TOP 7 FILMS OF 2014

Aside from the films competing for the next crores milestone at the box office, the year 2014 had a few shiny film pearls appear on screen. It is these that make the audience truly vibrate to the emotions evoked by directors, actors and a good story. Here is our pick:

1. THE LUNCHBOX

Director: Ritesh Batra

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazzudin Siddiqi

The Lunchbox is an Indian film that conquered audiences around the world in 2014. With its high octane casting and a subdued approach to matters of the heart, it carried universal appeal and struck gold at many festivals and amid audiences in India too. One word: Unmissable.

2. HAIDER

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj 

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon, Shraddha Kapoor, Irffan Khan

Haider is another one-man exploit, with Vishal Bhardwaj at the front of directing, scripting and producing a new adaptation of a Shakespearian drama. Suffering, insanity, right, wrong and jaw-dropping landscapes are the backdrop of a very well shot and emotionally compelling Haider.

3. QUEEN

Director: Vikas Bahl, 

Cast: Kangna Ranuat, Lisa Haydon

Who does not feel for Rani, an innocent girl from Delhi, when she is shoved aside by a heartless groom? The tale that follows her evolution after heartbreak is empowering and inspirational. Every girl, but also every boy, should make a point to watch this. In the end, it is more than just a chick flick. It is a tribute to human resilience that does not take itself too seriously, therein its timeless charm.

4. ANKHON DEKHI

Director: Rajat Kapoor

Cast: Sanjay Mishra, Namit Das

Aankhon Dekhi honors critical thinking at the same time pinpoints its ridiculous pitfalls. The wise Bauji asks relevant questions and brings change into an otherwise peaceful mini-society, inviting the audience to rethink their existence.

5. FILMISTAAN

Director: Nitin Kakkar Cast: Shabir Ahmed, Inaam Ul Haq

When people who claim to be from fundamentally different backgrounds discover they are in reality much more alike than they would like to think, the setting is right for intelligent comedy. Based on the relationship between Hindi speakers on both sides of the Indo-Pakistani border and their common love for cinema, Filmistaan is an opportunity to embrace that every human being is fundamentally equal. 

6. FINDING FANNY

Director: Homi Adajania Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Deepika Padukone, Pankaj Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Arjun Kapoor

Stolen moments in Goa's off-the-beaten-track locations with one thing in mind: recovering lost love. Homi Adajania's Finding Fanny is a tale of distinctive characters and experiences. The cast, the images, the music result in a journey that is one of a kind.

7. DEDH ISHQIYA

Director: Abhishek Chaubey Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, Madhuri Dixit, Huma Qureshi

When tight writing as well as a tried and tested mega-talented cast are put together, one can expect the likes of a film such as Dedh Ishqiya despite the fact that most sequels are usually not what garners the most critical acclaim. The film has been ravely reviewed across the board and ingredients such as social critique, action, comedy and romance make it a surefire entertainer.

TERI MERI KAHAANI Film Review

Guest post by Amer Shoib from The Cinema Journal

Amer Shoib has been a huge fan of cinema from childhood and has always been a huge Amitabh Bachchan fan. Amer works in London and has made his dream of becoming a part time entertainment correspondent come true. As such, Amer has interviewed some of the biggest figures in entertainment, the media and major celebrities and is an avid cinema watcher and reviewer.

  

The trailers of Kunal Kohli's Teri Meri Kahaani made us all think that the film was a reincarnation drama. Seeing the three different looks of the lead pair Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra over three different eras, there were speculations that the film might have the lead pair reborn again and again. However, "Teri Meri Kahaani" is not a reincarnation film. It's a love story of three different pairs spread over three generations". Can Kunal Kohli strike gold with this hatke love story?

Can we truly luv one person throughout our life and hope that fate makes us meet with the same person in every life of ours? 

The story of the film takes us through a journey of eternal love between a couple who have vowed to love each other not only in this life but in every life to follow. Their love is so strong that destiny wants to bring them together. The story starts in 1969 Bombay with Govind and Ruksar, then moves ahead to present times, 2012 England with Radha and Krish and then goes back in time to Punjab, 1910 with Aradhana and Javed.

Read more>>

MAUSAM Stolen Moments of Romance

"Mausam"... When I heard the title of Pankaj Kapoor's maiden film, it brought back memories of Mhd. Rafi's "Aaj mausam bada beimaan hai" and therefore images of traditional romantic movies...

