Readers Write In #775: My 5 Best Moments from Indian Cinema Last Year

By abishekspeare

And no, I’m not talking about my best films. This is not about the overall film holistically working (although I did love all the films in this list). This is about the director/writer mining gold from a scene, which in the hands of someone else would have just been any other scene To me, what differentiates a ‘good film’ from a ‘great film’ is not just if it “gets its job done,” but how the maker creates something original and well-realized. It’s about the conviction that has gone into taking that idea from paper to screen. And in 2024, these are the things I really, really enjoyed watching, that went beyond the usual ‘good scene’ and delivered something great:

5 – AAVESHAM: Ranga breaks down, the camera looms on Amban

The film is full of wacky ideas: the gun shooting scene, the interval fight, the towel dance. But throughout these scenes, we laugh at the film, at Ranga and Amban. When he finally had his wallow, it almost made me feel guilty for having not taken the guy that seriously. And just when the impact hits (the man mentions he doesn’t get enough likes on Instagram – 100 points for whoever came up with that one) the camera looms on Ranga’s bestie Amban. And in one second, one expression, we know how Amban feels, and we understand so much about these two characters.

4 – MEIYAZHAGAN: The men drink, the woman smiles

In a film full of beautiful scenes with the two male leads, it’s one moment involving Sri Divya’s character that made me smile the most. As Karthi and Arvind Swami are having a beer in the backyard, they start singing an Ilayaraja song. We cut to Sri Divya, who’s already lying in bed, hear this, and smile fondly. She knows what this means to Karthi’s character, and she’s so happy for him. If that’s not love…

3 – FIGHTER: Anil Kapoor reveals his relationship with Hrithik Roshan

In the most underrated film of the year for me, there are several great masala moments. The ones I loved the most were between Anil Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan, which goes beyond the usual ‘strict commander, rogue-but-talented student’ dynamic. When Anil Kapoor reveals that Hrithik is his ex-son-in-law, it’s not through direct dialogue, but through the lines “If only things were different, a father would not have lost his daughter that day.” It’s a form of filmmaking that’s almost extinct from cinema. Gooseflesh.

2 – AMAR SINGH CHAMKILA: The opening stretch

Look, as a die-hard Imtiaz Ali fan, the film didn’t hit me as much as I would have liked. But the opening stretch is pure genius, a smashing return to form for Ali after almost ten years. The five-or-so-minute stretch, supported perfectly by AR Rahman’s multidimensional Baaja, is a film in itself: it gives context, lays out the climate of Punjab, gives Chamkila’s childhood history, and explains multiple points of view…ooof.

1 – RAAYAN: Adangatha Asuran song sequence

This didn’t work for a lot of people, but I saw this as the crescendo of what the whole second half was building towards. The first half is a neatly done drama, and the second half is where Dhanush goes into the messy, Selvaraghavan zone, coming to his own as a writer. All hell breaks loose, and instead of staging a stand-off or a fight scene (both of which he does in other instances), Dhanush chooses to insert a fully choreographed song. What differentiates a generic filmmaker from an auteur is that batshit craziness, that madness. While watching the sequence, we ask “Why?” Dhanush asks “Why not?”