Best Bollywood films of 2014: 'Queen', 'Haider', 'PK', 'Highway' and 'Dedh Ishqiya'

2014 has been the year of the unexpected in Bollywood. This year we have seen big star vehicles like Salman Khan’s Jai Ho fail at box office, while the gen next actors of B-town like Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor stood tall, rubbing shoulders with established superstars of the Bollywood.

But one thing that remained common as last year, was the emergence of few class films from plethora of crass. This year, over 120 films hit the big screens and many big budget star flicks made insane money at box office. But I am not here to talk about the highest grossers of the year. I am here to carefully pick 5 films that could be called as this year’s best, based on the mixture of content and entertainment value. Without wasting more time, I present 5 of the finest films of 2014:

Queen

This year there were quite a few women centric films like Priyanka Chopra’s Mary Kom, Rani Mukherjee’s Mardaani or Vidya Balan’s Bobby Jasoos. But these films lacked the genuine simplicity which a sweet little film called Queen had. Vikas Bahl’s Queen is a gem of film, telling the tale of Rani, who discovers her true independent self when she goes on her honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam all alone. The title character played magnificently by super talented Kangana Ranaut, bowls you over with her innocence, naivety and her iron will. Queen is a film, which no one expected to become a huge hit, but went on to become the sleeper hit of the year, showcasing Kangana Ranaut in a whole new light. It is a film to which every girl could connect to. It is a film which could make a guy like me scream something as girly as,'Way to go, gurl!', rooting for our Rani from start to finish.

PK

One of the year’s best film was saved for the last. After hogging on a sumptuous platter of films all year long, PK was like the best dessert any one could ever have at the end of the meal. Aamir Khan-Rajkumar Hirani magic worked wonders as PK not only managed to keep me hooked with it’s entertainment value, but also sweetly conveyed an important message without hurting people’s sentiments. Aamir Khan, hypnotised with his wide eyed antics, making sure that you revel in his act of alien asking basic yet thought provoking questions to us earthlings. Hats off to Aamir, Hirani and the entire PK team for making such a brave film. PK is one of those very few films which hits the sweet spot, combining box office success and audience satisfaction.

Haider

Shahid Kapoor joined hands with Vishal Bharwaj to give one of the most intense film of the year, in the form of Shakespeare’s Hamlet adaptation, Haider. With a star cast of such high calibre at his disposal, Bhardwaj brilliantly adapted the story of Hamlet to Kashmir’s militancy situation. In a film with stellar performances from Kay Kay Menon, Irrfan Khan and Tabu, Shahid Kapoor managed to carve a niche for himself, sending shivers down my spine with his blood thirsty act, seeking revenge for his father’s death. Even after being a dark film, Haider never had a dull moment, always keeping me glued to the screen with it’s high voltage drama. As I walked out of the theatres, still shaken by Haider’s impact, somewhere I was glad that Haider showed that there is still hope for serious thought provoking cinema in Bollywood.

Highway

Imtiaz Ali’s Highway gave Alia Bhatt, perhaps her most iconic role of her career, which she latched on to with both hands. The film which told the tale of a young woman finding liberation on the road, when she was abducted away from her home, was loved by movie goers across all platforms. Randeep Hooda, as the brooding, harsh abductor made solid impact with limited dialogues, but the film was mounted on Alia’s slender shoulders, which she carried with such panache, bowling you over with her simple girly charm. The movie also bravely speaks against child abuse. The scene where, Randeep Hooda sees his mother in Alia Bhatt, can make even stone hearts melt like ice.

Dedh Ishqiya

Abhishek Chaubey’s sequel to extremely quirky entertainer Ishqiya, tells the story of thieving cons Khalu and Babban, played with such perfection and finnese by Naseerudin Shah and Arshad Warsi respectively. Inspired from Ismat Chughtai’s story, the film also marked terrific comeback of Madhuri Dixit. With Arshad Warsi’s raw quirkyness, Naseerudin’s fine Urdu poetry, Vijay Raaz’s extremely effective villainous act and two hilarious Mexican stand offs, Dedh Ishqiya turned out to be an entertaining black comedy. Overall, Dedh Ishqiya proved that you don’t need Khan’s to make a good movie. You only need a good story.