There was a lot to choose from

Movie-buffs had a lot of expectations from Bollywood at the beginning of 2014. With all the three Khans working in big movies, divas like Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla sizzling on the screen once again, the year also had a host of star kids like Armaan Jain and Tiger Shroff making their debut in the industry.

Smaller films like ‘2 States’, ‘Hasee Toh Phasee’, ‘Highway’, ‘Mary Kom’, ‘Finding Fanny’ and ‘Youngistaan’ were lapped up by the audiences while big-budget films like ‘Bang Bang’, ‘Happy New Year’ and ‘Humshakals’ grossed a lot of revenue at the box office despite being panned by the critics and a section of the audience.

Then there were films like ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ and ‘Haider’, that were loved by both the critics and the audiences. Highly anticipated films like ‘Jai Ho’, ‘Kochadaiyaan’ and ‘Action Jackson’ failed to meet the expecations of people.

But two films that stood out were ‘Queen’ and ‘PK’. While ‘Queen’ was a coming-of-age tale about a middle-class girl who goes on her honeymoon alone after her fiance calls off her wedding, ‘PK’ stirred up a lot of controversy thanks to its sensitive subject of poking fun at different religions.

The year even saw the revival of old films like ‘Sholay’, which was released in the form of ‘Sholay 3D’ while ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’, which completed 1000 weeks at a theatre in Mumbai, was re-released across all screens.

According to Ayush Agarwala, a businessman, there were a number of good films this year. “Among the low budget films, I really liked ‘Queen’ and Youngistaan while ‘Kick’ was average, ‘Bang Bang’ was quite good and ‘Happy New Year’ didn’t live up to the expectations,” he says.

“The younger heroes like Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan did a good job in movies like ‘Ek Villain’ and ‘Main Tera Hero’. ‘Sholay 3D’ was one of the worst films I saw this year. The movie shouldn’t have been made in 3D. Even ‘Jai Ho’ was one of the worst of Salman Khan’s career. ‘The Xpose’ and ‘Humshakals’ were really bad too,” he recalls.

Martina D’Souza, a corporate professional, feels that ‘Mary Kom’ stood out. “When I got to know the real story of Mary Kom, I had all the more respect for her. Priyanka Chopra did a great job,” she notes. “‘PK’ also has a nice story. It’s up to you to take it in a negative or positive way,” she adds.

Ranbir Kapoor’s ‘Jagga Jasoos’ and ‘Bombay Velvet’ and Salman Khan’s ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ are some of the movies that movie-buffs are looking forward to in the coming year.