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MovieTalks

My Bollywood’s Best of 2017

Alright, the time has neatly arrived to speak about the Hindi films released in the year 2017. Starting from 2015, I am yearly publishing my report through my blog about the best things happened in the Hindi cinema. My yearly season of watching Hindi films arrives every last quarter of the year. I pick some films from the list of year wide releases in which I find potential, watch, write a review and place the films in different categories where I believe the project was good for certain aspects.

I am delighted to observe a slight change in waves at some parallel lines which were drawn to follow and focus on mainstream entertainment. There do are numerous films which offer its viewers to enjoy the rollercoaster. But in a few years, the content of creativity and understanding the characterization and principles of filmmaking and visual cinematic presentation has changed. Viewers show interest and are excited to accept change but that innovation is and will increase by a minor percentage. The quality of filmmaking has changed, not because of the cameras but due to the producers offering talented filmmakers and people from other cinematic professions a chance to show their creativity. Films are recognized abroad in the different film festivals. Actors like Manav Kaul, Pankaj Tripathi, Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte, Seema Pahwa, Swara Bhaskar, and Sanjay Mishra are achieving recognition from the majority of viewers. These names were hardly believed to be discussed or remembered a few years ago.

From scores of releases, I picked only 28 films for watching and some other films, in addition, to listen to some tracks which did justice to the musical department and to my ears. Millions of people have their opinions, I have mine strictly on the bases of my observation, judgment and understanding as a film critic. No, I do not write for magazines or newspapers as a critic or writer because when most of the companies pay you, you are expected to pass the review to keep everyone happy. Blogging is freedom and before I proceed, let me forward to you my same work on Bollywood’s best in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Like before, I will segregate the categories into three different sections i.e., musical (5), technical (10), and major section (6). In most of the categories, I will brief a small explanation where I find necessary. In most of the categories, I will also make some honorable mentions which are the individuals or the films deserve to be counted among the best.

This is to inform you that the list of 21 categories from the 3 sections is created and presented from my selection and observing the following films released in India in 2017:

Phillauri, Haraamkhor, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Hindi Medium, Anaarkali Of Aarah, Mantostaan, OK Jaanu, Lipstick Under My Burkha, Poorna, A Death In The Gunj, Indu Sarkar, Daddy, Simran, Mom, Mukti Bhawan, Sarkar 3, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Trapped, Fukrey Returns, Newton, Jolly LLB 2, Tumhari Sulu, Chef, Ittefaq, Rukh, Ajji, Secret Superstar, and Gurgaon.

The above-mentioned films which miss all the recognitions below are to be believed that those films didn’t live up to my expectations. Also for your reading, let me clarify that the films are not ranked in ‘Other Notable Works’.

Besides the films I have picked above, I have a special regret of missing the following films which I was not able to watch due to lack of availability or availability in extremely low video/audio quality:

Kadvi Hawa, Dear Maya, Dobaara, G Kutta Se, Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, and Ribbon 

MUSICAL SECTION

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE

TAJDAR JUNAID (MUKTI BHAWAN)

Other Notable Works:

  1. Raghu Dixit(Chef)
  2. Hitesh Modak(Simran)
  3. Sajid–Wajid(Daddy)
  4. Mangesh Dhakde(Lipstick Under My Burkha)
  5. Sameer Uddin(Phillauri)
  6. A.R.Rahman(OK Jaanu)

BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

MEGHNA MISHRA (NACHDI PHIRA – SECRET SUPERSTAR)

There were not enough impressive singing to my ear to the tracks I listened to. But this Nachdi Phiraan came as a surprise. I first felt if Zaira Wasim was really singing in the studio but then I found out that she was another 17yo like Zaira whose voice perfectly fitted in her. What a phenomenal singing by this young girl. It is all magic when she raises her voice from Tere Ishq Da Chola Pehen Ke. Meghna Mishra is a new singing sensation with a lot of promises.

