Wednesday, September 19, 2012

beyond reviews.......Rockstar!

"Beyond the conceptual right and wrong, in a field far far away; I'll see you there love!"  - Rumi

in short.........an experience I was completely enthralled with, so much so to the pinnacles of elation, that I was yelling expletives in the theatre......an experience I was afraid to go through again, coz I believe I'd breakdown and cry......an experience 4 which I'd prostrate b4 Imtiaz Ali, AR'God'R and Ranbir.........Rockstar! Now if that can make up for a satisfying review which might make atleast a few others want to watch the movie in an appreciative sense, then I'll proceed with discussing the finer nuances of this film and not 'review' it as such......
.....to briefly enumerate my reasons for writing this blog, this movie is quite probably a symbol of an epitome of directorial creativity that Indian cinema can accost. It is an amalgamation of the finest in the trades of music, production design, editing, cinematography, script writing, narrative, montage cuts, character studies and the art of equipping cinema with those unsaid yet emphatic emotions. This movie was quite possibly a very dear work for Imtiaz Ali, who is an ace at portraying the finer nuances of love and the eccentricities involving present day relationships. This movie has one of the finest OSTs ever rendered by Academy and Grammy award winning composer A.R.Rahman. Above all, many viewers (particularly, self assumed critics who repeatedly panned it) completely missed the point with this flick. Though I'd not avow that I'd stood in the shoes of Imtiaz while understanding this film, I did manage, from my chosen vantage point, to be mesmerized by this cinematic experience and here I wish to ponder all about it verbally!
             There is a quote headlining this blog. Though I slightly altered the way its translated to fit the context of my blog, that quote can nevertheless stand to be the pilot essence of this movie. That and a few other hues embrace this film and make it enticing, and yet definitely a bit bemusing to comprehend. Possibly this is where many people took away all the wrong messages from this film. People thought its a movie about a frustrated rock star who dresses like a character from an Arabian nights fable and dooms his career due to his insolence. As an outcry, let me bandy that this film is not merely a biographical account but rather it is a discourse on the juxtaposition of enigmas that any simple human experiences as a part of his life. These enigmas include love, liberty, freedom, intimacy, loneliness, ambition, success, anger, vengeance, peace and above all, self realization! Embedded in the representation of all these emotions inside a character in this movie, as a supporting layer, is a subtle yet catechismic hint to Rumi's quote. Maybe it simply tugs at one's heart saying, lets just leave whats right and wrong for a moment; lets not justify; lets just converse with one's innerself and one's only primary love; in a field alien to everything else in this world! On this afterthought in the movie, those several enigmas I mentioned earlier are impinged, fighting for space of their own, just like they do in anybody's life. First there is love, a feeling that is definitely like no other, and the moments of being close to that one person, the moments of being alone yearning for their hands to be in yours', the moments of loneliness, and the flashflood of memories that consistently haunt a heart in love. This flick is a portrait for love; And Liberty, the priciest possession for any human, and its celebration in the petty little things that we do to spice up life. And anger, which is actually second to none! This flick betokens the anger that we have hidden behind our affected mirth; anger towards a life that has bounded us owing to its cession to predefined directions and orders; anger towards ourselves for not grabbing the right to take life into our hands when chance presented itself. And finally, ambition; and the pinnacle of a human's capacity in his quest to beeline to his destiny.

