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10 films of 2010 that deserved better
Monday, January 03, 2011 7:24:48 PM (IST)
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Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade Editorial
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10 FILMS OF 2010 THAT DESERVED BETTER
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There are films that do more than 100 crores business but primarily on the strength of terrific marketing, immense hype, superb star cast, great music and of course sheer luck. However, not all are universally loved after they have been watched once. And then there are films which are watched by only a few but gather all around appreciation. They don't earn in crores and perhaps also faded out pretty soon from theaters due to a slow start or a sudden death. However, these films are the kind that make one sigh that if only they could done better. 2010 saw an arrival of many such films.
DO DOONI CHAAR:
DO DOONI CHAAR was the surprise of the year. Frankly, with limited promotion to boast, the film didn't quite appear to be a quintessential entertainer that would have made one anticipate its arrival in a big way. Also, not many plot based films (in case of DO DOONI CHAAR, it was about a family struggling to buy a car) have been successful in the past, whether Hollywood or Bollywood. It only becomes further difficult when the setting is that of a middle class family with no major point of conflict. Still, writer-director Habib pulled it off well, and how. This Duggal family (Rishi & Neetu Kapoor) may not have treated one with a seven course meal but their 'daal-roti' was served with a lot of love and affection.
RANN:
RANN was never about media bashing and though Ram Gopal Varma, Amitabh Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh went at length to explain it to the audience, there was always a slight little doubt around these claims. As it turned out, RANN was a smartly packaged dramatic tale which actually kept media at periphery. In fact if at all there were any references to be driven, that would be with Ramu's own COMPANY and the SARKAR series. In any case, fate of some of the serious films in the recent times (KURBAAN and JAIL) hasn't been too encouraging and this is what worked against RANN as well on its theatrical arrival. The sad part is that in spite of being a good film, RANN didn't quite get its due primarily because it came heads on with ISHQIYA which was a much massy affair.
UDAAN:
UDAAN can easily be hailed as the biggest surprise of 2010 when it comes to cinematic brilliance. After watching UDAAN, one is speechless for a few moments and left with a heavy heart. The reactions are even more overwhelming considering the fact that one had near to nil expectations from the film. One thought that the film would be an out and out offbeat cinema which would primarily be aimed at festival circuits. As it turned out, UDAAN wasn't mainstream by any distance. Still, it turned out to be entertaining for sure. Of course no one stepped into UDAAN expecting a hero-heroine 'naachgaana'. Still, a very well told story meant that one was thoroughly captivated into the narrative. Rajat Barmecha as the teenager who silently revolted against his tyrant father (Ronit Roy) was clearly one of the best finds of 2010.
LAHORE:
Sometimes it does happen that you get an inkling of a good film round the corner. Though a film may not be boasting of an established star cast, big banner or a known director, there is something about the product that inclines you to have a dekko at what is there in the offing. LAHORE was one such film. Having made the round of festival circuits, this action-drama centered on kick boxing and Indo-Pak affairs was indeed a surprise, and a pleasant one at that. First time director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan came up with a film which was not just engaging but also a good mix of adrenalin pumping coupled with some emotional moments that did result in moist eyes and a heavy heart.
KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK:
Farhan Akhtar deserved compliments for enacting a complex character quite well. He cracked it all well and came up with another very good performance (in a radically different role) after ROCK ON and LUCK BY CHANCE. Bizarre, unbelievable, impractical - there could be many terms reserved for the plot of the film which was about a man getting calls from himself. It is always tough to make a film like this since even though it may sound interesting on paper, it could fall like a pack of cards if not treated with finesse by a film maker. However, credit it to writer-director Vijay Lalwani who establishes the fact once again that there is no dearth of story tellers who can come up with ingenious ideas and execute them wonderfully well even in the Bollywood scheme of things.
AAKROSH:
With AAKROSH, Priyadarshan left his penchant for loud comedies aside and the results were there to be seen. Of course an occasional HERA PHERI or a DE DANA DAN are welcome but an AAKROSH in once every two years won't be a bad bargain either. After making a dozen odd comedies one after another, Priyadarshan seemed to have resigned to the fact that audience won't accept anything else that he may make. However, with AAKROSH, he redeemed himself in a big way as he finally managed to make a film belonging to an action-drama genre and refrained from incorporating any comic elements whatsoever in the film. Really, for a film that had an 'issue' (honour killing) at the core of it, AAKROSH had to be one of the most 'masala' filled entertainers that unfolded like a mystery. Paresh (Rawal), Ajay (Devgn) and Akshaye (Khanna) scored as well.
ALLAH KE BANDAY:
If one looks at it, the core of ALLAH KE BANDAY was as 'masala' as it gets. Pick up a bit of DEEWAR, add to that some NAAM, mix it with a fill spicy gravy of COMPANY and many other gangster flicks of Ram Gopal Varma and voila, there is ALLAH KE BANDAY ready to be served. In the film, its very USP of kids being exposed to crime is nurtured to the fullest, hence making it a gripping fare for most part of it. It brought to fore a vicious circle that definitely didn't have any breakaway point. As a story teller, writer-director-actor Faruk Kabir too didn't make any false promises and told things as they are without proposing a holistic solution. A gritty affair.
RIGHT YAAA WRONG:
Seldom does one come across a film where Sunny Deol doesn't deliver a single punch. This is why it is nothing short of an achievement when he refrains from doing that in RIGHT YAAA WRONG. Further surprise comes from the fact that he manages to achieve this 'feat' in spite of playing a cop. A film that arrives with zero expectations is always a good bet, especially so when it has an actor who was once a superstar - Sunny Deol. With all seemingly lost about his star presence in the industry, it was about time that he hit back. And he did that with panache, this time with mind rather than body. A film that started as a murder mystery and moved on to be an investigation drama, RIGHT YAAA WRONG had some brilliant moments shared between Irrfan Khan and Sunny Deol but went totally unnoticed at the box office.
RED ALERT - THE WAR WITHIN:
RED ALERT couldn't have come at a better time. When headlines around Naxal issues have been screaming loud and clear from news channels and news papers practically every fortnight, this effort from film maker Ananth Mahadevan can't be ignored. So is the case with its topicality and theme setting which stays true to the subject. RED ALERT is the kind of film which if pitched on a bigger scale, boasted of better marketing and promotional plans and carried a much bigger punch in the closing moments of the film, could have actually traversed boundaries and made a mark internationally as well. A movie like RED ALERT is required to have a constant graph and thankfully it was the case for most part of the film. Suniel Shetty delivered his best performance till date after BORDER.
PHAS GAYE RE OBAMA:
PHAS GAYE RE OBAMA was an innovative tale of how an NRI (Rajat Kapoor) is treated as a commodity as he is exchanged from one hand (or shall we say, 'gang'?) to another with his ransom amount going higher up with every transaction. This indeed made for a refreshingly new story. Now in the times when success of one romcom is followed by dozen more films belonging to the same genre being announced, a couple of comedies a month is a norm and big bucks are spent on films which could possibly have been made in 25% of eventually allocated budget, one hunts for films where a story and storytelling takes precedence over anything else. And if there is entertainment attached to that as well, it is nothing but sone pe suhaga, something that PHAS GAYE RE OBAMA succeeded to a good extent.
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Tags : Do Dooni Chaar, Aakrosh, Rann, Udaan, Phas Gaye Re Obama, Karthik Calling Karthik, Allah Ke Banday, Right Yaa Wrong, Amitabh Bachchan, Sunny Deol, Irrfan Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone, Faruk Kabir, Sharman Joshi
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