Credit: Special Arrangement
Article 370
Article 370 stood out as a real yet judiciously dramatised account of how a controversial constitutional provision was removed.
Biopics
Big-screen biopics ‘Sarfira’, ‘Chandu Champion’, ‘Maidaan’, ‘Main Atal Hoon’, ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’, ‘Srikanth’ and ‘I Want To Talk’ crumbled. But on streaming platforms, ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’, ‘Maharaj’ and ‘Aye Watan Mere Watan’ did well.
Crème de la crème
Apart from ‘Article 370’, ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ and ‘Maharaj’, ‘Maidaan’, ‘Tikdam’ and ‘Agni’ were among the crème-de-la-creme, topped by the delightful fable, ‘Laapataa Ladies’.
Directors
The scoring directors were Kiran Rao (‘Laapataa Ladies’), veteran Anees Bazmee (‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’), Siddharth P Malhotra (‘Maharaj’), Amit Ravindarnath Sharma (‘Maidaan’), Imtiaz Ali (‘Amar Singh Chamkila’) and newcomers Vivek Anchalia (‘Tikdam’) and Aditya Suhas Jambhale (‘Article 370’).
Expose
Some critics slammed ‘Bastar: The Naxal Story’, ‘Accident or Conspiracy: Godhra’, ‘Hamare Baarah’, ‘Jahangir National University’ and ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ as propaganda movies, while the filmmakers said they were aimed at exposing “the uncomfortable past”. ‘The Sabarmati Report’, which was studded with inaccuracies, was lauded by critics.
Fake collections
Fake collection reports became ‘facts’. And in “Wolf! Wolf!” tradition, figures for ‘Pushpa 2: The Rise’, ‘Stree 2’, ‘Singham Again’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ and ‘Fighter’ were thus disbelieved.
Great performances
Great performances came from Ravi Kishan, Nitanshi Goel and Pratibha Ranta (‘Laapataa Ladies’), Ajay Devgn (‘Maidaan’), Diljit Dosanjh (‘Amar Singh…’), Randeep Hooda (‘…Savarkar’), Kartik Aaryan (‘Chandu…’), Rajkummar Rao (‘Srikanth’), Lakshya (‘Kill’), Abhishek Bachchan (‘I Want to Talk’), Kriti Sanon (‘Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya’), Taapsee (‘Khel Khel Mein’), Yami Gautam and Priyamani (‘Article 370’) and R Madhavan (‘Shaitaan’). Chhaya Kadam (‘Laapataa Ladies’, ‘Madgaon Express’), Amit Sial and child artistes Aarohi Saud and Divyank Dwivedi (‘Tikdam’) excelled.
Horror
Chills were ‘in’ and viewers enjoyed horror, whether serious (‘Shaitaan’) or blended with chuckles (‘Munjya’, ‘Stree 2’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’).
Immortality
Radio titan Ameen Sayani, parallel cinema’s Shyam Benegal and Kumar Shahani, singer Pankaj Udhas, musicians Ustad Zakir Hussain and Rashid Khan and actors Atul Parachure and Rituraj Singh left us.
Junaid Khan
A chip off his father Aamir Khan’s block, Junaid Khan was clearly the year’s newbie, in ‘Maharaj’.
Khel Khel Mein
Those who did watch it loved it, but the makers foolishly clashed with ‘Stree 2’ and killed their movie. This delight was the most ill-deserved flop of 2024.
Ludicrous
The only word to describe the harassment faced by Allu Arjun for a tragedy that he could not have prevented: a woman’s death from stampede near a theatre showing his film.
Music
The anthem of the year was ‘Aaj ki raat’ from ‘Stree 2’. ‘Tauba tauba’ (‘Bad Newz’), ‘Dholna 3.0’ (‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’) and ‘Aayi nahin’ (‘Stree 2’) followed.
News
Weddings (Naga Chaitanya-Sobhita Dhulipala, Taapsee Pannu-Mathias Boe, Keerthy Suresh-Antony Thattil, Sonakshi Sinha-Zaheer Iqbal), parenthood (girls for Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh and Varun Dhawan-Natasha Dalal) and separations (A R Rahman-Saira Banu, Dhanush-Aishwarya Rajinikanth, Esha Deol-Bharat Takhtani) made headlines. Mithun Chakraborty was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke award, while Raj Kapoor and Mohammed Rafi’s centenaries were celebrated.
OTT
OTT platforms were a safe alternative for offbeat, bold and small movies — ‘Bhakshak’, ‘Kakuda’, ‘Bad Newz’, ‘Tikdam’, ‘Love Sitara’ and ‘Agni’.
Pan-India
Though ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ ruled (making Rs 750 crore-plus in Hindi alone), the notion of ‘all-powerful’ south fare crashed when ‘Indian 2’, ‘Vettaiyan’, ‘Devara Part 1’, ‘Thalapathy is the G.O.A.T’ and ‘Kanguva’ nosedived. Clearly, content was key.
Quotient
Cinema blends emotional, entertainment and intellectual quotients. But the audiences, piqued by high tickets and F&B rates, needed that rare theatrical quotient so that they did not wait for the OTT release weeks later.
Re-releases
A trend missing since the multiplex era, of old re-releases, resurfaced — ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun!’, ‘Karan-Arjun’ and ‘Pardes’ among them. Even flops like ‘Laila Majnu’, ‘Tumbbad’ and ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’ got a new life.
Sequels
‘Pushpa 2’, ‘Stree 2’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ and ‘Singham Again’ showed the way to box-office glory. A dozen ‘franchise’ films are now on the way.
Television
Nobody talks about this medium anymore! Period.
Universe
2024 saw every universe represented: Dinesh Vijan’s Horror Comedy Universe (‘Munjya’, ‘Stree 2’), YRF’s Spy Universe (‘Atlas’) and Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe (‘Singham Again’).
Versatile
Pratik Gandhi was the performer of 2024. In three completely diverse roles in ‘Madgaon Express’, ‘Do Aur Do Pyaar’ and ‘Agni’, he was equally fabulous.
Women power
Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine as Light’, Sandhya Suri’s ‘Santosh’ and Shuchi Talati’s ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ made waves internationally. However, Kareena Kapoor Khan (‘The Buckingham Murders’), Kriti Sanon (‘Do Patti’) and Alia Bhatt (‘Jigra’) were all conned into producing letdowns. Zeenat Aman and Saira Banu led the Instagram favourites.
X-Mas
Christmas, normally a boom time, was dull as ‘Baby John’ tottered.
Yuck!
‘LSD 2’, ‘CTRL’, ‘Vedaa’, ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ and ‘Ishq Vishk Rebound’ led the rock-bottom heap.
Zero releases
Every year, some stars remain absent. The 2024 list included Aamir Khan (who only co-produced ‘Laapataa Ladies’), Salman Khan (only cameos in ‘Singham Again’ and ‘Baby John’), Shah Rukh Khan, Ayushmann Khurrana and Kiara Advani.