2007! What an amazing year! Each month, it gave some wonderful movies and overall, the year was thoroughly enjoyable. And like every year, we moviegoers got some shocks and surprises! Movies from which expectations were little or negligible like Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, The Namesake, Bheja Fry, Chak De! India, Johnny Gaddaar, Dil Dosti Etc, Jab We Met, Taare Zameen Par etc. stroked gold at the BO! And movies from which one expected a lot like Salaam-E-Ishq, Eklavya, Nishabd, Water, Fool N Final, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Awarapan, Naqaab, Cash, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, No Smoking, SAAWARIYA, Dus Kahaniyaan, Khoya Khoya Chand, Return Of Hanuman etc failed to set the BO on fire.

Like every year, this year too it was difficult for me to pick up the ten best movies. So this year instead of 10, I have prepared my list of twelve best movies! Even preparing the list of 12 movies was a tough task! So below is the list. Hope you like it!

1. Guru
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwariya Rai, Mithun Chakraborthy, Vidya Balan
Director: Mani Ratnam
Producer: Mani Ratnam and Late G Srinivasan (Madras Talkies)
Release Date: January 12, 2007
The movie brilliantly traced the life of Gurukant Desai from being a small worker in Turkey to India’s biggest industrialist of India. Abhishek Bachchan gave a great performance and it is he who completely deserves the Best Actor award. Aishwariya was great so was Mithun and Vidya Balan. Mani Ratnam’s direction was brilliant and the film was a super-hit, which it completely deserved!

2. Black Friday
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Pawan Malhotra, Aditya Srivastav
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Producer: Arindam Mitra (Mid Day Multimedia Ltd)
Release Date: February 9, 2007
I call this movie a ‘masterpiece’. It was brilliantly executed by Anurag Kashyap. There were so many characters, so many sub-plots, so many incidents occurring, yet you don’t feel confused. And the screenplay was powerful, which kept the viewer engrossed. And the performances by all the three actors were fabulous! Unfortunately, the film was just average at the BO; at some places even a flop.

3. Water
Cast: John Abraham, Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas, Sarala
Director: Deepa Mehta
Producer: David Hamilton
Release Date: March 9, 2007
Water had a disturbing subject of a bygone era but it was handled brilliantly by Deepa Mehta. Her way of storytelling was simple but though it was gripping and made the movie very touching. John gives one of the finest performances of his career. Even Seema Biswas and Sarala did a great job. But it was very sad that the movie sank at the Box Office.

4. Ta Ra Rum Pum
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherji
Director: Siddharth Anand
Producer: Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra (Yash Raj Films)
Release Date: April 27, 2007
This flick has faced unnecessary criticism. It is said to be a flop movie or a damp squib, and that it got thumbs down from the ‘aam janta’ as well. I completely disagree and I am completely justified. First of all, how can one say it was a flop? Do these people even know anything about its box office collections? It was a super-hit, not only in overseas but also in India. And who says people didn’t liked it? Firstly, many critics gave the movie thumbs up. And majority of the people I came across loved it. In my opinion, the movie was excellent with everything perfect-performances, story, direction, music, background score and the nail-biting climax!

5. Shootout At Lokhandwala
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Tushaar Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan and others
Director: Apoorva Lakhia
Producer: Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt (White Feather Films) and Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor (Balaji Motion Pictures)
Release Date: May 25, 2007
This was my most awaited movie of the year! And fortunately it met all my expectations! The movie was an excellent fast-paced action flick which kept the interest of the viewers throughout. And Vivek Oberoi gave an outstanding performance. It is really sad to see him not getting award for the Best Actor in a negative role (in the Screen Awards).

6. Gandhi My Father
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Darshan Jariwala
Director: Feroz Abbas Khan
Producer: Anil Kapoor (Anil Kapoor Film Company)
Release Date: August 3, 2007
This was one of the finest period movies of Bollywood. The film wonderfully depicted the life of Gandhi and his son Harilal. Both the actors Akshaye Khanna and Darshan Jariwala deserve the highest praise for their wonderful performance. Unfortunately, the film was missed by many. But I’ll like to advise all the Indians and history lovers to watch this film at least once!

7. Chak De! India
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Vidya Malvade, Shilpa Shukla, Sagarika Ghatke and others
Director: Shimit Amin
Producer: Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra (Yash Raj Films)
Release Date: August 10, 2007
The film was the surprise blockbuster of the year! Nobody expected this film expected this flick to be so good and such a big hit. I still vividly remember I had gone to a South Mumbai theatre on the 1st day of the movie to book tickets for the 3rd day. And none of the shows were full. But as soon as people got the over positive reports, the collections of the movie started jumping upwards and when I went to watch the movie on the 3rd day, the shows of the entire week were already house full! That’s the power of SRK-Yash Chopra! The movie was rocking and completely flawless. SRK was excellent like never before. And the girls too did a great job especially Shilpa Shukla who played Bindia Naik in the movie! And great work by Jaideep Sahni and Shimit Amin too! Chak De!

8. Dhokha
Cast: Muzzamil Ibrahim, Tulip Joshi, Gulshan Grover
Director: Pooja Bhatt
Producer: Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt (Vishesh Films) and Pooja Bhatt (Fish Eye Network)
Release Date: August 31, 2007
This flick was an eye-opener. It had a great story with a brilliant and strong social message. Muzzamil failed a bit but it was Tulip Joshi and Gulshan Grover who were the best performers in this movie. This was a not-to-be missed movie but unfortunately, it was missed my many because of which the film was a flop.

