It is just a few days left to say adieu to this rather enthralling year. For many reasons 2012 has been equally a difficult, challenging time. In this year only low budget independent cinema with lesser known cast and in many cases with debut directors made a firm footing in the industry securing both box office success and critical acclamation among the movie goers. Undoubtedly in selecting our picks for top Bollywood movies of 2012 we have to take a greater share from this category than before.
The trend of independent small budget movies replacing the mainstream blockbuster is not just sudden; it has been there for some years. With a new bunch of talented directors and technicians and with the gross change of movie taste that has taken place for some years, especially due to elite middle class's proximity to world film scene through multiplexes, the boom in these new generation movies was obvious. Surprisingly the trend even made many blockbusters to adopt things from this array of films rather than recycling those old movie factory stereotypes that almost got a brand name called Bollywood Masala Film. Picking up our choices from blockbusters to mainstream drama to independent cinema to off-track gang star genre, here is our final list of top Bollywood movies of 2012.
Vicky Donor Movie
Starring lesser known actors and actresses in the lead roles and hitting on a relevant and new social topic that earned huge interest in the recent time Vicky Donor broke many so called conceptual barriers of Hindi films. Ayushmann Khurana in the lead role as the sperm donor and Yami Goutam as his cool interest of passion are really superb. The most important thing of all, Vicky Donor with its social motif could involve the audience to the point of breaking into indifference. Another silver screen saga of such great social significance you cannot name among the top Bollywood movies of 2012.
Barfi Movie
Director Anurag Basu has already developed a reputation of coming up with novelistic twists and articulate characterization while always striking a lyrical chord in his filmic depictions. If you have not seen Barfi, you probably missed the most passionate film of the current year. Ranbir Kapoor from his so called superstar image got into the poignant characterization of a deaf and mute, innocent and passionate charlatan and after all the due credit to the brilliant performance of Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D'cruz, he alone made the difference by playing his career best role. The cinematography of telling the tale with passion and mood of the film is also one aspect that made this film so hugely popular.
English Vinglish Movie
If you did not see this out of the box tale concerning small town middle class India's demand of speaking English or proficiency in that language as a too important factor for their social respect, you missed one of the rare film based on the social behavioral trend among the common Indians. The film tells the story of a housewife who on account of earning respect from her family and surrounding enrolls herself in an English language course. This unusual storyline ensued comedy, enthralling social satire and above all a tragic note on our so called middle class vanity and preoccupations. Sridevi in her lead role is absolutely enigmatic. With so uncommon a theme and enthralling drama to the boot the film has equally been subject to huge commercial success and critical acclaim.
Talaash Movie
Actor Aamir Khan has already taken himself to the level of a rare film prodigy with his multifarious talents. For some years he had been in the lead role of many great films that brought a new wave of serious films with astounding commercial success. Taalash is the comeback film of Aamir after a long gap, but this time the comeback is not induced with that characteristically enigmatic Aamir element. Taalash though in many ways could strike an unusual chord or two in the Bollywood style of storytelling, being it an enthralling suspense mystery thriller with co-starring superstars like Karina Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee in the lead role it nevertheless offers an enticing drama. In the lead role Aamir plays a cop who is desperate to solve a mystery and in chasing the mystery eventually he gets entangled with a prostitute while messing up his relationship with his wife. Among the top Bollywood movies of 2012 this is undoubtedly the only thriller of cinematic maturity.
Paan Singh Tomar Hindi Movie
Paan Singh Tomar is undoubtedly the biggest film surprise in the year. Irfan Khan in the lead role is simply enigmatic. The unusual storyline and befitting cinematic presentation with enigmatic acting performance made this film an absolutely irreversible choice among the top Bollywood movies of 2012. A real life athlete turned army man turned revered bandit of Chambal Valley, Paan Singh Tomar is a biopic film on the astounding novelistic accounts of the life of that person. See this movie and you can understand why this film is being considered a milestone in the biopic genre.
Gangs of Wasseypur Movie
Oh god, how could we came across so many names without referring to this filmy saga of small town gang war, poverty, illegal trafficking and an important tinge of social history in the mineral rich Bihar. Yes, for a common movie enthusiast Gangs of Wasseypur is rather a bizarre packaging of journalistic documentation and raw, deadly reality of coal mafias. But if you have developed a taste for real life depiction in film, this film is to be cherished masterpiece for you. The enigmatic Manoj Bajpai revered for his charismatic role play in so many great films given a superb performance here. But the real charisma that plays the anchor role in every aspect of the film is of director Anurag Kashyap, the Indian director revered as the best exponent of independent cinema movement.
Chittagong Hindi Movie
This is another masterpiece from a rather young director in the Bollywood film industry, Bedabrata Pain. The film is the historical epic of Chittagong uprising against the British rule. With Manoj Bajpai in the lead role as the revered revolutionary fighter Masterda Surya Sen and almost flawless cinematic depiction of the tale in its all masterly details the film garnered huge critical reception.
