Bye bye 2011

The year is almost over and its time to wrap up with lists and awards. So, here they are :)

My favorite movies of the year
1. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - Amazing!
2. I Am Kalam - Simple and beautiful
3. Pyaar Ka Punchnama - Packed with punches and so relatable
4. Dhobi Ghat - Poignant and impactful
5. Rockstar - So much pathos!
6. Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster - Delicious and raunchy
7. Delhi Belly - Haha-fest
8. Saat Khoon Maaf - An interesting experiment
9. Yeh Saali Zindagi - Twist-filled story with Irfan on top
10. Shaitan - Zany
11. Ladies vs Ricky Bahl - Fun of the Lol Dimpy variety
12. Ready - Salman-tertainment

The worst movies this year according to me
1. Ra.One - Yuck!
2. Dum Maaro Dum - Shit-fest
3. Damadamm - Unbearable!
4. Singham - Not everyone can do a Dabangg!
5. Game - Why waste money on an Abhishek starrer, Farhan?
6. Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap - Terrible disservice to the legend that is Big B
7. Bodyguard - What the fuck were they thinking?
8. Mere Brother Ki Dulhan - Terrible acting by a bunch of non-actors
9. Don 2 - Yawn! Making a sequel is not mandatory, Mr Akhtar! And save the facial contortions for your mime shows Mr. Khan.
10. Mausam - Soooo slow and full of holes!

And now for the awards....


Best Film
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Pyaar Ka Punchnama
Delhi Belly
Dhobi Ghat
I Am Kalam

Best Director
Zoya Akhtar - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Bijoy Nambiar - Shaitan
Kiran Rao - Dhobi Ghat
Nila Madhab Panda - I Am Kalam
Luv Ranjan - Pyaar Ka Punchnama

Best Actor
Hrithik Roshan - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Ranbir Kapoor - Rockstar
Prateik Babbar - Dhobi Ghat
Shahid Kapoor - Mausam
Harsh Mayar - I Am Kalam


Best Actress
Priyanka Chopra - Saat Khoon Maaf
Vidya Balan - The Dirty Picture
Mahie Gill - Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster
Katrina Kaif - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Vidya Balan - No One Killed Jessica


Best Supporting Actor
Farhan Akhtar - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Divyendu Sharma - Pyaar Ka Punchnama
Kunal Roy Kapoor - Delhi Belly
Randeep Hooda - Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster
Rajeev Khandelwal - Shaitan
Gulshan Grover - I Am Kalam


Best Supporting Actress
Monica Dogra - Dhobi Ghat
Kalki Koechlin - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Rani Mukherjee - No One Killed Jessica
Parineeti Chopra - Ladies vs Ricky Bahl
Poorna Jagannathan - Delhi Belly


Best Music
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Ram Sampat - Delhi Belly
Harris Jayraj - Force
A R Rehman - Rockstar
Amit Trivedi - No One Killed Jessica
Sohail Sen - Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
Sachin Jigar - Shor In The City

Best Song (Couldnt decide at all! They are all so good! Help me!)
Character Dheela - Ready
Sadi Gali - Tanu Weds Manu
Te Amo - Dum Maaro Dum
Saibo - Shor In The City
D K Bose - Delhi Belly
Der Lagi Lekin - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Teri Meri - Bodyguard
Sadda Haq - Rockstar
Ooh La La - The Dirty Picture

Best Male Playback Singer
Lehmber Hussainpuri - Sadi Gali : Tanu Weds Manu
Ash King - Te Amo : Dum Maaro Dum
Neeraj Shridhar - Character Dheela : Ready
Ram Sampath - D K Bose : Delhi Belly
Mohit Chauhan - Khwabon Ke Parinday : Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Shankar Mahadevan - Der Lagi Lekin : Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Ash King - I Love You : Bodyguard
Ali Zafar - Madhubala : Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
Mohit Chauhan - Jo Bhi Main : Rockstar
Mohit Chauhan - Sadda Haq : Rockstar
A R Rehman, Javed Ali, Mohit Chauhan - Kun Faya Kun : Rockstar