             Imtiaz might have chosen to tell this through an artist's life because I believe, typically artists can achieve thoughts and emotions that are a notch or two above what we mere mortals can fathom! When an artist is out there in his realm, creating work out of mere vacuum that shall be remembered for centuries , he is conversing with divinity in its absolute sense. Thence, when an artist lands out of that elevated mood into the conventional world, he turns out a misfit and either absorbs himself in the finer nuances of life like love or contends persistently with the boundaries that life may exert upon him. The resulting omnipresent intensity in an artists life has been Imtiaz' basic tool in his attempt to capture on cinema, the essence I dwelled upon previously.
             Technically speaking, when you turn an imagination into cinema, you first capture that into a frame. Then these frames are run with time according to a specific logic called as the plot and a structure called as the screenplay, music, dialogues and other technical work is blended in,  and a motion picture is generated. Yet, each one of these frames depicts in its own language, a point of time, an emotion, a premise, plot and particularly, a definitive moment! It is customary in conventional cinema to have the plot define the sequence of these frames. Worse still, in certain diffusive cases of Indian Cinema, a character or the actor playing that character is the defining fulcrum for this sequence of frames, a practice we understand to be "Heroism". Generally, there's a simple way to look at this; assuming you have a Point A to Paint B tale you wish to talk about, you shoot a few scenes, cut and paste them together in a sequence, and there, you have your movie. But when the elements you have at hand are emotional debates, musical sojourns, romantic escapades and essentially a majority of illusions that life throws at us, that too, an artists life no less, this very premise shatters the credibility of a conventional style of making cinema. One may try break the above premise into several cinematic moments but when the moments, the whole lot of them, are deep and intense, it gets extremely difficult to run these moments (& frames) subsequently, linearly and chronologically. Thus, Imtiaz chooses a very ingenious style of breaking his entire concept into episodes, one for each vertex of the essence that I spoke of earlier. Then instead of employing a linear framework, he chooses to cut, interpolate and extrapolate between various moments of the protagonist's life that appeal to the concerned vertex and fuse them into scintillating montages, quite frequently aided by the haunting OST, where each track is dedicated to one of these specific vertices. Again, these episodes rarely follow chronology and are abstractly juggled along the movie's timeline. Also, seldom has music, deft editing and striking imagery come together so aptly as they have in Rockstar to make the numerous montages. These montages sprawled across at several parts of the movie, are the very essence of Imtiaz' narrative for Rockstar as they embody for each episode, what it wishes to say, cut across time, space and general cinematic convention. Here sense doesn't take centerstage. Emotion does! 

                If the montages garner the movie with a sublimity, it is the music that effectively gives these montages their innate beauty. Infact, the film's music is in itself an alter ego to Imtiaz' concept. One might wonder if, in usual fashion, Imtiaz sketched out the kind of music he needed and then commissioned the same to ARR or for a change, based on a simple set of ideas, ARR made the music and then, the entire flick was shot around the OST to justify what each track tried to tell. The way the movie's shot and the music complement each other like a perfect rainy sunday afternoon and a cup of warm green tea on the porch. It is factual that out of the many albums Oscar & Grammy bagging Rahman composes for, largely in south India, hardly do directors tend to meet up to what visual spectacles one comes to expect of the movie based on the album. Mani Ratnam, a scion of Modern Indian cinema, who regularly partners with Rahman, is the only other guy who's been adept at taking the albums with enough grandeur to the silver screen. About the album itself, much has been said and done, with it raking up almost every other music award that has been conceived in 2011, and I needn't dwell on much here save for saying that its another heady mix of genres like Rock, Ethnic Bhangra, Blues, Sufi, Opera and the occasional Rahman riff raff that transcends a genre or two in an experimental sense. However, I'd like to contend the several arguments that the so-called 'critics' meted out debasing the movie's album saying it were not "Rock" enough for a film titled 'Rockstar' and that ARR was not the ideal guy to get a Rock album out of! Now that I've already established the way the OST bolsters this flick's narration, I only have to reiterate myself that the album was essentially composed to go with the various episodes in the plot and to not be a Rock/Punk/Metal album that you can pick off the shelves. This album is about a lifetime; not the discography of an emerging street Rock band. Further, spare me the eloquence of going gaga all over about Rahman's achievements. He is truly a musician who has taken the rulebook and shattered its very roots. His gargantuan trophy cabinet notwithstanding, Rahman has collaborations with people of the magnitude of Hans Zimmer, Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Dido and has composed for several 'ceremonies', the recent examples being the 2012 Academy Awards OST and the 2012 London Olympics opening (which was incidentally directed by Danny Boyle, another of Rahman's cinematic partners). Not only does Rahman have the zest for music to have begun and successfully run till date, the KM Music Conservatory, the only one of its kind in India, but also he still retains the prodigious enthusiasm to sample new instruments and artists with every new album. The Rockstar album sees a collaboration with ace guitarist Orianthi for "Sadda Haq", whose CV spells out works with the likes of Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Joe Satriani, David Garrett, etc. In any case, the psechedelic rock reminiscent bass notes from "Jo Bhi Main" or the incredible leads from "Naadaan Parindey" are 'Rock' enough to qwell anti-rock allegations.
            The third major figure after Imtiaz & ARR in the making of this flick definitely has to be Ranbir Kapoor. An actor, whose increasingly being known for his choice of scripts and his gradual yet remarkable acquisition of mature acting skills, Ranbir portrays Janardhan/Jordan to the T with transcending body language, dialogue and expression as the plot takes the character through several highs and lows. Credit should go to the way he'd let Imtiaz employ him in the different tinctures that he envisioned. One interesting fact is that Ranbir allegedly learnt to play the guitar so that he may not fake and falter with the movements of his fingers on the fretboard in the several close-up shots of Jordan's concerts that the script demands. Take that for a dedicated artist! As Barfi, Ranbir's next film receives much critical acclaim currently, more so for his action, I think its time I extol him as one of the pivots around which modern Indian Cinema shall turn around.

