Bollywood Top 10 2007

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It’s kind of a ritual for critics in the West to pick the Top 10 films of the year gone by and even here in Bollywood newspapers and news channels are pouncing on the habit. But sadly, most of the papers and channels pick the Top 10 based on box office collections. While that to me is a great barometer to judge the quality of the film, it is not necessarily the best one. The paper I write for, they too, are going by the box office profits as a basis for zeroing on the best films of the year 2007. Which gives me complete liberty to pick my favourite 10 Bollywood films of this year. Here they are in no particular order with a couple of lines on why I think they should be on the list.

1. Chak De! India - Formula story reaching great heights for the choice of sports, the choice of gender and a great star-actor leading from the front.

2. Taare Zameen Par - A speedbreaker for the usually flashy B-town flicks. The new rules, courtesy AK: Take your time, tell a simple story and tell it as honestly as you can.

3. Jab We Met - The film should get an Oscar just for the Hotel Decent scene but the rest of it is not that bad with a spirited performance by Kareena Kapoor and a subtle support by ex-beau Shahid.

4. Manorama Six Feet Under - It is the pacing which I loved the most about what easily is the best film noir coming out from this part of the world in a long, long time.

5. Johnny Gaddaar - Completely refreshing take on Hitchcock’s age-old formula: Let the audiences know everything and let the characters be in the dark.

6. Life in a… Metro - Episodic films can turn out to be so bad (did I hear Salaam-e-Ishq?) but it is to Anurag Basu’s credit as a writer the way he strings together this sex-lies-ambitions talkathon.

7. Bheja Fry - I was not a fan when I saw it for the first time but after watching it a couple of times more on TV I discovered its incredible re-watch value. And Vinay Pathak has a lot to do with that.

8. Om Shanti Om - Farah Khan has the best sense of humour in Bollywood. Period. Not sure? Wild pussy, who’s your daddy now?

9. Guru - A personal relief that Mani Ratnam found favour in Mumbai. And why not? He is still the master of relationships and biopics.

10. Black Friday - Because it dares. Dares to say like it was. When was the last time you saw that on the Indian screen?

Would love to hear your Top 10s and why you picked them. Make your choices.

35 Responses to “Bollywood Top 10 2007”

rudro on December 29th, 2007 12:11 am

Nice compilation…you got the right ones…hope its not a ranking, right? cuz i would have put Black Friday at the top…also missed gandhi my father, shud have been in top 10, instead of OSO
Dyaus on December 29th, 2007 12:17 am

My list only contains movies which I viewed this year.

1. Taare Zameen Par - Amazing performance by little star.
2. Chak De India - Sharukh’s out-of-his-league movie had a good message.
3. Life… in a metro - The stories are woven with style.
4. No Smoking - Entirely new presentation, out-of-Bollywood movie.
5. Bheja Fry - Have felt in love with songs of Bharat Bhushan.
6. Guru - I didn’t know that Abhishek could act. :D
Sachin Shrestha on December 29th, 2007 12:49 am

@rudro He mentioned its no particular order so I don’t think its a ranking based list (though you say you’d like to see others’ “Top 10″ list, which usually is ranked) But I wouldn’t put Life In A Metro in my list as i found it overtly pretentious but thats my opinion.
And now that so many are really talking about Manorama Six Feet Under, I’ll definitely rent it. And compile my list in the meantime :)
sunny lalany on December 29th, 2007 1:26 am

1. TaAre ZaMeEn PAr.

2. Namastey London.

3. Black Friday.

4. Jab We Met.

5. Gandhi My Father.

6. Guru.

7. Dil Dosti Etc.

8. Guru

9. The Namesake

10. Life in a.. Metro
sunny lalany on December 29th, 2007 1:28 am

8. Johnny Gaddar. (and not Guru)
sunny lalany on December 29th, 2007 1:29 am

8. Johnny Gaddar.
anupam on December 29th, 2007 2:12 am

hey pratim..

u missed out on cheeni kum…it was really good…much better than oso and as good as jab we met…
GUNJAN on December 29th, 2007 3:00 am

WELL FOR ME ITS
1.BLACK FRIDAY
2.NO SMOKING
3.TAARE ZAMMEN PAR
4.BHEJA FRY
5.DIL DOSTI ETC.
6.MSFU
7.DHAMAAL
8.JHONNY GADDAR
9.CHAK DE INDIA
10. CAN’T FIND ANYTHING WORTH I GUESS FOR ME THIS WAS BEST OF BOLLYWOOD CAME THIS YEAR.

