-child character a lot, still its hard to not love his performance, for me the pre Channa Mereya song scene where he looks in mirror and says 'Alizeh weds Ayan' and then looks at Alizeh coming out in wedding outfit admiring how beautiful she is looking until he realizes she isnt marrying him, that entire scene followed by post Channa Mereya scene where he admits he loves Alizeh and how much its hurting him to see he won't get her, Ranbir just plays this so perfectly that its impossible for me to not call it another of his performance that I totally loved (not in league of Rockstar and Barfi though). Anushka also gives one of her best performance after Band Baaja Baraat and NH10, and has amazing chemistry with Ranbir, easily second best after Ranbir-Deepika. And how good was it to see Aishwarya in a sexy avatar and act very well specially after that total hammy act of Jazbaa and not so convincing performance in Sarbjit, this was a very welcome change, watch out the scene where she tells Ayan 'mohabbat karna hamare bas mein nahi hai, par uss mohabbat se dur chale jaana woh hamare bas mein hai'. Was disappointed to see less of Fawad in film, assuming Karan edited it due to the ongoing political issue. Special mention to the dining table scene, the silence all characters share and yet their eyes say a lot what they are feeling at that moment was incredible. I would love to see how 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' ages with time for me, got a feeling that my love for film won't change.
Aasaan hai kya, aisi mohabbat karna.. jiske badle mohabbat na mile... 


4. Neerja

I didn't see this coming, to love a Sonam kapoor movie so much including her performance too which is based on real life character of 'Neerja Bhanot' courageous attempt at saving life of passengers when Pan Am flight got hijacked in Karachi in 1986. Sonam actually plays the role so well, that now you wonder if there was any other actress who would had appealed more as Neerja? I doubt so even if Sonam at places still wasn't perfect. Kudos to director Ram Madhvani, who doesn't waste a single second and starts the movie with how the terrorists are planning their mission of hijacking plane intercut with Neerja having a party at home dancing on her favourite Rajesh Khanna songs. Ram doesn't take time to reach the flight sequence either with few scenes between Neerja and her parents, and Neerja-Jaideep (played by Shekhar Ravjiani). Also, very good use of flashback to tell story of Neerja's early abusive marriage, and a superb scene where Neerja is trying to find something to motivate her in time of crisis when she locks herself up in washroom, and we see flashback of her father telling 'bahadur bacha kaun'. Jim Sarbh is exceptional who plays one of the terrorist. Shabana Azmi is terrific in a supporting role, and her climax speech is very emotional to watch. Special mention to Yogendra Tikku who played Neerja's father role, I loved that scene where he calls to Shabana telling about the hijack and how worried he is when he tries to play the 'sab theek hoga' card.  Gripping screenplay, super direction and performances by everyone to match it, makes Neerja such a good watch and not to forget the special feeling you get to see a brave act that had happened in real!
Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahi... 


5. Pink

It was a movie of two very different and powerful halves. 1st one dealt with the plight of a single girl living in India specially if its a modern independent working women with all the kind of prejudices and behavior of society towards them, and director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury turns it into a very tense thrilling drama where we are always worried for the girls. And then 2nd half becomes a solid courtroom drama with Amitabh (playing Deepak Sehgal), and has occasional lecturing but it comes off so right that you don't get any manipulative feeling. Out of the girls, Kriti Kulhari (playing Falak) gives a splendid performance, a character that is willing to say sorry to the guys and sort out matter, but loses temper easily when they abuse Meenal (played by Tapsee Pannu), and similarly losing her temper in court when prosecuting lawyer Prashant (played by Piyush Mishra) accuses her and other girls for taking money from boys. You expect Amitabh to deliver a great performance, not award worthy (like many of our awards are doing) but praiseworthy nonetheless. What I really liked about his character was, that there was no reason given to why he takes case of those girls, whether it was a personal decision or something from his past, and director never lets us know which really works. Also, the idea to show the real event at end-credits was good one as it plants just a small doubt that maybe these girls aren't actually totally true, until Deepak slowly brings out everything that happened that night on resort. Deepak calling female cop super-woman, and telling one of the accused guy 'he is over-acting' were some of hillarious moments in 2nd half. Also, loved Deepak cross-questioning Rajveer (played by Angad Bedi). Angad also delivers a very good performance. My only complaint from movie was, that it was very un-necessary to give Rajveer backdrop of belonging to a political person, could easily had stayed out from it and still shown how he has influence to let police do what he wants. But thats a minor issue, Pink is a movie that should work for majority people, as it depicts the way girls are seen in India accurately, and also kudos to the writing team. Special mention to 'Tu chal' recited by Amitabh in the end-credits, very powerful motivating poem.
No ka matlab no hota hai, usse bolne wali ladki koi parichit ho, friend ho, girlfriend ho, koi sex-worker ho ya aapki apni biwi hi kyun na ho. No means No. And when someone says so, you stop. 


