When
I
look
back
at
2024
at
the
movies,
it
feels
like
it
lacked
that
extra
something.
Most
films
felt
like
recycled
formulas
wanting
to
reclaim
the
box
office
by
hook
or
crook.
And
the
ones
that
did
try
to
be
different
could
neither
sustain
their
momentum
nor
our
excitement.
Despite
the
mediocrity
at
large,
these
10
films
had
me
in
raptures
for
the
emotions
they
evoked
within
as
a
cheering
audience,
critic
and
cinephile.
Sukanya
Verma‘s
Top
10
Films
of
2024,
in
no
particular
order.
Kill
From
my
review:
An
ultra-violent
film
about
violence,
Kill‘s
greatest
accomplishment
isn’t
its
death
count
alone
but
to
challenge
our
perception
of
violence.
Between
the
gut-punching
gratification
it
delivers,
there’s
also
food
for
thought
in
comparing
evil
born
out
of
necessity
as
well
as
retaliation
depending
on
which
side
of
the
socioeconomic
spectrum
one
belongs
to.
Heroes
coming
to
the
rescue
by
beating
a
dozen
baddies
into
pulp
is
a
timeworn
trope
in
Hindi
movies.
What
sweetens
the
deal
is
the
element
of
complexity
in
both
good
and
bad
and
the
bloody
heights
their
unbridled
aggression
attains
when
lines
of
morality
are
blurred.
All
We
Imagine
As
Light
From
my
review:
Payal
Kapadia’s
understanding
of
what
it
means
to
be
a
woman
is
as
poignant
as
her
authentic
portrait
of
Mumbai’s
hoi
polloi.
Payal’s
veteran-like
ease
in
arthouse
aesthetics
illuminates
All
We
Imagine
As
Light‘s
uncompromised
ideals
as
it
speaks
to
its
audience
in
Malayalam,
Hindi
and
a
sprinkling
of
Marathi.
But
it’s
the
wisdom
of
her
sparkling
mind
and
mastery
of
her
layered
writing
that
promoted
her
right
away
in
the
big
league.
With
this
just
one
115-minute
long
film,
she
packs
in
days
of
reflection,
hours
of
insight
and
moments
of
joy.
And
light.
CTRL
From
my
review:
Vikramaditya
Motwane’s
riveting,
masterful
CTRL,
penned
by
Avinash
Sampath,
uses
this
prevailing
landscape
of
handy
Apps
and
manipulative
tech
to
craft
a
cautionary
thriller
about
a
pair
of
influencers
caught
in
its
grasp.
But
the
real
tech-savviness
of
his
screenlife
format,
where
the
storytelling
unfolds
entirely
on
computer
and
cell
phone
screens,
shows
in
how
he
builds
nail-biting
moments
over
scenes
of
password
recovery
and
sneaky
virtual
assistants.
That
constant
feeling
of
being
heard,
seen,
traced
and
tracked,
whenever
a
subject
of
search
or
discussion
is
caught
on
by
an
algorithm
to
throw
up
ads
and
offers,
is
conspicuous
throughout
the
course
of CTRL‘s
claustrophobic
captivity.
I
would
recommend
watching
it
on
a
computer
for
an
eerie,
immersive,
real-time
experience.
Laapataa
Ladies
From
my
review:
Laapataa
Ladies
is
gentle
yet
firm
in
calling
out
the
hypocrisies
colouring
everyday
mindsets
and
prejudices
without
acquiring
the
high-handedness
of
a
crusader.
Unlike
Rao’s
savvy
exploration
of
urban
conflicts
in
her
directorial
debut
Dhobi
Ghat,
which
felt
a
tad
too
self-conscious
to
be
fully
empathetic,
the
film-maker
is
completely
at
home
in
the
rustic,
rooted
ambiance
of
Laapataa
Ladies.
There’s
a
lot
more
sureness
in
her
craft,
her
impeccable
use
of
Ram
Sampath’s
folksy
tunes,
her
depiction
of
the
heartland
in
all
its
bustling
bazaars
and
bucolic
imprints,
her
ability
to
find
laugh-out-loud
comic
moments
in
offhand
impulses
and
her
cheerful
marriage
between
vishwas
and
vigyan.
Amar
Singh
Chamkila
From
my
review:
Imtiaz
A=li’s
earlier
works
dabble
in
journeys
leading
to
self-discovery,
contemporary
coming-of-ages
or
meet-cute
whimsy.
In
Amar
Singh
Chamkila,
his
most
revolutionary
creation
since
Geet
and
Jordan,
he
revisits
a
decade
worth
of
memories
to
document
a
man
on
the
fringes
coming
up
in
life
by
regaling
an
audience
who
loves
his
guts.
Amar
Singh
Chamkila‘s
social
commentary
comes
alive
in
its
musical
elegy
for
a
ribald
rebel.
