A to Z of Hindi cinema 2024

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.