5. Kya Dilli Kya Lahore
Post Partition when a war breaks out, two soldiers on either side of the border are the only ones to survive at the outpost. Ironically for them, one is an Indian with his roots in Pakistan, while the other serves in the Pakistani army but hails from India. The human emotions that come out during their verbal exchange alter the course of the movie. Talented actor Vijay Raaz, who has donned several hats during his film career, decided to wield the baton for the film and did a commendable job in narrating a tale that touched the heart. Gulzar’s lyrics added their own charm to a movie that was marked with superlative performances.
4. Hawaa Hawaai
Amole Gupte, known for his penchant for making heart-warming films, came back with his son Partho to make ‘Hawaa Hawaai’, which was the story of a poor, young boy, who aspires to become a champion skater. Owing to his poverty and unable to buy himself a pair, he makes them out of scrap and wins the coach’s attention, who seeing the boy’s determination and will to excel, goes out of his way to train him. The film was commercially successful and the father-son duo’s as well as Saqib Saleem’s efforts were greatly lauded by critics and audiences alike.
3. Highway
A film relevant for today’s times, ‘Highway’ was one of Imtiaz Ali’s strongest films that he scripted for the big screen. The movie told the story of an abuse victim, who finds a friend in her abductor and develops feelings for him to the point that she never wants to return home and loves the new life on the road with the man. The film, which won several awards for its true-to-life depiction, starring Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda, garnered positive reviews for Bhatt’s portrayal of an abuse victim and her journey to self discovery.
2. PK
While the world got to know (through leaked parts of the script) that PK was about an alien, his story was tightly wrapped in secrecy until Raju Hirani’s film was released. And when it did, the entire nation agreed to its subject matter that came as an eye-opener. ‘PK’ starring Aamir Khan as the Bhojpuri-speaking alien from another golaa, searching for bhagwaan and Anushka Sharma (with her freshly-awry pout) as journalist Jaggu, became the highest grossing movie of all time (till then) and the funny film with a serious subject became an instant hit.
1. Haider
Displaying his love for the great English Bard, Vishal Bhardwaj came up with the idea of making Hamlet, setting it up in Kashmir this time. Unable to cope with the disappearance and death of his father and his mother’s growing fondness for his uncle, Haider goes all out to avenge the injustice done to his family, getting into more troubles with each step he takes. The film won five National Awards and despite all the memes and jokes made on the name of the movie, ‘Haider’ came out victorious.
Read More: Best Bollywood Movies of 2016