6. Aligarh

Based on true incidents that happened in Aligarh University where Marathi professor Siras (played by Manoj Bajpayee) was accused for homosexual acts, Aligarh presents a strong case that doesn't just deals with the 'gay' angle but also tells a tale of how lonely life is for aging people if you have no companion and how your privacy at your own home can be invaded sometimes. And other issues like being a outsider how people treat you. Aligarh is one of those rare films where slow narrative doesn't bore you, as it just allows you to slip in and feel the life Siras was living even more. For instance, the emotions he portrays while sitting alone in his room at night having glass of whisky listening to 'aap ki nazron ne samjha pyar ke kaabil mujhe' on radio. Very much like 'Kapoor & Sons', director of Aligarh, Hansal Mehta makes sure gay angle is in no way stereotyped, like the gay party sequence where all people present are drinking, singing and enjoying spending time together like normal people do. Manoj Bajpayee is brilliant as Siras, showing the character as laidback, not seeking attention or even justice and quite introvert. He does show occasional anger but then goes back to his own life where no one else belongs. Wish Hansal had played out the climax well too, his death didn't really bring the kind of emotions I was expecting. Rajkumar Rao is superb in supporting role, his scenes with Manoj are such a pleasure to watch specially the boat and restaurant ones.
Tum log yeh shabd ke peeche kyun padh jaate ho, kabhi love ko samajne ki bhi koshish kiya karo. Its a beautiful word. 


7. Raman Raghav 2.0 

Movie began with a note telling that its not based on life of serial killer Raman Raghav, to my utmost surprise. Kashyap rather presents a modern day psycho killer Raman (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who goes on the lines of the famous killer and enjoys killing people for no actual reasons. Until he finds Raghvan (played by Vicky Kaushal) as his soul-mate, a cop who is a drug addict and in a very abusive relationship with girlfriend Simmy (played by Sobhita Dhulipala). As the names suggest, Kashyap offers a very unlike love angle where Raman catches Raghav killing a person for no-reason and develops instant liking for him. There's a breathtaking sequence involving Raman and his sister, where her sister and her family life is in danger at every minute Raman is present there. Anurag Kashyap has always been at his best when presenting crime stories in a hardhitting and dark manner. Here, you don't get to see the murders mostly, yet the feeling to imagine  the way it must have happened gives you chills. Nawazuddin is terrific as always, and so is Sobhita whose character I felt required a back-story. Meanwhile, Vicky despite amazing screen-presence couldn't really pull off the character and make it as interesting as Raman was. Whats good in the end is that Anurag Kashyap hasn't lost his touch at all, and maybe very close to be back to his best.
Apun ko lagta hai, apun aapko aapse jyada pehchaanta hai.


8. Airlift 

A very well made film by director Raja Menon about a real life incident that involved evacuation of nearly 1,70,000 Indians stuck in Kuwait when Iraq invades. Its always good to see Akshay Kumar in a non-comic role, time and again it has shown how good he can be in such roles especially the patriot ones.  Also, the patriot angle doesn't come out forced, is a major reason why Airlift works. Songs however are still not required in narrative, except for 'Dil cheez tujhe' and to some extent 'Tu bhoola jise'. Nimrat Kaur gets a good 2nd movie after getting recognition in Lunchbox. She has a long monologue scene in 2nd half, and the last line instantly reminds of Geet from Jab We Met. Also, Kumud Mishra is as always reliable in a supporting role. Purab Kohli also gives a fine performance. Airlift does falter in the final act, with a predictable ending. Raja fails to bring in a nail biting climax, something like Hollywood's Argo did.  Yet, Airlift is a movie that you enjoy watching and knowing how so many Indians were successfully brought back to India.
Hamari koi aukaat nahi hai, agar hamari pehchan hai toh sirf ek
ki hum kuwaiti nahi Hindustani hai. 
Saath hai, toh kuch hai.. .warna, nothing. 