ANYWAYS WHAT ABOUT BLUNDERS OF THE YEAR GONE BY AND ATTRACTIONS OF 2008
Suresh Nair on December 29th, 2007 4:43 am

1. Tare Zameen Par
2. Jab We Met
3. Guru
4. Chak De
5 .Bheja Fry
6. Black Friday
7. Cheeni Kum
8. Johnny Gadar
9. Manorama Six Feet Under
10.Life in a Metro
nitin on December 29th, 2007 5:04 am

my ten.
1.blackfriday
2.blue umbrella
3.jhonny G
4.Taare zameen par.
5.khoya khoya chand
6. Ek chalis ki last local
missed parzania…and yeah manorma n all follow from 7…
Sevian on December 29th, 2007 6:56 am

TZP
Johnny Gaddar
Black Friday
Chak De
Manorma
Jab We Met
Khoya Khoya Chand
Metro
Blue Umbrella
Bheja Fry
Aditya Pant on December 29th, 2007 7:34 am

My list:
1. TZP
2. Black Friday
3. Manorama SFU
4. Chak De
5. No Smoking
6. Johnny Gaddaar
7. Khoya Khoya Chand
8. Metro
9. The Blue Umbrella
10. Eklavya/ Guru

I have talked about this on my blog:
http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/12/28/top-10-hindi-films-in-2007.html
Evelyn Tu on December 29th, 2007 8:07 am

Here’s my list (Jab We Met is in the mail):

Manorama Six Feet Under
AIDS JaaGo
Black Friday
Blue Umbrella
Loins of Punjab Presents…
Chak De India
Khoya Khoya Chand
Parzania
No Smoking
Salaam-E-Ishq
Taare Zameen Par
SmokerJoe on December 29th, 2007 8:44 am

My list.

1. Taare Zameen Par
2. Chak De India
3. Jab We Met
4. Guru
5. Johnny Gaddar
6. Black Friday
7. Life in a Metro
8. Aaja Nachle
9. Dil Dosti etc
10. Bheja Fry

Didn’t watch Manorana SFU so can’t comment about it.
SmokerJoe on December 29th, 2007 8:45 am

Oops, missed Khosla Ka Ghosla.. place it at 4 with Guru.. one of the finest comedy of last year.
Aditya Pant on December 29th, 2007 8:50 am

@Smoker Joe: Khosla Ka Ghosla came in 2006
SmokerJoe on December 29th, 2007 8:51 am

Oops again.. KKG was in 2006.. sorry for mistake.
SmokerJoe on December 29th, 2007 8:52 am

Thanks Aditya.. Realised my mistake.
Pratim D. Gupta on December 29th, 2007 8:58 am

@rudro, as mentioned in the post it’s in no particular order…

@anupam, I loved the first half of cheeni kum but honestly in totality it doesn’t work for me… It’s a one-line idea stretched too far…

also, I have deliberately left out Namesake because it’s not technically a Bollywood film despite UTV’s presence and the cast…
sanjeev segan on December 29th, 2007 11:42 am

1 Tare zameen par

2 Black friday

3 chak de

4 Parzania

5 Bheja fry

6 manorama six feet under

7 Johnny gadaar

8 Loins OF punjab

9 Metro

10 JAB WE MET
munis syed on December 29th, 2007 11:58 am

cant think of nething else these days except…TAARE ZAMEEN PAR..the experience is not leaving me !
Badmash on December 29th, 2007 1:56 pm

how can you call Guru one of the best of the year.. it was most hyped.. but what an awful movie.. i never got this disappointed after seeing any movie..
Neeraja on December 29th, 2007 6:13 pm

@Badmaash
may be someone should start a thread for ‘disappointing movies of the year’ (yes! another pointless and stupid article in P(L)AYBACK bhai’s opinion :P )
Guru and Khoya Khoya Chaand will be on top of my list for that.
Indraneel on December 30th, 2007 12:10 am

