BOLLYWOOD 2009
One superhit, a few hits and a whole lot of misses. the q4 box-office results...

Wake up sid

Release date: 02.10.2009
What: This coming-of-age tale marked the coming-of-age of Ranbir Kapoor.
Thumbs up: The fresh take on growing up, the mint-fresh Ranbir-Konkona romance, the soulful Iktara.
Thumbs down: Starts off slow, sluggish in parts.
t2 review: Watch it as a slice-of-life romance played out by two terrific talents. Expect anything more and Sid would fall short.
Verdict: HIT

All the best

Release date: 16.10.2009
What: A fun comic caper set in Goa from the Golmaal maker.
Thumbs up: The starry lineup, some hilarious sequences.
Thumbs down: Crass and over-the-top in parts, tepid music.
t2 review: All The Best — an assault on the senses crudely disguised as a movie — asks a little too much of us.
Verdict: HIT

Tum mile

Release date: 13.11.2009
What: An estranged couple is reunited years later against the tragic backdrop of the Mumbai flood of July 2005.
Thumbs up: The hatke storyline, strong performances led by Emraan and Soha.
Thumbs down: Inconsistent and abrupt, too long.
t2 review: Tum Mile ends up becoming a tale of two films, one having very little to do with the other.
Verdict: flop

Do knot disturb

Release date: 02.10.2009
What: This David Dhawan comedy was about adultery, mistaken identities and goof ups galore.
Thumbs up: Govinda, some hilarious moments.
Thumbs down: Not a typical Dhawan laugh riot, crass dialogues.
t2 review: If you are a Govinda fan, do catch Do Knot Disturb. Don’t expect to roll in the aisles at every scene and you will not be disappointed.
Verdict: FLOP

London dreams

Release date: 30.10.2009
What: Childhood friends turn foes over professional rivalry.
Thumbs up: Salman Khan.
Thumbs down: No real plot, lacklustre acting, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s thanda music, the climax.
t2 review: Vipul Shah scores when it comes to the rustic setting, the earthy humour, the emotional bonding between the two friends and the comic scenes, but falls short when dealing with the musical theme and the concept of a band.
Verdict: FLOP

Kurbaan

Release date: 20.11.2009
What: Innocent love falls victim to Islamic fundamentalism in this real-turned-real romance.
Thumbs up: The performances, the Saif-Kareena chemistry, Salim-Sulaiman’s music.
Thumbs down: Too long. Too soon after New York.
t2 review: Relentless, dark and brooding, Kurbaan keeps the screen pulsating with tension and drama almost throughout its 160 minutes.
Verdict: FLOP

Acid factory

Release date: 09.10.2009
What: A dozen men wake up in a factory with temporary memory loss. Then what unfolds is... actually, just forget it!
Thumbs up: You must be kidding!
Thumbs down: Too many to count.
t2 review: Not a single scene makes an impact. Not a single character packs a punch. Not a single line is worth remembering.
Verdict: FLOP

Aladin

Release date: 30.10.2009
What: A Bollywood take on the age-old tale of the boy with the magic lamp had Amitabh Bachchan playing Genius to Riteish’s Aladin Chatterjee.
Thumbs up: The visual effects, the cinematography by Calcutta guy Shirsha Ray.
Thumbs down: Too many to count.
t2 review: Do not take your children to watch this Aladin. They deserve the original, the extra ‘d’ in the title, or else they would hear the ghosts singing Dardi rab rab kar di every time the lamp is rubbed.
Verdict: FLOP

DE DANA DAN

Release date: 27.11.2009
What: The Hera Pheri trio of Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal unite to give us the usual fare of mistaken identities and slapstick situations in this Priyadarshan comedy of errors.
Thumbs up: Akshay, some genuinely funny moments.
Thumbs down: No real plot, unoriginal humour.
t2 review: The pedestrian humour arising out of mistaken identities and plans gone awry gets worse by the minute.
Verdict: AVERAGE

Paa

Release date: 04.12.2009
What: A progeria child experiences love, life, laughter and loss in his short life in this Bachchan-Bachchan starrer.
Thumbs up: The award-worthy performances led by the Bachchan father and son and Vidya Balan, Ilaiyaraja’s music.
Thumbs down: The bhashanbaazi.
t2 review: Watch Paa not because of all the preachings, not because you need to be aware of progeria, but because of the terrific troika leading the cast.
Verdict: semi-hit

