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Ankur Bhatia

  • Joined: May 20, 2018
  • Articles: 270
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The Best of Films in 2011

Another year comes to an end with people asking  the same irritating question,  “What are your New Year plans?”. I have modified my reply over the years from “what is the big deal with a New Year???” to “I will  be doing what I love to do, watching  films that I have missed”. There is nothing more enjoyable than a planned home screening of an unseen film, dimmed lights, curtains drawn with pop corn and cola for company. Blissful.

I keep a close  watch of films that I miss but for those who don’t here is a list of my favorite films from 2011.  Now this does not mean I expect you to watch them on New  Year’s Eve. All I wish is  for all of you to watch at least some of these films in original print and enjoy them the way they are meant to be.

Special Mentions-Bollywood: This year I will stick to the regular top 10 in my list. However, I would like to mention some other films that left a mark. Sahib Biwi aur Gangster with Dhulia again in his element, Shaitan for some good hard hitting, disturbing cinema, Mujhse Fraandship Karoge for the performance of Saqib Saleem and for giving a fresh feel to the college romance, Tanu Weds Manu (On a reader’s reminder, slipped my mind) for realistic sets, authentic art direction and bang on characterization (especially Pappi), Don 2 for some slick film-making surpassing even Hollywood, and Singham for being such a damn good entertainer.

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Stanley ka Dabba Movie Review – Stanley shines above the rest

Summer has come a little early as a lot films have been released right after India won the Cricket World Cup. The films that I had the heart to experience were Dum Maaro Dum, Chalo Dilli, Shor in The City, Stanley Ka Dabba, Thor, Source Code, The Lincon Lawyer, Fast Five and Rio. I carefully left films like Game, Haunted, Naughty @ 40 as they are not for the faint hearted.

Out of all these films, the one film that deserves to be mentioned before any other is Stanley Ka Dabba. All those people who are thinking of comparing it with Taare Zameen Par are on a totally wrong track because the only similarity this films has with TZP is that it is also a film that needs to be seen and applauded. Stanley is an extremely simple film without any Bollywood melodrama whatsoever. In fact you would hardly find anything like a typical Bollywood film because it is so experimental in its construct. Right from camera work (film being shot almost entirely in natural light), to the direction of Amole Gupte which is a class apart. He has this great ability to extract natural performances from kids and this film proves it further.

All the performances are top notch starting from Divya Dutta who would be the teacher in every kid’s dream school. All the kids are adorable especially Aman – The kid with the biggest dabba, but the finest kid is undoubtedly Partho who is so sincere and cute that your heart goes out to him in the very first scene. Amole Gupta as Khadoos is so good that you actually hate him for who he is.

Stanley is a clean, honest and sweet film that is delicious till the last bite. It’s a film that gives you a very realistic glimpse into the actual life of a 4th grader because Marks are not the only thing important in this world. How one chooses to live life is more important, which even a 4th grader can teach us at times.

Rating: 4/5