2009: Of South remakes, ’emosional atyachaar’ and Rocket Singh Salesman of the Year bombing while Luck By Chance soared

Zoya Akhtar makes her debut in Luck By Chance, an insider look at Bollywood’s machinations, giving brother Farhan a chance to play the lead, deftly navigating the outsider-insider nexus while being aware of its meta-ness. I remember thinking when I first watched it that it needed to have been a bit sharper, but in hindsight, to have two legacy kids lending this hard-to-get-off-the-ground project even this much edge, and with Konkona Sen Sharma playing the true outsider, given her own legacy, feels radical.

Farhan Akhtar in a still from Luck By Chance.

2008: When Oye Lucky Lucky Oye was the sweet spot in the year of average movies

Ranbir Kapoor plays, really well, the first of his many man-child roles in Wake Up Sid, with Konkona appearing in this one as the older, wiser woman, just as she has had to turn older and wiser in Luck By Chance.

He also plays the titular role in Rocket Singh, Salesman of the year, one of the best films to have come out of the Yash Raj stable. A sharp slice of life, cut from uncomfortable cloth, from acquiring ‘marketing’ skills to catching a much-required break in a hard-edged work-place, with Ranbir giving it all he’s got, it was startling in its lived-in authenticity. Tragically, it crashed and burnt at the box office.

Anurag Kashyap makes Dev D, the best post-modern version of that classic sorry-for-himself-desi-lover boy who believes that the world owes him a living, and that all women should roll over just because he deigns to look at them. It is Abhay Deol’s finest, co-stars Mahi Gill and Kalki Koechlin lend the film its feel and texture, and the music is outstanding. Kashyap calls this film a musical, and it very much is, with 18 songs interspersed through its run-time. Kaisa tera jalwa, kaisa tera pyaar, Dev D’s ’emosional atyachaar’ is a film for the ages.

Kashyap’s Gulaal, with the interesting ensemble of Kay Kay Menon, Abhimanyu Singh, Raj Singh Chaudhary, Deepak Dobriyal, Ayesha Mohan, Jesse Randhawa, Piyush Mishra, Aditya Srivastava, is also out this year, and while there’s a lot in there to like, the film– an anthem to misguided youth, and a call to arms– ultimately misses its mark.

Naseeruddin Shah with Nandita Das on the sets of Firaaq.

Also Read | 2007: The year of Shah Rukh Khan, and small big films Bheja Fry and Black Friday

The film that surprised me most in that year was the Nandita Das fine directorial Firaaq, which was based on the Gujarat riots. It had ongoing producer trouble, managed to release finally and then vanished, but remains one of the few cinematic on-record accounts of those terrible days when Gujarat was in flames, and thousands died in the communal riots.