Best Movies

A stray bullet suddenly connects people across the globe, and the lack of effective communication leads them to break down. Haunting performance by Rinko Kikuchi, and equally brilliant score by Gustavo Santaolalla.

Golden Globes - Best Film (Drama)

Smuggled diamonds get swapped with a urine test sample, and all hell breaks loose in the wittiest Bollywood movie in recent times. The cuss words are a brilliant change for haranguing levels of modesty.

Grieved, vindictive, scared, insecure and domineeering - women of all kinds get mixed up in a comedy of errors. One of Almodovar's first successes, it remains his seminal work.

Nerd goth girl helps disgraced journalist solve a murder mystery with a whole lot of spunk. An effective thriller, and a brilliant performance by Noomi Rapace.

BAFTA - Best Foreign Language Film

The tragic tale of a girl's encounter with a mythical spirit in the backdrop of Spain's Civil War. This movie delights and haunts in equal measures, and effortlessly mixes fantasy with drama.

BAFTA - Best Foreign Language Film

What would you do if your parents turn into pigs after eating magical food? Join a bath house for the spirits and deal with a melange of fantastical characters! Hayao Miyazaki's tale is disjointed and superfluous at first, but is probably one of the best coming-of-age movies ever.

Oscar - Best Animated Film

A thug, a yuppie and an idealist cross paths in Calcutta. Mani Ratnam's drama on contemporary youth is fast paced, brilliantly shot and accompanied with excellent music by A R Rahman.

Filmfare Awards - Best Movie (Critics), Best Supporting Actor (Abhishek Bachchan) and Best Supporting Actress (Rani Mukerji)

When his orchestra is disbanded, a cellist mistakenly gets employed as a professional encoffiner and finds his true calling. Not without a healthy dose of societal drama though. A heartwarming tale.

Oscar - Best Foreign Language Film

Aimless graduate begins an affair with his father's acquaintance, but ends up falling in love with her daughter. Hollywood's definitive American societal commentary. Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in their most definitive roles.

Oscar - Best Director
BAFTA - Best Film

A young couple finds something wrong with their house, and attempt to catch it on tape. Horror, at its innovative best.

An alternative history to the Second World War, without the emotional goop of the generic holocaust flick. Quentin Tarantino dishes out a delectable tale of revenge. And yes, Hitler gets murdered brutally here. Christoph Waltz is borderline perfect.

Oscar, Golden Globes, BAFTA - Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz)
Cannes - Best Actor (Christoph Waltz)

Two tales of love lost, in a lovingly made murder mystery set in evocative Argentina.

Oscar - Best Foreign Language Film

A disgraced hockey player returns to the field to coach the hopeless motley crew that is the Indian Women's Team. A slick sport underdog team that gets your patriotism grooving. Brilliant performances by Shahrukh Khan and Shilpa Shukla.

Filmfare Awards - Best Movie (Critics) and Best Actor (Shahrukh Khan)

He gets into her pants and then lands her in jail. She gets out to take revenge. Urmila Matondkar in her finest performance ever, and Ram Gopal Varma's last sane movie.

A meek man murders his adulterous wife and turns himself in. Once out on parole, he rebuilds his life as a barber with an unusual affinity for his pet eel. Things, however, do not go as smooth as planned when he crosses paths with a cheated lover.

Cannes - Palme d'Or

Her poor English makes her the butt of all jokes. So when Sridevi enrols in secret language classes, she not only learns a new language, but gets her self respect back. Simple and empowering, a movie that touches many Indian chords. Sridevi, who returns after a long hiatus, delivers a class act.

Over-possessive parents who hide their children from the world and raise them in a self-schooled world where a 'cunt' is a lamp and success is a sticker on the headboard. Twisted was never this engaging.

Cannes - Prix un Certain Regard

One of the most endearing larger-than-life family saga Bollywood produced. A family torn and re-stitched. One of Karan Johar's finest works. Kajol and Kareena Kapoor are excellent.

Filmfare Awards - Best Actress (Kajol) and Best Supporting Actress (Jaya Bachchan)

Woody Allen plonks two American girls in Barcelona. While one shirks from the unconventional, the other embraces it. Both get sucked into a heady romance with a painter and his fiery ex-wife, and passions soar in the beautiful city. Penelope Cruz in a bravura performance.

Oscars, BAFTA - Best Supporting Actress (Penelope Cruz)
Golden Globes - Best Movie (Musical/Comedy)

Eco-issues meet fantastical historic Japan, as a cursed prince travels to an iron smelting town where the shrewd but just Lady Eboshi wages a battle against the mighty animal spirits of the jungles that surround her boomtown. Roll in the namesake princess, a human girl raised by wolves and conditioned to fear and despise normal humans, and you've got one brilliant anime flick.

