Judgement Day

2007 has been a great year for film watching. Never have I seen so many films at one go and never have I paid so much for each ticket. I can see that a lot of people want to see movies these days. Or else how do you explain the fact I got a corner seat in the front row for the morning show of a film like Cheeni Kum? While the increased interest in movies has given rise to pretentious movies like the one mentioned above, several genuine voices have also emerged in the Bollywood landscape. The most exciting development is the rise of creative and intelligent filmmakers who work within the Bollywood format. Below is my rating of the best and worst of the best.

But first, my speech. It is entirely a personal rating but the fact is that most of them have been liked by the masses too says a lot about either the changing tastes of the masses or myself (since I have never liked the hits of the bygone years) or my own drift towards this indefinite and undefinable thing called masses.

There are films that I regret missing (Dharm, Manorama six feet under, Parzania) and there are ones I wish I hadn't seen (Cheeni Kum, Don) and ones I didn't mind seeing (Salaam-e-Ishq, Jhoom Barabar). And though Loins of Punjab follows a Hollywood format, it seamlessly integrates with the spirit of Bollywood. And the varying degrees in which this spirit is captured by each one of these movies mentioned below determines their individual rating.

So, without much ado, here you go:


10. Gandhi My Father: It is a story presented in fragments. Individual moments of brilliance -- Akshaye enthusiastically going to jail for his father, Akshaye telling his father to backoff, Akshaye giving his mother an apple (trying to say that it is not easy to be Gandhi's wife just as it is not easy to be his son) -- are let down by a director who cannot weave the scenes together. But this film has to be seen for Akshaye.

9. Om Shanti Om: Too bad the year's biggest money-maker gets only the ninth spot. I am not saying I didn't enjoy it or found it lacking in some way. But you got to admit it is hardly a film. A time will probably come when Farah will take herself and her madness seriously. She is a fine artiste and her bizarre film deserves all the success it has got. The parodies, especially in the second half, are side-clutchingly funny. When Farah makes a film in which the madness is not forced but is intricately woven to the course of events, that is, when she believes that the gigs are not props but the very soul of a film itself, she will rule the world.


8. Life in a Metro: Blabber mouth Irfan Khan by mistake gives Konkona a very insightful tip: live your life instead of watching it from the sidelines and see if yours fears turn out to be true. Kangana jumps out of kay kay's car when she learns that sharman has feelings for her. Cynical as both these women are they take life-changing decisions in a split-second, moments of madness that apparently characterises love. But with maturity you lose even this spontaneity as Shilpa's character tells you. So it's okay to be cynical as long as you are young. Another cynical thought.


7. Honeymoon Travels: You can't blame a filmmaker for being too clever. This film is largely made by the head and not from the heart. But when Sandhya Mridul (yet again in her Page 3 avtaar) chooses to remain married to someone who will never love her, and Amisha's husband, who knows he could be with the man in question, chooses a lifetime of regret over togetherness, you know that the director is not merely being clever here. Remove all the fun stuff about superheroes, dia running out on dumb-struck ranvir and kay kay ending up stoned and you could have had another Metro. Thank god that didn't happen. OSO parodied the film world, Honeymoon Travels parodies relationships. You know which one I think is better.

6. Loins of Punjab Presents: I quite like the regular Hollywood formats of multiple stories which Loins follows. But then suddenly the director/actor starts singing from amidst the audience, unable to control his feelings for the woman on the stage -- someone he has just fallen for. This seamless integration of the spirit of Bollywood with the sensibilities of Hollywood made the film for me. I still cringed at the national anthem antics. But Preethi Patel's lone dialogue and the organiser's lunacy went on to prove that we have finally grown out of the ABCD era and again, thank god for that.


5.Chakde India: The only film I saw twice, in theatre. The patriotism did little for me. Or the sport. What we all liked the film best for was the self-affirmation of underdogs of all kinds -- the unfairly-judged Muslim coach, the women who are scorned by families and boyfriends, the urban scorned by the rural, the tribals scorned by the small-towner, the northeasterners and southerners scorned by the northerners. Chakde managed feminism without preaching, secularism without rhetoric. Indian cinema still has to go a long way to give its due to women from regions other than the north. But at least it is giving the women and the Muslims their due.


4. The Blue Umbrella: Did Vishal Baradwaj do justice to Ruskin Bond's story? Well, frankly no. But probably very films ever do justice to the original. I haven't read much of Shakespeare so maybe that is why I liked Maqbool and Omkara so much. In translating the text into visuals, Vishal ended up converting this children's story into a story for adults. And it is not only that the Dhoom generation cannot appreciate scenic Dalhousie or brilliant Pankaj Kapur or the importance of an exotic umbrella in an age where there is so much exposure to the outside world. It became a serious story, quite surprising since it comes from the maker of Makdee. But of course it was still a lovely experience for us, adults. The film beautifully recreated a world which probably doesn't exist even in our small towns and villages.

3. Bheja Fry: Apparently it is a copy of an Italian film. That is a pretty disappointing piece of information for a film with such spontenity. To see such a film, with no stars and no songs, make money was heartening. Apart from great chemistry between the protagnists of this clever comedy, the film showcased classes distinctions very well. The film deserves all the accolades it got for not being pretentious, just a straightforward story of a middle class man who upsets the schemes of a snobbish socialite to humiliate him.


2.Jab We Met: Bollywood can make films with conversations. Bollywood can make love stories with depth. Bollywood can make comedies which are not loud, in-your-face slapsticks about eccentric people but rather about little eccentricities of normal people. I like the meandering journeys, exploration of relationships, 'history-context jokes' like my friend D said once. But before we celebrate, lets see what imtiaz has to offer next. And hopefully he will cut down on the number of songs and the stereotyping of punjabis.


1. Taare Zameen Par: It was tough to decide between number one and two. Both had its set of stylistic problems and sparks of brilliance. But while there are few films that make you laugh the way JWM did, hardly any make you cry. The last film that made me cry was probably Black and after I came out of the theatre I felt that SLB had exploited my sensitive side for his narrow ends. Ironically, it is Aamir's film that becomes the site for this reflection. Aamir is right, SLB made a film that is insensitive to its subject as well as its audience. And thankfully Aamir does practice what he preaches.