Year in Bollywood so far
Aug. 21st, 2005 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieThis year has been pretty good for Bollywood so far, though not as good as last year, which produced 3 movies that entered my all time Top 10.
On the minus side, this year has only one Shahrukh Khan movie (the dream-like Paheli) unlike last year which was, IMO, the best SRK year on record, considering he appeared in the utterly wrenching emotional love story Veer-Zaara which became my favorite BW movie of all time, hard-hitting and art house Swades (which if there is any justice would be India's candidate for the Oscar), and the pure fun masala Main Hoon Na.
On the plus side, so far this year, we've had a movie starring the elusive Aamir Khan (after a four year absence), another Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie (Black, which is Number 1 on my list of movies I must see), and Saif Ali Khan in his best performance to date in a movie that is also added to my Top 10, Parineeta.
I have yet to see a really bad Bolly flick this year, but then I stayed away from such "masterpieces" as Kaal.
So, here's my ranking of the Bollywood movies I've seen this year.
1 Parineeta: hands down my favorite Bollywood movie this year. It's elegant, elegiac and passionate. It takes a literary classic about two childhood friends who become secret lovers and spouses and mixes it with more beautiful music, emotion, angst and romance than one should be able to stand without swooning in bliss. The newcomer Vidya Balan is amazing as Lolita and has incredible chemistry with Saif Ali Khan, who plays a flawed, passionate, tormented dreamer brilliantly (I so prefer him in dramatic roles).
2 Paheli: Shahrukh Khan's sole movie this year. But what a movie! The story of an abandoned wife that falls in love with a spirit that takes on her absent husband's form and gives her respect and love she has not had from a man is wonderful. It's a fairy tale, it's a feminist fable, it's a passionate love story. It's colorful, saturated and subtle. I adore it.
3 Bunty aur Babli: Lighthearted and hilarious movie about a couple of small time crooks, this features some great music and the out of this world chemistry of Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee (reminding me of the legendary Kajol-Shahrukh jodi). It's clever, it's twisty, it's romantic, it's perfect. Amitabh Bachchan playing the eccentric cop is just the icing on the cake.
4 Karam: One of the most interestingly shot BW movies I've ever seen. It's a rather gritty and dark tale of a hitman who is dragged back into the "game" because the "Boss" holds his wife hostage. It's worth the money to see the gorgeous Priyanka Chopra and the beyond hot John Abraham angst over each other.
5 Kisna: Subhash Ghai's epic about an Indian poet villager who tries to protect a white girl who is a childhood friend during the Partition. He tries to deliver her to a British outpost and they fall in love along the way. It's flawed, but has plenty of exciting chases, great music and star-crossed angst type stuff.
6 Lucky: A naive schoolgirl and a worldly diplomat's son are stranded in the middle of a civil war in Russia. Great scenery, some lovely angst, and a neat take off on fairy tales. If you ever wanted to hear Salman Khan speak Russian, this is the flick for you.
7 Raincoat: Arthouse movie about two former lovers who meet one rainy afternoon. It's brilliantly acted, but I don't think I can rewatch it because their pain is so palpable and their loss feels so raw. Deglammed Aishwaria Rai and an intense Ajay Devgan (the scene of him crying in the bathroom makes you want to look away) are excellent.
8 Elaan: 5 misfits take on evil Mafia boss. Plenty of eye candy (John Abraham AND Arjun Rampal in the same movie? I am in heaven), cool love stories and scenery.
9 The Rising: Flawed but entertaining epic about the 1857 uprising against the British, starring the very selective Aamir Khan.
10 Vaada: A better than usual thriller about who killed Amisha Patel. Her gorgeous, blind and secretive husband Arjun Rampal or her her former too-intense lover Zayed Khan? Worth watching just to see Arjun perform "Teri Kurti Sexy."
11 Hulchul: A bit too much brawling, but it's funny (if slapsticky) and Akshaye Khanna and Kareena Kapoor make nice enough lovers.
12 Waqt: Spoiled brat Akshay Kumar is taught a life lesson by his father Amitabh Bachchan. Akshay and Priyanka have a lovely chemistry but this movie has all the over the top cliches that usually annoy me.
13 Bride and Prejudice: An Indian version of Jane Austen's classic, it's not bad but it lacks either the incisive satire of Jane or the emotional high of a good Bollywood flick.
Movies I haven't seen yet that I want to: Dus starring Abhishek Bachchan, Main Pyar Kyun Kiya starring Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen, Virrudh starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sahrmila Tagore and John Abraham, and of course Black starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee.
