The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of 2007
iView Author: Ankit Jain (Berkeley, USA)
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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of 2007
My year end review of Hindi Film Industry in 2007.
The Good
Vinay Pathak, the Actor
The year belonged to Vinay Pathak. The actor got noticed last year in
Mixed Doubles and Khosla ka Ghosla but he announced his
arrival at the center stage with a meaty role of an idiot in Bheja
Fry. He proved his versatility in Johnny Gaddar and Khoya,
Khoya Chand. Certainly the one to watch out for next year.
Konkana Sen Sharma, the Charmer
Is there something this girl cannot do? Despite the failures of her films
Laaga Chunri Mein Daag and Aaaja Nachle, her performance
won accolades. And the small role of a desperate to get married 28 year old
virgin in Life in a Metro was a tour de force, really mesmerizing.
Chak de India, the Song
If 2005 was the year of Kajrare and 2006 belonged to Beedi,
then Chak de India was the song of the year. Sukhwinder Singh
added one more blockbuster song to his resume and Salim-Sulaiman career got a
big boost after a very successful music of Dor last year.
Ironically the song was played everywhere but the Indian women hockey
matches.
Anurag Kashyap, the Director
Everybody knew Anurag was a fantastic writer but we have to wait many years to
see his first movie as a director appear on the scene. And what a movie it
was. Black Friday got the best review of all movies in 2007. Its
hard to remember any other movie in recent past which is so realistic yet so
gripping. No smoking tanked but generated enough passion, heat &
debate and had its share of admirers.
Special Mentiones
Pritam, the Composer for a chart buster year; Akshay Kumar,
Mr. Reliable, for being producer’s darling; Shahrukh Khan,
the Producer, for a blockbuster OSO; Sriram Raghavan, the
Director, for a well made thriller without cheap tricks and sounds;
Manorama Six Feet Under, for a well made movie overall;
Darsheel Safary, the young actor, for one of the most
amazing portryal of a kid ever.
The Bad
Saawariyan, the Movie
Saawariyan is not Sanjay Leela Bhansali failure as a
director. He did not do anything much different from his earlier works
Black, Devdas or HDDCS. Emotionally manipulative
sequences and over the top acting were always a part of his movies. Whereas
his earlier movies were declared masterpieces, Saawariyan was called
a fiasco. This “blue” movie tanked and it may have a lot to do with the
terrible screenplay.
Hey Baby, the Shitty Comedy
Hey Baby was a shitty movie, quite literally with all the
potty jokes. I found the movie quite disgusting and boring but sadly the
movie was a big hit. Sajid Khan’s film may have raked a lot of moolah but I
sincerely hope the director does a better job next time as for once I think
Sajid is not a bad director.
Ajay Devgan, the Actor
It hurts to see 2 times national award winner doing third class acting in
RGV ki Aag and Cash. He would do himself a great deal of
service if he becomes a little choosy with his roles. It would also be
exciting to see how he does in his first movie as a director in 2008.
Special Mentions
Sagar Ballary, the Liar, for misleading us to believe Bheja
Fry is a genuine inspiration, not a blatant copy; Oscar Nomination,
the Controversy, for a stupid fight between two average movies.
The Ugly
Pritam, the Pirate
Pritam copied and he copied lock
stock and barrel. Its highly unfortunate that the most successful
composer of 2007 is the worst offender. It has come to the point where
people doubt if the composer has ever created anything original or is it just
a matter of time before the original source is discovered. One thing is
beyond doubt, no matter he is a pirate or a composer, he is excellent at his
craft.
Himesh, the Singer
Himesh problem is not the fact he is nasal (or high pitch as he likes to say)
but he absolutely butchers the song. I get freaked out every time I listen to
the songs from Aap ka Suroor specially Tanhaiyaan (listen how he pronounce
tanhaiyaan). There is a silver lining though, multi-talented
Himesh has publicly stated he would only sing for himself from now on. Good
relief that is.
Ramgopal Verma, the Director/Producer
Enough has been said about RGV Ki Aag, but his other movies as a
director Nishabd and Darling were not much better either.
Go which was directed by Manish Srivastava was an absolute disaster
(I confess I quit halfway). For RGV fans there is a good news, he can only go
up from here.
