Here is list of my favorite films of the year 2011.
#1. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara – Movie of the year for me is Zoya Akhtar’s (Luck By Chance fame which happened to be in my all time favorites) bromance Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. A fine companion to Farthan’s Dil Chahata Hai this film is a pleasure and in parts profound. Three friends (Hrithik, Farhaan and Abhay) on a road trip, bachelor party rediscover life. Essentially its banter between mental Bwoys should bring back memories of anyone’s youth. With a witty screenplay that flows perfectly from scene to scene, easy on eyes and ears makes this delightful experience wanting for revisiting this movie again and again.
#2. Delhi Belly – Outrageous. Hilarious. First English speaking film released nationwide have toilet humor to boast about but it is its zany direction, crazy storyline, deliciously desi profanity (it has c-word and f-word bombs casually thrown at audience) making it one exhilarating fun watch, one of the year’s best.
#3. Dobhi Ghat – Kiran Rao’s debutant soulful Dhobi Ghat with an apt tagline Mumbai Dairies tells the tale of our bustling city where all classes merge and in all of its chaos every single one comes with a story of their own. It’s character driven piece, delicately written, dream background scored and actors having a great time at their naturalistic best. Pace is never hurried. For me it’s the relationship between an NRI banker (Monica Dogra) and a dhobi guy (Pratiek) forms the core of the film. Half realized, full of longing to become more but can’t. Beautifully unfulfilled.
#4. Rockstar – Ranbir the rockstar. Rehman the rockstar. Imtiaz the rockstar. Performance of the year is Ranbir fully embodying the role no one else can be imagined in now. Just watch him singing in rock concert, in recording studios, in darga or in streets. I am in awe with this performance. Pure awe! His transformation form an innocent wannabe to arrogant star who still don’t know or don’t want to do anything with fame but beating heart for his forbidden love. One intense experience in the dark is Rockstar.
#5. Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster – A crackling screenplay with year’s most memorable and quotable dialog Tighmanshu Dhulia’s (Haasil) Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster is one of the best thing to hit the theatre. If you haven’t seen this you have missed a really good one.
#6. 7 Khoon Maaf – Inky, devilish, probably our best working director Vishal Bharadwaj’s black widow romances and then kills each one of her husband in Saat Khoon Maaf. Priyank Chopra is having a dream run for an actor aging from 20-65 tying the knot seven times only to marry her next victim. It unfolds with Indian and global historical events forming as backdrop (Indira Gandhi’s Operation Bluestar, fall of Berlin wall, India’s nuclear test, Kashmir Riots) while Anna Mari Johannes aka Saheb goes over the marital distress, trying best to making it last but inevitable bell tower strikes announcing when she has enough of it. Closing the chapter with help of three loyal servants in her gothic mansion it’s almost a horror film. And it’s astonishing for a film that’s riddled with murder, blood, sickness is narrated by calm and composed voiceover narration (by Vivan Shah).
#7. Yeh Saali Zindagi – Oh what a fun this thriller turned out! At heart it’s the love story of Irfan that you root for in this wildly entertaining film crowded with desperate criminals, corrupt politicians, opportunist cops, money laundering corporate bizmen, one kidnapping went wrong, one CA, one singer, one angry wife, her recently released convict husband. Life is a bitch!
#8. Shor in the City – Again Mumbai is one of the character in this black comedy populated with ordinary people with their quirky storylines unfolds in the ten days event of Ganesh Chaturthi. Karma is a bitch!
#9. The Dirty Picture – Vidya Balan’s bravura performance of semi-porn actress Silk in Milan Lutharia’s Dirty Picture.
# 10. Tanu Weds Manu – Rebellious heroine who smokes pot, drinks old-monk neat and has no qualms for some profanity and a shy, loner London returned doctor. Tanu Weds Manu. A wedding you should attend.
