My favourite Top-10 films of the year: 2005
it is that time of the year again when you look back at the just passed year with mixed feelings, and to feel positive about it, start compiling top ten lists from every possible field :) let me put the list of my top 10 fovourite films that i got to watch in 2005.
1. Bose - The Forgotten Hero : i had only watched 'Making of Mahatma' from Shyam Benegal's stable until then, that too when i was very young. i could not watch his other film 'Zubeida' but when i made sure that i am not going to miss Bose, i got much more than what i had expected. i had expected a slow, lengthy but factual biography of Bose - with a bit of dramatisation thrown in here and there. although i had complete faith about Shyam Benegal not making it too loud or too filmy like umpteen Bhagat Singh movies. instead, what i got was an extremely interesting, very unbiased take on Bose's life with minimum of the fact-file stuff of his life. as a first thing, there was no unnecessary Gandhi bashing in this film, as is the norm for every film made on indian heroes other than the Mahatma himself. Shyam Benegal succeeded in portraying Bose's character and his life in true spirit, without unnecessarily trying to make a hero out of him in every scene - Sachin khandekar providing him able support. i believe Bose's life in itself was heroic, you don't need to dramatise it to make it any larger. since then, i have been hunting for 'Making of Mahatma' in every video shop here, without any success until now.
2. Black: what can be said about this movie! it was a completely new experience for me, i had not watched this kind of a movie ever before. it had big points in Amitabh Bachan at his best and the wonder act by the child actor. i was surprised to see some people actually calling it a very 'loud' movie. someone not liking a movie is absolutely understandable, but criticising this movie to be extremely unreal and characters going overboard? this from the same people who vouch for movies like DDLJ!! they don't understand about the different abstraction levels at which the movies can be made - black had its own level of abstraction and it stood upto it brilliantly all through, without any exceptions in between. people complaining it to be a copy of another film should understand that, simply copying a film scene-by-scene does not make a brilliant movie. these two, SBC and Black, are right there on top of my all time favourite movies.
3. Page 3: kudos to Madhur Bhandarkar for making a successful script out of a not so usual theme. it was interesting, entertaining, as well as insightful at the same time. the fact that it was also a commercially successful film, takes it to the third position im my list.
4. Iqbal: i liked this movie very much. i am of the opinion that some people tended to give it more credit than what was required. if you are extremely happy about this movie and exaggerate the reviews, that seems perfectly fine. but some people want to pretend that they care for different cinema and go overboard in praise of it when they think that they have got their victim - this time in the form of 'Iqbal.' false praise was the last thing that this film deserved. the same thing happened with 'Gangajal' which was the most confused film i ever got to watch(followed by 'Apharan' by the same film-maker). the difference is, Gangajal is an ordinary film and Iqbal is an extremely beautiful film. i had only heard about Nagesh Kukunoor until then, but after watching the film, i too became one of his ardent admirers. i won't be missing any of his films in the future, however small budgeted films they may be.
5. Swades: this was a film which would definitely disappoint more than it would satisfy you. that's because it was such a wonderful film, yet it could have been so much better. i don't mind the length of the movie. i don't mind if Shahrukh Khan doesn't wear designer clothes. i don't mind if the lead actress of the movie can't act. i don't mind if only 60% of the film is entertaining. but i still believe that Swades could have been much better. the message was unclear, and even then, it was not emphatically expressed(what was Mohan Bhargav in Ashutosh's mind - positive, ideal character worthy to be emulated? what did he meant by "there is a Mohan Bhargav in every one of us?"). Swades was well researched and Ashutosh Gowarkiar dared a few things with it(ridiculing the usual 'bharateeya parampara' philosophy that most indians take cover behind whenever its economy is challenged) which only he could have. it proved that Shahrukh can actually act, if given an oppurtunity.
6. Parineeta: how many times do we make a film based on an original fictional work (of indian origin)? Paheli was flawed, an ordinary attempt at best, and Devdas was utter crap. Parieeta scored because it was not too bad, rather than being too good. the music and the visuals were top class. literally anyone in place of Saif would have earned more points for it.
