2012 proved to be a better year for Bollywood compared to past few years as it saw a increase in number of really good movies. And here I am not talking of the "100 Crore business" ones but about the entertaining movies which had a good story (rare these days), good direction and superb performances. I tried to watch more Hindi movies than the last year and I think I succeeded in watching almost all the good ones. So here is the list of my favorite Hindi movies of 2012.
10. Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai - A political thriller from the director of Khosla ka Ghosla,Oye Lucky... & LSD, this had to be good. Though it does not match up to the standard of the previous three movies of the director, still his handling of the story and the superb performances of the main leads make this movie worth a watch. In fact, Emraan Hashmi deserve a few best actor awards for his portrayal of Joginder Parmar a porn movie maker. If I would watch the movie again, it would be for his performance. Prosenjit chatterjee was good too and and so was Pitobash Tripathy. Also this movie had one of the best ending shot in the recent times.
9. Anurag Basu's Barfi - One of the sweetest movie with one of the best soundtrack of the year. Superbly acted by Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra. Though in my opinion it never had a chance in the Oscars still it is the only deserving movie in the 100 crore club (according to Wikipedia). Pritam's music was perfect for the movie and the movie features some of the best scenes of the year one of which is when Ranbir finds out that Illeana is engaged and breaks his cycle.
8. Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur (Part I & II) - A five hour long revenge saga with around 25 superb songs, some 10,000 murders , around 1 billion of bullets fired of which half were fired in the finale at Ramadhir Singh by Faizal Khan, this one is "Definitely" a must watch. The characters like Perpendicular, Definite are not created daily. Tigmanshu Dhulia was superbly awesome ("Tumse na ho paayega" deserves to be one of the best dialogues of the year) and what to say about Nawaz, the permission scene from 1st part is one of the best scene of the year and he was fantastic in the 2nd part. Also, the women characters in the movie were pretty strong, specially Richa Chaddha who should be awarded just for her expressions in the song Taar Bijli. And the movie would not have been what it is without the amazing music by Sneha Khanwalkar and the awesome lyrics by Varun Grover.
7. Gauri Shinde's English Vinglish - Class is permanent, this is what miss Hawa-Hawai showed. The simple story of a women who learns English to fit in with her family might not be thought as an ideal comeback vehicle, but Sridevi took the risk and it paid off. The direction of Gauri Shinde who didn't over dramatize , the performance of Sridevi & her fellow students and also of Adil Hussain who played Sridevi's husband, Amit Trivedi's music were the the highlights of the movie. And it was delighting to see Big B in one of the best cameos of recent times.
6. Umesh Shukla's Oh My God - The business done by OMG proves that a good movie can work on word of mouth. To play the role of God is the best decision taken by Akshay Kumar in many years. The movie should be made compulsory viewing in all educational institutions. Also, bollywood is blessed to have a superb performer as Paresh Rawal who gave a natural performance as KanjiBhai.
5. Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani - The thriller of the year with an apt tagline, "The Mother of all stories". Vidya balan's search for her missing husband gave us some memorable characters, the cop Satyaki, Khan from the intelligence bureau and the awesome "Nomoshkar, Ek minute" Bob Biswas played superbly by Parambrata chatterjee, Nawazzudin Siddiqui and Saswata Chatterjee respectively. The music of Vishal Shekhar was apt for the mpvie. Sujoy Ghosh made Kolkata look like a character from the movie. Let's see what story the sequel has in store for us.
4. Shoojit Sircar's Vicky Donor - This is the surprise hit of the year which again emphasises that its the storytelling that matters, how else one can think that a movie about a sperm donor going on to be a super hit in India. Doctor Chadha & Vicky's Biji are two of the most interesting characters that bollywood gave us this year.
3. S.S.Rajamouli's Makkhi - Superb concept and excellent execution can make people root for a fly. I won't be surprised even if the best actor award goes to the Makkhi in the movie. The visual effects are very innovative and Sudeep as the villain is fantastic. A sequel is being considered, which I would love to watch.
2. Tigmanshu Dhulia's Paan Singh Tomar - One of the best biographical movies. Kaho haan. Should have been India's entry to the oscars. Kaho Haan. Irrfan Khan is one of the best actors India has ever produced. Kaho haan. Tigmanshu Dhulia is an awesome director. Kaho haan. Paan Singh Tomar deserves our respect. Kaho haan.
