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Tag: Bollywood

  • Bollywood’s Top Movies 2013

    Bollywood’s Top Movies 2013

    The End Of The Year – Time To Review. Time To Reflect. Time To Relive.

    2013 Was A Mixed Year For Bollywood – India’s Film Industry.

    The 100 Crore Club continued to welcome new members and three movies rocked even into 200 Crore club – Dhoom 3, Krrish 3 and Chennai Express.

    At Half Year mark, I had commented: “The content and treatment continues to win. The new talent is getting better results and traditional stars are being challenged. Good times for Bollywood continue!”. It still holds true at the end of the year. (See Bollywood 2013 Half Year Mark Review)

    Ranbir tasted first failure when he let money to precede our his cinematic choices. Though Yeh Jawaani Hai Dewaani was no great cinema, it balanced commercial and contemporary cinema. The same treatment was dished out to Himmatwala, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai 2. Ranbir’s Rocket Singh is yet to be bettered, Barfi not withstanding.

    Ranbir got a challenger in form of Ranveer with Ram Leela and Lootera showcasing his talent. Sushant Singh Rajput is the new talent where banks are betting their money on ! Parineeti and Alia Bhatt are the new ladies to watch for ! Nimrat Kaur seems promising !

    Deepika was the actor of the year with 4 hits – Race 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express and Ram Leela. Behind the beautiful face and awesome acting is an intelligent mind – who redefined herself. Sonakshi and Shahid Kapoor need reinvention for sure – they can learn from Deepika.

    I still feel the best film of the year was Ship Of Theseus. It was seconded by The Lunchbox. Ship Of Theseus showcases the best of Indian Cinema and so does The Lunchbox. A R Rahman still rules in the music department. Though Aashiqui 2 brought new challengers.

    Top 5 Films:

    1. Ship Of Theseus
    2. Lunchbox
    3. Kai Po Che
    4. Raanjhaana
    5. Shahid
    6. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
    7. Shuddh Desi Romance
    8. Special 26
    9. Aashiqui 2
    10. D-Day

    Other Honorable Mentions:
    1. Madras Cafe
    2. Ram Leela

    Top 5 Movies That Did Not Work !:
    1. Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobara
    2. Himmatwala
    3. Besharam
    4. Zanjeer
    5. Phata Poster

    Top Grossers Of The Year:
    1. Dhoom 3 – 250 Cr +
    2. Krrish 3 – 250 Cr
    3. Chennai Express – 225 Cr
    4. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani – 190 Crore
    5. Ram Leela – 110 Cr

    I am pleased to note that Bhaag Milkha Bhaag crossed 100 Crores – 100 Crores is not an elusive number anymore with even Grand Masti touching the magical figure.

    Ram Leela Poster

  • Ship Of Theseus – The Finest Indian Movie !

    Intellectual & Visual Treat !!!
    India’s Oscar Nomination !!!
    The Film Of The Year !!!

    Watch It ! No Review – Just Watch It !

  • Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – Worth A Watch !

    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – Worth A Watch !

    Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a dramatic Bollywood experience with moments of magic. It is an inspirational tale of the Flying Sikh Milkha Singh. Farhan Akhar has given a towering performance in a career best role.

    Everyone knows that the movie is the story of a popular athlete and hence there are set expectations. The challenge is to present a large than life aura of the star yet remain authentic. Rakesh Mehra’s partially succeeds in achieving the difficult balance but he could have done better for sure. The film’s length of 3 hours plus clearly expresses his struggle.

    The film is the journey of Mlikha Singh as he conquers the world. His unhealed wounds of partition, his growing up years, his incomplete love story, his rise as an athlete, his brief flirtation and his pursuit of world record is beautifully captured. Milkha’s early years represent the idyllic life in beautiful village in the pre-partition days. The move to India is painful but he adapts to the environment and grows into a lawless mischief. His relationship with sister is touching. The entry of love in his life inspires him to become responsible and amend his life. The salvation is in an army job where the glass of milk incentivizes him for a running career. His talent leads him to the glories inspite of the petty jealousies, setbacks and brief deviations. Milkha runs with fresh wounds after an attack by competitor and breaks the national record. He breaks the 400 m world record with his sheer persistence and passion. The movie ends with a typical India and Pakistan competition.