9. Johnny Gaddaar
Cast: Neil Mukesh, Rimi Sen, Dharmendra, Vinay Pathak, Zakir Hussain
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Adlabs Films
Release Date: September 28, 2007
One word is enough to describe the movie-twsiter! The film has countless twists and turns because of which the film can be watched again and again! Hats off to Sriram Raghavan for doing such a fine job and also for launching Neil Mukesh who is a solid wonderful performer! Due to wrong release time, the film was not a huge BO success. But I’ll like to advise all those who have missed this one to watch it at least once and have a enjoyable gala time!

10. Bhool Bhulaiyaa
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Shiney Ahuja, Amisha Patel and others
Director: Priyadarshan
Producer: Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar (T Series Films)
Release Date: October 12, 2007
One of the greatest films of Priyadarshan, Bhool Bhulaiyaa was entertaining, touching as well as horrifying and thrilling. Many movie critics gave the movie thumbs down and expected the moviegoers to do the same but they were wrong. The moviegoers loved the flick and it became one of the super-hits of the year. The two songs-the title track and the Bengali song-overnight became the anthem of the nation! And Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan’s performance were outstanding and deserved the highest praise!

11. Om Shanti Om
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Shreyas Talpade, Arjun Rampal
Director: Farah Khan
Producer: Gauri Khan (Red Chillies Entertainment)
Release Date: November 9, 2007
In my opinion, Om Shanti Om was the biggest entertainer of the year! It had everything one would want from a complete entertainer-comedy, romance, action, suspense, songs, dance, drama, emotions and an added bonus-reincarnation! Everything was perfect in this movie-right from performances to direction, story, screenplay and humour content! The film got into some problems (the multiplex issue first then the Manoj Kumar laughable controversy!). But though, the film went on to become India’s biggest blockbuster inspite of the fact that it was not a solo release and that it was released with another biggie, Saawariya!! No matter SRK is hailed as ‘BAADSHAH OF BOLLYWOOD’ which he truly and completely deserves!

12. Taare Zameen Par
Cast: Aamir Khan, Darsheel Safary
Director: Aamir Khan
Producer: Aamir Khan (Aamir Khan Productions)
Release Date: December 21, 2007
I didn’t had much expectation from this one and it was also not on my movies-to-be-watched list. But the worldwide appreciation with not a single criticism compelled to watch it and TZP became one of my all time favourite movie! Aamir Khan did a splendid job both as an actor and as a director. The movie leaves completely spellbound. Darsheel Safary was outstanding. Special mention should also be made of Amole Gupte and Deepa Bhatia. It is happy to see that even after the movie completed 4 weeks, it is still running house full at many places! I hope this continues for many weeks to come.

Movies which also deserved to be on this list: Salaam-E-Ishq (yes you read it right!), 1971, Bheja Fry, Life in a…Metro, Raqeeb, Awarapan, Naqaab, Heyy Babyy, Dhamaal, Jab We Met, Dus Kahaniyaan and Welcome

Movies I wanted but unfortunately couldn’t: Anwar, Nishabd, Hattrick, The Namesake, Provoked, Fool N Final, Swami, Dharm, The Blue Umbrella, Darling, Nanhe Jaisalmer, Aggar, Dhol, Manorama Six Feet Under, Its Breaking News, Speed, Bal Ganesh, Mumbai Salsa, Saawariya, Khoya Khoya Chand, Strangers, Return Of Hanuman and Showbiz.

Now 2008 has started and it seems we are going to get a lot of entertaining and paisa-vasool movies till the end of it. And there’s a long list of it (!): Rajkumar Santoshi’s Halla Bol (released), Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar, Rohit Shetty’s Sunday and Golmaal Returns, Abbas-Mustan’s Race and Mr Fraud, Rumi Jaffery’s God Tussi Great Ho, Feroz Khan’s Qurbani, Mani Shankar’s Mukhbir, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion, Vivek Vaswani’s Dulha Mil Gaya, E Niwas’s My Name is Anthony Gonsalves (released and flopped!) and De Taali, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Bombay To Bangkok (released), Aashayein and 8×10, Atul Agnihotri’s Hello, Sanjay Gupta’s Woodstock Willa and Alibaug, Subhash Ghai’s Right Yaa Wrong, Black And White and Yuvraaj, Anees Bazmee and Vipul Shah’s Singh Is Kinng, Anees Bazmee’s Welcome:2, No Entry Mein Entry (sequel to No Entry) and Hera Pheri:3, Indra Kumar’s Dhamaal 2, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Dilli 6, Rohan Sippy and Nikhil Advani’s From Chandni Chowk to China, Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar Raaj, Ravi Chopra’s Bhootnath, Sujoy Ghosh’s Aladdin, Jahnu Barua’s Har Pall, Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear, Sanjay Gadhvi’s Kidnap, Ganesh Acharya’s Money Hai To Honey Hai, Goldie Behl’s Drona, Mahesh Bhatt’s Raaz 2 and Jannat, Yash Chopra’s Tashan, Roadside Romeo (animated) and maybe Dhoom:3, Karan Johar’s My Name is Khan, Aziz Mirza’s Lucky Charm, Aamir Khan’s Ghajini Remake, Uri Patel’s Ramayan, Sudhir Mishra’s Tera Kya Hoga Johnny, Sriram Raghavan’s Johnny Tokyo, Prabhu Deva’s Wanted Dead Or Alive, Satish Kaushik’s Karzzz and Tere Sang, Pooja Bhatt’s Kajra Re, Anurag Basu’s Suicide Bomber, S Ramanathan’s Zamaanat, Rakesh Roshan’s Krrish 2 and Krazzy 4 and Farhan Akhtar’s Don: 2 and Voice From The Sky! Whew! 2008 will certainly rock! Isn’t it?

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2. Big ticket movies scramble for releases in coming months
3. Tashan: How worse YRF can be now?
4. Seven big films waiting for release
5. Yash Raj Bad Times