            Now let me move on from the zigzag screenplay and the editing, to the little details that make up a great narrative and boy, is this flick filled with them. Often, the greatest directors don't churn out blockbusters or movies that defy earthly logic and aim for a larger than life experience. They deal with humane subjects that form a part of anybody's everyday life, yet their directorial charm lies in the little details and events that help in connecting the audiences to the characters and moments on the screen. 
                 Look at the nifty way Imtiaz chose to cut from a concert in Verona with a distraught Jordan to the Janardhan of Hindu College, Delhi auditioning for a petty chance, the character is in his element in either frame, with the guitar and his ballad and only diffracted by time and its wrath on the artists' soul. And then, in a recapitulating tone, Imtiaz returns to the same moment in Verona at the end, aided by montages to juxtapose these two moments.
 


 










In this frame below, a very fast paced montage is halted and the camera pans melodiously as the words "Phir Se Udh Chala" (I've taken flight again) go by. Emphatically fitting, as the director wants the audience to take a moment off from the song and actually reverberate in Jordan's feeling of flying high in love; in the imagination of a past moment with Heer. 

I saw a promo for the track "Kun Faaya Kun" and this image stuck in my mind ever since. As a worn out, and nomadic Janardhan calls out for a direction in his life, and suddenly finds it through music and the name of God, can the portrayal be any better than this frame where he looks out to the sky for a rendezvous with God? Does this happen to us? 
Little details rejuvenate this movie. Be it the "Rock for Peace" logo on Jordan's helmet as he rides with Heer in complete tranquility;







or the duel between two people judging what's right in Love in a deserted Prague at dawn, shown with much ambiguity in this masked camera angle; 




 


or the little talk Jordan gives about a flock of birds in angst in the middle of "Sadda Haq";





 or how blithe he's found singing amidst sex workers; who might actually be reflecting his anguish and quest for peace; 





or how Heer revels in the complacency of having conceived Jordan's seed inside herself; as if her life is complete then;





or Jordan's cliched yet quintessential middle fingered reply to the shackles the world has for him;





or Jordan's reckoning of himself; his music; his life as he his guitar's engulfed in flames, and him bedraggled in a tub; 


or the final rendezvous with Heer's spirit, which one might wonder could be the real solace his soul could have ever wanted. I have a second perceptive for this frame out of sheer haplessly romanticized optimism. May be it was not Heer's spirit. Maybe, she sprang back to life and this is just Jordan's psychic revelation of the same fact. Maybe, they lived happily ever after; In my take, the answer is left for the viewer, whatever he may choose it to be!

           On a footnote, Imtiaz collated supreme technical excellence rendered by the best from the Industry (cinematography, editing, etc) and some deeply influential artistic work produced by truly gifted artists (the literature, for instance) for his masterpiece. He took a strong essence; one which is equally bemused and wise; one which is absurdly simple and strikingly complex; and portrayed it with supreme gusto, aided by phenomenal work from A.R.Rahman and Ranbir Kapoor. Rockstar, in my opinion, shall remain among the greatest of films I've watched, one which has managed to truly shatter me. A film that was hugely mistaken by public opinion and an art work that needs to be seriously reconsidered. In the diminutive experience I've had in life, I've had the fortune to fall in love, endured angst and pain, faced the questions about Life that are so reflected in Rockstar! Yet, Life goes on mellow and I can be more than happy someone out there stepped forward to make this movie and I thank the makers for that!

            P.S. - Irrelevant as it sound here, but I digress a little to dedicate this blog to the plethora of artists that have left us to an eternal space waiting for them elsewhere. That includes the mighty 27 club, artists who could not see a 28th year on Earth, giants like Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse; and others whom we have so much adored alike, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, etc. Maybe for the divinity in their art, their ecstatic self reverberance when they're in their element performing, for their immense courage in questioning the confinement of our civilization and for their sense of infinite liberty, this world, physically, was too constrained for them. Maybe they just had to spread their wings and take flight!
     
