Best of Bollywood 2014

After a rocking early start this year with Queen, Highway and Hasee to Phasee, Bollywood was unable to produce a streak of good cinema. With a very few just good movies and of course many dull ones, it was a below average year. Somewhere between this, a masterpiece Hawaa Hawaai was delivered by Amol Gupte who showed yet again that children movies can be unique and brilliant every other time. Mardaani, Samrat & Co, Aakhon Dekhi, Haider showed some promise. Although it was a very good ending of the year starting with PK and marvelously acted and directed thriller Ugly.

Here is the list of my TOP 5 Movies this year:

1. Hawaa Hawaai
2. Queen
3. Ugly
4. Highway
5. Mardaani

After movies, it's worth mentioning other important attributes of cinema that floored us this year.

Best Actor: Aamir Khan (PK) / Girish Kulkarni (Ugly)
Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut (Queen)
Best Director: Anurag Kashyap (Ugly)

This has to be followed by summarizing these aspects and mentioning other great entities that just missed the top list.

Male Acting:
This was one of the rare years where none of the Male lead actors nailed the performance. Till end of the year it was only Shahid Kapoor in Haider who was appreciative. Other than that only few character artists were watchful but in very small roles. For instance Pankaj Kapoor in Finding Fanny, Irrfan Khan in Haider and Vijay Raaz in Kya Dilli Kya Lahore. Other well performed commercial roles include Rajeev Khandelwal in Samrat & Co and Partho Gupte / Saqib Saleem in Hawaa Hawaai. Again towards the end, there were two terrific performances by Aamir Khan in PK and Girish Kulkarni in Ugly. Aamir performed brilliantly throughout whereas Girish Kulkarni mirrored perfection in whatever valuable minutes he got.

Female Acting:
Similar to the unusual male act year, Female performances were also a rarity but in a complete opposite way. It was a definitely a female centric year that saw many astonishing performances by female leads. Starting from Parineeti Chopra in Hasee to Phasee, it was Alia Bhatt who took all the attention with a breathtaking performance in Highway. Unfortunately for her, soon after Kangana Ranaut came with a splendid performance in Queen which was stamped as the best performance in starting of the year itself. The year was hence followed by three more good performances that include Rani Mukherjee in Mardaani, Priyanka Chopra in Mary Kom and Tabu in Haider. Undoubtedly 2014 will be remembered as the feminine year.

Direction:
With few good directed movies by Vikas Bahl (Queen) and Amole Gupte (Hawaa Hawaai), it was Imtiaz Ali who showed some brilliant skills again in Highway. He was responsible for each and every point of success that the movie tasted. It was the last movie of the year that took all attention with a splendid direction by Anurag Kashyap in Ugly. Each scene was tailor made and movie was directed to perfection. The vibe and excitement that he created were just awesome. Full marks to him for all the fervor he inserted into the viewers.

Best Music:
1. Highway - A.R. Rehman
2. Queen - Amit Trivedi
3. Ek Villain - Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari
4. 2 States - Shankar Ehsaan Loy
5. Hasee to Phasee - Vishal & Shekhar

PK

Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Actors: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma

Rating: 3 / 5

Cruising on Raju Hirani's formula and heavily forecasted as an entertainer, PK certainly has not disappointed. Problem lies in more than few places where you'll really mourn that why the main essence is highly extended and deviated. It starts slow to build some trivial story but Aamir's entry takes off the movie to a different level. Although looked like a used concept initially but throughout the first half Raju Hirani miraculously proves that he's a pure comedy master. Everything was nailed with genuine laughs including awesome use of Bhojpuri accent. After a continuous flow of wonderful comedy and great content, second half pulls out the main entertaining crux from the movie. Use of god and religion were over protracted that keeps you waiting for revival of the good times.

Aamir Khan spectacularly performed the character that looked hard for an actor to make it unique. It was his movie completely with other actors just having a minor support to play. Although movie trailed in second half but Aamir's performance was rock solid throughout.

Despite the fact that Raju Hirani's directorial performance was good, he copied his success mantra from all his previous cults. It looked like a mixture that fortunately was presentable. It worked this time for Raju but next time repetitiveness might hurt albeit I can take the risk of saying that I'm confident Raju will excite us again.

