The Awards season...

Back to more things prosaic and quotidian. I watched a lot of movies and read a lot of books in 2008 - perhaps as much as I used to do during college days where we were given a 'must see' movie list by our Quiz coach and the English class needed a review every fortnight. So a quick tour of the movies I saw and savoured and some which I just could not watch...

1. Oye Lucky Lucky Oye - I think it was one of the best or perhaps the best movie I saw last year ! Strange , but I just loved the movie - be it the camera, the accents, the acting and of course Abhay Deol. Move over everyone - this guy is right there ! It was the first movie I saw of his and I really enjoyed it. Now this is a Deol who can act ! But secretly I have always been a great fan of Dharam paaji too ( I still see Chupke Chupke & Sholay whenever it is playing ! )

2. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - The worst movie I have seen this year - Mr. Khan, I have decided not to visit the theatres for amy of your movies again! I never liked your 'acting' skills but this was the cake !You may be Baadshah or whatever shit, but as far as I am concerned "You are just one hell of a fortunate cookie "

3. Ghajini - OK, it was better than the Tamil version and that itself is saying a lot as Surya is as classy an actor as Aamir. Aamir has done the fab job and now a benchmark on 8 pack abs is sure going to give his compatriots nightmares. He is truly the best ! The discussion is over.

4. Rock On - Different and a good acting ensemble and neat movie. Hopefully it will pave way to some decent scripts to the movies.

5. Wednesday - Good ! I don't normally get surprises when I watch movies but Pandeyji - the twist was good and Naseer Saab - Tussi thop ho ! I watched it on DVD and watched it twice back to back.

6. Aamir - Absolute surprise of a movie. I never knew some of these Ekta Kapoor employees can act - This Rajeev guy was just right for the role and of course with a script and background score like that - you can't get it wrong

7. Jaane Tu ... OK, maybe I am too old for this gelato and chuski - though again I loved Naseer Saab on the wall !

8. Jodha Akbar - Well, a very hardworking movie ! You know the kind of class mate in school who would slog through out the year and then again burn the midnight oil on the exam eve too and chew all his finger nails and look nerdy and be the teacher's favorite. Well for me that was Jodha Akbar - But music - ARR rocks !

9. Tashan - Sorry no review ! I actually slept in the theatre inspite of my wife nudging me throughout to control my gentle musical snore !

10. Roadside Romeo - My daughter's ( She will 4 years in Feb) favorite movie and hence we went to the theatre and dutifully bought the DVD and saw it more than 20 times ! But frankly I loved Javed Jaffery's bull dog Anna ! He is perhaps the most underrated, unlucky brilliant star - imagine we have brain dead turkeys who are more popular him.

11. Dostana - Not for me ! I did not see too much humor in it and it takes more than yellow underwear, John Abraham and svelte Priyanka to drag me to the movies.

12. Fashion - OK , now the Madhur Bhandarkar style is getting monotonous and trite. Though I sure did some good performances from the female stars

My film awards for the year

Best Screen Play : Wednesday

Best Original Story : Wednesday

Best Musical Score : A.R.Rahman - Jodhaa Akbar

Best Lyrics : Prasoon Joshi - Guzarish

Best Art Direction : Jodhaa Akbar

Best Costume Design : Jodhaa Akbar & Oye Lucky Lucky Oye

Best Cinematography : Aamir

Best Animated feature film : Roadside Romeo

Best Film editing : Aamir

Best Regional Language Film : Kadha Parayumbol ( Malayalam - Original of 'Billu Barber')

Best Actor ( Female ) Debut : Asin Thottumkal

Best Actor ( Male ) Debut: Farhan Akthar

Best Actor in a villanous role : Ashwini Khalsekar in Phoonk

Best Actor in a comic role : Javed Jaffery in Roadside Romeo

Best Actor ( Female ) in a supporting role : Shahana Goswami in Rock On & Kangana Ranaut in Fashion
Best Actor ( Male ) in a supporting role : Ravi Jhankal in Welcome to Sajjanpur
Best Actor ( Female ) in a leading role : Priyanka Chopra in Fashion

Best Actor ( Male ) in a leading role : Naseeruddin Shah in Wednesday

Best Direction : Dipankar Banerjee & Neeraj Pandey ( Consolation prize to Ashutosh Gowarikar :-))

Best Picture : Wednesday & Oye Lucky Lucky Oye

Life time achievement award : Gulzaar

Special Jury Award : Abhay Deol for Oye Lucky Lucky Oye