         



Friday, August 31, 2012

Directors you ought to know: Guy Ritchie


British filmmakers have always had a special place in Hollywood. From Nolan's intellect to Boyle's narrative, each Brit filmmaker has had a unique way of making a mark for UK on the screen. In the same league I would like to write about one of my favorites - goes by the name Guy Ritchie.

Ritchie started off with a bang. "Lock, stock and 2 smoking barrels" and "Snatch." Ritchie's movies are known for their fast-paced, action packed rollercoaster rides. Having a central focus on crime capers, Ritchie makes deft use of character-central shots (how the camera is never off-set from the character but is central to the viewer), his indulgence on flash cuts and tight controlled zooms. There have been some vague similarities between his and Tarantino's style - His apparent indulgence to weave out the story with quirky pacy editing have enthralled movie goers both the regular viewer and critic alike. Movies with the legendary dry and witty Brit humor - essentially in a sense that is NOT too loud but not subtle either, but very appealing to the movie-watcher, like a connoisseur able to enjoy a sip of centuries old wine every time he looks at the scene. 


If L2SB was about four friends having to pay off half a million pounds to avoid facing a mob boss's wrath, Snatch follows two parallel plots -that of a huge diamond - the subject of a heist and the other one following a upcoming boxing promoter trying to stamp his ground in unlicensed boxing. Both these movies have well defined characters of depth, with interweaving storylines combined with Ritchie's whiplash kind of storytelling. Whilst L2SB had a relatively unknown cast (Jason Statham was a newcomer in late 90s), Snatch had an ensemble cast and did most of its part right, essentially hitting the right notes, albeit drawing a heavy influence from the former. Both the movies have well etched gangsters with struggling protagonists alongwith a right proportion of dull-witted criminals adding to the humor.

If there is one essential thing that is a huge characteristic of Ritchie movies - it has to be the unique camera and editing. STYLE has to be Ritchie's middle name. All characters in his movies have sufficient style and substance, and Ritchie relies on his kinky sense of narrative to seamlessly blend in different parallel plots together with the help of concocting stylized editing.

I would like to bring forth how effectively he has used music and editing to bring out an analogy. For instance, in a scene from the blockbuster 'Snatch' , a couple of goons chase a man whom they catch eventually, while in another parallel sequence a rabbit is seen escaping the clutches of 2 rabid dogs - all this quite enjoyably constructed making it for a fine viewing experience. Whilst many such sequences have their own saucy appeal, the beauty of Ritchie's movies lie in their originality, like a blast of fresh British panache reminiscent of quirky unconventional cinema.

So why do you have to watch Guy Ritchie's movies ?  Let me get this straight. Ritchie's movies are far from serious. It is not just another crime drama and far far away from the Michael Mann types. Sure, you may never see say - Al Pacino or DeNiro in a Ritchie movie, but if you are looking for something far away from the usual, say have a simple 
plot but mix it up with a slew of characters having style-induced depth to them alongwith saucy editing, cockeneyed slang and sarcastic Brit humor, then you will definitely NOT be disappointed.

The last 2 Sherlock series have a bit of commercialization, in a sense when you have a big studio to back you up, you get talented actors like Downey Jr. and Jude Law you better deliver the goods. Ritchie's movies have moved away from the sense of direction redolent of his first two, and it is as good if not better. Ritchie's reliance on editing as well as giving huge importance to well-defined one-on-ones between the 2 central characters have their own charm with Downey effectively carrying out witty conversations with his own characteristic sense of nonchalant humor. Ritchie's sense of direction have combined well with Downey's acting and Sherlock has turned out into an enjoyable viewing experience, something I doubt any other director would have brought out so effectively, given that the conventional comic book Sherlock Holmes was a detective par excellence and the sense of mystery has been brought out wonderfully in the movies, which I am sure any Holmes fan would agree with me.


On a finishing note, Guy Ritchie is a director a serious cinema lover ought to know about, and L2SB and Snatch are right up there followed by RocknRolla and now the Sherlock Series. In short, his movies are worth every single Mb on your HDD.

                                                                                                                                   - Prash

Prash's musings can be found on "Distorted Pandemonium" @ prashslash.wordpress.com

Guest Blogging!

