Top of the tops

Now here’s looking at the brighter — read creative — side of Bollywood’s annual yield of over 120 Hindi language films, many of them audaciously independent and other above-the-cut mainstream entertainers.

That there’s a growing audience at home and overseas for decidedly different cinema, was asserted once again with films whose production budgets were peanuts, and were shot on the rapidly preferred option of 
digital technology. On the other hand, the mega-budget films stepped up their expenses in a bid to reach the magic figure of 
Rs 100 crore (10 million) and much more at the cash counters. That the Goliaths and the Davids can co-exist has now become a given, mercy be.

Of course, if the unconventional, independent films came to be supported by celebrity names, that added to public awareness of cinema which has been variously termed as “offbeat”, “art-house” and “parallel” ever since the 1970s, when master directors like Mrinal Sen (Bhuvan Shome), Shyam Benegal (Ankur) and Basu Chatterjee (Rajnigandha) broke filmmaking rules and were applauded by the mandarins and the masses. Today, 
the smaller films have found additional outlets at international film festivals, satellite channels and websites. And indications are that the boom of formula-denting cinema is here to stay.

So, here’s a checklist — a subjective one — of the Best of Bollywood, 2013.

1. The Lunchbox: First-time writer-director Ritesh Batra narrated a sensitive story of a lonely man and an unhappy housewife striking a bond, without ever seeing each other. Their romance blooms over intimate notes exchanged through a lunch tiffin-
box service. Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin 
Siddiqui and stage actress Nimrat Kaur delivered lifelike performances in a work remarkable for its humaneness, humour and insights into the pressures of a 
metropolis. The fact that it was promoted by frontline filmmaker Karan Johar helped it reach out to a sizeable audience. That it didn’t make it as India’s official entry to the Oscars for Best Foreign Film will 
remain a conundrum.

2. Ship of Theseus: First-time feature film director Anand Gandhi sprung a super 
surprise with this episodic meditation on how change affects three individuals — 
a photographer with fading eyesight, a priest who would rather die than go against his principles and a young businessman who’s out to track the story behind a kidney donor. Dazzlingly photographed and edited, it was a surprise since Anand Gandhi had spent years writing scripts for the melodramatic TV soap Kabhi Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Support for the film, this time, from Kiran Rao and her husband Aamir Khan, was heaven-sent, ensuring a nationwide release for this experiment in style and content.

3. Shahid: Hansal Mehta’s tribute to the slain activist lawyer Shahid Azmi was as gripping as it was authentic. Elevated by realistic courtroom scenes, it covered the events behind the murder of a lawyer who took up the cause of Muslim citizens wrongfully arrested as suspected terrorists. Garlanded at home and abroad with awards galore, however, the controversial biopic didn’t fare well financially, perhaps because of its unsparing dark and edgy tenor. A pity that, because an extraordinary performance by Rajkumar Yadav in the title role, surely deserved more footfalls at the multiplexes.

4. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag: Farhan Akhtar as the athlete Milkha Singh was astoundingly credible, both in terms of physical as well as emotional rigour. Although writer-director Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra adopted a partisan approach and overdid the sequences showing the partition of India-Pakistan, the no-guts-no-glory story of the Flying Sikh was skillfully crafted. Blending artistry with Bollywood’s commercial ingredients, here was an outright 
winner. It’s another story altogether, that Shah Rukh Khan’s Chennai 
Express turned out to be the No 1 hit of the year.

5. BA Pass: Cinematographer Ajay Bahl’s film noir, uncovered the secrets and lies behind the closed doors of New Delhi’s genteel middle class. 
Before he can complete his college graduation, a recently orphaned boy is drawn into a relationship by a femme fatale — excellently enacted by Shilpa Shukla of Chak De India! 
The boy’s helplessness and the 
woman’s manipulative tactics were drawn with psychological acuity. 
Result: a film which was daringly adult but was far removed from any 
shred of vulgarity.

6. Kai Po Chhe: After Rock On!, actor-turned-director Abhishek Kapoor was 
back in the groove with this engrossing drama revolving around three young 
men, one of who joins politics. Their friendship goes asunder against the backdrop of contemporary Gujarat. Stingingly critical of political corruption, the film made TV actor Sushant Singh Rajput into an instant star.

7. Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram Leela: 
Sanjay Lee Bhansali’s ostentatious riff on Romeo and Juliet caught in the crossfire of feuding mafia families, had its moments of brilliance as well as moments of ennui, sagging particularly in the second half. Either liked or detested, several of its assets were undeniable: in effect, the sumptuous set décor, costume designs and, above all, a tour de force performance by Deepika Padukone, quite simply the most visible and vivacious actress of the year.

8. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani: Deepika Padukone was impressive in this romedy too, about a plain Jane who turns glamourous with a vengeance, compelling Ranbir Kapoor to fall head over heels in love. 
Directed with a feather-light touch by Ayan Mukherjee, the breezy outcome was a crowd-pleaser, thanks also to its chartbusting shake-a-leg song Badtameez Dil.

9. Aashiqui 2: The honour of the best 
movie score of the year, however, belonged to this umpteenth version of A Star Is Born, in which an aspiring songstress outpaces 
her mentor. Shades of the Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya Bhaduri-starrer Abhimaan were apparent. Mohit Suri’s direction was low-key, 
eschewing melodrama, besides extract-
ing sensitive performances from the lead 
players Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha 
Kapoor. Clearly, the song Tum hi ho, composed by Mithoon, can be rated as the anthem of the year.

10. Raanjhanaa: Directed by Anand L Rai, it introduced Chennai’s Kolaveri crooner Dhanush in the role of a young man besotted by a girl who’s in love with another, a campus rebel. The picture-perfect Varanasi locations, A R Rahman’s music and Sonam Kapoor’s 
nuanced performance as an ingenue-turned-political activist, were more than worth a dekko.

11. Madras Café: Shoojit Sircar’s political thriller about an Indian undercover agent assigned to deal with Sri Lankan insurgents, was a tad derivative — including some shots lifted straight out the Bruce Willis movie Tears of the Sun. Such downers apart, it was absorbing and thematically topical with a fairly expert act by the film’s producer John Abraham.

12. Jolly LLB: Directed by Subhash Kapoor, this bittersweet comedy opened up the jiggery pokery which transpires in the courts of law. Arshad Warsi, as twisted 
as a pretzel, straightens out when he’s 
bitten by his conscience. Alas, a superb performance by Saurabh Shukla, as a world-weary judge, may go by under-
valued. Reason: Down the decades, this character actor hasn’t ever solicited a shred 
of publicity.

13. Bombay Talkies: Caution: the four-parter tribute to Indian cinema in its centenary year, on the whole, was quite random and rushed. Anurag Kashyap’s take on a small-towner’s trip to meet Amitabh Bachchan in Mumbai and Zoya Akhtar’s spin on a growing boy’s obsession with Katrina Kaif, were sub-standard. Yet, Karan Johar’s forthright episode on a same-
gender attraction which disrupts a marriage, and Dibakar Bannerjee’s study of an unemployed man, hired for a five-second role in a Bollywood film, were apt salutes to the nation’s cinema, where the show never stops. And never will.