2022 Banquet of Movies

New generation of movie makers are gems, in all language. They have varied plots. And most of the conflict conclusions are with so sabya-vyavahar, its inspiring - as compared to alpha macho-male ways of resolving conflicts which are dangerous actions to replicate in real life.

One of the tricks which helped increase our family viewing, was to merge profiles. So many OTT apps, so many show/films options, so many varied personal choices. We all ended up just scrolling & not seeing anything. So this year, I suggested we merge the profiles so there is one Profile for grownups & one kid version. Now one profile for couple, meant one set of recommendations to choose from. It actually helped increase our viewing.

Other Phenomenon of this year were South films. I have always been watching. But my eye opener for this phenomenon was when a Bihari friend said she was Mahesh Babbu fan & watches all Telagu films dubbed in Hindi on Youtube. Seems like its a far & wide thing as proven after Pushpa success. Slowly details came out from many North Indian friends that their parents & relatives have been watching South movies for a long time, ofcourse in dubbed or subtitles version.

KANNADA

Kantara - in theatre. Very impressive 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼 Language, background music & songs, sub-plots, characters, performances, stunts, pacing of story & closure. 

Kshamisi Nimma Khaatheyalli Hanavilla - Diganth. Language play kept it engrossing.

MALAYALAM

Tovino Thomas is the flavor of this year and my new favorite actor.

Minnal Murali - on First class. Mallu Super-hero movie. It had the familiarity of Kerala setting & people, along with Hollywood elements of super-hero origin movie. Background music for every sequence was ah heart-beating one. Like all Kerala movies, filled with 100s of characters and each interesting than the other with separate background story and quirks. 

Forensic (2020)

Kilometers and Kilometers (2020)

Dear Friend (2022)

Naaradum (2022) - Ok movie with the weakest part being the faulty background music and other being the simplistic story & arc of the bad guy.

Night Dive (2022) - on Netflix. Spread over one night, good thriller with twists. And good acting by Anna Ben, Roshan Andrews, Sukumaran and others.

TELUGU

And flavor of Telugu cinema would have to be Nani & Allu Arjun

Shyam Singha Roy (2021)

Ante Sundaraniki (2022) - rollercoaster of events and hence engrossing comedy. 

BENGALI

Thanks to Prime & Hulu , saw a few of Bengali movies this year - old & new

Ahare Mon - Always wanted to see this movie  esp for the lovely song Ogo Bideshini. Good 

Banshewale - Its the quite peaceful approach movie; through the storyline involves lot of complicated drama. Sent me down the rabbit-hole about Sayan Munshi's whereabouts.

Sweater (2019) - Darjeeling views.

Mukherjee Dar Bou (2019)

MARATHI

Marathi film industry has a huge legacy and hence the lovely movies, excellent acting and music they create.

66 Sadashiv - Fun involving movie on the topic of skill of arguing. Lot of story sub-plots working together towards a satisfying conclusion.

Mogra Phullala - Movie as soft as Mogra scent.  Story-line is as usual family drama as it can get - what brings this movie up is the acting skills of the leads ( Swwapnil Joshi, Sai Deodhar, Neena Kulkarni) & others, beautiful language and lovely 4 songs.

Jhimma - Ladies group tour to UK with male tour owner & guide. Great visuals, beautiful Marathi dialoges, multiple stories with ups & downs. 

TAMIL

Beast (Tamil) / Raw (Hindi) - Enjoyable masala movie - spiced with action, gore, comedy and good 1 song (Arabic Kuttu). First there was Phanthom on ship, then John McClane on skyscraper and now Beast in mall. And the movie ending was Top Gun. Perfect.

Love Today - on Netflix. Its as fun as fun can be. Every subtle thing in that situation is exaggerated very imaginatively created scenes.

HINDI

Kaun Pravin Tambe - Good one. Firstly for Shreyas Talpade. Next Parambratta C & other actors. Story unfolding with interesting flashbacks. And then for the cricket bits sprinkled right.

Jaadugar / Love Goals - TVF & Jeetu Bhaiya movie on Netflix. It had magic, football, MP small town underdog. Brilliant movie.

83 -  Such a lovely movie in every way and I feel bad about missing it in theatres when it released. So many scenes & such lovely progression of storyline. So endearing in not a emotional manipulation way. Story unfolds very realistic & believable fashion like it happens in any of the sports teams.

Gehraiyan - 

It was genre breaking. Was it romance or thriller or suspense (like in second half). And then a open ending as in more to follow. And later when I was thinking, I realized that they will wiggle out of this one too. 

Also, so the only untainted characters turned out to be Nasser, Karan & to a large extent Tia. 

Pushpa - Hindi dubbed from Telegu. Shreyas Talpade dubbed for Allu Arjun & Rashmika looks & acted good. 

dubbing - Ek Saal Ke Pehle.

Visually powerful movie - grand locations, hundreds of people in every frame, black stained clothes. Clothes of girls, ladies & men is as casual as Magadi Road, Bangalore. Worn in full pride with no apology or sub-texting & that's a win.

Power of dubbed movies. Friend from Mithila first told me, she watched Telegu dubbed in Hindi movies on YouTube. It hardly registered. But that trend reached its full power with Pushpa being 300 crores+ super hit.

I learnt of the gravity of Telegu film industry, historically & today from Mahanati (Savithri).

Full on masala movie with lot of swagger, violence & gore. Stunts, Story plots, songs, swagger.

Background music was appropriate even when loud. Songs were cool & catchy.

Initial credit sequence animation was a great opening. I would be disappointed if it turns out to be inspired or from Blood Diamond or some such thing.

Atrangi Re - The damn movie used every single social issue to move the story forward. I guess that's the left & right critics cribs - the movie did not use their platform for highlighting or solving the issue, just used it like a tool. Their is Tamilian in Delhi, groom-kidnapping in Bihar, forced marriage,  psychiatry used in casual terms.

Jersey - Good remake of Nani's Telugu Jersey. Worth a watch.

Good Luck Jerry - Good remake. Fun watch.

Darlings (2022) and Thappad (2021) are like from same universe but way different tones. Both equally good. Darlings was delicious in its wickedness and Thappad for being evocative. Good work.

Love Aaj Kal (2020): Finally saw it on Prime. Avoided it when released coz negative reviews. Now Youtube played its songs one after other. And one fine lazy night, play the movie. Very worth a watch. Almost poetic in the way it proceeded, and maybe that why the scenes didn't work in trailer. Also might have failed coz the 90s pair did not end up together - that's usually a dhak-kha. Movie covered work life balance question and resolved it so well. But very poetic flow for existential pain.

Dobaara (2022) - fascinating & watched it twice.

Jayeshbhai Jordar - good treatment for a serious topic. Ranveer is always a dearie.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 - Kathik Aryan best as ever. Perfect songs. 

ENGLISH

Top Gun Maverick- music, bikes, planes, boats & fireworks. Worth the wait for theatre. 

Gift (Netflix) - African movie. Lovely background singing & music, cicadas. Located amidst greenery & woods & farmlands. It was like watching a Malayalam movie. 

Lots of movies on OTT

My Yearly Movies List here.