7. Aa Naluguru(telugu): the same description of 'Virudh' applies to this film too: it couldn't have been made in any other way. there were 20 members in the theatre, including me, when i went to watch this film. but later, it went on do much better . it had lots of positives, and once again it was a sort of dream project for the film-maker, so no compromises were made here too. Rajendra Prasad proved what a versatile actor he is - he was the sole reason why this movie makes into my top 10.
8. Premiste(telugu/tamil): this was a simple film made from the very bottom of the heart by the film director Balaji Sakthivel. i enjoyed watching it and wouldn't mind watching it again. i have already written about it here, so won't waste anymore words on it (than this!).
9. Virudh: this was an honest attempt proving a liability on the audience's patience. Mahesh Manjraker tried to be very honest, and though his intentions were good, even the execution, it was never a movie material in the first place. similar to 'Dev' this should not have been a full-length feature film at all. its a winner for me because Manjraker did what he wanted to with it, without any compromises. it is the decision of making this as a film that i do not quite agree with, but once the choice was made, it couldn't have been made in any other way. and he dared to make it that way.
10. Main aisa hi hoon: this is another flawed film that i liked very much. the story was good, not expected by me, as it ends on a positive note with a twist. Ajay Devagan did a fabulous job here, doing what he has been doing all these years - giving a controlled performance. i appreciate what Hrithik Roshan did in 'Koi Milgaya...' but any day i would prefer Ajay's portrayal of this character over that of Hrithik's in KMG. it takes extreme amount of talent, understanding as well as courage to give such a controlled performance of such a volatile character. not too many high points, but the movie on the whole was quite engaging.
the other movies which i was dying to watch but couldn't, as they never got released in the theatres at my place, are:
but i got these films from the other sources and plan to watch them ASAP. i am sure atleast the top five would have made it to my top 10, if only i had managed to watch them this year :(
From the short films, i can choose the following three as my favourites:
Me, Meera by Subhakar
Girni by Umesh Kulkarni
The Loser by Sini
i have written about them here and here.
as is evident from the list, i have excluded the films in English and other languages and considered films in only Hindi or Telugu languages.
1. Bose - The Forgotten Hero : i had only watched 'Making of Mahatma' from Shyam Benegal's stable until then, that too when i was very young. i could not watch his other film 'Zubeida' but when i made sure that i am not going to miss Bose, i got much more than what i had expected. i had expected a slow, lengthy but factual biography of Bose - with a bit of dramatisation thrown in here and there. although i had complete faith about Shyam Benegal not making it too loud or too filmy like umpteen Bhagat Singh movies. instead, what i got was an extremely interesting, very unbiased take on Bose's life with minimum of the fact-file stuff of his life. as a first thing, there was no unnecessary Gandhi bashing in this film, as is the norm for every film made on indian heroes other than the Mahatma himself. Shyam Benegal succeeded in portraying Bose's character and his life in true spirit, without unnecessarily trying to make a hero out of him in every scene - Sachin khandekar providing him able support. i believe Bose's life in itself was heroic, you don't need to dramatise it to make it any larger. since then, i have been hunting for 'Making of Mahatma' in every video shop here, without any success until now.
2. Black: what can be said about this movie! it was a completely new experience for me, i had not watched this kind of a movie ever before. it had big points in Amitabh Bachan at his best and the wonder act by the child actor. i was surprised to see some people actually calling it a very 'loud' movie. someone not liking a movie is absolutely understandable, but criticising this movie to be extremely unreal and characters going overboard? this from the same people who vouch for movies like DDLJ!! they don't understand about the different abstraction levels at which the movies can be made - black had its own level of abstraction and it stood upto it brilliantly all through, without any exceptions in between. people complaining it to be a copy of another film should understand that, simply copying a film scene-by-scene does not make a brilliant movie. these two, SBC and Black, are right there on top of my all time favourite movies.
3. Page 3: kudos to Madhur Bhandarkar for making a successful script out of a not so usual theme. it was interesting, entertaining, as well as insightful at the same time. the fact that it was also a commercially successful film, takes it to the third position im my list.