Other Notable Works:

  1. Rekha Bhardwaj (Saat Rangon Se – Dear Maya)
  2. Ronkini Gupta (Rafu – Tumhari Sulu)
  3. Jasleen Royal (Din Shagna Da – Phillauri)

BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

ARKO (NAZM NAZM – BAREILLY KI BARFI)

This is the first time I have heard Arko’s voice. I was actually not aware of his past contribution. I am informed by my brother that he was behind the composition of most of Jism 2’s tracks. Coming back to Nazm Nazm, what impresses me is his distinctive voice sung on his own lyrics and composition which gives the listener a real feel. Also, this song reminds the 90sh typical fall-in-love tracks. 

Other Notable Works:

  1. Arijit Singh (Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga – Half Girlfriend)
  2. Atif Aslam (Main Agar – Tubelight)
  3. Jubin Nautiyal (Bawara Mann – Jolly LLB 2)

BEST SONG & LYRICS

DIN SHAGNA DA (JASLEEN ROYAL/NEERAJ RAJAWAT – PHILLAURI)

There were dozens of impressive tracks and was pretty hard to decide my favourite from 2017.  Many tracks build different variations of moods. So why Din Shagna Da? Because of an extreme simplicity of its being a wedding ballad blended with Jasleen’s addition to grand piano and guitar in a typical Punjabi wedding score.

Lyrics are simple and so realistic. Makes you imagine a young bride singing for her soon-to-be husband before the wedlock. And then, Jasleen Royal’s voice does the perfection of bringing a beautiful and utopian imagery of your beloved in her bridal dress.

Din Shagna Da has to be the best wedding track after Mehndi Hay Rachne Wali from Zubeidaa.

Other Notable Works:

  1. Bawara Mann (Jubin Nautiyal/Neeti Mohan/Junaid Wasi/Chirantan Bhatt – Jolly LLB 2)
  2. Main Agar (Atif Aslam/Amitabh Bhattacharya/Pritam – Tubelight)
  3. Nachdi Phira (Meghna Mishra/Kausar Munir/Amit Trivedi – Secret Superstar)
  4. Nazm Nazm (Arko – Bareilly Ki Barfi)
  5. Jee Lein (Arjun Chandy/Neeti Mohan/Savithri R Prithvi/Gulzar/A.R.Rahman – OK Jaanu)

BEST MUSIC

RAGHU DIXIT (CHEF)

What is counted in ‘Best Music’? For me, it is the quality of Music. Almost all the tracks are relaxing, smooth and tempo builder. Khoya Khoya and Tere Mere are the toppers amongst all the tracks. Raghu Dixit’s contribution moves you and the story together and I honestly believe he deserves the credit as his hard work went pretty unnoticed in the mainstream media. I am not doing any favour but as compared to the other films, I find his tracks for Chef far better than the other notable works which are:

  1. A.R.Rahman (OK Jaanu)
  2. Tanishk-Vayu (Shubh Mangal Saavdhan)
  3. Sashwat Sachdev & Jasleen Royal (Phillauri)
  4. Amit Trivedi (Secret Superstar)

TECHNICAL SECTION

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

RUPA CHOURASIA (ANAARKALI OF AARAH)

Other Notable Works:

  1. Veera Kapur (Phillauri)
  2. Rohit Chaturvedi (Lipstick Under My Burkha)
  3. Nidhi Gambhir & Divya Gambhir (Daddy)
  4. Shruti Wadetiwar (Mukti Bhawan)
  5. Sachin Lovalekar (Ajji)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

SHAMIM KHAN, SIKANDAR AHMAD & TIYA TEJPAL (AJJI)

Other Notable Works:

  1. Meenal Agarwal (Phillauri)
  2. Vikram Singh (Lipstick Under My Burkha)
  3. Parul Sondh (Daddy)
  4. Avyakta Kapur (Mukti Bhawan)

