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If 2005 was
the year of Bunti aur Babli, Black, Page 3 and Sarkar,
2006 belonged to Lage Raho Munnabhai and Rang De Basanti.
The two most appealing movies of this year had much in common despite
their vastly dissimilar styles of film-making. Both brought our
national icons out of history books and into our lives. Both condemned
the prevailing "sab chalta hai" attitude and called
for a moral and social awakening to fight injustice and corruption. No
costly frills, no cheap thrills — Lage Raho... and Rang De...
owed their resounding success largely to themes and characters of
substance. Moreover, it was their "Indianness" that captured
the nation’s imagination. While these two examples of meaningful
entertainment clicked at the box-office, some big-budget masala
movies, too, raked in the moolah. Krrish, Don, Dhoom:2
and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK) were by no means great
films, but they had enough star power and razzmatazz to bowl over
audiences. Some "smallies" made their presence felt in a big
way, such as Khosla Ka Ghosla and Pyaar Ke Side Effectsh. Screen
presence Hrithik Roshan outshone the Bachchans and the Khans with his
flamboyant performances in blockbusters Krrish and Dhoom:2.
Superhero or (super)anti-hero, his charisma was irresistible. Aamir
Khan (Rang De..., Fanaa), Shah Rukh Khan (Don, KANK)
and Sanjay Dutt (Lage Raho...) delighted their fans, even
though they had nothing new to offer. Disappointingly, Big B had an
ordinary year after a phenomenal 2005. His roles in KANK, Baabul,
Family and Darna Zaroori Hai were no great shakes by his
lofty standards. Abhishek did well in multi-starrers (Dhoom:2, KANK),
but he found it tough to carry a film on his own shoulders (Bluffmaster,
Umrao Jaan). Among the leading ladies, Bipasha Basu put the
chameleon to shame with her various guises — business executive (Corporate),
village belle (Omkara), bikini bombshell (Dhoom:2).
"Ice maiden" Aishwarya Rai tried an image makeover by
playing a dare-bare moll in Dhoom:2 and a nautch girl in Umrao
Jaan, but her portrayals were not convincing. Singing songs and
shedding tears was all that Rani Mukherjee got to do in KANK and
Baabul, while prettier-than-ever Kajol made a superb comeback
in Fanaa. Boman Irani was the most impressive character actor
on view. He played to perfection the roles of unscrupulous builder
Lucky Singh (Lage Raho...), conman Kishan Khurana (Khosla Ka
Ghosla) and wily DCP De Silva (Don). Paresh Rawal was a
regular in comedies like Malamaal Weekly, Phir Hera Pheri and
Bhagam Bhag, but arguably his best performance of the year was
as a crooked travel agent in Yun Hota To Kya Hota. Director’s
cut Sequels, remakes, adaptations, inspirations — top film-makers
eagerly tapped various popular sources. Farhan Akhtar (Don) and
JP Dutta (Umrao Jaan) undertook the challenging task of
"refurbishing" a classic. Despite much superior production
values, these films were not a patch on the originals. The public
still gave the thumbs-up to Don, though it rejected the
Abhishek-Aishwarya starrer. Vishal Bhardwaj (Omkara)
transported Othello to Uttar Pradesh, while Kunal Kohli (Fanaa)
dished out a desi version of Hollywood thriller Eye of the Needle.
The two received the same comment — their previous efforts (Maqbool
and Hum Tum, respectively) were much better. Madhur
Bhandarkar’s Corporate, too, wasn’t able to reproduce the
brilliance of Page 3. Ditto was the verdict for Ravi Chopra’s
Baabul and Sooraj Barjatya’s Vivah, two of the year’s
biggest letdowns. On the other hand, Rakesh Roshan (Krrish),
Karan Johar (KANK), Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho...) and
Sanjay Gadhvi (Dhoom:2) hit the bullseye again. Among the
newcomers, documentary film-maker Kabir Khan made his feature debut
with Kabul Express, which was set, of all places, in post-9/11
Afghanistan. Dibakar Banerjee won accolades for the sleeper hit Khosla
Ka Ghosla, which was reminiscent of "middle class"
classics like Saeed Mirza’s Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! Naseeruddin
Shah made a laudable directorial debut with Yun Hota To Kya Hota,
which had multiple storylines linked by the characters’ "Chalo
America" obsession. These movies provided a refreshing change
from the trend of putting old wine in a new bottle. Surprise
element
Amitabh Bachchan amazed his
fans by playing a sexagenarian Casanova in KANK. The character
justified his amorous adventures by claiming that he was merely
fulfilling his departed wife’s wishes. In a scene rarely witnessed in Hindi films, the heroine (Kajol) killed
the hero (Aamir Khan) in Fanaa.
Don had such a bizarre twist at the end that it turned the
whole movie on its head. In the year’s
most outlandish pairing, Rahul Bose was cast opposite Mallika Sherawat
in Pyaar Ke Side Effects. The effects were both sexy and
funny. Future stock What’s there to watch out for in 2007? Mani
Ratnam’s Guru, starring Abhishek, Aishwarya and Vidya Balan,
will be the first major release of the year. Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodha-Akbar,
featuring the Dhoom:2 pair of Hrithik and Aishwarya, is another
much-awaited film. Nikhil Advani’s Salaam-e-Ishq, which looks
like a remake of Love Actually, might turn out to be the year’s
biggest multi-starrer. Then there are more sequels (and sequels’
sequels) lined up. Last but not least, Rang De Basanti will be
vying for an Oscar nomination (to be announced in late January). Will
Aamir’s movie do a Lagaan? Let’s wait and watch.
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