Well behold a new "Got Groove"!......in my attempt to make this page go absolutely viral and pull in more enthusiast's to the healthy debate on movies and music that this page is essentially prevalent for, a Facebook page by the same name has been born; and so is the new-look Got Groove! In a nifty collage I pay a solemn tribute to the amazing directors of yore who have brought forward cinematic masterpieces over the time in ways mere moviegoers have not fathomed to be possible. The list is never ending, yet I tried to encompass a decent breadth of an enumeration while I'm at it. Updates shall be thrown in timely and so has been a simple Indian twist which you'll find on close observation! Apart from this, there's a new feature that might put this page truly on the mainstream. Guest Blogging! In a series called "Directors you ought to know", let me introduce my dear friend and avid movie aficionado, Prashant Rajan a.k.a Lee a.k.a Prash, as he goes gaga over Guy Ritchie's work! That shall be the next post on GotGroove. Hope you'll like it as I shall bring forth more from him and several such bloggers abound. Enjoy the reads and bookmark this page for more!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Super Song Thaman!

..........as I write this, a track from one of Thaman's latest "Love Failure" called "Intezaare" is playing in my headphones. Headphones, yes, emphasize that....thats because if you have to truly appreciate Thaman's work, you need to dwell deep into the music, with a hint of focus and a pinch of musical know-how! Putting on a pair of good headfones is the best way to do that. A taste for melody & classy beats surely helps!
          If a bit of gyaan wouldn't offend, let me quote from Wiki that Thaman has practically worked under all the music composers that contemporary Telugu Cinema has come to know. The late Chakravarty garu, the Maestro Ilayaraja, DSP, Chakri, Keeravani, Raj-Koti.... the works. A major addition to his training came under Manisharma, a composer much known for his grip on various instrumentations and expert sound engineering, for a good part of 6 years! I have googled this info before beginning this blog, only to add some solidarity to my impression of Thaman. With that much experience, one can surely be pardoned for expecting him to deliver some amazing music. And deliver, he does, in absolute profundity!
           Of late, Thaman has become a household name in both the Tamizh and Telugu Film industries for scoring the soundtracks of big and quality productions. He has shot to sudden and stupendous popularity! Typically in the Telugu Film Industry, this has happened time and again. Earlier there were Raj-Koti & Keeravani who dominated the soundcharts. Then, the modern & perfect mix of classy and massy beats of Manisharma took over for a good span of time(More on this in my other blog about Manisharma). DSP proved his mettle in melody for quite sometime before mainstream demand sadly turned his lore into run-of-the-mill and bane. Chakri has always filled in the gaps and has also been dominant to an extent but his music is far from what I usually favour. However, the trend of one major composer being indomitable has been intact. Sadly, that often led to the glitter in their very compositions fading off. Thankfully Thaman proved to be the odd one out to be cracking this cliche!
          Not to my surprise, many among the audiences, who usually overlook the finer nuances of music making, have dished out Thaman's music to be repetitive & monochromatic. Often acronyms like Same Song Thaman(for S.S.Thaman) have been attached to his name. Many a sophisticated aspects of his music are completely ignored and in general, the music is underrated. "Too classy" is what some pretentious music critics claim. I beg to differ though and that, alongside a general appreciation for his work, is the reason for this blog here. Let me indulge you more into the finer rivulets that make up the beautiful slipstream that his music is!