Special Mentions
Nisha Kothari, the Actor, for something horrible she does on
screen; Cash, the Movie, for wasting our cash.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Disagree over KonKona in LCMD or AN. She was fine in LCMD but quite mediocre in AN. Not sure if she’s made for such commercial films.
add Mani Ratnam to the bad of the year… for Guru.. his weakest till date… unfortunately movie was a hit.. he may never know the movies are not just about technique and detailing… script is the main soul..
@ML: For me LCMD was watchable only because of Konkana.
@Badmash: I don’t think Guru’s script was that bad. Some of the pre-interval parts were well written. Overall Guru was just an average movie.
No mention of Johnny Gaddaar and Aamir Khan? :-w
@YP: Sriram Raghavan did get a mention as the director of Johny Gaddar.
Aamir Khan in my opinion didn’t deserved to get mentioned in the Good list. He was nothing special as an actor in TZP. And as a director he was just above average, shades of brilliance but a lot of mediocrity too. I am sure we would see better direction for him in future.
I think Jhoom barabad jhoom deservs a mention – first for brilliant music and lyrics…second for worst script and direction—-lets say it was the ugliest piece of yr after AAG
and how can anybody miss out shakalaka boom boom?
@Ankit Jain…
I know its ur personal opinion but …I think Aamir khan should have been in the good list….
his direction is just above average..lol …. not sure then what you categorize as good direction :-)
@niren: Because I haven’t watched Shakalala Boom Boom. I like some parts of JBJ specially how the songs are picturized.
@Johny Gaddar
Aamir let me down in the second half, specially in the scenes where he himself was present. Two best directed movie for me in 2007 were Black Friday & Johny Gaddar.
Ankit, nice post there, except omission of Aamir. For me TZP is significant in a way, because it forces us to look at kids in a different way and understand them. I mean i can personally relate to the movie. No, i am not dyslexic, but as a kid i was quite awkward, and introverted. I was not a loner, but at times loved being by myself, and that was enough for people to label me, call me arrogant and snobbish, and categorized as not normal. Also since my acads were pretty average, i was also considered as not succesful. For me when i was seeing TZP, it was almost seeing my childhood life in a way. And i guess that is where Aamir succeded as a director. Anyway its ur personal choice, so i have no issues with that.
In the Bad, i would also include Yash Raj movies. Barring CDI, most of their movies this year have been big time turkeys, and i think its high time, they realize they cant keep fooling audiences forever.
Along with Nisha Kothari, would also like to add, Zayed Khan,Aftab Shivadasani,Neha Dhupia, Esha Deol, Tanushree Dutta. High time they take a permanent break from acting.
Also Big B in the Bad. It is sad to see him making a clown of himself in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, and if what he has done in Aag is villiany, than the entire villians clan of Bollywood should be suing him for spoiling their name. Forget about being as scary as Gabbar, it was not even as campy as Amrish Puri’s Mogambo or Ajit’s Loin.
Nice list. U can thank ur stars that u missed Shakalala Boom Boom..my condolences that u had the pleasure of watching Cash. :d
Akshay Kumar deserves a more than just special mention in the good of the year mainly because the guy has delivered hits inspite of staring in the most atrocious movies of the year.
my two favorite pieces were johnny gaddar (a good hindi thriller after a long time) and TZP (picturisation of mera jahan only is oscar worthy)…
the best title track has to be khoya khoya chaand
and the worst… it has to be sawariyan… i cudnt watch that movie even though i had watched aag full… its that bad
Himesh kitna bhi bura gata ho.. but as a composer he is good and honest… No plagiarism I have found till date in his tunes, to the best of my knowledge.
guys, u know of any, plz share.
East or West, Devgan is the BEST!
Its great to finally see an average joe like Vinay Pathak get all the accolades for a brilliant performance. I’m frankly tired of all the song & dance routine and idiotic no brainers that pass off as slapstick comedies.
Nice work with the three undeniable facets of the hindi film industry!
wat about abhay deol in manorama and ek chalis:o
What about jab we met?[-(
Bheja Fry and Mr. Sagar Ballary!
I,too,thought it was original idea and good one (it is!)but then i saw its ORIGINAL (Frame-to-frame)
Le Diner de Cons French movie, translated vaguely as Dinner with an Idiot.