Best Female Playback Singer
Shreya Ghoshal - Saibo : Shor In The City
Alyssa Mendonsa - Khwabon Ke Parinday : Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Shreya Ghoshal - Saathiya : Singham
Neha Bhasin - Dhunki : Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
Bombay Jayshri - Chahoon Bhi To : Force
Shreya Ghoshal - Main Chali : Force
Harshdeep Kaur - Katiya Karoon : Rockstar
Shreya Ghoshal - Ooh La La : The Dirty Picture

Drum Roll

This post comes a bit late. But nevertheless, I am happy to announce that I had entered a couple of posts (this one and this one) from this blog for the Reel Life Bloggers contest by wogma and reviewgang and the Guilty Pleasures post won some recognition in the contest :) You can read more here.

After last year's Top Bollywood blog award, this comes as another pleasant surprise and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the readers of this blog. It is you and recognition like this that keep me going :) Thank you! :)

Con-Test

The Band Baaja Baaraat team is back this December and although Ladies vs Ricky Bahl is no patch on the super-entertainer from last year, its a pretty decent one-time watch. Generously borrowing its plot from Marathi play To Mee Navech, Hollywood turkey John Tucker Must Die, Jeffrey Archer's book Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less and YRF's very own Bachna Ae Haseenon and Bunty Aur Babli, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl manages to hold its own for more than 2 hours without inciting a yawn from you and that in itself is no mean feat!

The story is quite predictable, but the cons, although not totally believable, are well-written and engaging. The first half is a breeze except for the songs which stick out like a sore thumb. The second half is bumpy but not too stretched, and since there's an agenda all through the movie, time passes by pretty quick. The dialogues are quite good and the screenplay, although hardly believable, is taut and doesnt even pretend to make sense, and that works in its favor. The acting is okay-okay. Ranveer Singh does decently but cannot recreate the Bittoo magic. Anushka Sharma looks emaciated and pretty much indifferent in her role. Dipannita Sharma is monotonous while Aditi Sharma fits her part perfectly. Parineeti Chopra is the life of the movie and steals the show completely! She is amazing as the Delhi girl and brings the house down every time she speaks. Here's one actress with some sense of comic timing and hope she gets more roles to showcase her talent. The music is a huge disappointment - barring Jigar Da Tukda to an extent, all other songs fail - on the eyes as well as the ears. The climax is a cop-out and the conventional treatment could have been avoided. But in spite of all its drawbacks, the movie is a fun ride. If not for anything else, do check it out for the new kid on the block - Parineeti Chopra! She maybe Priyanka Chopra's cousin, but she has the capacity to leave her more celebrated cousin behind with her spunk and non-fake attitude!

The Busty Picture

Cleavage, boobage and thunder thighs - the life of an erstwhile silver-screen temptress is told through as many body parts as possible and while that in itself is not an issue, the corny template-ish treatment definitely is, and that is what made me walk out from the theatre un-moved after the movie ended. The premise is interesting, and so is the acting, but what kills this movie is the Madhur Bhandarkar-ish treatment which makes it a very un-entertaining, long drawn and unrelatable saga of make-believe pathos.

That Silk is played by Vidya Balan with loads of courage and spunk helps the movie a lot. Supporting her ably are brilliant actors like Nasseeruddin Shah, as a lecherous superstar and Emraan Hashmi as a I hate you (like I love you) arty director. And although both do a good job, their characters are half-baked because the director is in a hurry to pack an entire lifetime of the actress and wants to do it hurriedly when not required, while taking his time when totally unnecessary. The movie begins well, but loses its way soon after the intermission and goes totally haywire by the time it ends. Its not a particularly bad movie - the over-the-top dialogues and Vidya Balan ensure that much. But it makes the one cardinal sin that no movie should make - it gets boring very quickly and stays that way till the end. And ultimately, it is so busy focussing on other stuff that it forgets giving enough footage to invoking sympathy for the actress and her feelings.

I know this movie got great reviews and has raked in a lot of moolah, and I am happy to see it do that. If only we had a more heartfelt film with less weirdness like that forced cabaret dance-off and the silly red saree metaphor, it would have felt much better. Alas, the year has pretty much ended the way it began with No One Killed Jessica - another brilliant idea gone all ho-hum due to less-than-able direction and screenplay.