Music was substandard and was restless at many places although presence of Aamir Khan made it watchable.

Overall, a terrific first half riding on tremendous performance by Aamir Khan that mourns you why second half was poor.

Ungli

Director: Renzil D'Silva
Actors: Randeep Hooda, Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Movie starts with a very strong theme accompanied by a good vibe that was created by the director right from the word go. Only thing one can hope was that it continues. Every time the scenes play with you by attracting your attention but eventually they keep fading away. Ideas are really nice and deserve appreciation. In fact the ideas and the way they have been implemented are the only highlight of the movie. Rest everything is not cinematographed in a good way that went against it becoming a very good product. At interval you are not very excited and the dramatic turn towards the second half makes it worse. I'm waiting when these type of movies will get over unnecessary emotional add-ons.

Acting is not the highlight but certainly an important part to bear all the negativities. Randeep Hooda stood best amongst all above average acting contributions. The way he has handled and executed his role is remarkable. Kangana Ranaut showed good body language and was impressive. Lot was expected from Emraan Hashmi but it was just another average performance by him.

Film certainly has good content and few scenes shot very nicely but still there's something missing that's unfortunately harsh on director. Renzil's overall direction was not up to the mark but certainly it looked well in parts. I feel lot more hardwork might take him potentially to next level.

It's taken care that songs don't hamper the flow of the movie but one risk with Dance Basanti didn't go well at all. Music in background is decent although didn't connect well with the screenplay.

Overall, a movie with good content but below average execution.

Happy Ending

Directors: Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru
Actors: Saif Ali Khan, Ranvir Shorey, Govinda, Kalki Koechlin, Ileana

Rating: 2 / 5

Portrayed as a Romedy (Romantic comedy), there were at least some expectations that directors and writers will work on making it something special or unique for the viewers. But the answer is no. This is somehow made watchable due to consistent laugh ingredients that flow throughout the first half. Story has nothing to offer and rides on the same formula that has been used hundreds of times. Moviemakers have hence not kept any potential expectations from the second half. Moreover, second half is stretched and haunts you to ponder for its ending, no matter Happy or sad. When the movie actually ends, it will certainly make you happy, but not because of it's content but the relief that you'll get.

Ranvir Shorey and Kalki have done excellent acting and mostly are responsible to make this movie bearable. Their small roles were directed well into the movie at proper intervals. Govinda had his fair share of dialogues that he delivered in a charming way. Saif was average but repetitive and Ileana didn't had much to do.

I'm a decent fan of director duo Krishna Raj because of their sense of doing something different in their previous flicks such as 99 and Go Goa Gone. They had brought an impressive unique flavor every time they came together to write and direct. But it's really disappointing that aforementioned effort was not sensed at all this time.

Sachin and Jigar were unable to make any impact this time with their music. Songs interrupted the movie badly although I had found my ways to engage into something else to liberate myself from meaningless possessions.

Overall, a pointless effort that was probably put just to satisfy producer's fantasies.

Kill Dil

Director: Shaad Ali
Actors: Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar, Parineeti Chopra, Govinda

Rating: 2 / 5

Portrayed as yet another Yash Raj movie with grey shades, this movie had nothing new and even old formulas didn't work well. Good background laughter was tried throughout the first half and they succeeded more than few times in that. Unfortunately no attempt was made to build a plot whatsoever. Rather whatever was being shown had no directions at all. Only at the end for a minute moment, something made sense but the movie was over by then.

It gave a feel that director had no interest to make this flick meaningful and he is happy with whatever substandard commercial material is being made. Shaad Ali is still struggling for more than a decade now after Saathiya, to direct something concrete.

Govinda came into a character role this time and showed some promise. Unfortunately for him, his full potential was not extracted as he could have been used more and in a much better way. Ranveer Singh and Ali Zafar had nothing unique to show and their acting was substandard. For the first time in so many movies, I'd not praise Parineeti Chopra although I'll blame director for that.