Main aurr mrs khanna

Release date: 16.10.2009
What: A woman is torn between a husband who deserts her and a lover who supports her in this Salman Khan-Kareena Kapoor yawnathon.
Thumbs up: Nothing. “My own nephew and niece walked out of the theatre while watching Main Aurr Mrs Khann,” Salman has told t2.
Thumbs down: Everything.
t2 review: Ridiculous in its premise, downright boring for the most part and a king-sized disappointment overall, Main Aurr Mrs Khanna is like a damp firecracker...
Verdict: FLOP

BLUE

Release date: 16.10.2009
What: The search for a lost treasure amid sharks and sea forms the core of this 120-crore dud.
Thumbs up: Exotic Bahamas, Kylie Minogue.
Thumbs down: Weak premise, laughable performances, A.R. Rahman’s music.
t2 review: Blue can be the costliest film coming out of Bollywood but it is also not very short of being one of the worst films to have come out of the industry.
Verdict: AVERAGE

Ajab prem ki ghazab kahani

Release date: 06.11.2009
What: A young waster turns a responsible man of the world for the woman he loves in this Rajkumar Santoshi joyride.
Thumbs up: Ranbir Kapoor’s easy act, the crackling Ranbir-Katrina chemistry, the funny one-liners.
Thumbs down: Silly in parts.
t2 review: Ranbir has the starry knack of jumping out of an ordinary film and making the performance count.
Verdict: SUPERHIT

Jail

Release date: 06.11.2009
What: Madhur Bhandarkar goes behind the four walls of a prison to depict the predicament of a falsely accused young man.
Thumbs up: Neil Nitin Mukesh, the strong supporting cast.
Thumbs down: Sagging screenplay, not horrifying enough.
t2 review: The horror never really gets too stark, most incidents are a little too simplistic to make an impression and the drama seldom rises beyond a superficial level.
Verdict: FLOP

Rocket singh

Release date: 11.12.2009
What: An average student becomes a winner salesman in this ‘be what you want to be’ film by Shimit Chak De! India Amin.
Thumbs up: Ranbir Kapoor, the fun plot, the supporting acts.
Thumbs down: Too long.
t2 review: Proved one more time that with a strong and sensible script, Hindi cinema can reach beyond the stars.
Verdict: AVERAGE

Radio

Release date: 03.12.2009
What: Confused love and confused relationships equalled a confused mess in this ‘complicated’ film.
Thumbs up: Himesh.
Thumbs down: Himesh.
t2 review: Don’t you worry Himesh, people may be going Paa Paa this weekend but it’s only you who can make them go Haa Haa! Why? It’s complicated.
Verdict: FLOP

PLUS

3 idiots

In theatres from Friday, critical acclaim and audience interest mean that 3 Idiots is a winner already. Will Aamir Khan score a December hattrick after Taare Zameen Par and Ghajini? Watch this space.

Which was the best/ worst film between October and December 2009? Tell t2@abpmail.com

12 months. 12 films. here are the dozen that made a difference in the year that was

Dev D: He never wanted to make love stories but it was with this Devdas remixed that Anurag Kashyap finally hit bull’s eye. The strong sexual subtext was a welcome change.

Luck By Chance: The audiences might have been put off by its cynical tone, but Zoya Akhtar showed the inner machinations of the film industry like no other. Debut of the year.

New York: What this film did right and Kurbaan — with the same theme — didn’t, was invest time and space in the relationships. You don’t need a bare-back poster for that.

Wanted: A Salman Khan hit is always great news for the industry because it tends to be huge. Returning to full-on action, Salman let his fists of fury do all the talking.

Wake up sid: Karan Johar backed 26-year-old Ayan Mukerji to tell his refreshing coming-of-age tale. By the time Sid woke up, Ranbir Kapoor had arrived.

Delhi-6: Till that clumsy climax, Rakeysh Mehra created a world rarely seen in Bollywood. Backed by Rahman at his best, it almost told us that a film does not have to tell a story, after all.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani: It wasn’t a great film but after a long time a 26-year-old boy singlehandedly delivered an all-India hit. Rise, Ranbir ‘star’ Kapoor.

Love Aaj Kal: The Jab We Met man showed that when it came to love stories, no one does it better in Bollywood these days than Imtiaz Ali.

Kaminey: Dhan te nan.... Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra stood out in Vishal Bhardwaj’s convoluted attempt at a masala film. His cinematic flourish was there, not the restraint.

Paa: The Bachchans reversed roles and Vidya Balan shone as the woman in the middle. Never has prosthetics played such a big role in a Bollywood box-office success.

