Megastars stepped outside of their larger-than-life avatars in 2016. (Akshay Kumar, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan). This was the year that Bollywood drew influence from real-life events to express their stories (Neerja, Airlift, Aligarh, Dangal). It also was a year in which independent artists acquired a wider audience (Parched, Nil Battey Sannata, Brahman Naman, Waiting). In 2016, the barriers between art as well as popular blurred, signalling the Indian audience’s maturation, aided by a growing need for originality. The greatest Bollywood flicks I saw this year, in my opinion.
Fan
From the first moment, when we’re led through a montage of old Shahrukh Khan, Fan stops being a movie. It’s a thing of beauty. It’s a superstar’s birthday! For the appealing innocence and honesty he offers to the character, Gaurav Chandna joins a long list of Shahrukh’s most memorable performances.
But it was his determination to break away from the star image (and perform spectacularly) that was commendable.
Raghav Raman 2.0
This is Kashyap going deep into the depths of the soul, in a Tarantinoesque manner. Each chapter is a cinematic treat in its own right, and the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Aside from the several sub-shades, this is a narrative about two lost souls swimming, kicking, killing, and fucking in a cesspool in search of each other, fulfilment, and pleasure. However, there is no relief offered or requested on this remorseless, insane voyage.
And the downward spiral goes unabated, as if there is no future, no heaven or hell, only an inescapable need to kill.
Raman Raghav 2.0 will be studied for years to come for its outstanding nonjudgmental depiction of the human condition of a disordered mind.
Aligarh
Aligarh is a moving, emotionally engaging storey about a gay professor who is fired for being gay, as well as his subsequent battles well with court and society.
Following the success of Shahid and Citylights, director-writer combo Hansal Mehta and Apurva Asrani delivered yet another successful picture, their best to date. (I’m looking forward to their next, Simran.) However, Manoj Bajpayee, the starring guy, deserves equal credit for Aligarh’s success. Queer characters are caricatured in our Hindi cinema. In a highly interesting and essential movie, Bajpayee gives what may be his greatest performance (and the best I watched in 2016).
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