          A practice now common with major mainstream composers is an aversion to the use of musical instruments as they were. Compositions of recent times have gained a flavour of techno-gadgetry as most of the sounds, even those of fundamentally bespoke instruments, are usually created using electronic instruments, or the electronic iterations of the bespoke instruments. Furthermore, a myriad varieties of modern electronic instruments are invented every other day & are put to use by composers, technicians, sound engineers, DJs, etc. To a major extent, this trend has led to music being repetitive and banal, with the sounds often redundant. A lack of simple yet charming melody and any whiff of sophisticated arrangements is another repulsive factor here. However, this is absolutely the tricky & 'turn-around' point of Thaman's music. What's interesting is the way he uses these very electronic gadgetry to create fresh and new sounds that are truly enjoyable. Essentially, all such electronic experimentation in his music is perfectly timed and corresponds with the other elements to give a wholesomely good effect. This has always been apparent with his tracks right from Kick's 'Dhim Thana' to the recent Ishtam's 'Yenmelu Indru'.
            To complement these electronic sounds, Thaman usually employs brilliant sound engineering methods and musical arrangements that portray an acquired taste. Well constructed bass is always a given while the rhythms in the undertones (through keyboards or otherwise) are always special, subtle in places to emphasize the ambience of the song while predominant in other occasions to announce an onslaught of gorgeous melody! Striking examples of this are the tracks 'Dhinaku Dhin' from Mirapakay or 'Guruvaram/Adaragottu' from Dookudu. In alignment with the aforementioned electronic trickery and deft mastery over sound engineering, Thaman establishes an astounding foundation of layers for his compositions. Indeed some soul sprinkling there, as a framework is now left open for the main vocals, the melody and the bolstering instrumentation to take over.
           Talk of instruments is not consummate here if a word or two is not shared about Thaman's work on percussions. While he does excel in his placement of pieces extracted from instruments of different types, ranging; from all of the stringed entities to all of the keyboarded entities, from all of the percussions to all of the blow horns; it is his daring experimentation with percussions, both native and foreign that adds a dynamic tinge to his music. This is particularly remarkable when he does fast paced & mass numbers! 'Chandamama' from BusinessMan is textbook material for percussional music with some aspirant experiments there while mass/club tracks like 'Kalasala' from Osthe or 'Tension' from Dookudu are engrossing foot tapping numbers. What bemuses me is how he manages to make mass numbers so sing-worthy which is quite the rarety when it comes to music. Typically, another notable feature is that he lets the instruments garner a certain humble clarity that is simply classy and beautiful. Certainly, this is best observed in songs like 'Yevaro' from Bodygaurd or as earlier mentioned, 'Intezaare' from KSY/Love Failure. To instate it simply, there is no noise!
           Yet in many cases, riffs-raffs as are inspired from the genres of hip-hop, electronic & lounge music exist to give the overall sound a distorted effect. However, what stands out is all the applications essentially cohere together. Each song has ONE distinct sound. Now, the final layer that permeates in is the 'vocals' bit, that is often flooded with voices rendered by the best energetic youngsters in the music industry, who've all made their mark with distinct and enjoyable voices. Case in point here is that the vocals carry with them a simple melody which is always catchy. Always hum-able and always plainly beautiful, so much so as to make you wonder where all that solemn melody vanished years ago only to reappear with Thaman's work! Reason enough to keep the playlist repeating, eh?
           With whatever nano-levels of musical know-how I could garner, and relying heavily on the 'classy' taste of music I presume I've acquired, this is my contention against the argument debasing Thaman's music. A musician should focus on enjoying himself with his work rather than look at the commercial levels of achievement it has gathered. Thaman definitely feels like the boy who stayed back in the chemistry lab just to have fun with the acids & bases (and possibly, and rather quite ignorantly, blow himself up!) not because the teacher (here, the producers) imposed him to.
            Thankfully today though, demand for his music persists as movie makers, with an eye for quality, exist. Much is owed to the experience & understanding of these people with respect to music. I can happily say I'm not alone in the camp then! Here's to the melody, the beat & the occasional electronic riff-raff then, Thaman!
 



