Best & Worst Films Of 2017 - Filmistaan Online

2017 has been a feast of a year. When prominent people in the industry call it a disaster year, I heavily disagree. This year has been a change in what the audience wants. We do not want fake looking and feeling, cheap films that travel to exotic locations to make up for flailing storylines. We want real authentic stories of parts of the country we would never go to. We want characters we could know to be placed in these authentic settings. Here are my top 6 best and top 6 worst films. Let’s start with the bad news. The worst 6 films were-

1. Jab Harry Met Sejal

Jab Harry met Sejal is not the worst film on this list. Not by a long shot. But director Imtiaz Ali promised more and gave us much less. The product was an arrogant, cocky film, in fear of devouring itself. So convinced by the storyline, Ali threw in exotic locations that he thought would really help the film stand out. Instead, audiences pointed out his attempts to distract from the menial plot and the sub-par acting by veteran Shah Rukh Khan and the lovely Anushka Sharma. This was supposed to be a romcom. It was one. One from hell. Jab Harry Met Sejal did deplorable business at the box office. Thank god. I hope it teaches Imtiaz, from whom, expectations run high, that mediocrity, no matter who is headlining it will not sell. This was his most commercial and shameless film. I hated it.

2. Haseena Parkar

Director Apoorva Lakhia’s film about notorious gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s sister, starring Shraddha Kapoor and her brother, Sidhant Kapoor, bordered on the absurd. It was badly shot, terribly acted and the budget didn’t agree with director Lakhia’s vision. Less often do you wish for a club song, a Pritam track or even an Arijit Singh love ballad to shake up the flailing narrative. This here needed it desperately. I didn’t review Haseena Parkar, because I had already done 2 films that week. I saw it the next week after Judwaa 2. Both films sent me spiraling into a sort of depression, I just could not shake off.

3. Tera Intezaar

Arbaaz Khan and Sunny Leone’s sex fueled drama was filled with unintentional comedy. Released on December 1st, Tera Intezaar did not just border the line on the insane, it drew a new line miles ahead of the previous one. Badly CGId shots, photos that looked like they had been made from an application on one’s phone, needless to stay, Mera Intezaar was for some sense and a good narrative with a sensible screenplay. Tera Intezaar lacked both. It was a film sent to us from hell. Seeing the least talented Khan out of all of the Khans in the Indian film industry (of which there are a plethora) romance one of the most desired women in Indian cinema, a prominent star of Balaji and Mukesh Bhatt sex films, Sunny Leone was not just unbelievable, it was unbearable.

4. Golmaal Again Director Rohit Shetty probably doesn’t even need this review, but I had to, because Golmaal Again reached new depths of awful. It certainly was better than Judwaa 2 which should have been included in this list too, but at least the aforementioned Judwaa 2 had Varun Dhawan who can energize like a little puppy running around, hyperactively. In this however, Ajay Devgan and Rohit Shetty might have reached box office milestones, but all in all, Golmaal Again was death to watch. The only consolation that the film offered, it was released with Secret Superstar, a film that has made it onto my list of best films of 2017. Other than that, this film took the talents of Parineeti Chopra and squandered them without batting an eyelash. That’s a crime in itself. Golmaal Again deserves to be in the hall of shame.

5. Raabta

Director Dinesh Vijan probably started his film off with a grand vision. Reincarnation tales are an unexplored genre in Bollywood. This here was not Om Shanti Om, it was a drama in the second half and a comedy in the first half. One recurring theme though was absolute lack of storyline. Both the leads, Kriti Sanon and Sushant Singh Rajput, both competent actors at one point or another in their acting careers, had no idea to make head or tail of the script. Watching both the actors drown in the director’s absurd vision was hard. But props to Kriti and Sushant for not walking out in the first five minutes of shooting – like most of the audience did in the first five minutes.

6. Half Girlfriend

This hasn’t been a boon year for Shraddha Kapoor. Last time one of Chetan Bhagat’s books was turned into a movie, we got 2 States, a problematic film that just didn’t quit. However, beautiful music and Alia Bhatt’s likability helped to turn that film into a memorable yet problematic one. Here, director Mohit Suri (Ek Villain, Murder 2, Humari Adhuri Kahani) went full out on the film’s music, and did create some high notes with Arijit Singh (Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga) and Ash King’s (Baarish) vocals. However in the midst of finding music directors to help bring his screenplay to a new level, the man forgot to direct himself. The result, Half Girlfriend, was a pathetic film that had some great cringe-worthy moments. My favorite? A low budget Bill Gates who had the real Bill Gates’ face VFXed onto him. The quality was so cheap that the face would actually fall off the actor’s face at certain moments. This film was the human equivalent of a face palm. Throughout its long runtime.