Mausam is a love story spanning the four seasons of its hero and heroine's lives: Harry, a Hindu Punjabi boy, and Aayat, a Muslim Kashmiri girl. The first season is that of their encounter as teenagers in a small village of Punjab. As the two fall in love and the audience watches them grow their lives enter season two. The drama and pain of separation makes their love grow deeper as they mature in season three and finally season four sees both lovers come together.

At a time when most male star actors are working on appearing as young as possible and oozing their sex appeal, 6-pack abs, and stunts in action films, Mausam brings back the innocence of youthful romance with Shahid Kapoor who has stepped from being promising to stunningly talented, whether he is conveying naughtiness, reservation or the pain of a lost love.

Read more

KAMINEY

Kaminey, Vishal Bhardwaj’s newest venture, has left critics and audience expressing anything but indifference. This month, Pushker Awasthi, our Indian collaborator ever since Cinema Hindi’s inception, writes about his experience watching Kaminey on the silver screen. Thank you so much, Pushker for your contribution. Here is hoping we will have the pleasure of reading you more often.

Kaminey. After having been at loss of words I can simply express how much I loved it… It reflects a new type of cinema being made in India and, despite the fact that it does reflect Quentin Tarantino’s influence, its content is purely Indian as it presents a well executed Bollywood Masala. It is Vishal Bhardwaj’s first commercial movie and offers a brilliant direction, writing, acting, background score and photography to his audience.

With the release of Kaminey, Vishal Bhardwaj has proved to all that he is a cinema genius and that a good director will always be good, regardless of the kind of story that he wishes to unfold before his viewers. Vishal’s previous work consisted of serious films featuring realistic people and situations. He unhurriedly dissected and explored the darkness of the human mind and soul without ever succumbing to the temptation of becoming apologetic.

However, let us go back to Kaminey.

Kaminey might dissapoint some of Bhardwaj’s followers if they compare this film to the others he had directed so far. However, one must not forget that he has remained true to his essence with the slight difference of wholeheartedly embracing the Bollywood Masala genre. Kaminey is an all out masala film that strangely does not require the moviegoer to leave his brain at the theatre entrance, which is usually what the audience must do before it starts enjoying a regular Bollywood film. Vishal has definitely opened up a space for Quentin Tarantino in Indian cinema in the same way he saddled Shakespeare firmly into Indian soil. To his credit, he never copied him, as Sanjay Gupta did with Kaante based on Reservoir Of Dogs. No. He has made Tarantino’s influence his own.

It is fascinating to live every moment of the film and indulge in it. Kaminey breaks every rule as far Hindi Masala films are concerned and let me tell you how:

First of all, Masala cinema has a cardinal rule that says that if you have twin brothers, or even simply two brothers, one of them must be a good guy and the other must be a terribly bad guy. During the climax, the bad guy ends up paying for his sins and making a sacrifice. Kaminey displays another take on brotherhood. Guddu and Charlie are different. Neither of them is perfect, neither physically nor emotionally. Guddu is embarrassed about his stammering while Charlie has a pronunciation problem but never feels bad about it. Guddu is a good but weak man, almost ready to crawl under the circumstances but nevertheless having a gentle soul. Charlie has tasted life as it is and knows how to wriggle out of problems and never ever feels self conscious about lisping.

Another of Kaminey’s novelties is that it changes the type of language used by the story’s characters to communicate with each other. The Bengali Brothers, for whom Charlie works, communicate purely in Bengali without ever translating their conversation in Hindi or English. This is not customary in Hindi cinema, which tends to make the characters translate whatever is spoken in foreign or regional languages into Hindi, for the audience’s sake.

Moreover, Kaminey’s photography is extremely enthralling, making the audience jump! Even the background is so powerful that it sucks the spectator in with every single movie frame.

Last but not least, a special mention goes to the song 'Duniya Mein', in which Vishal gives tribute to legendary music director and genius, the late R D Burman. Never, at any point in time, is the audience left remembering that song pictured on Rajesh Khanna (in the film Apna Desh), as Bhardwaj greatly succeeds in attaching the same song to to the screen presence of the film’s main character, Shahid Kapoor.

TEXT BY: Pushker Awasthi

EDITING: Aline CineHindi