9. MS Dhoni - The Untold Story

A biopic is supposed to not only tell about good and bad incidents, but also what happened behind the scenes that no one knows. Sadly, MS Dhoni movie does very little of that. Director Neeraj Pandey rather presents us a entertaining movie based on Dhoni to feel proud of a person who was responsible for 2nd World Cup win after 28 yrs and also his contributions towards other formats like T20 and the down under series win. Personally, I never liked his captaincy, but I still very much enjoyed watching Sushant play the role to pitch perfect that at times felt like it was Dhoni, he got all the mannerisms so right (some might call it mimicking but I wont). And that expression after hitting the six in final, was simply epic. And I liked the idea of using effects and let Sushant be there in every frame of cricket matches, made the film look more real which wasn't case in Azhar. Supporting actors like Rajesh Sharma, Anupam Kher, Bhumika Chawla, Kumud Mishra are all in great form. Also, special mention to the sports shopkeeper friend of Dhoni, young child actor playing Dhoni, the local commentators who has a fixed dialogue 'match ke baad pata chal na jayega'. Disha Patani in her debut performance is really sweet and lovable, if only she wasn't saddened with irritating 'time hai na hamare paas' dialogue. How can a character know she is about to die? Kiara Advani does well too. And Herry Tangri is terrific in a cameo, resembling Yuvraj Singh completely.  Neeraj uses 1st half to show Dhoni's school and teenager life, before his struggle to get into the team begins. Also, how he had to manage playing cricket and do a ticket collector job at Kharagpur station. Sadly, 2nd half  is just year by year graph of Dhoni's cricketing life along with his love angles. He suddenly becomes captain, without any scene on it and then there's nothing behind the scenes of how the captain cool (that he gets labelled as) happened, his conversations with fellow team-mates ain't there either. In the end, MS Dhoni ends up entertaining, making you proud and letting Sushant Singh Rajput showcase his tremendous acting talent in a award winning performance, but Neeraj Pandey lets slip off making a memorable biopic. My fav scene from movie is interval one, when an empty train comes at platform with the background music and cheer of  'dhoni, dhoni' as Sushant takes the train deciding to focus just on cricket.
Dhoni koi tendulkar hai
Nahi paaji, dhoni dhoni hai.. ek baar uss ladke ko mauka mil gaya na, toh bahut aage tak jaayega. 


10. Phobia 

Very rare you get a spooky hindi movie, which is not just the routine cliches but has a story and that too a psychological one (Talaash indirectly last one that fulfilled that criteria). Here, we see leading lady Radhika Apte (playing Mehek) go through a bad incident while in taxi at late night. As a result, she develops a phobia where she is afraid of interacting with people and moving out of her house to such extent that she doesn't even open door when her own family is ringing door-bell. Even thinking about such a phobia gives me shivers, how could you live such a life where you are so refined to one place and can't talk with people. One of my fav scene is when Mehek tries to throw trashbag outside her house but is afraid to put that 1st step out of it. Or the one where her friend/wannabe boyfriend Shaan (played by Satyadeep Mishra) while dancing with her tries to take her outside the house but fails. There's very good use of current Mehak's mental condition, by bringing new plot where Mehek is curious to find whereabouts of the girl that lived in that apartment before she moved on. Special mention to lovely debut of Yashaswani Dayama (playing Nikki) who tries to help Mehak in the secret investigation, bringing some good humor in narrative, at one point you see her wearing tshirt with 'bhoot raja bahaar aaja' written on it. With no songs spoiling the story, Phobia keeps you engaged, and a super performance from Radhika Apte, makes it a great watch. Also, you will find it hard to guess the ending, atleast I couldn't.
Wahan ghar se bahar jaane se darr lagta tha,
Yahan ghar ke andar darr lag raha hai..
Kaha jaayun main.. 


Other Films that I liked a lot but couldn't make my top10 list were : 
Sultan, Dhanak and Nil Battey Sannata

Recap 2016 : Most Disappointing Films

Like always, last year was also a mix of some good movies and some bad ones. Lets talk about the bad ones here.

Sex comedies like Kya Kool Hai Hum 3 and Mastizaade were horrible which was on expected lines. Biopic on Azhar was terribly one-dimensional, while Baar Baar Dekho that looked from trailer inspired from Hollywood's 'About Time' was a complete torture despite great chemistry between Sidharth and Katrina.

Then there was the star studded launch movie of Harshvardhan and Saiyami, 'Mirzya' that had some splendid cinematography and good SEL music but the screenplay was at snail's pace and bored you to death. Few other small films that I saw and found myself saying 'WTF is this' were Beimaan Love and Saat Uchakkey.