An idiot threatens to turn a corporate honcho's world upside down when he mistakes the honcho's wife for his mistress. The humour is unbeatable, aptly driven by Vinay Pathak's stellar performance, and a memorable scene where the word 'tharki' is translated into english ('nymphomaniac').

Subhash Ghai's last epic musical is a typical love triangle executed with panache. Poor girl is torn from rich guy thanks to familial disputes, but rises to infinite fame thanks to an affectionate and quirky music director. Brilliant music by A R Rahman, and a memorable performance by Anil Kapoor.

Filmfare Awards - Best Supporting Actor (Anil Kapoor)

A fitting finale to the epic Lord of the Rings series, this is one movie which is way better than the book (or so I feel). The epic tale of Middle Earth, where good battles bad finally draws to a close in and around the dreaded land of Mordor. 11 nominations and 11 wins at the Oscars, the best clean sweep till date. Special mention to Annie Lennox for singing 'Into the West'.

Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA - Best Film
Oscars, Golden Globes - Best Director

The grandest of the Star Wars saga sees the final battle between father Darth Vader and estranged son Luke. The dark side is finally defeated and cult status established in a galaxy far far away.

Stanley Kubrick's only work to be sniffed (and then snubbed) by the Oscars is a twisted satire on society and violence. A juvenile delinquent indulges in rampant violence in a dystopian Britain where limerick-ing is the order of the day. Sex and fights land him in jail, where he undergoes an experimental procedure that makes him incapable of violence, while Karma bites him back. A seminal movie. For once, an actor shines in a Kubrick movie, thanks to Malcolm McDowell's definitive performance.

Unfilmable is not a word in Ang Lee's book, as he directs the Booker prize winning novel into a brilliant 3D spectacle where a teenager and a Bengal Tiger are cast away in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific. The visual beauty and technical mastery of the movie is par excellence. And the tiger is breathtaking.

Oscar - Best Director (Ang Lee)

Mani Ratnam at his best in this poetic tale of love and longing. A man falls in love with an enigmatic and reclusive female, whom he chases across the country. The visuals are breathtaking, and the music is A R Rahman's most definitive work till date.

The best modern musical, hands down. Moulin Rouge tells the tale of the penniless writer who falls in love with the city's most desirable whore, and the rich tycoon who plays spoilsport. It all plays out in grand fashion in 1900's Paris, and decked out in dazzling colour. Nicole Kidman and Jim Broadbent are show stealers, especially the latter's performance of 'Like a Virgin'.

Golden Globes - Best Film (Musical/Comedy) and Best Actress (Nicole Kidman)
BAFTA - Best Supporting Actor (Jim Broadbent)

Hayao Miyazaki's lovable tale of supernatural raccoons who take on persistent urbanization to protect their forests. His signature way of mixing myth with purpose, at its humorous best.

The Anti-Ramayana? This endearing animation movie presents a feminist retelling of the Indian epic, where the trials and tribulations of Sita make a person sit up and think. It helps that the innovative animation style is accompanied with a casual but witty script.

Rosemary thinks her neighbours want to kill her unborn child for a Satanic ritual. The truth, however, is far harder to digest. Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon deliver brilliantly under the direction of Roman Polanski.

Oscar, Golden Globes - Best Supporting Actress (Ruth Gordon)

The modern day cult film. Farhan Akhtar's debut directorial venture is a seminal treatise on contemporary urban youth, and the bonds of love and friendship that tie them. Saif Ali Khan delivers an exceptional performance.

Filmfare Awards - Best Film (Critics), Best Supporting Actor (Akshaye Khanna), Best Comedian (Saif Ali Khan)

A vegetarian clown moves into a society of scheming cannibals in a future dystopian Paris. Its a fight for survival played out among dreams of chimpanzees, slimy cellar dwellers, reusable condoms and musical saws. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, in association with Marc Caro, establishes his brand of quirky cinema.

A divisive horror film of its day, Kubrick moulds Stephen King's novel into an unnerving movie about cabin fever and psychic powers in a haunted hotel. Jack Nicholson delivers a chilling performance as a deranged caretaker manipulated into trying to murder his family.

Bollywood's most endearing comedy, and Priyadarshan's most definitive comedy of errors. Its a hilarious tale of goof ups when kidnappers mistakenly call a trio of unsuccessful dreamers. The three decide to use it to their advantage thanks to their financial woes and it all turns into a brilliant mess. Paresh Rawal clinches the movie.

Filmfare Awards - Best Comedian (Paresh Rawal)

Nothing gets more epic than Sanjay Leela Bhansali's extravagant ode to Bengali literature's most famous tragedy. Young and rich Devdas loves the dainty but poor Paro. Families tear them apart and Paro is married off and transformed into a richer landlady, while Devdas takes to drinking and whoring, finding solace in the arms of Chandramukhi. The star cast performs admirably - Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, Jackie Shroff and especially Kirron Kher. Anyone who needs an introduction to Bollywood must watch this movie.