Sunday, April 1, 2012

2011's finest - The finer colors in Bollywood's Canvas!

........Well, to be fairly honest, a significant amount of work at college and a significant amount of laziness at work have put me away from being the keen movie enthusiast that I'd been......that and a dearth for theatres or mismatch in launch timings with my schedules and I'd left myself quite some catching up to do with the releases in Indian Cinema, specially from the *olly-woods of Telugu & Tamil for a major part of 2011........however, scouring through my memory, I managed to put up a list of the better Hindi ones of 2011, that have quite helped in retaining Indian Cinema's coming of age scene. Shortly, 2011 did manage to stage a platform for a lot of well scripted hyperlink movies, a genre I have a soft spot for, however, to dwell more into details, the list, not particularly in chronological order, is as follows....

  • Shaitaan - well now, it has become customary(thankfully) for the small cult of fresh & inspiring movie makers that has been founded & propagated by Anurag Kashyap and to a major extent now, produced by him, to shell out one properly good movie every year. It includes cast that has been spawned by him onto one of his earlier ventures, all talented newbies in the film fraternity, exceptional cinematography with principles imported from some of the finest from around the world, catchy OSTs that just rejuvenate an already well planned and scripted storyline! It is indeed ironic of me to begin the list with this Bejoy Nambiar directed venture, which I've not yet seen, but from what all I've garnered through reviews, tweets and promos, this is definitely one worthy addition to that cult!
  • Delhi Belly - if not to generate a stylish cult following, trying in his own way to produce quality cinema and garnering huge applaud from a wider audiences for his efforts in return is Aamir Khan. So much so that it almost tempts me to plead the Bachchans, & the other mighty Khans to learn a thing or two from him & his tastes. Albeit for a sense of 'acceptability' that his brigade has shown so far, this year Aamir Khan productions has gone the whole hog and started experimenting with cinema for the good of, well, cinema itself! This one stands out to be one of the best dark sarcastic comedies I've ever witnessed in Indian Cinema, with svelte dialogue(yes, expletives included), acerbic yet rib tickling screenplay & some of the most striking cinematographic trysts you would come across! With a tongue in cheek-ish OST too, I cant recollect another classy sarcastic hindi comedy where I was losing my bowels out of sheer laughter!
  • Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - well this one was a cliche, albeit one that you dont find in the Indian Cinema front. A classic well shot romantic comedy 'travelogue'. It has all the ingredients going for it.....Spain, 3 childhood friends meeting, before one of them's getting married, for a long time re-union, some adventure sports, classic cars, 2 beautiful women who walk into the story, lots of tango and senoritas, d legendary tomantina & the bull run! It also has all the spot-on cinematic ingredients, Zoya Akhtar's deft direction & screenplay, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's beautiful OST, marvellous cinematography that Spain, in every inch and ounce, deserves, some crisp editing, dialogue & a stereotypical(albeit nice) storyline. For starters, for a class-movie-starved Indian cinematic scene, this brilliantly works & it worked! What also tugged at my heart more is a slightly superior notch in subtlety when it came to some of the screenplay, some of the OST's integration, (specially when characters had to overcome their fears, apprehensions & rediscover themselves...the splendour of the scenes only emphasized by Javed Akhtar's poetry) & amazing renditions by Farhan Akhtar & Hrithik Roshan
  • Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster - what grabbed me with this sinister tale of love, betrayal, revenge & caprice is the casting. Somehow, it struck a unique chord with the set of people on board for this project that it just embellishes the dialogue, screenplay and above all, the performances, more so, to be in fine tune with the story & the director's vision. Randeep Hooda, the quintessential crook is the only cliche among the lead trio, where Mahie Gill and Jimmy Shergill bring in a very fresh wickedness to the whole scene, that I've seldom enjoyed elsewhere. The movie is unrefined by a slight margin yet boasts of good cinematography and has the novelty of pristine wild locations & dialogue!
  • Shor in the City - To begin with a humble disclaimer, despite this being made by a set of young brilliant asst.directors from the Telugu Film Industry who happened to mesmerize me through an erstwhile Telugu hit, I impartially liked this film for its content and some very intriguing screenplay. The domineering screenplay, closely aided by brilliant cinematography and decent background score take this quintessential hyperlink drama to a sizzling level. In scenes like, when they prevent a kid from grabbing an exposed bomb or when the NRI grabs his chance to shoot the goons who've been pesking him, you are left gasping aloud, for they have been shot with utmost intensity. It does have underlying implications of dark humour, & is very much a tantalizing drama!
  • Not Another Love Story - RGV, a real crime-love story that recently came into light, Bollywood & the casting couch; & dead bodies cut into 'several' pieces! The perfect recipe for a classic Indo-noir thriller! Of late, it has become customary 'not' to expect a good movie from the RGV camp but if you look at it closely, those directed by himself have been truly scorchers for RGV & thriller fanatics in common(more on this in my other blog about RGV!) Interestingly, RGV tries experimenting with some other touches in this flick like montages, freeze frame shots & dark eroticism. As a final touch, trust Mahie Gill (who is seemingly becoming a noir favourite of mine) to oomph up things in just the right amount! 