Lastly, there was the so called paisa vasool movie (not me, Kajol tweeted so), 'Shivaay' that had some eye catching action and good background music  by Mithoon, but Ajay's direction was so trashy that you would out of no-where see him shouting at the leading lady in movie that includes a sequence where he literally forces her to have a child for him.

Now, these were the bad movies, but then there were movies that I had lots of expectations from, some from the very start and for others it started with their trailers that were appealing enough. And yet they turned out to be bad to average.

Here's my list of Top 5 most disappointing hindi films of 2016.


1. Fitoor

This movie had fantastic trailer, exceptional music from Amit Trivedi and all the dialogue promos talking of how good this movie is gonna be. Plus, it was a movie from 'Rock On' and 'Kai Po Che' fame director Abhishek Kapoor, and based on famous book 'Great Expectations' (that I am still to read and will surely do). And there's lot to admire for the visuals that are very artistic and full of poetry. Yet somehow, Fitoor turned out to be a complete show-off from outside and baseless without any emotions when you watch the story unfold in the film. Instead of feeling bad for Noor (played by Aditya Roy Kapur) in the movie, my sympathy rather went for Aditya who seemed to have put a very sincere effort in the role and the movie completely betrayed him. Even Tabu's act was for a change not worth appreciating who got some cheesy dialogue lines. Katrina did her part, looked smashingly beautiful, won't criticise her acting as the writing of her character at first place faltered. Also, there's Ajay Devgan in a forgetful special appearance/cameo. Fitoor should easily had been among top5 films of the year, but not to be.


2. Fan

When the 1st teaser came, I was highly skeptical that 'yeh acha ni hone wala'. It was the first theatrical trailer that suddenly made me think that Fan could well go into the very good movies done by Maneesh Sharma like Band Baaja Baaraat and Shudh Desi Romance. And while watching the film it was going so well till the interval. There was a fan Gaurav (played by Shahrukh Khan) who had all life worshipped this celeb Aaryan (played by Shahrukh Khan), and one incident where he gets to meet him by wrong doings makes him develop hatred for him. Now that makes for some watch if only the writing was on synch too which wasnt and thereby the 2nd half went totally downhill. Problem was the idea that Gaurav was all the time seeking a sorry from Aryan and there were no more layers added to his hatred, except for one hard-hitting scene where he enters Aryan's house and destroys his study room full of trophies venting out the anger stored all the time inside. With some other director, 2nd half would had worked because you would had known the plot would try to use slightly similar looking fan try to disguise as celeb. But I didn't expect Maneesh to follow this pattern, that defies logic as in 1st half at no point anyone compares Gaurav being Aryan, but in 2nd half everyone is easily fooled to suddenly think Gaurav is actually Aryan only. Shahrukh's performance was very good, specially when you consider that he did crap films like Chennai Express, Happy New Year and Dilwale before this. In comparison to them, Fan does look so good, plus it was a brave attempt to play a role that shows lot of how Shahrukh is infact in real too like the scene where he tells one of his assistant that if  Gaurav is sanki then he isn't less either. Or the dark sides of being a celeb it explores like the scene where he looks at a empty hall where audience doesn't turn up for his performance. Unfortunately, if you are fond of Maneesh Sharma cinema, then you would have expected a perfect movie like I did.


3. Udta Punjab

Surprise! Surprise! Abhishek Chaubey had done both Ishqiya films before this, which made me believe he excels in dark cinema a lot, very much on Vishal Bharadwaj lines. Udta Punjab had the backdrop of how youth are wasting life with drugs, and its effect on 4 main characters, Shahid, Alia, Kareena and Diljit. Expectations were bound to come in, with Amit Trivedi's music once again helping in building it. And not to forget all the censorship drama the movie went through. When it arrived, I was surprised because it never was and still isnt a film that is bad, I still find it a very well made movie. But its not hard-hitting, and that's what I was expecting from it. Rather its more dramatic with minimal dark humor. Shahid's character was too disappointing, could had explored so much more to it, like the scene in jail where he is stunned to see how his songs have had such a poor influence on youth. And then there's Kareena's irritating voiceover who is spoon-feeding the sideffects of drugs. The only positive takeaway apart from Trivedi's music for me was performances of Alia and Diljit.