On the minus side, this year has only one Shahrukh Khan movie (the dream-like Paheli) unlike last year which was, IMO, the best SRK year on record, considering he appeared in the utterly wrenching emotional love story Veer-Zaara which became my favorite BW movie of all time, hard-hitting and art house Swades (which if there is any justice would be India's candidate for the Oscar), and the pure fun masala Main Hoon Na.
On the plus side, so far this year, we've had a movie starring the elusive Aamir Khan (after a four year absence), another Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie (Black, which is Number 1 on my list of movies I must see), and Saif Ali Khan in his best performance to date in a movie that is also added to my Top 10, Parineeta.
I have yet to see a really bad Bolly flick this year, but then I stayed away from such "masterpieces" as Kaal.
So, here's my ranking of the Bollywood movies I've seen this year.
1 Parineeta: hands down my favorite Bollywood movie this year. It's elegant, elegiac and passionate. It takes a literary classic about two childhood friends who become secret lovers and spouses and mixes it with more beautiful music, emotion, angst and romance than one should be able to stand without swooning in bliss. The newcomer Vidya Balan is amazing as Lolita and has incredible chemistry with Saif Ali Khan, who plays a flawed, passionate, tormented dreamer brilliantly (I so prefer him in dramatic roles).
2 Paheli: Shahrukh Khan's sole movie this year. But what a movie! The story of an abandoned wife that falls in love with a spirit that takes on her absent husband's form and gives her respect and love she has not had from a man is wonderful. It's a fairy tale, it's a feminist fable, it's a passionate love story. It's colorful, saturated and subtle. I adore it.
3 Bunty aur Babli: Lighthearted and hilarious movie about a couple of small time crooks, this features some great music and the out of this world chemistry of Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee (reminding me of the legendary Kajol-Shahrukh jodi). It's clever, it's twisty, it's romantic, it's perfect. Amitabh Bachchan playing the eccentric cop is just the icing on the cake.
4 Karam: One of the most interestingly shot BW movies I've ever seen. It's a rather gritty and dark tale of a hitman who is dragged back into the "game" because the "Boss" holds his wife hostage. It's worth the money to see the gorgeous Priyanka Chopra and the beyond hot John Abraham angst over each other.
5 Kisna: Subhash Ghai's epic about an Indian poet villager who tries to protect a white girl who is a childhood friend during the Partition. He tries to deliver her to a British outpost and they fall in love along the way. It's flawed, but has plenty of exciting chases, great music and star-crossed angst type stuff.
6 Lucky: A naive schoolgirl and a worldly diplomat's son are stranded in the middle of a civil war in Russia. Great scenery, some lovely angst, and a neat take off on fairy tales. If you ever wanted to hear Salman Khan speak Russian, this is the flick for you.
7 Raincoat: Arthouse movie about two former lovers who meet one rainy afternoon. It's brilliantly acted, but I don't think I can rewatch it because their pain is so palpable and their loss feels so raw. Deglammed Aishwaria Rai and an intense Ajay Devgan (the scene of him crying in the bathroom makes you want to look away) are excellent.
8 Elaan: 5 misfits take on evil Mafia boss. Plenty of eye candy (John Abraham AND Arjun Rampal in the same movie? I am in heaven), cool love stories and scenery.
9 The Rising: Flawed but entertaining epic about the 1857 uprising against the British, starring the very selective Aamir Khan.
10 Vaada: A better than usual thriller about who killed Amisha Patel. Her gorgeous, blind and secretive husband Arjun Rampal or her her former too-intense lover Zayed Khan? Worth watching just to see Arjun perform "Teri Kurti Sexy."
11 Hulchul: A bit too much brawling, but it's funny (if slapsticky) and Akshaye Khanna and Kareena Kapoor make nice enough lovers.
12 Waqt: Spoiled brat Akshay Kumar is taught a life lesson by his father Amitabh Bachchan. Akshay and Priyanka have a lovely chemistry but this movie has all the over the top cliches that usually annoy me.
13 Bride and Prejudice: An Indian version of Jane Austen's classic, it's not bad but it lacks either the incisive satire of Jane or the emotional high of a good Bollywood flick.
Movies I haven't seen yet that I want to: Dus starring Abhishek Bachchan, Main Pyar Kyun Kiya starring Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen, Virrudh starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sahrmila Tagore and John Abraham, and of course Black starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee.
