17. A movie that disappointed me most
This was a hard choice for me, because typically I either enter a film with moderate expectations or then high expectations but don't come out of it that disappointed (ie when a film is good and favourite for many people but doesn't quite make it among my favourites, I don't consider that a grave disappointment). There just hasn't been that many a time when I've had to dismiss a film as a complete disappointment - a lot of bad films, or films I did not enjoy at all, I probably saw the badness coming.
Naseeb ended up a disappointment purely on the basis that it just didn't really grab me, and ended up being a mediocre film experience, despite so many things going for it; the star-studded cast, the guest appearances, a film maker whose style I normally love (Manmohan Desai). The story motifs were familiar from other Manmohan Desai films, so no problems there. The DVD I had was a pretty bland print in terms of colour vivacity but other than that, I can't figure out why this film was just so dull for me. It had songs, action, cutesy romance - what precisely was lacking here? I just have no clue. But maybe it's the puzzlement that adds to the disappointment..
18. A movie that I wish more people would see
A dark and hopeless story about a group of disabled beggars and the man who abandons his family to join a rather extreme ascetic sect of Hinduism, whose rituals include drugs and even consuming the dead? Yep, not your usual fare, perhaps.
Never the less, Naan Kadavul is one of those haunting, incredible films that I could probably never sit through again, but still ponder every now and then. Tamil director Bala always manages to carve strange stories out of the people on the outskirts of mainstream society, and this is one film where he really goes to some extremes. The experience is as horrible as it is mesmerizing. And did I mention the title means "I am god"?
Yep, I definitely wish more people would see this film.
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