4. Iqbal: i liked this movie very much. i am of the opinion that some people tended to give it more credit than what was required. if you are extremely happy about this movie and exaggerate the reviews, that seems perfectly fine. but some people want to pretend that they care for different cinema and go overboard in praise of it when they think that they have got their victim - this time in the form of 'Iqbal.' false praise was the last thing that this film deserved. the same thing happened with 'Gangajal' which was the most confused film i ever got to watch(followed by 'Apharan' by the same film-maker). the difference is, Gangajal is an ordinary film and Iqbal is an extremely beautiful film. i had only heard about Nagesh Kukunoor until then, but after watching the film, i too became one of his ardent admirers. i won't be missing any of his films in the future, however small budgeted films they may be.
5. Swades: this was a film which would definitely disappoint more than it would satisfy you. that's because it was such a wonderful film, yet it could have been so much better. i don't mind the length of the movie. i don't mind if Shahrukh Khan doesn't wear designer clothes. i don't mind if the lead actress of the movie can't act. i don't mind if only 60% of the film is entertaining. but i still believe that Swades could have been much better. the message was unclear, and even then, it was not emphatically expressed(what was Mohan Bhargav in Ashutosh's mind - positive, ideal character worthy to be emulated? what did he meant by "there is a Mohan Bhargav in every one of us?"). Swades was well researched and Ashutosh Gowarkiar dared a few things with it(ridiculing the usual 'bharateeya parampara' philosophy that most indians take cover behind whenever its economy is challenged) which only he could have. it proved that Shahrukh can actually act, if given an oppurtunity.
6. Parineeta: how many times do we make a film based on an original fictional work (of indian origin)? Paheli was flawed, an ordinary attempt at best, and Devdas was utter crap. Parieeta scored because it was not too bad, rather than being too good. the music and the visuals were top class. literally anyone in place of Saif would have earned more points for it.
7. Aa Naluguru(telugu): the same description of 'Virudh' applies to this film too: it couldn't have been made in any other way. there were 20 members in the theatre, including me, when i went to watch this film. but later, it went on do much better . it had lots of positives, and once again it was a sort of dream project for the film-maker, so no compromises were made here too. Rajendra Prasad proved what a versatile actor he is - he was the sole reason why this movie makes into my top 10.
8. Premiste(telugu/tamil): this was a simple film made from the very bottom of the heart by the film director Balaji Sakthivel. i enjoyed watching it and wouldn't mind watching it again. i have already written about it here, so won't waste anymore words on it (than this!).
9. Virudh: this was an honest attempt proving a liability on the audience's patience. Mahesh Manjraker tried to be very honest, and though his intentions were good, even the execution, it was never a movie material in the first place. similar to 'Dev' this should not have been a full-length feature film at all. its a winner for me because Manjraker did what he wanted to with it, without any compromises. it is the decision of making this as a film that i do not quite agree with, but once the choice was made, it couldn't have been made in any other way. and he dared to make it that way.
10. Main aisa hi hoon: this is another flawed film that i liked very much. the story was good, not expected by me, as it ends on a positive note with a twist. Ajay Devagan did a fabulous job here, doing what he has been doing all these years - giving a controlled performance. i appreciate what Hrithik Roshan did in 'Koi Milgaya...' but any day i would prefer Ajay's portrayal of this character over that of Hrithik's in KMG. it takes extreme amount of talent, understanding as well as courage to give such a controlled performance of such a volatile character. not too many high points, but the movie on the whole was quite engaging.
the other movies which i was dying to watch but couldn't, as they never got released in the theatres at my place, are:
- Matrubhoomi
- Khamosh Paani
- Hazaaron Khwahishien Aisi
- Black Friday
- Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara
- Sehar - this was released in the theatres here, but i still missed it :(
but i got these films from the other sources and plan to watch them ASAP. i am sure atleast the top five would have made it to my top 10, if only i had managed to watch them this year :(
From the short films, i can choose the following three as my favourites:
Me, Meera by Subhakar
Girni by Umesh Kulkarni
The Loser by Sini
i have written about them here and here.
as is evident from the list, i have excluded the films in English and other languages and considered films in only Hindi or Telugu languages.
posted by sami at 12/29/2005 06:14:00 PM
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