Tanmay's Box Office Report - 2004. Review on Five Best Bollywood Films of 2004

Being a movie buff I watched most of the Bollywood movies last year, so I feel I?m in a good position to write a review on Five Best Bollywood Movies of 2004. Writing on such subjective topics means that one may not be able to satisfy everyone with his/her choices.

Thus, I'd like to tell you in advance that the choices are entirely mine and are not based on the number of bucks they churned at the box office or the percentage recommendation they got in Mouthshut reviews!

5. Julie

No, I have no intentions of creating any controversy here. Julie, directed by Deepak Shivdasani and starring Neha Dhupia & Priyanshu Chatterjee does find a place in my list of five best movies of last year. The problem with this film was its marketing. They advertised it as a soft porn flick, whereas it certainly wasn?t that! In fact, it turned out to be a very meaningful film indeed.

I've seen many people taking the names of Murder and Julie simultaneously while lecturing on the bad effects of?vulgar? movies on the society. I?d like to make it very clear that Julie is a much better movie than Murder. Although it has its share of Skin Show, but the limits haven?t been crossed. There are a few smooch scenes, but then they were present in Bollywood superhits like Dayavan and Raja Hindustani too! And if you talk about dialogues, I?d say dialogues of Masti(another Bollywood Hit) are more sex oriented than Julie.

So why this hostility and double standards against Julie? The songs, dialogues and especially the message given in the flick is beautiful to say the least. The movie tries to convey that it?s this society, which creates protitutes, so that the females of their family are secured from the sex-hungry wolves. And then we? the society are the first ones to abuse them. We do want protitutes in society for our own convenience but not in our houses.

They are an important part of our system. But we don?t want a pro*titute from our very own family. We can accept them in this civilization but not in our homes! Is that right?(For more details read my review on Julie.)

4. Mujhse Shadi Karoge

This is what Bollywood is all about! These days there is a trend of making?different? movies that we almost forgot what the good old Bollywood was all about and thanks to Mr. David Dhawan for still keeping the?Old Bollywood? alive.

I know many of you will stay away from this movie after knowing it?s been directed by David Dhawan but trust me this is one of his most intelligent attempts at comedy! The story is very simple indeed? one bride(Priyanka Chopra) and two grooms(Salman Khan and Akshay kumar). May the best man win! The specialty of such movies is that they keep your interest alive till the end since you eagerly want to know that who eventually wins the close battle.

And if this suspense is mixed with some great comedy, witty dialogues, melodious songs & astonishing screen chemistry between the trio the result can be nothing short of spectacular! So go and enjoy! The movie won?t change your life dramatically, but it will certainly give you a few light moments and put a smile on your face. A great boon in this hectic busy life of ours!

3. Raincoat

Beautiful! Yes that?s the word that came out of my mouth after watching this memorable movie by Rituparno Ghosh. It?s like a classical piece of poetry, thus, it may not be that appreciated by the common man who goes to the cinema for 3 hours of non-stop entertainment. But it?s certainly like a dream-come-true for the lovers of art movies. Me being one of them I simply adored this movie. What is love? This can be a very complex question to answer. The answer may deviate from person to person.

The movie tries to answer this complex question in a sweet and simple way. Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai, have put life in the characters, by their unsurpassed display of acting. Ajay as we all know is a first-rate actor but the critics of Ash maybe in for a pleasant surprise! Oh yes, she can act! The movie is about two lovers(Ajay and Ash) who were not destined to be together. Ash has to marry someone else under social & family pressure leaving behind a heart-broken Ajay. Ajay goes to meet her again after six long years. The movie is about their meeting! Music is soothing and won?t interrupt the flow of the movie, since it keeps playing in the background. Even the length of the movie is just 117 minutes so they have kept it short and sweet!

2. Swades

Ashutosh Gowarikar strikes again, after his previous classic Lagaan. Just like some things get better with age, similarly there are a few things whose beauty you may not realize instantly, but as you ponder over it for sometime, they mesmerize your mind. Swades is one of them! It?s an outstanding flick! It?s a movie about me. It?s a movie about you. It?s a movie about we? the people. Every Indian should watch it. It will make us accept our India as it is and will motivate us to do something for this great nation of ours. I?ve already watched this flick three times in the theatre and won?t mind going for it again!(Do read my review on Swades).

1. Veer-Zara

Yes! You guessed it right! This is the mother of all movies. I?m not that good at words that I can describe the beauty of this movie perfectly. See it to believe it! Watching Veer-Zara is like cutting an onion? you will cry, man, will you cry! Yash Chopra is back with a bang with all the superstars of the industry to create one of the most memorable love stories ever been flaunted on the silver screen! Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Anupam Kher, Kiron Kher, Manoj Bajpai, Lata Mangeshkar and Sonu Nigam as singers, Late Madan Mohan?s music, Javed Akhtar?s Lyrics? whoof, can it get better than this?

This is one movie which has made the spiritual love far greater than the physical one, this is one movie which has proven that love makes sacrifice easy, this is one movie which depicts that a true lover?s happiness lies in the happiness of his/her beloved, this is one movie which states that strength doesn?t mean holding on to something tightly but strength also means to let go. If you haven?t watched it yet, I?m wondering why! Shahrukh critics? this is it! He has proved what an artist he is.

Go and watch Veer-Zara and tell me who could play the role of Squadron leader Veer Pratap Singh better than the King himself, who could show the wretchedness of a lover so perfectly, who could give that light-hearted thumbs up to Samiya Siddiqi(Rani Mukherjee) to ease off the nervousness of her first court case, who could tell Zara Hayat Khan(Preity Zinta) so poignantly that there lives a guy across the border who can even forfeit his life for her! A legendry movie not only of 2004 but also of the history of Indian cinema!(Do read my review on Veer-Zara for more details.)

© Tanmay Singh, 2005