And to end the year on a happy note. The best six films of 2017 were –

1. Lipstick Under My Burkha

Alankrita Shrivastava’s bold feminist statement that caused a stir after CBFC Chief Pahlaj Nihalani called it lady-oriented wasa film gifted from heaven. The film was beautiful in its storytelling, chaotically loud yet sadly very quiet. The way in which writer Shrivastava blended her beautiful, comical dialogues with actual bouts of pain was skillful. Not something that people expect from someone on their second film. The head-on way in which Shrivastava tackled the issues that are faced by the Indian women across the country, by setting it in the bustling by-lanes of Bhopal was skillful, ballsy and had huge pay-off. I’m comfortable calling it the best film of 2017. Special things that helped it onto the top of my list was the writing and the performances – from Konkona Sen Sharma, Aahana Kumra and especially Ratna Pathak Shah along with Plabita Borthakur. Luckily, Lipstick was a success, critically and commercially, reaffirming so many cinegoers faith in Hindi cinema.

2. A Death In The Gunj

Director Konkona Sen Sharma’s Death In The Gunj was a beautiful film. Taken from a short story by her father, Sharma painfully etched beautifully flawed characters. Konkona skillfully revealed each of the character’s layers. This was a film about these awful individuals who had somehow brought themselves to this place of normalcy. Konkona transported us there with skillful cinematography, beautifully lived-in sets and a feel of homeliness amidst all of the awful, devilish people. Special mentions for Kalki Koechlin, Vikrant Massey and Ranvir Shorey. The three of them beautifully complemented each other, while working with another tour de force of cinema – Tanuja. All four of them worked perfectly, giving the film a very old, very comfortable vibe. Something not very easily achieved. Find A Death In The Gunj and watch it as soon as you can. This one was something to cherish.

3. Newton

Amit Masurkar’s film was a delight to watch. Not only because of Rajkummar Rao but because of the observational way in which Masurkar weaved together a tale of Naxals vs. somebody who wants to ring in democracy. Newton was a depressing film with strong performances from Rao and from Pankaj Tripathi. The film was gorgeously made, with an overuse of the color green and muddish brown yellow, to signify the jungle. I was in awe of what drives people to create stories that are so skillful such as this one. Newton was really one for the history books, one that you shouldn’t miss. I hope that it gets the Oscar nomination, because I feel that this is the first time since Taare Zameen Par, that an Indian film really deserved it. Watch it for a good time and to get informed about what a true frail state Indian democracy is in.

4. Bareilly Ki Barfi

Director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari’s beautifully produced light-hearted film was special, mainly because it stayed with you, long after it was done. Director Tiwari used the help of her husband, Nitish Tiwari and Shreyas Jain’s peppered dialogue, full of flavour and humour to drive her point home. Bareilly Ki Barfi is theoretically a very simple film. But, with the help of humour and writing, the writers and producers helped to make a homely film about people that were so eccentric yet these are people you and I could know. Watch the film for performances from Kriti Sanon, Ayushman Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao, Seema Pahwa and Pankaj Tripathi. Each of them were beautifully happy in their own way. The actors drove the storyline in a way no director could. Which is a triumph, because this was very, very special cinema. Bareilly Ki Barfi was designed as a feel good film. Never have feel good films felt this good.

5. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan

Rarely do you come across directors and actors who take on such icky topics, especially with audiences as touchy and easily offended as Indian ones. But director RS Prasanna did this with ease, in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, a film about erectile dysfunction. However, above all, the film was a triumph of writing. Never making you feel disgusting or uncomfortable, Producer Aanand L. Rai helped make a film that you and I would watch happily. I’ll never forget the use of metaphors in the film (a limp biscuit used to denote erectile dysfunction). Never has the English language felt so good about being used so funnily in a truly light hearted that had a deeper message hidden within it. Special mention of Ayushman Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar and Seema Pahwa. This here was a film that I loved a lot, laughed in a lot and truly walked out of a different person. It deserves to be on the Best Films list everywhere.

6. Secret Superstar - My last entry of the Best Films is Secret Superstar starring Aamir Khan, Zaira Wasim and Meher Vij in lead roles. The film was beautifully made by debutante director Advait Chandan, who made a light-hearted film dealing with bigger issues. It surprisingly held up the baton of being a social drama that tackles young girls’ relationships with their fathers and isolation in a very mature and heavy way. I walked out, tears streaming down my face. Aamir Khan added a comedic element, and he’s at his funniest in a long time. 23 years to be exact since Rajkumar Santoshi’s hilarious Andaz Apna Apna came out. Watch this film for Meher Vij and of course, the stupendous Zaira Wasim, who teaches us that age is no barrier for feelings, especially when you’re a young girl. And also, Raj Arjun, who played the abusive father. He commanded authority in a villainous way that not many actors could’ve pulled. This here was a feel-good film, that unlike Bareilly Ki Barfi, triumphed because it didn’t feel good in all parts. I winced at the harder parts to watch. Outlandish though it may have been, Secret Superstar was a triumph.

Thanks for joining us on our first year as reviewers. We wouldn’t have liked to do anything different. Spreading love. Join us next year. From our side, this is it for 2017. That’s a wrap. Our first review from the next year will be — Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle. Thank you.