BLACK

Topping the list with a whopping 54.9 per cent vote count, the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film is truly Calcutta?s favourite film of the year. After colourful musicals like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas, the songless Black was Bhansali?s interpretation of the struggling life of Helen Keller. Embellished with brilliant performances from Rani Mukherjee and Amitabh Bachchan, and great cameos from Shernaz Patel, Dhritiman Chatterjee and nine-year-old Ayesha Kapur, Black also rode high on Ravi Chandran?s cinematography and production designer Omung Kumar?s opulent set pieces.

Parineeta

Pradeep Sarkar?s celluloid adaptation of the Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay classic is way behind at second spot with 10.2 per cent votes. That almost the entire film was shot in Calcutta must have helped the Vidhu Vinod Chopra production nudge ahead of the rest of the Mumbai mob. Great music (Shantanu Moitra) and crisp lenswork (N. Nataraja Subramanian) enhanced flawless performances from Saif Ali Khan and Vidya Balan. Sanjay Dutt and Raima Sen also do more than their bit to shore up this smiles-and-tears saga.

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An insider?s look at the party culture of Mumbai, this Madhur Bhandarkar film comes close on the heels of Parineeta with 9.3 per cent votes. With a fluid handheld camera, Bhandarkar delves deep into the multiple layers of upper-class machinations. Natural performances from lifestyle reporter Konkona Sen Sharma, Atul Kulkarni and Boman Irani make this colourful enterprise quite engaging. Melodious singles from Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle enrich the background score of Page 3.

BUNTY AUR BABLI

The concept of an on-the-road con film may have been alien to the desi culture but all that changed when Abhishek and Rani hit the road in this rollercoaster Shaad Ali musical. With 5.4 per cent votes, B ?n? B is at number four. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy?s chartbusting score and Aveek Mukhopadhyay?s colourful frames did help the movie race through the first few weeks, but Bunty Aur Babli?s place in Bollywood history is best booked by Kajra re, with Ash-Amitabh-Abhishek.

SARKAR

Ram Gopal Varma?s re-telling of The Godfather didn?t quite change Indian film history like the way Francis Ford Coppola?s original did, but it sure did make an impression. At number five, with 4.3 per cent votes, Sarkar stands tall for the simple reason that reel becomes real when the Big B hands over the baton to the Chhota B.

Almost there

No Entry and Iqbal almost made it to the Top 5 and maybe an SMS here and a vote there could have scripted a totally different story. But kudos to both Anees Bazmee and Nagesh Kukunoor for making us laugh and aspire the way they did.