Also, whr’s JWM????
it is about time that a retrospective should be given to sanjay leela bhansali.
i suggest the topic ‘ sanjay leela bhansali- criminally overrated director’
there is a lot to dissect.
in ham dil de chuke sanam in the library scene. when salman’s character tries to kiss heroine. heroine says ‘yeah galat hai, ye paap hai.’ this is the maturity level of his heroins. and it continues up to sanwariya.
or a comparison can be done between the heroines of ham dil de chuke sanam and ‘namaste london’.
there can be many such topics of discussion.
let’s see
[-(
‘Ham’ dil de chuke sanam,..
ha ha,
Seems Get Well Soon is working for Vishrant.
He is coming up with better topics
kya matlab ‘ham’ ke spelling galat hai
primary school main grammer padate ho kya :p
@ Vishrant,.
abbey mereko mazza karne de na, kaayko Grammer bich me daal raha hai tu:d
black friday , TZP,chak de,johnny gaddar are the four best movies of 2007…
though little bit confused with jab we met:-?
arre phir to apan dono sath hi hain :-h
hey man Vishrant … i dint get ur point !!
“in ham dil de chuke sanam in the library scene. when salman
its not an allegation on him
its an objective observation
i am not saying that only matured character should be there on the screen.
my question is, how much seriously a director should be taken whose character, ideas; everything is childish and of the maturity of a teenager.
Vishrant is a really mature Guy. He has problems with Animation, he has problems with Teenage characters… Man what’s your age?
Seems – “Waqt ne tumpe bahut sitam kiye hain, tumhara bachpana chin liya hai kisi ne…”
david dhavan movies are of maturity of adults.
they are not serious, but mature, they ‘take it easy’
actually only a mature person can ‘take it easy’
teenagers never ‘take it easy’ :-w
a just a
yaar
there is a saying
wise man discuss ideas
mature man discuss events
teenagers discuss individuals
meri chinta chhodo
=p~
i am not discussing sanjay leela bhansali
i am discussing the idea of the worthiness of a director with an example.
Vishrant,
You called me a teenager :((
But I’m happy to hear that..
Teenagers have the Zeal to take on the world , to change the things around. Teenagers do what they enjoy doing..
A is Proud to be called a Teenager
Thanks Man :d/
>-
P.S. : Main tumhari nahi yaar, tumhare Ideas aur thought process ki chinta karr rha hun!!!
Waah aapko David Dhawan bhi pasand hai, aap kamal ho ..
Playback ne kaha Vishrant is an E.T. , I don’t completely agree galti insaan mein nahi uski sonch mein hoti hai…
(:| phir milenge
Chalo jate jate toh ek acchi Movie ka naam liya aapne…
Also – Aaja Nachle a big dissappointment to all that Madhuri return hype…..she looked gorgeous but the script/movie overall lacked and was very unecessarily loud with a mix of characters that were not really utilized well…….
Tottally agree with Konkana n vinay as the’re fab in anythin they do….
darsheel currently surely a true star!!
btw lara in jbj and partner rocked tooo!!!!
amole gupte?
how can u forget 2 mention tht guy in the good list
@K p: My mistake, I should have included Amole Gupte
What abt no smoking sir..The movie is an master piece in itself …Johnny Gaddar,Manorama six feet under..TZP sound track one of the best offbeat Soundtrack..Sawariya for its beautiful musical composition..Ammir Khan for his superb direction and Amol Gupte for brilliant Script..Darsheel, a superb discovery for Bollywood…Shahruk Khan for giving two great movies Chak De India and OSO…
Black friday may have been released in 2007..if u say black friday the best one dunn miss the soundtrack buddy its awesome..hats off to indian ocean.
And please please dunn miss interpret Devgan..he has class of his own..Mnay Great actors have given bullshit movies but still they are great….
For me, the year belongs to
anuraag kashyap – for giving a masterpiece Black Friday
Shahrukh Khan – for giving a brilliant performance in Chak de India and the biggest hit of the year Om shanti Om
Akshay kumar – for his midas touch at the box office. Whatever he touched this year turned into box office gold.
Aamir khan – the ace actor and director for giving one of the best films in recent times.
Khoya Khoya Chand for the best title track
Sirji…whers is Aamir Khan, the Director….???? Where is TZP… a unique and courageous movie….??? Please think ovr it once again.
Thumbs up for the choice of Vinay Pathak as THE actor of 2007. Very well deserved. Though, you could’ve added his sparkling role in Manorama too – loved him in that role!