Brimming
in
exuberant
covers
of
his
original
numbers,
performed
in
person
by
its
leads,
the
biopic
finds
its
alter
ego
in
Irshad
Kamil’s
kaleidoscopic
song
writing.
Composer
A
R
Rahman
is
happy
to
accommodate
the
zeal
of
his
many,
many,
beautiful
words
in
beats
so
sublime
they
do
perfect
justice
to
Punjab’s
fabled
Elvis
Presley.
Do
Aur
Do
Pyaar
From
my
review:
Based
on
the
indie
rom-com
The
Lovers
that
premiered
at
the
Tribeca
film
festival
in
2017,
its
official
Indian
adaptation
by
Suprotim
Sengupta
and
Eisha
A
Chopra
veers
away
from
the
American
original’s
middle-aged
existentialism
to
offer
a
frothy,
fun-filled
look
into
enduring
friendships
in
marital
relationships.
Even
when
Do
Aur
Do
Pyaar
surrenders
to
its
‘You
don’t
realise
how
much
you
miss
something
until
you
have
it
again’
impulses,
its
farcical
premise
is
always
in
touch
with
its
emotional
core.
I
Want
to
Talk
From
my
review:
Shoojit
Sircar
has
a
knack
for
drawing
the
oddities
of
the
human
condition
that
both
unifies
and
tells
us
apart.
Inspired
by
Arjun
Sen’s
memoir
Raising
A
Father,
I
Want
to
Talk
chronicles
the
inspiring
journey
of
a
marketing
virtuoso-turned-motivational
speaker
from
fatal
diagnosis
to
surviving
all
odds.
I
Want
to
Talk
is
a
celebration
of
Sen’s
tenacity
to
get
to
the
finishing
line
in
hell,
hospital
and
humour.
Abhishek
Bachchan
conveys
the
numerous
chapters
and
challenges
of
his
mind,
body
and
soul
with
a
never-before
candour.
It’s
not
just
his
best
but
the
beginning
of
how
far
he’s
willing
to
go
in
immersing
himself
with
not
just
a
persona
but
the
idea
of
staying
alive.
Even
an
appearance
by
the
real
Arjun
Sen
towards
the
end
cannot
lessen
that
achievement.
Merry
Christmas
From
my
review:
Crime
at
its
cold-blooded
best
attracts
him
as
much
nostalgia
fuelled
by
classic
cinema.
But
with
Merry
Christmas,
Sriram
Raghavan
may
have
made
his
most
romantic
movie
yet.
Shimmering
with
spellbinding
charisma
and
treacherous
impulses,
it
is
a
one
night’s
tale
unfolding
on
X’mas
eve
in
Bombay,
before
it
became
Mumbai,
at
an
unspecified
time
that
could
be
anywhere
between
the
late
1980s
or
mid
1990s.
I
was
prepared
to
be
marvelled
by
Merry
Christmas,
but
to
be
moved
to
the
extent
I
was
at
the
end
of
its
mesmerising
144
minutes?
That
I
did
not
anticipate.
Kalki
2898
AD
From
my
review:
I’m
suspicious
of
anything
that
comes
with
the
‘most
expensive
movie
ever
made’
tag.
These
big-budget,
bombastic
extravaganzas
are
so
consumed
by
scale
they
forget
to
let
their
hair
down.
But
the
force
is
strong
with
Nag
Ashwin’s
Kalki
2898
AD
whose
Hollywood
dystopia-meets-Hindu
mythology
gig
is
a
welcome
offering
on
the
shuddh
desi
sci-fi
action
fantasy
front.
Clearly
fanboying
at
Star
Wars
and
Mad
Max:
Fury
Road
in
its
aspirations,
Kalki
2898
AD‘S
visual
pizzazz
and
wizardry
takes
cues
from
everything
between
Avengers
and
anime.
But
Nag
Ashwin’s
world-building
is
most
gratifying
when
following
its
own
path
and
roots.
All
India
Rank
From
my
review:
What
struck
me
most
is
the
gentle
rhythm
of
Varun
Grover’s
film-making.
A
worldview,
where
wry
and
wistful
blissfully
coexist,
colours
the
nostalgia
of
the
writer-turned-director’s
feature
debut
while
he
revisits
some
of
his
own
experiences
as
an
engineering
student
in
1990s
India.
What
is
seamless
though
is
Grover’s
love
for
language.
His
curious
choice
of
words
and
phrases
within
the
vast
North
Indian
dialect
are
telling
of
his
gorgeous
knowledge
of
Hindi,
which
lends
the
soundtrack
and
conversations
a
melody
of
their
own.
It’s
not
all
retro
touches
and
embellishments.
Under
All
India
Rank‘s
seemingly
calm
exterior
is
a
profoundly
felt
existentialism
that
aches
and
soothes
in
equal
measure.