Songs were not up to the mark and stopped the movie flow consistently. Albeit the Kill Dil title track was good and background score was the only thing that kept the movie alive.

Overall, a disappointment in all major fronts which was just made watchable somehow.

Rang Rasiya

Director: Ketan Mehta
Actors: Randeep Hooda, Nandana Sen

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Movie was poised in a way such that the first impression of the viewers is about nude painting of gods. Although this is true to an extent but the main motive of the writer was to present how and why an artist thinks to create these art pieces. Movie is a vision from artist perspective that what exactly passes through their mind when they take this step. Apart from the reason behind these types of art makings, this movie is a journey of a painter. It details how a true artist just cares about art and nothing else. It also shows how common people are affected by experiencing gods when they see their stories in paintings. A good war of creativeness vs business is shown.

As per entertainment is concerned, it has a very slow start and rarely picks up in between. It has few good moments but never rises up to the expectations. Second half has some meaning but the best part of the movie is it's ending. The makers deserve some amount of appreciation for the work done towards framing a wonderful ending. It justifies the most part of the movie and passes the message in a very elegant way that nudity is not offensive.

Acting and direction were below average and music was lost somewhere. For this movie, I don't think these things are even relevant to talk about.

Overall, a test of your patience that flourishes a wonderful end.

Bang Bang

Director: Siddharth Anand
Actors: Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif

Rating: 2 / 5

It takes heart to assess another conventional big hyped movie that has nothing special in it. Although it was expected that this would be a similar high action commercialized flick, it looked dud even after having that presumption. It's a mixture of Dhoom plus some common things that adds up to simply nothing. It's a full pack of saleable stuff that gives zero content to the viewers. At the end of first half, it can be guessed that some stupid sentiments will be introduced in the second half. That's what exactly happens and unfortunately that also adds up to nothing. A very silly story that was tried to make exciting using uninteresting things.

Hrithik's performance was applaudable and he was the only reason one can sit through this entire no brainer leaving apart katrina's beauty. He did his best, but again that also sums up to nothing as far as the overall movie is concerned. Reason for decent rating is only him and the way his action scenes were executed. I don't want to comment on anyone's acting as that was of no significance here. Despite that I'd like to appreciate a very small Jimmy Shergil's role that gave false hopes that the movie will be throughout exciting.

Siddharth Anand tried action this time and again succeeded in putting no effort. I've disliked almost all his previous flicks that includes Anjana Anjani. He needs to start thinking creatively to show up something better in future.

Music is good in spite of being the reason for interruption that was charmed by Hrithik's moves.

Overall, a bang bang to heads that Hrithik's antidote also couldn't heal.

Daawat-e-Ishq

Director: Habib Faisal
Actors: Parineeti Chopra, Aditya Roy Kapoor

Rating: 2 / 5

Hyderabadi flavor is on a rise nowadays in Bollywood. A little pinch also brings a smile to viewer's face. This movie offers a sweet start with like-able Hyderabadi accent. It's faintly inspired from Ladies vs Ricky Bahl although it has a different take. Even after a good start and exciting interval, it lacks content in between. It slows down and leaves hope for a better second half that justifies the first one. Unfortunately the later half is just average that neither helps the ongoing slow pace nor increases the entertainment level. It's a good concept, but not compelling enough. Despite that, I'll appreciate the way the theme was calmly flown into the minds and a very good message was passed in a modest way.

Parineeti was the best thing in this movie. She has developed her different flavor that is increasing in it's charm with every movie. The way she delivers the character in her own way is amazing to watch. After every movie of hers, I remain bound to say that my fan level towards her is increased. Aditya Roy Kapoor and Anupam Kher were decent and supported Parineeti nicely.

There was nothing special done by Habib Faisal in direction. It was a below average effort. I loved his work in Do Dooni Char but he hasn't improved a bit after that. I'll expect some hard work from him in his next venture.

Music was good, non interfering and acceptable.

Overall, a good theme delivered in not a very exciting way. Strictly for Parineeti Chopra's fans.

