1. Queen
Starring Kangana Ranaut and Rajkumar Rao, Queen is an amazing movie which boasts of good performances by each and every actor! The storyteling bit was done exceedingly well. The direction is superb. A must watch!
2. Citylights
Rajkumar Rao strikes again! But with his amazing acting! This guy is a star. And he delivers an absolute winner of a performance! The ground reality of the City of Dreams is shown. The stuggle, the trials and the tribulations are shown extremely well. A winner.
3. Mardaani
Child trafficking is a very delicate issue. And to show it as well as Mardaani did, is an achievement in itself. Add Rani’s powerful once in a lifetime performance to it and it becomes one of the contenders for the movie of the year.
4. Highway
When you have a movie with Randeep Hooda in it, you would expect him to carry the movie till the end. He is always impeccable. But this was Alia Bhatt’s answer to her critics. She carried this movie. From start to finish. The direction was done by Imtiaz Ali, so it was bound to be good.
5. Bhoothnath Returns
The sequel to the fun Bhoothnath, Bhoothnath Returns tried to incorporate a social message with the movie. And this was done very subtly. Humour was mixed extremely well with the backdrop. And it made for some great viewing!
6. Finding Fanny
This movie is beautiful. It’s not about the story, not even about the acting. It’s all about the cinematography. You will not find better camerawork or better editing in any movie all year! The fact that it has Dimple Kapadia, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Deepika Padukone, and Arjun Kapoor are just plus points. Goa at its finest!
7. Hawaa Hawaai
Directed by Amole Gupte of Taare Zameen Par fame, this movie is art. That’s about it. It is art. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Beautifully shot, it is a lesson for us that we do not need to measure our wealth in order to measure the happiness in our lives.
8. Marykom
Priyanka Chopra at her best, a well made movie. The north-east is depicted very well. Also, the red-tapeism prevalent among our sport governing bodies is depicted well.
9. 2 States
Chetan Bhagat is a writer whose work I do not put in high regard. But they make great movie stories. And 2 States showed that. The movie didn’t have too strong romantic undertones. Everything was breezy and subtle. More than Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, this movie belonged to Ronit Roy. A brilliant performance from him raised the level of the movie.
10. Haider
A must watch. Kashmir showed beautifully, the predicament of the people shown extremely well. But what stole the show was the performances. Tabu was top notch. Kay Kay was amazing. Irrfan Khan did his part very well. But this was Shahid Kapoor’s movie. What a transformation! He is the movie. Vishal Bharadwaj sure knows how to get the best out of him!
