Top 5 Hindi Films of 2014

The cinematic year of 2014 draws to a close. There is only one word to describe Hindi cinema this year: Lull.

No, not the English word which means:

lull

verb

calm or send to sleep, typically with soothing sounds or movements.

noun

a temporary interval of quiet or lack of activity.

I'm referring to the Bhojpuri word, which probably means:

Boring

Idiotic

Uneventful

Unstable

All these apply to Hindi cinema this year, which provided more mainstream and art-house duds than any other year in recent memory.

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS

What are these duds? Well, on the mainstream front there were Bang Bang, Jai Ho, Kick, Happy Ending and Gunday where I found nothing of value. 

This was also a year where I grew tired of masala films inspired by films from within the country or outside. What was fun earlier, is becoming increasingly devoid of passion and purpose. They are all products. Sub-standard products.

Art-house films which which disappointed me were Miss Lovely, Finding Fanny, Ankhon Dekhi and Anurag Kashyap's worst Dibakar Banerjee film - Ugly.

Not that these art-house fares were equally bad as the mainstream ones. They are far superior but I found Miss Lovely to be utterly hollow. Finding Fanny was utterly unfunny (apart from a stellar Naseeruddin Shah). Ankhon Dekhi was utterly boring and ignorant.

Ugly, well, this film ranks highest in terms of disappointment. It seemed like a gimmick to make you feel bad. It's never boring but always unimaginative. Let's forget for a moment it was all these things. Let's forget for a moment it was a true story. It was mainly a shoddy investigation of a kidnapping. The prime suspect was not even mentioned after the first 15 minutes. The characters were highly uneven (including a great song by Asaf Avidan used so unsophisticatedly, it gives new meaning to tonal shifts). An irritating cop trying to be funny, a caring father, a good friend - sure, they all "develop" but they actually vanish. I saw them as being reduced than growing. I don't mean they show their ugly sides, but that they become caricatures to fuel Kashyap's nihilism, which isn't very convincing. The alcoholic mother hands the ransom money to the supposed kidnapper and disappears. No mention of the kid. Is this remotely possible in a scenario like this? Her and Ronit Roy's cop remain exactly where they started. In the end, we are left with a ghastly image, more exasperating than provocative. To be fair, this is not my kind of movie. Starting this year, I have become increasingly aware and cautious about any film that celebrates darkness and wilfully tries to intellectualize the concept for you to feel superior about your movie tastes. Especially when there was another film this year about the kidnapping of a girl that is so much more.

Before I start sounding like an angry film insurgent declaring anarchy with a mission to enlighten, I will come to what this article is meant for: an appreciation of 2014 cinema.

THE RUNNERS-UP

There were some films in the mainstream that weren't defunct products. Ek Villain, 2 States, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Mary Kom and Daawat-E-Ishq offered something other films don't. Not great films but they use the mainstream platform and tell stories competently. Yes, now telling stories has become a rarity.

Before I get to the top 5, there were a few films I liked which couldn't crack the list.

Filmistaan - This delightful film about a film lover stuck in the neighbouring country deserved more recognition.

Dedh Ishqiya - If the first hour was as bold and crackling as the final one, this would have been a hoot. 

Hawaa Hawaai - While this kind-hearted film doesn't manipulate the viewer, it extracts emotion every chance it gets.

CityLights - A harrowing film that is more sad than dark. Brilliant performances by Rajkummar Rao and Manav Kaul.

Khoobsurat - The most fun romantic comedy of the year which embraces its clichés.

THE BEST BAD MOVIES

What's better than films you love and films that you detest? Bad films that you enjoy! I firmly believe everyone must enjoy bad movies. You must be able to come out of a film and not care who thinks what about it, including yourself. It's all about not thinking. There were two films that garnered my warped appreciation:

Happy New Year - You have to hand it to Farah Khan, in this time of masala potboilers she made an all star-cast Bollywood film. I'm highly biased towards Shah Rukh Khan and literally like/love everything he does (by which I mean I loved Ra.One) but this film was owned by Abhishek Bachchan (who I also admire and find underused by this industry). All right. Let's be honest, everyone in this film was crushed by Deepika Padukone's Lovely.