1. Faiza Ahmed Khan's Supermen of Malegaon - This one is a documentary but it is a must watch for everyone who like to watch movies. Take a bow people of Malegaon for your passion for movies. And it is not that being a documentary the movie is boring, in fact nowhere near it, it has comedy, emotions,tragedy, drama,action, in short everything which a commercial movie has. I repeat, this is a must watch.
Apart from these 10 there were few more good movies like Luv Shuv tey Chicken Khurana, Gattu, Delhi Safari, Ferrari ki Sawaari, Talaash, Agneepath, Ek Main aur Ekk tu. A few more watchable ones like Jannat 2 & Ishaqzaade were there. I missed a few movies which I would like to watch soon, three of them are Jalpari, Shuttlecock Boys and Hansa (released on 29th Dec).
8. Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur (Part I & II) - A five hour long revenge saga with around 25 superb songs, some 10,000 murders , around 1 billion of bullets fired of which half were fired in the finale at Ramadhir Singh by Faizal Khan, this one is "Definitely" a must watch. The characters like Perpendicular, Definite are not created daily. Tigmanshu Dhulia was superbly awesome ("Tumse na ho paayega" deserves to be one of the best dialogues of the year) and what to say about Nawaz, the permission scene from 1st part is one of the best scene of the year and he was fantastic in the 2nd part. Also, the women characters in the movie were pretty strong, specially Richa Chaddha who should be awarded just for her expressions in the song Taar Bijli. And the movie would not have been what it is without the amazing music by Sneha Khanwalkar and the awesome lyrics by Varun Grover.
7. Gauri Shinde's English Vinglish - Class is permanent, this is what miss Hawa-Hawai showed. The simple story of a women who learns English to fit in with her family might not be thought as an ideal comeback vehicle, but Sridevi took the risk and it paid off. The direction of Gauri Shinde who didn't over dramatize , the performance of Sridevi & her fellow students and also of Adil Hussain who played Sridevi's husband, Amit Trivedi's music were the the highlights of the movie. And it was delighting to see Big B in one of the best cameos of recent times.
6. Umesh Shukla's Oh My God - The business done by OMG proves that a good movie can work on word of mouth. To play the role of God is the best decision taken by Akshay Kumar in many years. The movie should be made compulsory viewing in all educational institutions. Also, bollywood is blessed to have a superb performer as Paresh Rawal who gave a natural performance as KanjiBhai.
5. Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani - The thriller of the year with an apt tagline, "The Mother of all stories". Vidya balan's search for her missing husband gave us some memorable characters, the cop Satyaki, Khan from the intelligence bureau and the awesome "Nomoshkar, Ek minute" Bob Biswas played superbly by Parambrata chatterjee, Nawazzudin Siddiqui and Saswata Chatterjee respectively. The music of Vishal Shekhar was apt for the mpvie. Sujoy Ghosh made Kolkata look like a character from the movie. Let's see what story the sequel has in store for us.
4. Shoojit Sircar's Vicky Donor - This is the surprise hit of the year which again emphasises that its the storytelling that matters, how else one can think that a movie about a sperm donor going on to be a super hit in India. Doctor Chadha & Vicky's Biji are two of the most interesting characters that bollywood gave us this year.
3. S.S.Rajamouli's Makkhi - Superb concept and excellent execution can make people root for a fly. I won't be surprised even if the best actor award goes to the Makkhi in the movie. The visual effects are very innovative and Sudeep as the villain is fantastic. A sequel is being considered, which I would love to watch.
2. Tigmanshu Dhulia's Paan Singh Tomar - One of the best biographical movies. Kaho haan. Should have been India's entry to the oscars. Kaho Haan. Irrfan Khan is one of the best actors India has ever produced. Kaho haan. Tigmanshu Dhulia is an awesome director. Kaho haan. Paan Singh Tomar deserves our respect. Kaho haan.
1. Faiza Ahmed Khan's Supermen of Malegaon - This one is a documentary but it is a must watch for everyone who like to watch movies. Take a bow people of Malegaon for your passion for movies. And it is not that being a documentary the movie is boring, in fact nowhere near it, it has comedy, emotions,tragedy, drama,action, in short everything which a commercial movie has. I repeat, this is a must watch.
Apart from these 10 there were few more good movies like Luv Shuv tey Chicken Khurana, Gattu, Delhi Safari, Ferrari ki Sawaari, Talaash, Agneepath, Ek Main aur Ekk tu. A few more watchable ones like Jannat 2 & Ishaqzaade were there. I missed a few movies which I would like to watch soon, three of them are Jalpari, Shuttlecock Boys and Hansa (released on 29th Dec).
