Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Ek Tha Tiger, Gangs of Wasseypur…top 10 Indian films that made waves internationally in 2012

Cineswami takes a look at the Indian commercial as well as indie films of 2012 that did well abroad

As 2012 draws to a close, it is inevitable that top 10 lists will abound and Cineswami is no exception to list-mania. However, rather than the usual top 10 Bollywood films, here’s a list of movies that made a mark amongst discerning audiences across the globe.

10. Aaranya Kaandam

Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s stunning Tamil noir Aaranya Kaandam wowed London audiences and showed them that India has her own answer to Quentin Tarantino. The dense, layered gangster epic featured Jackie Shroff in his first ever Tamil film role as a mafia don with a failing libido. Even the organisers of the London Indian Film Festival were surprised when the movie scooped the audience award, beating Gangs of Wasseypur.

9. Dekh Indian Circus

Mangesh Hadawale’s delightful little film about the travails of an indigent family wanting to visit the circus is also a parable for larger socio-economic events in India. It features a winning performance from the immensely talented Tannishtha Chatterjee and the now ubiquitous Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the breakthrough arthouse performer who also featured in Talaash in a pivotal role alongside Aamir Khan. It won the audience award at Pusan and the Golden Reel at Tiburon.

8. Ek Tha Tiger

Kabir Khan’s answer to romancing RAW and ISI agents effortlessly thumbed its nose at the dud Agent Vinod. Of course, it had the benefit of Salman Khan starring. It made headlines in Europe as being the first major Bollywood film to shoot in Ireland.

7. Ship Of Theseus

Anand Gandhi’s philosophical treatise on the very nature of life may be heavy going at times for the lay Bollywoodlife reader corn-fed on a diet of Dabanng 2, but the film is definitely rewarding. Clearly audiences abroad thought so and it won a special mention at the London Film Festival and awards at the Tokyo and Dubai fests besides screening at Toronto and being chosen for next year’s Rotterdam fest.

6. Shahid

Hansal Mehta’s comeback film is a masterly testament on human rights and features a standout performance from Rajkumar Yadav who played Aamir Khan’s sidekick in Talaash and will be seen soon in Kai Po Che. Festival play includes Dubai and Toronto and hopes are high for an India release.

5. Peddlers

Anurag Kashyap’s former assistant Vasan Bala’s debut is a look at a Mumbai that couldn’t be more different from the clichéd imagination of Bollywood. Instead of a teeming metropolis, he captures a city of spaces and distances, both emotional and physical. Played and wowed Cannes, London and Toronto.

4. Thuppakki

AR Murugadoss’ welcome return to form after the disappointing 7 Aum Arivu proved a lion at the overseas box office, especially in the UK where it cracked the top ten in its week of release. Aided by Santosh Sivan’s ace lensing, Vijay proved that he is indeed the Ilaya Thalapathi as the only films that have done better than his in the territory feature a certain Rajinikanth.

3. Gattu

Rajan Khosa’s sophomore feature Gattu has a winning performance by Mohammed Samad as a pint-sized kite flier at its core. Though its India performance could have been better, audiences overseas lapped up the simple and well-told tale. Festivals included London, Berlin, Edinburgh, Zurich and Dubai.

2 and 1. Tie between Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Gangs of Wasseypur

This is a most unusual tie between films that couldn’t be more different from one another. Anurag Kashyap’s sprawling and violent gangland tale Gangs of Wasseypur not only won international plaudits and distribution and considerable festival play, but also a place on the jury of the Sundance Film Festival. The film is tied with Yash Chopra’s swansong Jab Tak Hai Jaan. While Wasseypur has the overseas acclaim, the Shahrukh Khan starrer proves that he is a huge revenue earner abroad, earning millions of dollars across the world in addition to remaining a huge draw in India. Iconoclastic choices? Sure. But that’s Cineswami for you, just to keep you wrong-footed.

Happy New Year.

Movie review: Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Movie: Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Cast:Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma

Direction:Yash Chopra

Rating:

He yanks off his cool shades and gets going with the job of diffusing a bomb. He has done it 97 times before - the veritable Hurt Locker who has dared God to take his life, but that just doesn't happen. He survives every time.

Shah Rukh Khan's bomb expert Major inJab Tak Hai Jaanworks wonders on a very different sort of bombs too. He is quite the Heart Locker, excuse the pun, who doesn't need much of an effort to woo the richie rich Barbie he spots floating across picture poster London scape, so what if he is just a snow shoveller (in an early scene when he is yet to become the Army hero). "Paree (fairy)", he sighs and, never mind that she owns an empire and is engaged, you know she will madly be in love with him within the hour.

You ease into Yash Chopra terrain watching SRK play the field in his best romantic avatar yet, ready for the mush crackers.

