The 2007 Review

2007 has been a fantastic year for Hindi films. The number of hits might have come down - even Yashraj Films saw more misses than hits - but in terms of the variety of good movies we have seen over the last one year, I think 2007 was better than any in the last several years.

And having too many flops is not a bad thing in the long run actually. The present phase of experimentation, which has begun to get things right after the initial weak, and at times misguided steps, could not have been possible if the same formula films kept doing well. So we have a lot of bad, really bad flicks from the 90s and early 2000s (remember the Bichchhus and the Badals?) to thank for the change in Hindi film norms.

Coming to some of the truly fantastic movies that we came across in 2007, I would have to begin with Johnny Gaddaar. I had written earlier how my friends and I ended up watching it quite by chance and kept raving about it weeks after that. I know a lot of people who haven't found anything great about it, but I was simply blown away by the fact that it was so different from other films in the genre one would see.

A slightly more unfavorable general response was seen by No Smoking. I have met less than 10 people who have liked the film. Weird. I wrote a rather revved up post about that, and I still find it a great effort, despite a second viewing.

And something common to both these films was the outstanding music. I have begun to listen to soundtracks for both films only recently, and am hooked.

Another movie that I watched quite by chance was Jab We Met. I should have seen it anyway, considering that I had liked the director's debut Socha Na Tha. Kareena Kapoor was mind-blowing in her role.

I saw more Hindi films this year (without fast-forwarding to the main scenes) than I have in any other year in over a decade. Some of the others I did not regret spending time on were - Guru, Blue Umbrella, Cheeni Kum, Manorama Six Feet Under, Parzania (ok, not Hindi, but still), Chak De India, Aaaja NachLe, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Life In A Metro (was the Dharmendra in this film the same as the English-spouting one from Johnny Gaddaar!).

The ones I hated, or at least didn't care much for, were Eklavya, Saawariya, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Salaam-e-Ishq and some others that I can't recall, for obvious reasons. And I actually didn't find RGV Ki Aag that bad.

Technically Black Friday is a 2007 movie, but I had seen it more than two years back. Also, although Jaae-e-Mann was released in 2006, I got around to watching it only this year, and loved the zaniness. Two foreign films made by Indians and set completely or partly in India came out - Water was lukewarm, The Namesake was outstanding.

But there were two others from 2007 that I liked more than any other Hindi movie. Om Shanti Om was the Hindi film I had the most fun watching this year. Taare Zameen Par, on the other hand, was the most painful. And for those reasons, I think, they were the two best films of the year.