BEST SOUND DESIGN

UDIT DUSEJA (DADDY)

Other Notable Work: Anish John (Trapped)

BEST EDITING

A. SREEKAR PRASAD (HINDI MEDIUM)

Other Notable Works:

  1. Charu Shree Roy (Lipstick Under My Burkha)
  2. Manas Mittal (Mukti Bhawan)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

MICHAEL MCSWEENEY & DAVID HUWILER (MUKTI BHAWAN)

Other Notable Works:

  1. Jishnu Bhattacharjee (Ajji)
  2. Sirsha Ray (A Death In The Gunj)

BEST ACTION

SHAM KAUSHAL (DADDY)

BEST STORY

ALANKRITA SHRIVASTAVA (LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA)

To be honest, it was a tough call. I actually picked Anvita Dutt‘s Phillauri and wrote one paragraph in reasoning why the story of Phillauri was the best. But then I stopped myself and looked towards other potential stories I watched.

In my other picks, there is Saket Chaudhary‘s Hindi Medium which shows in a funny way how much effort do the parents make to send their children to a better educational institution. Then there is Atanu Mukherjee‘s Rukh which speaks about a teenager who lost his father in a road accident refusing to believe if that was an accident or a murder. Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, written by Garima-Siddharth, raised the issue of having no toilet and emphasized on the eradication of open defecation. Mukti Bhawan, penned by Shubhashish Buthiani, was about a son helping his father to live his last few days to the holy city of Varanasi.

Then I made up my mind that the story has to be bolder with a brave message. Lipstick Under My Burkha surpasses the definition of being the best story.  The film speaks about the compromised social lives of four women of different ages and statuses from the same society living in Bhopal. Being centered on feminism, the story splendidly executes and handles the issues of different women whether they are right or wrong. 

BEST SCREENPLAY

ZEENAT LAKHANI (HINDI MEDIUM)

Other Notable Works:

  1. Shlok Sharma (Haraamkhor)
  2. Alankrita Shrivastava (Lipstick Under My Burkha)
  3. Arjun Rampal & Ashim Ahluwalia (Daddy)
  4. Akash Mohimen & Atanu Mukherjee (Rukh)
  5. Mani Ratnam (OK Jaanu)

BEST DIALOGUES

GAZAL DHALIWAL (LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA)

Yes, that book in Buaji’s hand is one major reason but I am not aware if that fictional book is fictional to the plot. But the dialogues overall are lively and rich to reality. Gazal Dhaliwal had the audacity to speak out in different characters. All four leading ladies had their needs and lipstick was an important factor. Her dialogues give the space and importance to each of them. 

Other Notable Works:

  1. Shlok Sharma (Haraamkhor)
  2. Anvita Dutt (Phillauri)
  3. Asad Hussain (Mukti Bhawan)
  4. Gulzar (OK Jaanu)

BEST SCENE

BUAJI EXPOSED!! (LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA)

It is emotionally a disturbing and morally a humiliating scene to watch Ratna Pathak’s Buaji character exposing to the truth in front of the whole neighbourhood. It was like a human who has never revealed his/her entire arm is stripped naked. The scene’s excellence of emotional decline should be credited to Alankrita who does a fantastic job in bringing the four ladies and their stories together at a point where they need the support of each other. It was predictable that the truth about Buaji will come someday to everyone’s attention but it is the beauty of the direction how she breaks the spine of her utopian escapism. Only an artist like Ratna can superbly handle that scene.

Other Notable Scenes:

  1. Breaking Toilet on Pandit’s Command (Toilet: Ek Prem Katha)
  2. Sridevi’s Breakdown in Hospital (Mom)
  3. Spirits’ Reunion (Phillauri)
  4. Shutu’s Suicide (A Death In The Gunj)
  5. Father-Son Crying and Apologizing (Mukti Bhawan)
  6. Sulu’s Heated Argument with Entire Family (Tumhari Sulu)
  7. Police Interrogating Manda’s Family (Ajji)

MAJOR SECTION

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

PANKAJ TRIPATHI (NEWTON)

After so many impressive side roles in recent years, Pankaj has developed his acting finesse in 2017. This has been his most fruitful year with severe critical acclaim with the role in Newton the most to treasure.