Finding Fanny

Director: Homi Adajania
Actors: Pankaj Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Arjun Kapoor

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Simple, sweet, innocent with no commercial masala is the absolute flavor of this movie. Nothing great about the story but the way its execution has been done is commendable. It just keeps flowing with a very nice consistent blend of great actors. Shot at a Goa christian locality, English aroma never looked odd.

I'll highly appreciate the actors who were responsible for pulling this story to a next level with their artistic skills. The expectations that were set by looking at the star cast were well met by everyone. I'll make a special mention of Pankaj Kapoor as being better amongst the best is remarkable. His screen presence at every moment was impressive.

Next big this about this movie was the Direction. Along with the actors, Homi Adajania did a very good job in creating a charming experience.

Overall a very good cinema that lacks nothing, is good everywhere but never great. It's a luscious flow that can just be experienced.

Mary Kom

Director: Omung Kumar

Actors: Priyanka Chopra, Darshan Kumar

Rating: 2 / 5

With so many successful and unsuccessful sports' movies around, there's really tough to create a new epic with complete originality. But this is always expected when a movie is based on a sports star. Movie kickoffs very well and portrays that it could be a one off sports wonder. However it feels sluggish towards the end of first half where no interesting punches are hit. The main focus of the film was the struggling story of Mary Kom that looked like a documentary in the second half. It gracefully shows the commitment of sports women but the entertainment part was missing throughout the second half. Games were not made dramatic which was in-fact better although the last sequence was extra dramatic.

Priyanka Chopra was dreadful in this performance and gave her hundred percent that was very impressive. It was the best acting what this direction could have produced. Other actors were above average and supported the story well.

I'll give full marks to Omung Kumar to ride this movie at very good speed for the first half hour but then the accelerator failed and gradually movie came to a halt. He was unable to refuel the energy and excitement into this great story.

Overall a wonderful story told that looked like a documentary but the direction lacked entertainment and excitement.

Mardaani

Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Actors: Rani Mukherjee, Tahir Raj Basin

Rating: 3 / 5

Building strong characters, small or big, is always the most important characteristic for movies of this genre. This was expected and was delivered here. Started very nicely without taking much time introducing the characters and still did that in a legitimate way. I liked the way it proceeded to reach the actual story. A substandard story, of which the support was not really needed. First half ended just perfectly to keep you at the edge of your seats although second half made it little slow. Despite being reluctant in the later part, it was never pointless. It has its share of good dialogs if not overwhelming. Lastly a very enriching ending that augments the feel good factor.

Performances of all the characters are applaudable. I'll give credit to both director and the actors. Rani Mukherjee had an amazing comeback with nearly unblemished acting. Tahir Raj was superb and I'd really want to see him in another good role in near future. All other actors were above average and supported well.

I was not a big fan of Pradeep Sarkar but he has certainly done a very good job here. He deserves credit of a smooth story flow and was also responsible for designing all the characters well. Music was not of any hindrance and together with the background score, it felt good at the end.

Overall a good package with strong characters that gives a feel good factor in spite of its genre.

Singham Returns

Director: Rohit Shetty
Actors: Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Amole Gupte

Rating: 1.5 / 5

Riding on a same theme as it's previous version, it was expected that it would have something exclusive to offer. It had a decent beginning with few punch lines and exciting scenes that keeps you waiting for something unique throughout the movie. Unfortunately that's not the case and very swiftly it starts to bore in the end of first half. It has very few good dialogues that are just not enough. These types of movies generally have enough comedy liners that keep viewers going. That was the case with Singham but not in this sequel. Second half was almost a replica of first half that had exactly the same flow that gives an impression that no effort has been made to even find something unique and appealing. The way interest is lost towards the later part is that nothing looks good.

Ajay had to do same things. He might be feeling that he has travelled time and shooting for the first part again. Kareena had a short role and she was decent. Although she was over excited but it didn't looked bad. All other actors were below average.

Rohit Shetty surely didn't struggle much in making of this movie. It looked like he was completing a formality to make a sequel and get away with decent money. Despite that, I'll appreciate him for not having foolish scenes at least in this flick. Also the songs didn't bother the movie flow.

Overall it was neither exciting nor foolish and nothing unique.