My 10:
Johnny Gaddar
Manorama
Black Friday
Bheja Fry
Taare Zameen Par
Chak De India
1971
Jab we Met
Khoya Khoya Chand
No Smoking

Also Ran:
Om Shanti Om
Namastey London
Blue Umbrella

All this in no particular order. What made me choose them:
1. Length of stay in my head
2. Whether I discussed them afterwards.
Leastbothered on December 30th, 2007 12:37 pm

hey i am a bit confused :-?

i can’t decide between

“RGV ki Aag” and “Cash”

:d
_ram-jaane' on December 30th, 2007 2:43 pm

LOL @ Leastbothered ;)

My favourites in detail:
http://www.ramchandra.me.uk/blog/archives/2007/12/bollywood_flashback_for_2007.php

In brief:
Chak De! India
Cheeni Kum
Guru
Johnny Gaddaar
Life in a … Metro
Naqaab
No Smoking
Om Shanti Om
Salaam-e-Ishq
Taare Zameen Par

Not too far from the original list here.. I’m impressed with myself :)
Suparna on December 31st, 2007 1:00 am

some more gems that got little money but are precious nonetheless–the Blue Umbrella, Nishabd, Loins of Punjab Presents
G on December 31st, 2007 2:01 am

So Anwar / Aanwar doesn’t make the list?!!
vishal menon on December 31st, 2007 6:56 am

Not a bad compilation;however i would like to make a certain changes;this is my compilation.
1.TAARE ZAMEEN PAR.
2.BLACK FRIDAY.
3.CHAK DE INDIA.
4.JOHNNY GADDAR.
5.BLUE UMBRELLA.
6.MANORAMA SIX FEET UNDER.
7.JAB WE MET.
8.NO SMOKING.
Sorry but films like GURU and LIFE IN A METRO didnt work for me.Regarding GURU it was the weakest films ever made by Mani Ratnam.I mean if you really want to see a biopic, go and watch NAYAKAN AND IRUVAR.Both these films were absolute gems.Maybe I was expecting another film along those lines but I was thoroughly dissappointed,partly because Gurukants growth in his charachter was not properly conveyed.Instead Mani Ratnam focussed more on Gurukant Desai and his wife Sujatha.It was on the whole compressed and an absolute mishmash.The climax was another low point of the film.Abhishek on the whole gave a very average performance.Its definitely not a performance worth raving about.I thought his best performance was as LALLAN in YUVA.On the whole only RAHAMAN music and Rajeev Menons cinematography were of top notch.GURU on the whole is a below average film from a top notch director.Watching GURU was quite a tiresome experience.Definitely not a film I would like to have in my list of all time favourite.
maddy on January 1st, 2008 2:01 am

My list
1. Honeymoon travels pvt. Ltd.
2. The bong connection
3. Life in a metro
4. Johny gaddar
5. Saawariya
RICK on January 1st, 2008 10:58 am

totally agree with you, except chak de, which i thought was an awfully over hyped, too much cliched for its own good movie.
how come you didnt name BLUE UMBRELLA and LOINS OF PUNJAB, the later i thought was this years best comedy.
also everyone is writing about the top ten bollywood films would like to see someone write about the best of the regional films this year.
Pratim D. Gupta on January 2nd, 2008 3:01 am

Loins of Punjab is technically not an Indian film Rick, just like The Namesake. As for The Blue Umbrella, it doesn’t feature on my Top 10 list for 2007… You can obviously think otherwise. A regional films list is difficult to rustle up because one doesn’t get to see all of the new releases in the same year… I can give you a Tollywood list but have no idea about the rest of the country…
Rajesh Shetty on January 4th, 2008 5:15 pm

My top 10 favourites and the standout contributions 2007.

1. Taare Zameen Par: A movie that moved many and made money. It’s not everyday that
we come across a piece of work that makes a heartfelt connection and brings out questions for a thoughtful mind.
Standout Contributions:
Story: Amole Gupte
Music : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Child Actor : Darsheel Safary
Supporting Actor : Tisca Chopra
Singer : Shankar Mahadevan
athul on January 6th, 2008 8:22 pm

1. chak de india
2. jab we met
3. johnny gaddaar
4. life in a metro
5. taare zameen par
zain on January 19th, 2008 4:53 am

:x tzp= should be at no 1
and whr is welcome ?

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Pratim D. Gupta