Bollywood Movie Kahaani
This film made Bollywood look slightly different and wise from its so called male dominated pose. Directed by Sujoy Ghosh and starring Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui the film is revered by critics as a modern masterpiece for many reasons. Sujoy Ghosh much in the style and tradition of some Latin American directors whose film making style helped coinage of the term Guerrilla Filmmaking introduced the inconspicuous way of taking cinematic shots without auguring much attention of the crowd. This suspense thriller centering the female protagonist character played by Vidya Balan apart of cinematic maneuvers to garner entertaining applause from the audience could induce some significant social tones. After a long time a feminine tale of such cinematic mastery and a must pick as one of the top Bollywood movies of 2012.
Oh My God Movie
Popularly nicknamed as OMG among the movie buffs and critics this film harbors on a truly unusual theme of subjecting god to legal sue. Undoubtedly as the theme suggests it is a comedy drama, but its satirical notes on the presence of so called prayer to god virtually for every little twists and turns of life makes this film so popular despite its simple story telling with a measure budget of just 20 Crore in Indian Rupees. Starring a star cast of featuring many great character players of astounding reputation including Paresh Rawal in the lead role and stars like Mithun Chakraborty, Akshay Kumar, Nubna Salim, Punam Jhalwar, Om Puri and Mahesh Manjrekar, the film is a true entertainment package with some social satire in the backdrop.
Cocktail Movie
Yes, we saw Bollywood as the great exponent of a film genre that harbors on making a cocktail of various cinematic genres for achieving commercial success and comedy drama is the latest in this typical mega mixing of cinematic entertainment. With Saif Ali Khan, Diana Penty and Deepika Padukone in the lead role and a special appearance from Randeep Hooda the film became an instant hit masala.
Ishaqzaade Movie
Bollywood has always been considered as the hub of romantic films and with the wake of various genre-based filming that only expanded and enriched Bollywood to other themes, romantic film has long been shadowed as a genre. Though this one differs on many accounts from the so called popular Bollywood romance dramas this violent love story by Habib Faizal apart from being a worldwide hit also managed to garner positive criticism.
Ek Tha Tiger Movie
How can you just go on listing the great or wise or social message ridden or cinematically superb films without those names called blockbusters that actually with their mass appeal and towering commercial success give Bollywood its distinct identity as a mass entertainment industry? Ek Tha Tiger is the highest grossing Bollywood film with box office collection of 186 Crore Rupees and the astounding success made this film also the second highest grossing film of all time after 3 Idiots. Love story with espionage as the background has always a mass appeal and Salman Khan with his macho image once again established his chemistry as the most commercially successful crowd puller. Our movie listing on the top Bollywood movies of 2012 can't do away with this blockbuster.
Rowdy Rathore Movie
This action film is just not another blockbuster with sizzling action sequence and angry mach man like love interests of crowd puller superstar Akshay Kumar, it is also the second highest grossing film of the year. This is also the comeback film of the superstar Akshay Kumar in the action genre. Made on just a budget of 40 Crore, a small amount for a blockbuster at any rate, the film with action sequence and chase games between criminals and police with a tinge of romance in between is just a perfect Masala for thrilling entertainment.
Agnipath Movie
Bollywood has always cherished the dream of producing a remake of a masterpiece from yesteryears that would surpass the original in its present day mass appeal. Such undertakings sometimes has been huge commercial failure, though sometimes could garner a special identity irrespective of the comparison. Agnipath with its reciprocation of modern time and cinematic mood is much wiser than its predecessor and with star cast such as Ritwik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra and thrilling action drama it surprised many critics. It is also the third highest grossing film of the year.
Jab Tak Hai Jaan Movie
Another blockbuster and Sharukh Khan after a break came into this film as the charismatic hero costarring Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. The matcho sensitive role so typical of protagonist characters played by Sharukh can be seen with more matured contours of the actor, after all it is also one of his career best films grossing more than 100 Crore Rupees.
Houseful 2 Movie
How can you just make a list of top Bollywood movies of 2012 without a film from the famous comedy genre that over the years made Bollywood a championing sign of mass entertainment? Houseful 2 is the comedy film that garnered highest popularity and commercial success in this year. With sizzle;ing comedy drama from Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez and Asin Totumkal and great direction from Sajid Khan became a real entertainment package.
Son of Sardar Movie
Son of Sardar is another out of the box production that in the recent trend of independent cinema garnered both critical reception and commercial success with a wild mass applause all around and the movie maintaining a high profile star cast like Ajay Devgan, Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Dutt is worth watching with the twists and turns of a superb story of revenge and love. By managing the charm of storytelling in keeping the secret turns as long as possible the film not only did well in box office but also received positive response from all corners.
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