PART 1: BEST MOVIES OF 2007

With the incessant award sessions coming up, here is Part 1 of my picks for the best of the year.

Since films and performances are quite varied and not quite quantifiable added to the fact that I have NOT watched all of them, these are my picks for the top 10 from the ones I watched. Feel free to disagree.


10) Eklavya - The Royal Guard.

Great visuals and even better style. Alas hardly any substance. Big B was OK, Sanju was very entertaining but not in tune with the movie but Saif…..well Saif was the one who should have been given the Rolls Royce as he was brilliant as the brooding vengeful confused heir. He is completely understated and nuanced and quite expectedly was not appreciated by the Bollywood junta who confuse 'loud' performances with 'good' ones (Black comes to mind immediately) The pitch black scene was gimmicky and the ending just about spoilt the movie completely. Seems like Chopra gave the last 5 minutes to Ekkta Kapoor to direct.
Best Scene: The policeman (Sanju) is at the table with the new Rana (Saif), the Uncle (Jackie) and his son (Jimmy). Amitabh is respectfully standing in the back and during the course of the conversation he comes to realize that it was Jimmy who killed the old Rana. Furious and loyal, he slowly reaches for his gun just as the policeman also begins to comprehend what is happening and quickly takes him out of the room. The camera meanwhile lingers on Saif’s face in the midst of the melee and you are not sure what are the emotions that are flickering across his face..... tilll later in the movie when everything becomes shockingly clear.

9) Cheeni Kum.

Some of the wittiest, funniest and yet natural lines spoken by characters in hindi films. One of the best of teh mature love stories. Again Big B was ‘acting’ (watch the completely unnecessary scene in the end where he runs, weeps, hugs a pillar, weeps some more... just to show he can 'act') but Tabu was wonderfully and totally in control. Coy, Shy, Brash, Frank…..every emotion in just the right dose.
Best Scene: “Why don’t you ask me the question that every boy wants to ask a girl?” a flirty Tabu tells Amitabh. Clearly wanting to ask her if she loves him but embarrassed he dilly dallies until she offers to ask it herself. “Go on,” he says expectantly, “ask me.”
Smiling coyly she asks “What is your name?”
Not to mention the pharmacy scene where the shopkeeper loudly tells an assistant "Arre bhai chacha ko Durex do"

8) Life in a Metro.

Finally a multi story movie done well. Fresh off the Big Brother publicity blaze, Shilpa headlined the movie but was actually the weakest link. The best performances in ascending order were Shiney, Sharman, Kangana, Irfaan & Konkana.
Best Scene: A cocky Irfan comes to a coffee house to meet Konkana after hooking up in an internet matrimonial portal. While she tries to make conversation he catches sight of her cleavage, likes what he sees, stops talking, continues looking, gets caught looking and then in all sincerity proceeds to justify what he is doing. Two actors at the top of their game.


7) Guru

Finally Ash acted naturally and mercifully did not pout. However her better half made up for that by hamming away to glory. Abhishek was good in the first half but in the second he turned into a caricature. In the final courtroom speech he was channeling his dad from Agneepath so much that it was miracle he did not launch into the khoon mein lathpath, lathpath, lathpath speech. It is no 7 only for Mithun’s solid performance and AR Rehman’s tunes.
Best Scene: Gurubhai (Abhi) comes to Manekda’s (Mithun) house and the confrontation that happens is what sets director Mani Ratnam apart. No loud music, no bombastic words. Just a civil conversation going wrong with the break-up between the two getting clearly evident with each sharp yet polite sentence spoken. Watch Vidya Balan emote as she is caught between the two. Magic.


6) Parzania: It is the Gujrat riots and an innocent Parsi family loses its son, and lives in constant fear, longing and despair. The film is by a US based director and the story is a true one about a Parsi friend of his who is still looking for their son. The main reason to watch the film is Sarika! Sarika! Sarika! Who knew she had it in her.
Best Scene: After wasting time on the fruitless investigation a hollow, sad and frustrated Sarika finally lets rip. And how… A truly deserved National Award.

Till Part 2 of this post here is the choice for BEST SCENE of the year.

Om Shanti Om.

Shahrukh Khan who plays a struggling actor in the movie in the first half is trying to impress Deepika. He tells her that he is a rising star from the South Indian film industry and that his name is Omswami. Channeling every bad south-indian matinee idol, and delivering utterly silly dialogues in a thick faux-tamil accent like “Rascala”, “Mind It” and his favourite phrase “Atti Katti Patti”, the biggest superstar of the country is unabashedly game for a laugh. Dressed in a shiny maroon 1 piece leather costume and battling a giant stuffed tiger he is spouting absurdly ludicrous lines.
"Pussycat Pussycat where have you been?” he asks at one point, “Have you been to London to see the Queen".

And if that was not enough he then proceeds to butcher every possible pun on the word Pussy.
Bad Pussy, Naughty Pussy, Dirty Pussy he admonishes poker faced as he tries to ‘fight’ off the tiger.

It could have gone horribly, horribly wrong but it is so, so over the top and SRK so loveable that it is pussybly the funniest scene filmed this past year.

Till Part 2.... Ciao.