Entertainment : Review

Director: Farhad, Sajid
Actors: Akshay Kumar, Tamannah Bhatia

Rating: 1.5 / 5

Pardon me for keeping my expectations low because of obvious reasons but whenever a movie starts, viewer automatically comes to ground zero to get entertained. Entertainment had a good start with very interesting innovations on few comedy scenes. I'll appreciate writers for their hard work, as just because of them, this movie was tolerable. Many hilarious dialogues were written with good effort and research. The sad part is that it didn't stop the director from including silly things unnecessarily. It loses sheen very fast and gets trapped to standard foolishness. I don't understand why this is done deliberately in these kinds of movies. I'd say it was stupid but little bit entertaining. The way film was executed; I'd like to see it as a series of drama episodes rather than a full-blown movie.

Actors didn't have anything to do although everyone was decent in whatever was asked to do.

I'll blame this completely on two debutant directors who didn't bother to put effort on direction albeit the writing part was done in a better way. Farhad and Sajid are involved in writing of such movies for a long time now. Direction is certainly not their cup of tea at-least at this point of time.

Sachin and Jigar were excellent in merging useless songs so well that they sounded good. Movie flow was already broken so songs couldn't do that anyway. Despite that the music was above average and in fact gave some breathing space.

Overall it was a decent writing but horrible in other aspects.

Kick : Review

Director: Sajid Nadiadwala
Actors: Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandes, Randeep Hooda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Whenever I head myself to a high budget Salman Khan movie, only one things come into my mind, HEADACHE. Coincidently Jacqueline's character also calls him headache initially. Moving to the movie ache, my entire mind was concentrating on what's not bad, not on what's good. I redeem myself from all the miseries these type of movies have given earlier. Not surprisingly, it was a totally different crowd that only waits for Salman Bhai movies to enter into theaters. Really surprising element was the people whistling like anything even before Salman comes, just by seeing name of the movie. When Salman arrives, no dolby effect can surpass that.
Sorry for talking so differently this time deviating myself from the movie review, but when Salman is involved, things can't go in a regular way. Definitely not a headache, rather it is supported by good cinematography and direction. It was a good blend of Salman's phenomenon and a decent plot to carry movie through. It leaves flourishing some interest in viewer's mind in the first half and after the second half, it leaves people full of smiles and with Salman's sensation.

Salman Khan was the real star of the show after many many years. He genuinely acts well and luckily a good plot backs him. No weird scenes or dialogues on this occasion. Randeep Hooda relived his Shootout brilliance and was good throughout. Nawazuddin Siddiqui was the showman in the second half and his small role also left a big impact. Mithun and Jacqueline were just normal.

Sajid Nadiadwala jumped into Direction boots for the first time and was above average on all aspects. I'll not take anything away from him. As a producer and director, he ensured that full justice should happen to this type of plots that generally run only on star power. At-least some legitimate efforts were put this time.

Music wise almost all the songs stopped the flow specially in the second half but I'll pardon Himesh Reshmiya on this occasion.

Overall after a long time, a big budget Salman's movie made sense.

Pizza : Review

Director: Akshay Akkineni
Actors: Akshay Oberoi, Parvathy Omanakuttan

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Projected as a Horror movie, it starts quite well with few interesting scenes but soon after stuck into some mysterious nonsense throughout the later part of the first half. Although it feels annoying and off-course scary, only thought that comes into the mind is that it definitely should not be just silly horror scenes but should have some meaning. The build up that it creates, shouts that it will justify itself in second half. Luckily second half doesn't disappoint and heads into right direction. With an amazing climax that justifies almost everything and make you feel happy, something in the very end again took the essence of a well thought climax. Although it was not required but keeping in mind the projected theme of the movie, it was defendable.

Akshay Oberoi stood out with his acting skills throughout the movie. He envisaged a very balance act and didn't falter in any scene. I'll definitely bank on this new lad for some more good performances in the future. All other actors were just ordinary.

Debutant in mainstream direction, Akshay Akkineni directed this flick in a very nice way. Although it has some obvious flaws but his direction was never sub standard. He took care of the main essence of this theme and was good in his efforts.

Overall I would say a good Horror watch with some brains in it.