Pankaj plays a cynical Assistant Commandant in a Naxal-controlled town. Newton is a Rajkummar-Pankaj show and Pankaj’s character weight is what Rajkummar’s keep on pulling all this time. They have assigned jobs but are completely opposite to commitments. In the whole film, it is hard to understand if Pankaj plays a helpful or a painful role to Rajkummar. 

Other Notable Works:

  1. Sudhir Pandey (Toilet: Ek Prem Katha)
  2. Mohd Samad (Haraamkhor)
  3. Deepak Dobriyal (Hindi Medium)
  4. Adil Hussain (Mukti Bhawan)
  5. Manav Kaul (Tumhari Sulu)
  6. Anu Kapoor (Jolly LLB 2)
  7. Raj Arjun (Secret Superstar)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

RATNA PATHAK (LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA)

Yes. LUMB again. Ratna again. Her acting in Buaji character compels me to ignore the other contenders from the list of top performers in this category. I recognized her performance last year in the same category for Kapoor & Sons.

An impressive part of LUMB is that there is no leading character. The plot is so thick that all leading characters support each other, exactly like Kapoor & Sons. What impresses me about Ratna is her adapting any role in a supreme harmony. It doesn’t matter what you are asked, you are a veteran and versatile artist to subdue the character weight. 

When she narrates the erotic novel, she makes me forget Rekha’s voice. Her Rosy avatar completely changes your perception about her being Buaji. It was a phenomenal performance.

Other Notable Works:

  1. Anushka Sharma (Phillauri)
  2. Sajal Ali (Mom)
  3. Neha Dhupia (Tumhari Sulu)
  4. Meher Vij (Secret Superstar)

BEST ACTOR

RAJKUMMAR RAO (TRAPPED)

Seriously, who else? Who else can be the best leading male performer than Rajkummar Rao?. And what else will it take to win the Best Actor award in a Filmfare function? For the fourth consecutive year, the best male leading performer of the year was not even nominated in the category of Best Actor! Sanjay Mishra for Ankhon Dekhi in 2014, Nawazuddin Siddiqui for Manjhi in 2015, Manoj Bajpayee for Aligarh in 2016, and now this. Absolutely shocking!

Coming back to Rajkummar, his efforts and commitments to the role are commendable. Bein a vegan, he actually eats meat in some of the scenes for the first time in his life. A big thumbs up! This guy goes to a strict carrot diet and drinks coffee for more than 16 days to show the emotional and physical decline of a healthy man. This effort helps Rajkummar to define urban loneliness in the character because he is new to Mumbai.

Other Notable Works:

  1. Irrfan Khan (Hindi Medium)
  2. Vikrant Massey (A Death In The Gunj)
  3. Lalit Behl (Mukti Bhawan)
  4. Adarsh Gourav (Rukh)
  5. Arjun Rampal (Daddy)

BEST ACTRESS

ZAIRA WASIM (SECRET SUPERSTAR)

In the Indian cinema, typically the most popular industry which is Hindi cinema, what do the viewers expect from a teenage newcomer in the line of professional acting? Yes, there may be promises but we will expect a young boy or a girl to struggle in front of the camera, try to balance the body language and dialogues together. Right? 

Zaira Wasim was 16 when worked in Dangal with Aamir Khan. Next year, he gave her another opportunity to exploit her acting talent. And this time she has astonished me in Secret Superstar. It is nearly impossible at 17 years of age to be so mature and well adhered to the character and its details. Yes, she is a teenager playing a teenager but acting that well in front of the camera is some achievement.