Kill Dil - I am now a certified Shaad Ali fan. You may think his best film is Saathiya or probably Bunty Aur Babli but those are like any other films. His two misfires are absolutely unique. They happen to be Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Kill Dil. Kill Dil has Govinda being Govinda again and a comedy so hopelessly in love with its stupidity, I couldn't get enough of it. This film also features Ranveer Singh's best performance yet. Someone give him more silly shenanigans to conquer.

THE TOPS

A caveat before handing out my top 5. These are not the best films of the year. I don't decide what is best. These are films that moved me, made me think, feel something. I responded best to these 5 films so without further ranting, let's get to it.

HASEE TOH PHASEE

Hasee Toh Phasee is not a game-changing romantic comedy. It's only a damn good one. It doesn't waste time over too much romance or too much comedy. Moreover, it makes us care for the two lovers. It has the patience to let us get to know them. Parineeti Chopra gives one of her best performances yet. It's not easy watching her, trying to hide her tears and then sobbing uncontrollably. My only test for a romantic film is whether I want the lovers to get together or not. At the end of Hasee Toh Phasee, I most definitely did. I wanted them to run to each other. 

PK

PK is Rajkumar Hirani's least accomplished film. It isn't completely original, it's not even Aamir Khan's best performance yet. I'll tell you what it is though. It's a film that entertains and successfully makes the audience think. It doesn't attack faith as much as it makes fun of how we perceive religion. It is a film about us. We, who are born naked on this earth, learn the language of wherever we are dropped off, learn the ways of the world and discover God or how the quest of a visible deity is futile. It questions the ritual, not the spiritual. It does all of these things better than that other film which was more hypocritical than satirical and quite frankly: it was lull. (Unless you see PK as a satire about the friend-zone, which even aliens can't escape from). A bona fide blockbuster and for good reason.

(Side note: Any film that can make you forget about Anushka Sharma's lull lip-job while watching it is a winner)

HAIDER

Vishal Bhardwaj ends his Shakespearian trilogy on a high. Shahid Kapoor gives another brilliant performance. Although, anyone with eyes and ears would admit Tabu was the crowning glory. Bhardwaj made several changes to the original source material, not just to adapt it into an Indian setting, but quite a few plot changes. They all worked rather well. In fact, when Hamlet stages a play to see Claudius flinch with guilt has never been better rendered on the cinema screen than what we saw in Bismil. Here's a film that delves into the darkness of humanity and does it ever so deliciously. It also takes a U-turn right at the end and changes Shakespeare's ending. It is what makes this film so good. No other film this year in Hindi cinema sparked off an internal debate (political and moral) in me more than this one.

QUEEN

The surprise hit, the feel-good film, the runaway success, the best example of word-of-mouth publicity in recent times. If you meet a person who dislikes Queen, don't meet that person again. This ingeniously scripted and warmly filmed beauty is pure delight to watch. Kangana Ranaut owns her role and single-handedly debunks the myth that only films starring big male actors work. Vikas Bahl's film shows all it takes for a film to work at the box office, is for it to be a good film. If not for my personal choice below (and pardon my stab at being objective), this is indeed is the best film of 2014.

HIGHWAY

I don't know if this is the best film of the year. I don't even know if it's my favorite film of the year. I cannot give it a label. I cannot rank it. I cannot critique it. I could give you a well-written paragraph praising Imtiaz Ali's cinematic brilliance, anointing it his best film. But I simply can't. There is no film that moved me more than Highway since... I honestly don't remember when. The relationship between the lead characters, Alia Bhatt's groundbreaking performance, A.R. Rahman's beautiful music, the touching story of a girl's troubled childhood and the broken down cages. I could go on but I won't take the risk of going into an incoherent rant. I still try not to think about the final moments of the film because my throat ends up choked. (There I go again). It's rare when the best possible way I can think of to sum up a film is only gratitude. Thank you for this film.