Before the envelopes are opened and the Screen Awards are being awarded tomorrow, Jan 10^th 2008, to the best movies of Bollywood, here I am with my list of the best movies of Bollywood 2007. To follow a year with movies like Rang de Basanti and Lage Raho Munnabhai with even more hits and great stories has been a great feat for the Bollywood movies in 2007. But there has been a clear divide between the blockbuster hits and movies which brought in great stories, intelligent filmmaking and more than that, the edginess. With movies like Welcome, Partner, Hey Baby and Namaste London among the top grosser, they fail to make this list, for one because I didn’t watch them, secondly because they didn’t inspire me enough to sit through the 2 hours in a cinema paying a 100 bucks. Other exclusions are Dharm, Blue Umbrella ,Eklavya (which I heard is also another piece of crap pushed by extreme publicity) and Gandhi My Father-all because I failed to watch them. Water, Namesake and Loins of Punjab do not feature here as well, because they are not Bollywood movies. So then, here we go.

10. Om Shanti Om – Bheja Fry- Manorama Six Feet Under

The first has Vyjantimala meets Vogue, the second has Bharat Bhushan explaining the meaning of “Tharkee”, and the third has our very own Chinatown set in the backdrop of dry deserts of Rajasthan.OSO makes it here purely for Deepika Padukone and the Ajab Si song. Its full throttle Bollywood potboiler and actually entertains throughout, minus the Dard-e-Disco and the Marathon Item Number, it’s not that Bad. OSO could end up getting the award for Bollywood Integration and of course for the Best Female Debut.

I don’t really care if Bheja Fry is a remake/inspiration/copy. All that matters is Vinay Pathak gives his long due performance and crackles everyone , those onscreen as well those sitting next to me. Best Comic Performance goes to him.

Manorama Six Feet Under is one of the most not talked about movies this year, the least publicized and the least featured in any list. It’s on no.10 just because here’s a Deol who would rather act rather than let his fists and biceps do the talking. It’s ok Gul Panag can be an extremely naggy wife, but oh yes, I loved the kiss.

9. Black Friday:

This was actually one of the biggest events this year. Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday got released finally and we got to see what it had. And yes, we loved it. Red light Interrogation rooms, Blue Bombay and the Locals, Bomb Blasts – Numb, Crying and Dead Mumbaikars, Kay Kay Menon’s spine chilling stare and of course, Dawood Ibrahim’s first onscreen adaptation- Black Friday had all of this. What it gets awarded is the Best background score – Indian Ocean (which Screen has not nominated them for), and perhaps Best Editing, but not quite.

8. Parzania:

All in English, Parzania depicted the story of a young boy who goes missing in the Gujrat communal Riots. Actress Sarika and Director Rahul Dholakia have already won National Awards for this movie, but the movie is banned in its home state-Gujrat. Is it a triumph for the movie to have not been able to spread the message where it actually mattered the most?

7. Khoya Khoya Chand:

Sudhir Mishra’s Khoya Khoya Chand revives the 60s era of Bollywood perfectly to the last inch and Soha Ali Khan gives the performance of her life. Shiney Ahuja, Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla give commendable performances , but the movie excels primarily because of Shantanu Moitra’s music which revives Jazz n Blues in Bollywood. He wins the Best Music Director this year, if it’s not Metro.

6. Jab We Met:

Bollywood Romance gets the essential dew freshness with Imtiaz Ali’s second movie. The history of Shahid and Kareena’s chemistry finds new meaning in the pretty much biological scene of the Kissing , until well, the movie got released and then, it’s all history again. Kareena could win the Best Actress for this, coz the other nominees are Aish-for Guru and Tabu – for Cheeni Kum, both are just meh performances.

5. Guru:

Dhirubhai Ambani or not, Gurukanth Desai ruled the screen, may be because it’s Abhishek Bachhan’s single handed performance (not because his left hand gets paralyzed), or may be because this is Mani Ratnam’s only movie in three years since Yuva, and did I forget, A.R.Rahman is the music director. And yeah! it showed the trailer of the Bollywood wedding of the year.

4. Chak De India:

Bicycle Race = Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander

Cricket + British Raj = Lagaan

National Game Hockey + Naari Shakti = Chak De

Need anymore reasons. SRK’s best performance since Swades and the very haunting Maula Mere Le Le makes Chak De , not only one of the most shouted slogans at all games this year (leave aside Cricket for once), but also features the dumping down Cricket- yeah, when Preeti Sabrwal refuses the proposal of that Vice-Cap of Indian Cricket team. Yayyyyy!!!

3. Life in a …Metro

Sharman Joshi proves he is intelligent, Kay Kay proves he can be the pinnacle of male chauvinism, Konkona falls for yet another gay guy, Dharam Paajee’s first onscreen kiss and Pritam rocks the charts with In Dino. Metro has it all and oh yes, Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty in a red saree and her belly showing in Red Neons. What’s there not to love?

2. Johnny Gaddar

This is how movies should be in 2008-very classy, technically perfect, crisp and thoroughly entertaining, and with a plot. Johnny Gaddar is Neil Nitin Mukesh’s dream launchpad and he takes home the Best debut male. But the real winner are the Editor and the Sound guys. This should win and well, they must mention Pune, at least once in the thanksgiving speech.

1. And the winner is …Taare Zameen Par:

Why it tops the list? Read THIS.

Aamir Khan-Best Director, Best Movie, Darshal - SafaryBest Child Artiste,

Amole Gupte- Best Story, Prasoon Joshi- Best Lyrics,

Shankar Mahadevan – Best Playback Singer,

Aamir Khan –Best Supporting Actor.

Did I miss out on anything else? Phew! That was a long post. And I’d like to thank my Budweiser, my Smirnoff and my Old Monk to have supported me through this. Cheers!!! Hic. Hic.