Zaira plays the title role who isn’t being the princess in the film but a dreamer who is surrendered with a very disturbing domestic life. Her facial performance and emotional fluctuation are marvellous. How real it looks when she acts in the song ‘Nachdi Phira’, that scene can make anyone admit if she really was singing. How tempestuous when she argues with father before he beats, or when she refuses to go abroad.

If this incredible newcomer continues to perform like this with consistency, then she is one massive name in the making. 

Other Notable Works:

  1. Shweta Tripathi (Haraamkhor)
  2. Swara Bhaskar (Anaarkali Of Aarah)
  3. Kirti Kulhari (Indu Sarkar)
  4. Saba Qamar (Hindi Medium)
  5. Kangana Ranaut (Simran)
  6. Sridevi (Mom)
  7. Vidya Balan (Tumhari Sulu)
  8. Sushama Deshpande (Ajji)

BEST DIRECTOR

DEVASHISH MAKHIJA (AJJI)

Aye. Brilliant mind on the director’s chair do his/her work different from others and that is how the filmmaking is exemplified. Ajji is about a ten-year-old girl Manda who is brutally raped before being found by her grandma, Ajji. When the culprit is found to be the son of a politician, everyone in the family goes silent but Ajji.

One of the simplest stories is stretched to a lengthy 103 minutes. But why too lengthy? The answer lies in a terrific direction by Devashish Makhija. In 103 minutes, the director settles the minds of the viewers by taking the parallels of the slums from different angles. He shows the lowest standard of the rapist and tortures your observation for almost 15 minutes to make you believe how far can they go from being sober.

The director never discards in presenting a slum life as the deepest detail is very decorated on the camera, take a keen observation of childish drawings on the wall, dust fixed on the mirror, blinking tube lights, or holes in the shirt of the butcher.

Other Notable Works:

  1. Konkona Sen Sharma (A Death In The Gunj)
  2. Ashim Ahluwalia (Daddy)
  3. Shubhashish Bhutiani (Mukti Bhawan)
  4. Alankrita Shrivastava (Lipstick Under My Burkha)

BEST FILM

MUKTI BHAWAN

 

Daya (Lalit Behl) in his late 70s is believing that he is about to die soon and wishes to go to the holy city of Varanasi to attain salvation. His son, Rajiv (Adil Hussain), accompanies him and leaves his family behind to travel and stay with his stubborn father at the desired place.

Mukti Bhawan is that one film which happens once in several years. Technically, this is one of the most gifted films to the Hindi cinema with every department giving you the highest quality job. A fascinating cinematography capturing the heart of Varanasi, the city of Lord Shiva.

Tajdar-Junaid’s soothing background score helps to build the tempo. Production and costume designs give severe originality to the screenplay. The rest lies in a spectacular direction which subjects on one of the best father-son onscreen chemistry ever picturized. Dialogues are very lively and the whole filmmaking is so charismatic.

So many scenes buy your attention like Daya-Rajiv crying, family posing a joyous funeral as wished, Rajiv’s internet chat with family on a weak signal, Rajiv observing final rites of cremation, etc.

Mukti Bhawan’s richest essence is the translation of human emotions and complexities, fluctuation of rage and inability of understanding the generation gaps and its harsh realities. Hard to believe that this gem is directed by a debutant (Shubhashish Bhutiani) who is only 26 years old. Surely a filmmaking prodigy in the development.

Overall, Mukti Bhawan is indisputably the best Hindi film of 2017.

Other Best Films:

  1. Hindi Medium
  2. Daddy
  3. Rukh
  4. Ajji
  5. Phillauri
  6. Lipstick Under My Burkha

Please share your views about my selections. Write your opinions in the comments below. Let me know if you don’t agree and explain your reasons.

Here, I conclude my special report about the best of Bollywood in 2017. I will be back next year with the same reporting for the year 2018. Thank you for reading. 

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