The year 2010 will go down as an average year in the annals of Bollywood. The story was more or less the same as every year’s. Too many films, too few hit films and even fewer good films! But amongst the multitude of run-of-the-mill or downright dud films, a few films did stand out. I managed to see most of the films that mattered but still have quite a few left in my ‘To view’-list! From that viewing experience and from the word of mouth/ word of media, here is my take on 2010 Bollywood fares.

The actors

Let’s begin with the Khan-trinity. King Khan Shahrukh’s only outing this year was in best buddy Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan. The film was successful and even Khan delivered a fine performance as an Asperger’s syndrome-affected individual crusading against terrorism and religion-based type-casting of terrorists. His perennially vibrant chemistry with Kajol was once again apparent and it was duly appreciated.

Following his Three Idiots super-success in 2009, Aamir Khan stayed away from the silver screen in 2010. He kept himself busy working in his wife Kiran Rao’s off-the-track film Dhobi Ghat.

Salman – (the usually sidelined Khan!) was the biggest success of the year. He began the year on the wrong foot through Veer – an outdated British Raj-days violent love-story, which he himself had penned. But then he delivered the year’s biggest blockbuster in Dabangg. His portrayal of the dare-devil corrupt cop was simply Paisa Vasool in Bollywood box-office lingo. He later capped his golden run by winning over the TV audiences as a winsome host of the controversial reality show Big Boss.

Akshay Kumar suffered multiple setbacks through flop films like Khatta Meetha, Action Replayy and Tees Mar Khan. Even though his brand of inane humor succeeded in Housefull, it is now becoming quite clear that he would need some serious soul-searching to find a new winning formula.

Hrithik Roshan competed with Akshay for the worst box-office fate. His two ambitious ventures – Kites (a love-story mounted in a Western style) and Guzaarish (a Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s indulgent tale about a paralysed magician and his relationship with his nurse), both failed big time. Although, the latter did get some good reviews from the critics.

Shahid Kapoor too failed to score a bull’s eye and missed the cut in films like Chance Pe Dance, Paathshaala, Badmash Company and a revived-from-the- cans Milenge Milenge. Ranbir Kapoor wowed with a memorable performance in Rajneeti, a Prakash Jha- multi-starrer film, which weaved together elements of Mahabharat and Godfather. But his success story came to a grinding halt in Ajaana Anjaani – a far-fetched, Hollywood-influenced rom-com about two on-the-run suicide survivors.

Imran Khan scored a much-needed hit in I Hate Luv Storys, a predictable but cleverly packaged romantic comedy musing about love and friendship. But the same formula did not work for him in Break Ke Baad. The other Imran – sorry Emraan (Hashmi!) did well in company of Ajay Devgan and the duo’s Mumbai underworld drama Once Upon A Time In Mumbai was successful in wooing crowds. Ajay’s home production once again proved lucky with its Golmaal franchise and Golmaal 3 with its over-the-top, mindless rib-tickling was declared a hit! Ajay’s serious foray into socially relevant topics like honour killings and caste-politics in North India in Aakrosh found few takers, though. The film had the potential but lost its way in blood, gore and repetitive sequences.

Abhishek Bachchan faced one of the hardest years and both his efforts – Raavan (where he played a fugitive bandit) and Khelenge Hum Jeee Jaan Se (where he played a freedom-fighter) were panned heavily.

Newcomer Ranveer Singh made a promising debut in Band Baaja Baraat,a low budgest Yash raj film, which surprisingly became the studio’s biggest hit in recent times.

The actresses

Practically no actress could wield a strong hold on box-office. Deepika Padukone had a forgettable year full of flops like Lafangey Parindey, Break ke Baad and Khelenge Hum Jee Jaan Se. Priyanka Chopra too did not fare well and both her films Pyar Impossible and Ajaana Anjaani sank without a trace. Bipasha Basu’s efforts in reinventing her image in a serious mould through films like Lamha and Aakrosh were rejected by the masses. Mallika Sherawat’s special effects-driven ‘snake’y performace in Hiss was given a miss by most people. After a winning Rajneeti portrayal in Sonia- mode Katrina Kaif suffered her worst flop in Tees Maar Khan and Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan too missed the bus in Raavan and Guzaarish!

But all was not lost for everyone. Kajol’s comeback was memorable in My Name Is Khan. Sonam Kapoor did well in I Hate Luv Storys and Aisha. Sonakshi Sinha was the toast of tinsel-town with an assured debut performance in Dabangg and Anushka Sharma, after stumbling in Badmash Company, delivered a winning performance in Band Baaja Baraat.

The directors

Many big names crashed big time this year. These included Mani Ratnam (Raavan), Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Guzaarish), Ashutosh Gowarikar (Khelenge Hum Jee Jaan Se), Anurag Kashyap (Gulaal), Farah Khan (Tees Maar Khan), Priyadarshan (Aakrosh), Anurag Basu (Kites), Sujoy Ghosh (Dance Pe Chance) and Vipul Shah (Action Replayy). There was no rhyme and reason in this list of failures and the so-called geniuses tripped as badly as the so-called box-office specialists!

Other big names like Shyam Benegal (Weldone Abba), Karan Johar (My Name Is Khan), Prakash Jha (Rajneeti), Sajid Khan (Housefull) and Rohit Shetty (Golmaal 3) did no harm to their directorial reputations and secured hits.  Many newcomers made an instant impression on the box-office and it is fast becoming difficult to keep track of all these new names. Let’s see there was Vikramaditya Motwane who made the year’s most critically acclaimed film Udaan; there was Abhinav Kashyap (Dabangg) who gave us the year’s biggest blockbuster; then there was Abhishek Chaubey (Ishqiya) who delighted us with a clever rustic caper and others like Punit Malhotra (I Hate Luv Storys) and Manish Sharma (Band Baaja Baraat) who made some nice rom-coms.

So despite an overall lackluster performance, Hindi films are getting a new facelift and a new direction. Now let’s see how 2011 pans out!