Best of Bollywood 2012 and 2013.
written by Souranath Banerjee.
Best of Bollywood 2012 and 2013 is the list of my most favorite Hindi films (in Hindi language) in the recent times.
Kind of a flashback of the last two years and if you have missed any of these films (though i very much doubt it) no need to feel guilty. Watch them as soon as possible and you will be forgiven.
This list is especially for my friends who are foreign based or foreign to Bollywood films and many a times ask me to suggest some meaningful Bollywood cinema … well, this list is all you need.
10. Kai po che (2013)
Very rarely it happens that a film turns out to be better than the book it’s based on.
Rajkummar Rao, Sushant Singh Rajput and Amit Sadh have given their best performances – after ‘Rock on’ this is again a great film by derector Abhishek Kapoor.
A story of friends and friendship beautifully told.
9. Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)
Anurag Kashyap at his best, Gangs of Wassypur is an epic story of violence between two families.
A raw desi masala tale of revenge and betrayal that takes three generations to come to a resolution.
Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Piyush Mishra … entertainment unlimited.
8. Paan Singh Tomar (2012)
A biographical drama on the life of the famous Indian athlete Paan Singh Tomar who turned into a decoit in his later days.
The film won that years’s National Award in the ‘Best Feature Film’ category and Irfan khan won the National Award for the ‘Best Actor’.
Tigmanshu Dhulia gives us probably the most unique and brilliant film of the year 2012.
7. Shanghai (2012)
The best political thriller of Bollywood till date.
A remake of the Greek director Costa-Gavras’s political drama ‘Z’ or rather adopted from the same novel written by Vasilis Vasilikos Shanghai keeps up to it’s promise.
Yet another feather on Dibakar Banerjee’s cap – superb performances by Abhay Deol and Emraan Hashmi.
6. Kahaani (2012)
Kahaani which literally means ‘story’ is indeed one of the best mystery stories of that year told by director Sujoy Ghosh.
Vidya Balan, the helpless pregnant lady desperately searching for her husband in Kolkata – a search that gets too dangerous and ends with a twist to remember.
If you haven’t seen this film yet you are missing something.
5.The Lunchbox (2013)
Arguably the perfect choice for the Oscars from India last year (though the Gujarati film Good Road was sent instead).
A terrific film – simple yet crisp and full of soul.
Top rated performances by Irfan khan, Nawazuddin Sidiqui and Nimrat Kaur – what an extraordinary debut film by Ritesh Batra!
4. Bhaag Milkha bhaag (2013)
Another biographical film adds to this list – Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s take on one of India’s all time legend athlete Milkha Singh.
A brilliant film that received the national award for ‘Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment’.
Farhan Akhtar bagged almost all the popular awards as the Best Actor – splendid performance.
3. Barfi! (2012)
Barfi! was the film India sent to the Oscars in 2012.
Salute to the director Anurag Basu for such wonderful concept and direction.
Ranbir Kappor and Priyanka Chopra have given their performances till date.
A fun filled film that will make you laugh and cry at the same time.
2. OMG Oh My God (2012)
In such a religiously frantic country like India you have to give credit to the film that raises its voice against religious corruption and that too in such an entertaining manner.
A common man who dares to take God to the court room!
Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar’s superb performance and Umesh Shukla’s direction – a real OMG film in a good way.
1. Shahid (2013)
You can guess a film’s worth when that film has won National Awards in both ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Actor’ category.
Very recently saw the film and i was a spellbound.
Hansal Mehta has evolved into a fine director and Rajkummar Rao – what natural acting man!
Watch it. You won’t regret.
and (The ‘+1′ film is not necessarily the best but certainly the most crazy one. A must watch).
+1. Ship of Theseus (2013)
Won the National Award for Best Feature Film – this film is truly an unique experience.
Three different stories brilliantly woven into one, arty and matured, intelligent and honest.
Anand Gandhi has paved a new path to sophisticated cinema and raised the bars for the other film-makers.
The success of this film has proved that the concept of Bollywood audience only craving for hard-core commercial masala films is only a myth.
Lets hope and wish for a better future of Bollywood in the coming years.
Within the first ten minutes of the film a bank gets looted, two bandits on the chase and two innocent hostages loose their lives. One of the thugs get caught but the other one runs away with the money!
A hammer used as a weapon (i guess this is an inspiration from the South Korean action flicks); make no mistake Badlapur is a hard-core, realistic action film where even the letters on an innocent scrabble board-game spells “revenge”.