Rocket singh: Yash Raj Films chose not to hard-sell their sales film and so one of the best movies of the year was seen by few but those who did left the hall whistling.

3 Idiots: It’s preachy, it’s repetitive and it’s melodramatic, but Rajkumar Hirani’s sugar-coated feel-good factor and Aamir Khan’s massive star power make it a must watch.

Do you agree with this list? Tell t2@abpmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

Hollywood 2009

This year ends in a nine and it saw the release of two movies called Nine. So, A.O. Scott of The New York Times draws up a 10-best list of 19 films. One stands alone, while the rest are presented in somewhat loose thematic pairs. Sadly, most haven’t released here but here’s why you must catch ’em on DVD

1. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers took Maurice Sendak’s restless and surpassingly simple picture book and turned it into a dark and complicated fable, one of the most piercingly realistic cinematic treatments of childhood ever made. The film’s technical brilliance is almost casual — quietly seductive rather than dazzling — and its high spirits are coloured by a melancholy that grown-ups may find too sad to bear.

2. THE HURT LOCKER / IN THE LOOP The Iraq war, two ways: as action spectacle and as farce. Kathryn Bigelow’s film is a tour de force of high tension and directorial pyrotechnics wrapped around an astute and wrenching psychological drama. Its deep subject, embodied in the character of Sergeant James, is professionalism — the irrational, passionate devotion to a job of work. Careerism, the comic underside of professionalism, is the superficial subject of Armando Iannucci’s verbally explosive satire on affairs of state. Dissimilar in style and mood, these two movies nonetheless add up to a cracked, sad, infuriating and glorious epic of our time.

3. SUMMER HOURS / OF TIME AND THE CITY These distinctive, highly personal meditations on home and its loss are also meditations on memory and history. Olivier Assayas takes what might have been an anecdotal family drama about antiques and gives it Chekhovian weight and pathos. Terence Davies, ruminating on his hometown, Liverpool, in the years of his youth, uses archival footage and the sound of his own sardonic, melancholy voice to animate the almost imperceptible passing of a life and a way of life.

4. UP IN THE AIR / FUNNY PEOPLE Nothing fails like success, and sometimes nothing is sadder than comedy. These two movies, with likeable stars (Clooney and Adam Sandler) and audience-pleasing directors (Jason Reitman and Judd Apatow), seem almost designed to be misunderstood. They laugh at the abyss, and encourage audiences to do the same. But the abyss is still there.

5. BRIGHT STAR / MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY Two love stories, centuries apart. Bright Star, Jane Campion’s rapturous rendering of the impossible passion of John Keats and Fanny Brawne is a romantic, literate, non-campy variation on the Twilight theme. Barry Jenkins’s walking tour of San Francisco is the year’s most surprising treatment of the ubiquitous theme of post-whatever racial identity. Both are bracing examples of filmmaking intelligence applied to matters of the heart.

6. PRECIOUS / CORALINE These films, named for their young heroines, are about girls who initially embrace fantasy as an antidote to the disappointments of reality — horrific in the first case, merely stultifying in the other. Both of them prove to be tenacious, resilient and smart. Precious in particular will outlast the complaints of its doubters, who somehow mistake its volcanic melodramatic energy for literalism.

7. AVATAR / DISTRICT 9
We have met the enemy, and it is us.

8. A SERIOUS MAN / ANVIL: THE STORY OF ANVIL A heterogeneous pairing only because the first is a Coen Brothers shaggy-dog puzzle and the other is a heavy-metal documentary about a band that never quite made it. On closer inspection, though, the connection should be obvious. Both movies examine the glories and tribulations of Jewish life in suburban North America — far north, as in Minneapolis and Toronto — in the second half of the 20th Century. The bar mitzvah double feature of the year.

9. GOODBYE, SOLO / SUGAR Ramin Bahrani’s tale of a Senegalese taxi driver in North Carolina and Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s chronicle of a Dominican baseball player in Iowa (and elsewhere) offer insightful, surprising glimpses of American reality. And the two films, the first composed in an almost spiritual key of humanism, the other an unassuming piece of social criticism, are glowing examples of a new American realism.

10. GOMORRAH / THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX European violence, present and past. Gomorrah, Matteo Garrone’s investigation of organised crime in Naples, is a sprawling, vivid rebuttal to Hollywood mafia fantasies. Uli Edel’s painstaking reconstruction of left-wing terrorism in 1970s Germany is a stinging rebuke to those who sentimentalise political extremism of any variety.