This is definitely one of the most difficult categories to write about in MOUTHSHUT. I have been wanting to write this review for ages but I knew I couldn't write this review unless I did complete justice to it.
I am writing after a long time and I wanted to write a really good review as a sort of a comeback to MOUTHSHUT. Since schools exams are finished and I sit alone and bored in the age of my ''sour 16'' I finally gather enough calibre to transfer my wandering thoughts on to this review.
Like the title suggests, these choices are mine and before I begin to write this review I would like to state that the majority of these movies are modern. Being born in the late 1980s, I have not seen movies of legendary directors such as Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, or movies of Dilip Kumar. Thus, there will be very few old movies. Also I have not ranked them, as that would be sacrilege to try and differentiate among these gems.
Sholay: Directed by Ramesh Sippy, this is probably the most famous movie ever made in Hindi Cinema. With a stellar star cast, memorable music, brilliant execution and an engaging screenplay, this movie is a classic.
The story of the movie was rather simple, however, the tightly penned screenplay overshadowed this minor flaw within the movie. Excellent performances all round from Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachan, Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan immortalised this movie. The dialogues and cinematography were a first of its kind for this movie.
Exceptional scenes still linger in the memory of any person who has had the privilege of viewing this movie. Whether it is the loud and vibrant naughtiness of Veeru, the intense and hidden comical behaviour of Jai, the pure evil persona of Gabbar Singh or the deeply entrenched frustration and anger of Thakur.
Ramesh Sippy by paying attention to details had created a classic. The dialogues, screenplay, performances, diverse characterisations, action scenes had resulted in a more than satisfying movie - Sholay.
Khakee: For me the best cop movie ever made in Bollywood (I have not seen Ardh Satya). Since this was a Rajkumar Santoshi movie, it was automatically ignored by nearly every awards ceremony. Clearly this should have been a nomination at least in every awards ceremony because it was definitely better than the likes of Dhoom, Hum Tum, Murder, Main Hoon Na and Swades in terms of content. However, it was not to be and after The Legend of Bhagat Singh, this RKS movie was also ignored.
Khakee depicts the various personalities of policemen. It takes an intense and gritty insight into their lives while remaining that commercialism for the everyday viewer. The story and screenplay were simply fantastic. Twists and turns in this movie keep the viewer hooked.
A larger than life performance by the Big B emphasises the point that even in his 60s he can deliver more steam and energy than some of the youth actors of today. Tusshar Kapoor was quite good in a small role and the same with Aishwarya Rai and the other supporting actors.
Ajay Devgan experimented in a negative role for this movie and emerged triumphant. His scenes with Amitabh Bachan showed that he is not far behind him and can compete with the best of the best. Akshay Kumar's performance was my favourite. His character was well written with shades of corruption and humour. A truly magnificent performance, which hammered the fact that even supporting actors (if given a chance in terms of script and characterisation) can excel in their roles and hold their own in a multi-starrer.
Rajkumar Santoshi had managed to create something unique, interesting and overall a remarkable product. Khakee is a movie, which has a lot of substance but also has excellent technique. The action scenes for example were marvellous. Khakee is mature, thoughtful and full of content cinema, with commercial appeal. On the whole Khakee is a one of its kind movie.
Khakee should have ideally been a songless movie, and the pace of the movie slackens slightly in the second half. However, a tremendous film nevertheless.
Veer Zaara: Yash Chopra's comeback with this movie swept nearly everyone from their feet. This movie lived up to its tagline as a love legend and even the title has become synonymous with eternal love.
The story is not the best in terms of originality but it is a mature story, which has been presented across a well written narrative by Aditya Chopra. The dialogues of the movie are evergreen classics and Aditya Chopra proves that he is one of the best dialogue writers in the romance and drama genre.
Memorable performances from SRK, who finally experimented with his roles. This is one of his finest performances. Preity Zinta was efficient in her performance but it was Rani Mukherji who in a short role made her presence felt. Her excellent performance as the young Pakistani lawyer was magnificent.
Aditya Chopra showed his flair of characterisation control through the characters of Amitabh Bachan, Hema Malini, Manoj Bajpai, Boman Irani, who all performed their roles with absolute conviction.
The music is immortal (literally) and no one except Yash Chopra would have thought that melodies created decades ago would work so well with a movie made in the turn of the new millennium.
Yash Chopra's direction was superb and he proved that he is easily one of the best directors around. Expectations were mammoth and he had a near impossible task. To make the movie an epic and to ensure that each and every frame of the movie looked like an epic. In the end, I personally think he was successful and for me Veer Zaara is one of the best movies.
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron: A complete laugh riot. Kundun Shah had bought a new age of comedy cinema. The story of two struggling photographers who have a destiny full of bad luck, and how they get involved with an exploiting journalist who uses them to her advantage, corrupted building contractors, a drunkard policeman, which leads to a murder and the efforts made to catch the corpse.
The story of the movie is extremely comical and is laced with a dark yet light hearted screenplay. Performances from Naseerudhin Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapoor and Ravi Baswani were mesmerising. The script written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra (the names of the protagonists were inspired by the real names of Vidhu Chopra and Sudhir Mishra - Vinod and Sudhir) was hilarious and worked due to excellent direction from Kundun Shah.
REVIEW CONTINUED IN COMMENTS SECTION PLEASE READ ON
