5 Bollywood Movies Which Defined 2012 | Under Lens

Paan Singh Tomar: Bollywood usually present lame biopics. Even one like Guru disappoints with all gloss and glitter. After Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen, we finally had a biopic which held subject with compassion but didn’t made a martyr out of it. Interestingly both Phoolan and Paan Singh were contemporaries. Paan Singh was a champion turned dacoit. He died a death of dacoit. He lived a life of athlete. Abuse he faced as a villager can be the reason why he picked up gun but reason was definitely not justified. Dhulia, as director made no such attempt.   

Kahaani: When was the last time you saw a city as raw and natural? Kahaani was a brilliant medley of lot of things – a good story, interesting twist, strong characters, competitive actors and subtle music. Kahaani worked on two levels – emotional where viewer connects with the tragedy and trauma of a pregnant woman and affection of a young vulnerable cop and secondly as a thriller where viewer gets one of the biggest shock of their life, just below their belt.

 

Gangs Of Wasseypur: Pulp Fiction of India? Comparisons with Tarantino and Guy Ritchie might be a little far-fetched, spells out the word pretty good. GOW is one of those movies which can take on word. Yes, influences are there. You can see QT and GR written all over. You can see glimpses of City Of God. Still, the brilliance on screen will be unadulterated Indian pulp fiction seen with different lenses.  

 

Vicky Donor: Sperms!!! A taboo subject handled with love, humor and wisdom. Rare for a Bollywood film. Even if you keep performances and music aside, the story in itself is such a pleasure. The way story has been woven around characters and caricatures is simply brilliant. I agree that having good actors and spicing it up with good music helps, it should not take away anything from the writers… the third and strongest pillar.

 

Barfi: Scenes were copied. Accepted. So? Does that make Barfi a bad movie? If we keep aside plagiarism for a while, Barfi comes out as a lovely story of a guy who cannot speak or hear but lives and loves more than anyone. His handicap is not a bane. He doesn’t reason much when it comes to love. His innocent definition of true friendship can move even the slyest of all. Handicapped should be called differently abled… Barfi subtly tells us why…