    There are two heroes of the movie: Prasoon Joshi and Farhan Akhtar. Prasoon’s lyrics are pure magic. The songs really touch your heart. He seems to be a worthy successor to Gulzar style of poetry. He has even written the story, screenplay and dialogues for the movie. Farhan Akhtar plays the character with pure conviction and his hard work clearly shows. He has not only build his muscles but only reconstructed himself with the movie. He is going to busy in the awards season. Divya Dutta is brilliant as always and Rebecca Breeds is charming. Sonam has nothing to do in the movie. Pawan Malhotra, Prakash Raj, Yograj Singh, K K Raina are all brilliant in supporting the main cast.

    BMB_1

    Inspite of its flaws, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a good movie. The movie is a lesson in pursuit of excellence. If the movie even inspires a few Indians to take sports seriously and live life with determination and will power, it will have ensured its place in the history.

    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – A Good Watch !

  • Bollywood’s Best Movies of 2012

    Bollywood’s Best Movies of 2012

    The Year-End time is a time to look back the best of 2012. 2012 was a year that saw more Bollywood movies hitting the ‘100-Crore Club’, better movies where ‘commerce met creativity’ and overall emphasis on ‘quality over quantity’.

    Everyone has their own choice of the best movies. Here is my list of the best movies of 2012:

    1. Kahaani – Vidya Balan’s class act, superb direction, wonderful music, real Kolkata, best supporting cast !
    2. Vicky Donor – Script is king, wonderful debut, Paani Da, Annu Kapoor, saas-bahu pegs – victorious sperm !
    3. Paan Singh Tomar – Irrfan Khan, Tigmanshu’s wonderful direction, real movie, superlative performances
    4. Gangs Of Wasseypur – Ensemble cast, India’s Godfather Saga, true to earth movie, I Am A Hunter, Manoj & Nawaz & Women & Guns
    5. English Vinglish – Beautiful and simple story, Sridevi, movie with a heart !
    6. Shanghai – Emraan and Abhay’s class act, strong plot, Bharatmata Ki Jay !
    7. Oh My God – Paresh Rawal, Great Direction, wonderful plot, Modern Krishna, low on finesse but high on concept movie !
    8. Ek Main Aur Ek Tu – Sweet RomCom, Imran-Kareena Chemistry !
    9. Agneepath – Hard core commercial cinema, Hrithik, Rishi Kapoor’s villainous act, Sanjay Dutt – fusion of original and remix done in style
    10. Talaash / Barfi – Both were good movies. Both could have been greater movies !


    I also loved Ferrari Ki Sawaari. I wanted to include Life Of Pi – but it is an Hollywood movie.

    My list excludes Ek Tha Tiger Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Rowdy Rathore, Housefull 2, Dabangg 2, Son of Sardar – which are great movies as they have delivered the moolah to the industry – that same moolah helps the industry. No taking away anything from them – they are winners as well!

  • Business of Bollywood @ IIMA

    There is no business like showbusiness!

    Indian film industry has been getting lot of academic attention recently. Institutions like IIMs, S P Jain have already introduced case studies on movies like Chak De India. 

    Finally, the film industry gets a serious academic analysis as a business. IIMA, under the leadership of Professor Tejas Desai, is a introducing a course on film-making. The course is called ‘Introduction to Contemporary Film Industry’ and starts from Dec 23. 

    Leading lights of Bollywood including Aamir Khan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sanjay Gadhavi are going to be taking classes and sharing their insights. 

    Prof Tejas Desai is a PhD in Biostatistics, an innovative thinker and a movie fan!

    Article Archive notes the following on Prof Desai:

    When he was a sophomore, Tejas Desai, then 19, began as a film projectionist in the US. Like scores of other students, Desai took up the job to support his undergraduation studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The sophomore graduated and went on to do his PhD in bio-statistics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    Back home, Desai joined the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) as an assistant professor, yet the short stint as a film projectionist haunted him and it didn’t help that movies were becoming his favourite pastime. That is when Desai thought he would use films as a tool to teach young management students.

    I had the good fortune of meeting Prof Tejas Desai. He said that lot of intellectual studies and analysis happen for new and old industries. But nobody is looking at Bollywood. 

    Good thinking!

    Well, this course is definitely going to be a blockbuster !