  • Rockstar - there was noir, there was sarcastic comedy, there was good drama & there were hyperlink movies! As an outcry to all the finely established genres that Bollywood tried embracing last year(with much success too), Imtiaz Ali, gave us this! Perplexing, intriguing, fascinating, charming & bedazzling  to me, I was so impressed that I'd scripted a blog as an ode to this flick. So I'll save the accolades for elsewhere and briefly enumerate what all you should be watching this movie for! - Ranbir Kapoor, the music, the montages, production designing, the jagged screenplay, cinematography & above all, the intensity. The sheer intensity! Perfectly helps if you've loved (and lost too!)
  • That Girl In Yellow Boots - to be honest, I had humongous expectations for this one, which also falls into the erstwhile mentioned Anurag Kashyap genre of Indian films, what with its astounding critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, Anurag's passionate homework & his dedicated casting of his wife & now, an acquired actor, Kalki. However, I surmise poor financing is the issue, the movie was a bit low on production values. Interestingly, the movie utilizes that to a raw-unfinished effect that emphasizes the undertone of an edgy intriguing thriller with a shocking revelation at the very end. Everything else appends to this rawness, shaky yet focused cinematography, flimsy dialogue & an OST derived from the forgotten hinterlands of India. In her silence, desperate and longing gazes, restlessness and patience in equal measures, Kalki revels and is a treat to watch. All the other unrefined bits, I surmise, are intentional!
  • Dhobighat(Mumbai Diaries) - For purist cinema goers & drama lovers who look for characters that aren't shallow and a plot that is layered with connections, hyperlinks & intimations, this is pop-corn material! A slow, sublime drama basing itself on a set of beautifully portrayed characters(much credit goes to the careful casting & the actors themselves) and nicely timed screenplay make it a riveting watch. Another good part is the way B/W & color cinematography(which also happens to be textbook purist material) are interspersed; it helps in layering the different stories vertically thus letting one comprehend and empathize with them well. Kiran Rao's debut venture is truly very thoughtful, sophisticated and pleasant! And yep, this comes from the Aamir Khan camp, and with that,another note of appreciation has to go to the only Khan of bollywood who's dedicated to quality cinema, the way it should be!
  • 7 Khoon Maaf - I dont want to be stereotyping a very nascent revolution of good movies in Bollywood already, but variety and similarity has me in a helpless state. As for this one, it falls into the Vishal Bhardwaj genre of cinema, which has over the time(okay, since d last 6-7 years) proved its worth. This is a man of miracle and exceptional talent. And very obviously, true love for cinema. Based on an acclaimed Ruskin Bond novel, this one is a lesson in cinema making! Every little element is so carefully crafted & tailored, that you can only draw comparisons with the finest of works on canvas. The details in the movie, both apparent & non-apparent technical stuff, are meticulously thought out & the exquisite brocade of them is polished with sophistication. Another exceptional point being Vishal's composition which is so befitting. Brilliant visuals, brilliant screenplay, terrific storytelling & Priyanka Chopra's (in my book, after Aishwarya, the best female actor Bollywood has) best performance till date sum it up! Unfortunately it also happens to be a highly forgotten and overlooked film.
The lesser favourites - 
  • I Am -  I am yet to watch this acclaimed hyperlink film which took the National Award for best feature film of 2011. Its a sociological drama, involving well written characters & storytelling,with some proven actors on the cast. Going by the early reviews & the award it bagged, it should be a treat to watch!
  • No One Killed Jessica - This one is a thrilling drama, based on d facts of a horrific crime committed in the national capital. Some of the performances in the film are worth noting for, while other good details like d cinematography make it a good watch. The director has lost to the temptation of adding a lot of emotional drama to the flick thus, in my book, slightly condensing the film's snob value. Vidya Balan, the acquired actor, who has proven time and again with her choices that she's a person of taste, delivers well in this, quite contrary to Rani Mukherji.
  • Tanu Weds Manu - Well before you cry foul, let me agree that this is just another plain jane romantic comedy with an abused story & Kangana Ranaut's over acting antics. Yet for the delicate use of dialogue, screenplay, cinematography and a very compelling OST, it stands out of the crowd as a peaceful watch. And Madhavan is truly adorable as he revels in that innocent character!
  • The Dirty Picture - Given Ekta Kapoor's other offerings in this year, I was hugely dissappointed with the unrefined way this movie has been treated. It had Vidya Balan bravely taking up a role others wouldnt even ponder, & a sizzling dialogue that left audiences crackling in theatres, yet a level of sophistication was much desired. However, Milan Luthria's interesting narration style, where he consummates the story perfectly at the end in the dialogue, (also seen in Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai) remains!

There you have it....my take on the finest Bollywood movies from last year! Apologies for going over the word limits in certain areas; accolades were surely required. I might have surely missed out a flick or two. Do feel free to append them in your comments, alongside whatever ranting that you might feel like doing. Here's to more from this year & here's to the mere gut of a film maker in a challenging Bollywood to make a good film that he believes in, against all odds!

P.S: Forgive the over-usage of the word hyperlink. A vocab rookie that I am, I've yet to discover a synonym for the word. Basically these hyperlink films have a set of stories interspersed with each other, each having a connection to the other, yet individual in nature. They usually make for the best of dramas!