Filmfare Awards - Best Movie, Best Director (Sanjay Leela Bhansali), Best Actor (Shahrukh Khan), Best Actress (Aishwarya Rai), Best Supporting Actress (Madhuri Dixit)

A wayward lounge singer becomes a murder witness. And she finds protection in the confines of a strict convent, where she wages an ideological battle with the head nun. The bone of contention? Her rock and roll treatment of sacred hymns, that gain the church much needed attention. Whoopi Goldberg and Maggie Smith spar in this endearing comedy.

Roman Polanski directs and acts in this brilliant psychological thriller about a man with particularly finicky neighbours. He suffers nervous breakdowns and believes that they are all out to kill him. Darkly comic but equally nerve wracking.

Mira Nair's lovable movie deals with Indian society through the veil of the chaotic Indian wedding. Family skeletons are unearthed, confrontations acted out, propositions made and hearts broken. And in the end, they all dance away to happiness.

Venice Film Festival - Golden Lion

Quentin Tarantino delivers a punch in this tale of a wronged woman (who, in Tarantino style, is an assassin) seeking brutal and ceaseless revenge against the five who left her and her unborn child for dead. If revenge is sweet, this movie will give you diabetes.

The Dutch are a weird lot. Thank goodness. The Fourth Man is a twisted tale of a bisexual writer in an open relationship with a mysterious blond widow, using her to ultimately seduce her other boyfriend. While the sexual tensions grow, the writer comes to believe that she is actually a witch out to claim her fourth victim.

Iranians don't organize rallies against USA. They make brilliant movies instead. This one is a tale of a couple seeking divorce - the wife wants the family to emigrate, the husband refuses to abandon his unwell father. Their lives get tangled with that of a pious maid and his violent husband who have lost their unborn child.

Oscars, BAFTA, Golden Globes - Best Foreign Language Film
Berlin Film Festival - Golden Bear, Silver Bear - Best Actor (Peyman Moaadi), Silver Bear - Best Actress (Leila Hatami)

While Amelie of Montmartre is busy making people happy through whimsical plots and elaborate goosechases, she fails to confront her own shyness when it comes to meeting her own romantic interest. In this lovable movie, Audrey Tautou plays out Jean Pierre Jeunet's vision of a quirky girl in pretty Paris.

BAFTA - Best Foreign Language Film

Who said Germans can't laugh? This tragicomedy tells us the tale of a single mother who went into a coma in East Germany, but woke up in a united one. Knowing her to be in a fragile condition, her loving son prepares elaborate hoaxes to make her believe that she is indeed in her communist fatherland. But things, naturally, are never as smooth.

Hollywood's definitive comedy tells us a classic tale of two crossdressing fugitives, hiding from gangsters in an all-girl's band. While one is courted by a sexagenarian millionaire, the other falls for the ravishing vocalist. Even now, 50 years later, the movie is as good a laugh as any modern day flick. Jack Lemmon is brilliant, while Marilyn Monroe looks gorgeous (even in black and white).

Golden Globes - Best Movie (Musical/Comedy), Best Actress (Monroe), Best Actor (Lemmon)

For once, a Chinese movie that does not deal with epic battles or impossible martial arts. Farewell My Concubine paints a rich picture of China's modern cultural upheavals through the lives of two Beijing Opera artists and the woman who stands between them.

Cannes - Palme d'Or

Hayao Miyazaki's best and most lovable work is a huge and fluffy magical creature who loves sleeping and the sound of falling raindrops. He befriends two girls discovering the charms of country living, and gives us a tale of growing up and friendship, while making us long for those innocent days.

You'd imagine a movie about a single mother who loses her only son in a tragic accident to be a sob fest. Not quite, as long as Pedro Almodovar is at the helm. The son in question is a writer whose one yearning was to meet his father. The mother takes his final task to heart and goes out to seek the transgender whore who made her pregnant. On the way her life intertwines with lesbian actresses, pregnant nuns and another transgender whore. Grief was never so comforting.

Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs - Best Foreign Language
Film
BAFTAs - Best Director (Pedro Almodovar)

In this Cult Classice, hardcore Catholic Sgt. Howie lands in intriguingly pagan Summerisle to solve the case of a missing child. Things get murkier when the copper is confronted with the bizarre practices and beliefs of the frontier land. A seminal study in pyschological horror, with some great music by Paul Giovanni.

Yash Chopra's epic movie is an ode to love across all barriers. Kunwar Viren Pratap Singh secretly loves Pallavi, who tragically dies in a car accident and leaves behind her daughter Pooja. Pooja grows to look exactly like her mother, and falls in love with Kunwarji. The drama plays out in the lavish backdrop of Rajasthani Palaces and English Country Manors. Performances by Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Waheeda Rehman and Anupam Kher are endearing.

Filmfare Awards - Best Film, Best Actress (Sridevi) and Best Comedian (Anupam Kher)