4. Ki and Ka

There may have been more films on the premise where guy wants to do the household work after marriage, and the wife would be earning for the house. I can recall only Hollywood's 'Intern' which I saw 2 yrs back which had it as a small sub-plot. Kareena usually turns me off, but in the trailer she gave a very positive vibe and Arjun despite all the 'he is non-actor' I keep seeing people call him, he always appealed to me (minus Tevar ofcourse). Balki films tend to follow a pattern, they are light hearted for major portion of 1st half, then inner conflicts occurs leading to a 2nd half that doesn't really engage you followed by a ending where some character always dies. I was hopeful that pattern will break with Ki and Ka, unfortunately it doesn't. Only respite is that the ending is happy this time. I would have loved to see Balki tackle the jealousy Ki (played by Kareena) goes through when Ka (played by Arjun) suddenly being a home-maker starts getting famous to a larger extent. Rather most of the screenplay is wasted on initial dates of Arjun-Kareena and their parents reaction to Arjun's willingness to be home-maker. One may argue that Balki never wanted a serious drama out of this premise, and on that note the film delivers being entertaining. But I would had preferred it the other way.


5. Wazir

It was a movie that was going to use Chess game as a metaphor to narrate the story. And it achieves doing it very well, in a different way where both Farhan and Amitabh are on same side but still brilliantly follows the rules of the game that is revealed at right end of the movie. Bejoy Nambiar movies always have been stylishly shot, be it Shaitan or David, and they also usually have slo-mo filmed songs that are so pleasing to eyes like 'Khoya khoya chand' in Shaitan or 'Ghum huye' in David. And here too 'Tere Bin' is very well picturised. Infact Bejoy gets the Farhan-Aditi marriage angle and the bonding of Farhan-Amitabh work very well. Where he instead fails is the thrilling aspect of movie. Plus with no backdrop of Amitabh's story which actually is the main story of film, it becomes hard to be emotionally involved. Not to forget the feeling of cheated, when the reality behind Neil Nitin Mukesh character is unveiled to us. Maybe Bejoy got too lost in the dramatic aspect of movie that he didn't excel where he usually does. It was still a decent movie to watch, but clearly Bejoy missed a chance to give a much stronger movie with Amitabh-Farhan hitting almost right tones with their performances.

On a Small-Long Break

Will be back soon.


Yash~

Movie Analysis : Brothers

Directed by : Karan Malhotra
Imdb link ->  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3802576/

Karan Malhotra destroys another great original movie!

Karan Malhotra’s 2nd movie after Agneepath, and yet another remake, this time a Hollywood movie ‘Warrior’.  When I saw Agneepath, I felt dissappointed, because the vision Karan had was stupid, way too melodramatic and the feel of angst almost removed from the main character. Same happens here, infact in Brothers, there’s a big change in the writing of Monty (Siddharth Malhotra) character, which is played by Tom Hardy in the original. Here, we see Monty not hate his dad (Jackie Shroff), and just has his anger against David (Akshay Kumar) which is also not exploited. Even Monty-David confrontation scene before their final fight isn’t kept. What we instead see is a addition of their mother’s role played by Shefali Shah, and the entire David-Jenny (Jacequeline Fernandes) love story. This clearly shows how haywire Karan Malhotra went, in an attempt to make it melodramatic and highly manipulating emotions through the background theme or the ‘Gaaye Jaa’ song.

Even if you keep aside Warrior for a moment, which I did while watching it 2nd time. Brothers still won’t appeal much and end up more like a routine action drama movie with some decent performances. And that itself is a huge failure yet again for Malhotra. The idea of bringing David in R2F (Right to Fight) as per Karan needs to be done by parallel cutting to the item song of Kareena ‘Mary’. A song that only voyeuristic people would enjoy.

Its just the performances, the anthem song montage showing the practice drills David & Monty go through and the R2F matches that you enjoy in the end. But since Malhotra directs the movie so badly, it just takes away that feeling of ‘Oh no I dont want Monty to lose, and I don’t want David to lose either’ when that final match arrives. Because you just don’t feel anything for Monty’s character especially. Yes writing is to blame, but I would also say Siddharth Malhotra gave a very weak performance too. He could still had made the character work making the film likeable.

Akshay’s performance is easily the best of the lot, why doesn’t this guy keep away from nonsensical comedies and do more of Baby, and these roles. Hard to understand!

You like Jackie Shroff, despite his loud acting. Shefali Shah is brilliant but sadly in a role which shouldn’t had been part of movie even.

Ashutosh Rana role is cut to just some abuse lines (which censors did not mute for some strange reasons), where did the motivating lines go when David fights in every R2F match?

Brothers works for some good fight sequences, and Akshay’s performance. But the soul of the movie is taken away in writing and Karan Malhotra falters 2nd time in a row destroying the essence of the original movie. Its high time that he stops making remakes of great movies.


Verdict : 2/5