2011 must rank as one of the most fruitful years for Hindi film industry. This year Bollywood not only did witness many films that did pretty good business but also many films which tried to tread on different paths.

Let’s look back at the highlights of the year gone by.

The heroes

Salman Khan continued his Dabangg-form and delivered two big hits – Ready and Bodyguard. Although it must be said that both these films were quite ordinary potboilers, which succeeded only thanks to Sallu’s magnetic appeal. His formula of light-hearted action-roles is now becoming really tiresome thanks to extremely weak scripts. Unless Salman presents something new and something substantial in his forthcoming films, it is quite possible that he may start losing his box-office appeal a la Akshay Kumar.

After losing his Midas touch in 2010, Akshay just continued his downward slide and all his three releases in 2011 failed to strike big at the box-office. His films Patiala House (a soapy redemption-tale of a UK-born Indian-origin cricketer), Thank You (a farcical comedy about skirt-chasing husbands) and Desi Boyz (a modern recession-tale of two out-of-work guys taking up jobs as gigolos) could well have succeeded in his happier days but these days nothing seems to be working for him.

Coming back to Khans, there was Shahrukh who had two major releases Ra One (a techno-rich Superhero film aimed at kids) and Don 2 (building up on the twist in the tale of Don and converting it into a heist-film). Both films succeeded at the box-office but were panned by the critics.

Well, the critical acclaim has always been an Aamir Khan-speciality and in 2011, he got it not as an actor, but as a producer. His two productions – Dhobi Ghat (an art-house style love-story) and Delhi Belly (an all-out wacky comedy which challenged the routine norms of decency) were well-received by the critics and the latter even made quite a killing at the box-office. It was Imran Khan, who starred in Delhi Belly and he continued his good form with a successful rom-com Mere Brother Ki Dulhan.

Hrithik Roshan, along with Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol featured in the year’s most refreshing film – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara, a buddy-movie shot on Spain’s sunny backdrop. Ajay Devgan showed that his action-hero days are not yet over with a superhit masala-filled cop-film Singham but his so far successful comedy-formula came unstuck in Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji and Rascals where he had partnered with Sanjay Dutt. The lovable Munnabhai’s other comedy Double Dhamal made some money but was quite pathetic.

The Big B- Amitabh and Saif Ali Khan teamed up well to succeed in the caste-based reservation-drama Aarakshan. The serial kisser-turned-serial killer formula worked well for Emraan Hashmi in Murder 2. Abhishek Bachchan’s two cop-films-Dum Maaro Dum and Game and Shahid Kapoor’s ambitious love-story Mausam did not find favour with the audience. Both these lads now desperately need a hit to shore up their sinking careers. In contrast, Ranbir Kapoor, another star from the young brigade, got kudos for his impressive role in and as Rock Star, despite the film performing so-so at the cash registers.

The Heroines

Kareena Kapoor’s 2011-releases- Body Guard (with Salman) and Ra One (with Shahrukh) were big hits and coming on the heels of her past two blockbusters – Three Idiots (with Aamir) and Golmal 3 (with Ajay Devgan), they just showed that the Kapoor-lady is enjoying the form of her life at the box-office.

Katrina Kaif recovered from her disastrous outing in Tees Maar Khan and delivered two hits (ZNMD and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan). But while her BO-credentials are impeccable, her acting skills leave a lot to be desired! Asin (Ready), Deepika Padukone (Aarakshan), Kangna Ranaut (Tanu Weds Manu, Double Dhamaal) and Priyanka Chopra (Don 2) had a fair bit of success. Chitrangada Singh made her presence felt through Yeh Saali Zindagi and Desi Boyz. Sonam Kapoor’s failed outing in Mausam was in sync with her on-off relationship with BO-success.

The top accolades were hogged by Vidya Balan, who played two diametrically opposite characters based on real life persons. She started off 2011 with a serious, glamour-less role of Jessica Lal’s sister in No-one Killed Jessica and ended up with a literally meaty role of the Southern sex-siren Silk Smitha in The Dirty Picture. She has shown an amazing ability to bowl over the critics with varied roles and has also proved that she has enough oomph to woo the masses. Without a doubt, now she has become the top actress on every top director’s radar!

New directors, new trends

While established directors like Prakash Jha (Aarakshan), Sudhir Mishra (Yeh Saali Zindagi), Rohit Shetty (Singham), Milan Luthria (The Dirty Picture) and Farhan Akhtar (Don 2) tasted good success in 2011, the year belonged to newcomers and strugglers.

Talented directors like Zoya Akhtar (ZNMD), Rajkumar Gupta ( No One Killed Jessica), Abhinay Deo (Delhi Belly) and Aanand Raj (Tanu Weds Manu) finally delivered the hits they were searching for. Debutant directors like Kiran Rao (Dhobi Ghat), Luv Ranjan (Pyar Ka Punchnama), Bejoy Nambiar (Shaitan), Remo (FALTU) and Bumpy (Luv Ka The End) made good starts to their careers.

While tough cop-dramas, mushy rom-coms and cheap farcical comedies were in surplus, the films specifically targeting urban youth established themselves as a major genre. Amongst such light-hearted ‘youth-oriented’ films like Mujhse Fraandship Karoge, Pyar Ka Punchnama, Love Ka The End and Always Kabhi Kabhi, two films deserved special mention. Shaitan was a disturbing portrayal of rich city kids’ wayward lives and 404 was a fine psychological horror-thriller set in a hostel-environment.

For me, the best Hindi-Urdu film of 2011 was from across the border. Director Shoaib Mansoor’s Bol was one excellent film and a perfect follow-up to his earlier film- a terrific terrorism-drama- Khuda Ke Liye. It was a poignant and incisive film throwing light on the contemporary Pakistani society’s ongoing struggle to find a middle path between religious fanaticism and progressive modern thinking. An unusual and complexly multi-layered story; good music and some brilliant performances made Bol a great watch.

Let’s hope that 2012 will deliver many such watchable films!