Monday, December 28, 2009
THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: BOLLYWOOD PEOPLE 2009
THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: BOLLYWOOD PEOPLE 2009
An inventive mujra with cheeky references to 9/11 and US occupation of Iraq, a contemporary version of Sahir’s Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai and a brilliant variant of Sarfaroshi ki tamanna--never ever in recent times has a lyricist reflected the spirit of the film, as did Piyush in Gulaal. No wonder director Anurag Kashyap called him the real hero of the film, one who brought the radical, revolutionary poetry back into the cinema.
2) Mohit Chauhan
Masakalli in Delhi 6, Tu ne jo na kaha in New York, Pehli baar mohabbat ki hai in Kaminey and Yeh dooriyan in Love Aaj Kal--the proof is in listening. Need we say anything more in praise of this dulcet voice?
As the persecuted Muslim Zilgai in post 9/11 US, Nawazuddin was far more impactful in a miniscule role in
The VJ, model and small-time actress was a perfect fit for the role of the ballsy, ambitious, hard-nosed yet sensitive office secretary Koena. She felt real; it was as though she wasn’t acting at all. No wonder the five auditions she had to go through for bagging the role were worth it.
Uttam Haldar, a
2009 was the year Ranbir got anointed as the next big thing of Bollywood, but Paa had it just as good. Rishi Kapoor was heart-breakingly superb as the old producer getting ignored by the younger generation of filmmakers in Luck By Chance. He was natural and relaxed as the dependable, graceful and dignified patriarchal figure and a keeper of the old-world values in
THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: FILMS OF 2009
THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: THE PICK OF FILMS OF 2009
1) Pasanga (Kids, Tamil)
A warm and delightful, unaffected and ingenuous tale about the world of 10-year-old Anbu--his family and friends, his dreams and joys, and his problems and worries as well. The debut directorial venture of Pandiraj, who started off as an office boy for well-known filmmaker Bagyaraj, Pasanga is about his own memories of growing up in the
Sub-titled DVDs out on Moser Baer in January 2010.
A whimsical, bittersweet film, on the personal plights and predicaments of the farmers in the Vidarbha region of
Harishchandrachi Factory is an affectionate tribute to an extraordinarily loveable and buoyant Dadasaheb Phalke, the founder of world’s largest film industry. It celebrates his passion, commitment and many eccentricities and his winsome, good-natured and supportive family. The film also skilfully weaves in the politics of the times. In the height of British rule Phalke’s making of Raja Harishchandra was not just good business but a political act, a vehicle for reflecting Indian culture and sensibility.
An extraordinarily mature and poised film on loneliness and companionship, Paltadacho Munis portrays the unusual relationship between a lonely forest guard and a mentally deranged woman. His initial reaction to her is that of annoyance and exasperation but slowly he begins to derive comfort from her presence. As the tentative relationship grows he wants to have her as his companion even as the society questions the morality of their bonding. The film bagged the critics’ award at the Toronto International Film Festival 2009 and was the opening film at IFFI Goa 2009.
Faiza Khan’s documentary on the making of