BOLLYWOOD

This year was definitely better than most of the earlier ones as far as the Bollywood industry is conerned. Atleast, even though there weren't many hits, for the first time we had movies that were different and daring in many ways.

Some worked well, some found select audiences, and some experiments went terribly wrong.

But the top 10 movies of this year, according to MoviemagiK is...

10.  NAYAK

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Amrish Puri

Music : A.R.Rahman    Dir: Shankar

9.  CHORI CHORI CHUPKE CHUPKE

Cast: Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Amrish Puri

Music : anu Malik    Dir: Abbas Mustan

8.  MOKSHA

Cast: Arjun Ramphal, Manisha Koirala

Music : Rajesh Roshan   Dir: Ashok Mehta

7.  CHANDNI BAR

Cast: Tabu, Atul Kulkarni

Music : Raju Singh    Dir: Madhur Bhandarkar

6.  PYAAR TUNE KYA KIYA

Cast: Fardeen Khan, Urmila Matondkar, Sonali Kulkarni

Music : Sandeep Chowtha    Dir: Rajat Mukherjee

5.  KABHI KUSHI KABHIE GHAM

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol, Kareena, Rani Mukherjee and Jaya Bachchan

Music : Jatin-Lalit    Dir: Karan Johar

4.  GADAR

Cast: Sunny Deol, Amisha Patel

Music : Uttam Singh    Dir: Anil Sharma

3.  DIL CHAHTA HAI

Cast: Aamir Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni & Dimple Kapadia

Music : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy   Dir: Farhan Akthar

2. MONSOON WEDDING

Cast:  Naserudin Shah, Lilette Dubey, Vasundhara Das, Shefalli Shetty

 Dir: Mira Nair

1. LAGAAN

Cast:  Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh

Music : A.R. Rahman   Dir: Ashutosh Gowarikar

Note:

BOLLYWOOD CALLING and MONSOON WEDDING are two of those movies that could easily break into this list. But since I haven't got an oppurtunity to see either of them till date, I guess they will be considered as special cases!

The top 10 movies listed here are strictly my views and I would be only glad to know of the opinion of the readers out there.

As far as Box office is concerned, there were only 3 superhits : GADAR, LAGAAN & KABHI KUSHI KABHIE GHAM.

other movies that did average business include MUJHE KUCHH KEHNA HAI, CHORI CHORI CHUPKE CHUPKE, JODI No.1, EK RISHTAA, KASOOR, RHTDM, INDIAN

Aamir Khan did hit it big with two big success. Closely followed by Sunny Deol. Shahrukh had two flops - One 2 Ka 4 and Asoka before he survived with K3G.

Aamir Khan did hit it big with two big success. Kajol was impressive in K3G and Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi. But the yer still belonged to Kareena Kapoor with Mujhe Kuch Kehnaa Hai, Yaadein, Ajnabee, Asoka and K3G

TAMIL INDUSTRY 2001

DISASTROUS & DISAPPOINTING. None of the tamil movies failed to sizzle at the box office. First of all, none of the movies had the makings of a blockbuster even though it had heavily paid stars and expensive production costs. And to top it, the VCD piracy is so strong and at large that it is even affecting the potential foreign markets too.

Surprisingly the two of the biggest hits of the year are both remakes from Malayalam superhits. The beginning of the year saw Vijay-Surya come together in Friends, directed by the original director Siddique himself, and then by the end of the year came Vinayan's Kasi starring Vikram, a remake of Vasenthiyum Lakmiyum Pinne Njanum.

Vikram was the real winner of 2001 where besides his outstanding show as a blind man in Kasi, he also had the superhit action flick Dhil to his credit. 

Also close on the heels was Surya who had a winner with Friends and then one with Nandhaa later the year.

Ajit found moderate success with DHEENA and the over-hyped CITIZEN. But the same cannot be said of Vijay who suffered set backs with BHADRI and SHAH JAHAN.

Two of the big budget yet experimental flicks failed to take off. These were Kamal Hassan's mega-budget Aalavandhan and the other cinematographer Jeeva's Sliding Doors inspired flick - 12B.

Vijaykanth also had a bad year with Vanchinatha, Narasimma and Thavaasi.

Last year's sensation Madhavan had a good start with Minnale and Dum Dum Dum, but sadly his much awaited Parthale Paravasum was one of the worst movies of the year. Shocking to find a K. Balachander movie so rotten.

Mammooty however carried a family flick  Aanandham on his shoulders to one of the top slots.

Jyothika was simply disappointing all through out the year and had the same roles to play over and over again. Simran was just average. None of the newcomers could manage to stay on and create an impression. But if there was a female that found some fan following, it has to be Mumtaz who is now rising from the status of just an item number to supporting roles.

MALAYALM INDUSTRY 2001 

This industry fared no better either. While there was a shocking 90 releases, 45 of them were Shakeela led soft porn movies.

Dileep had the best year of his career. His late 2000 releases  - Darling Darling and Tenkassipatnam continued its wonderful run into the new year. And mid-2001, came one of the biggest profit making films of 2001 - Ee parakkum Thalika. Also he had average hits with Dosth, and Vinayan's Rakshasa Rajavu. Then there was this bumper success of Ishtam where Dileep & Nedumudi Venu had a wonderful pairing. And by Christmas came his Lohitdas flick Soothradharan which might end up on an average note.

Supermegastar Mohanlal salvaged some pride with the succes of Ravanaprabhu. But his Kakakuyil was a disappointing venture and could only manage average performance. His Xmas  release Praja also has nothing much to provide.

He also had two guest appearances in two flop films - Onnaman and Achaneyaan enikku ishtam.

Mammooty had two late releases with Rakshasa Rajavu and Dubai. While the former was considered an average hit, thanks to the bumper initial, the latter, the much delayed and expensive Dubai bombed disastrously.

Suresh Gopi has a so-so year. While movies like Randaam Bhavam, Saivor Thirumeni and Megha Sandesham failed....his comic show in Sundarapurushan did decent performance and so did his action flick Nariman.

Jayaram had a lot of similar family entertainers one after the other and while none of them were major hits, all of them did quite decently. These include  Sharjah To Sharjah, Naranathu Thampura, Vakalathu Narayankutty and Uthaman. His offbeat art flick Theerthadanam was a career best show though. And at the end of the year came One Man Show which might just do the trick for Jayaram at the  box office

The big hit of the year was Vinayan's Karumaadi Kuttan that did bumper business even though the lead man was Kalabhavan Mani. However Mani's other movie Akashathe Paravakul failed to recreate the same.

Another notable film showed up at the end of the year, and that was the small -budget film from director Kamal, the Biju Menon-Samyuktha starrer Megha malhaar.

Successful directors of the year were Vinayan (karumadi kuttan & rakshasa Rajavu), Sibi Malayil (Ishtam), Kamal (Megha Malhaar), Renjith (RavanaPrabhu) and Sathyan Anthikad (Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka).

Joshi-Renji Panicker is the worst of the lot with Dubai and Praja.