The girl is straight out of Planet Chopra, too. Stunning as only Katrina Kaif can be, and an obvious emotional wreck who habitually strikes divine deals in churches with the Almighty for anything and everything she wants. So much so, at a pivotal point she is actually telling God that she is willing to forget her lover forever if He saves his life.

That'sJab Tak Hai Jaanfor you, bringing back all the sweeping love, sacrifice and melodrama quotient that has ever defined the cinema of Bollywood's King of Romance. Watching formula at play all over again, it somehow feels all right as a mainstream maestro plays out his swansong.

Few masala films become larger than they set out to be, possibly deserve to be. You sense as much could happen someday to this film as it plays out an exhaustive three hours of love triangle plus some twists. Yash Chopra's final feature is not just about itself or the story it narrates. It is about celebrating a fancy's flight that set the template for filmy romance over the decades (minus the heroine's chiffon-sari sway in the Swiss Alps, which was not to be).Jab Tak Hai Jaanbecomes a final bow for mush in a way it may never come alive on the Bollywood screen again.

Overwhelming as that sentiment can be for hardcore fans, the film has its flaws. The fact that it could have been a good hour shorter. Or, less evident in the story it narrates and maybe a bit more daring in exploring man - woman relationships.

There is a moment in the film where that last-mentioned bit becomes glaring. The hero lies on a hospital bed suffering from retrograde amnesia. Recovery involves the heroine pretending to still be in love with him despite a past turmoil that wrecked their romance. No easy deal since, you have been made to believe immediately before, she is married and has a kid.

It is a momentary spark... can a Bollywood heroine resort to adultery simply to save her first love? Will the film bend tested rules - likeSilsilaorLamhedid in their times?

Sadly,Jab Tak Hai Jaandoesn't dare taking any such risks. Too much is at stake for YRF, and its talismanic hero SRK. The film prefers remaining feel-good fare, a visual feast in every frame no matter the mood on screen - much like its heroine Katrina.

She plays Meera, the classic YRF girl, and her love story with Samar - snow shoveller - turned - waiter - turned - bomb expert - will find its predictable end after ample highs and lows and via a triangle tangle involving the gutsy docu - filmmaker Akira.

A snap report card would be clear - cut. The songs could have been better but the background score is grand. The cinematography is world - class but the editing cuts pace. The characters are weak but the cast is in crackling form. The film proves SRK is still at the top of his game, just as Katrina wows with irresistible screen presence. Watch her street dance gig and you realise all over again why she is Bollywood's best female dancer. While on Anushka, the girl will go far. Just give her a meaty role and watch her go.

Kajol Finally Breaks Her Silence On ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ – ‘Son Of Sardaar’ Controversy

Bollywood actor Kajol reveals that the professional tussle between Yash Raj Films and Ajay Devgn Ffilms for their Diwali releases ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ and ‘Son Of Sardaar’ has hurt her personal relationships.

MUMBAI: Bollywood actress, supermom, and wife of actor Ajay Devgn, Kajol has finally broken her silence and spoken about the war that had ensued between Yash Raj Films [YRF] and Ajay Devgn Ffilms [ADF] for their Diwali releases ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ and ‘Son Of Sardaar’.

The controversy surrounding these two stalwart production houses began when her husband’s ADF, filed a complaint in the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against YRF.

Ajay accused YRF of using its dominant position in the market to obtain maximum screens for their SRK starrer ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’, which resulted in Devgn’s ‘Son of Sardaar’ not finding enough screens.

This ugly battle played out even after the tragic demise of YRF’s founder Yash Chopra in October. This caused many hurt sentiments among industry people, who felt Ajay should have dropped the case out of respect for Yashji.

After the fracas, it is now time for Kajol to speak out. The lady who had worked with YRF in super-hit films like ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ and ‘Fanaa’, and had been among Late Yash Chopra’s favourite heroines, now reveals that the professional tussle has hurt her personal relationships.

“Yes, it affected my relationship. But that was a situation which had come out of ordinary. It was not a normal situation… It doesn’t occur normally. It doesn’t happen everyday… Hopefully, it will not happen in future again,” said Kajol.

The 38-year-old actress, who left Bollywood at the peak of her career to marry Devgn, and now is supermom to their two children, still commands respect in Bollywood. Kajol who has seen super-hits like ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ and ‘My Name Is Khan’ despite being married, spoke about the changing face of Bollywood these days.

“Time has changed in the industry. It’s a good time for women because people are willing to experiment now. Even our audiences are bound to think and want something different. It’s a fantastic time for women in the industry as directors are taking a risk with them,” she said.

Having said that, she still laments the fact that Bollywood continues to be a male-dominated industry. “I agree that it’s a perfect time for an actress to be in the industry but I still feel it’s male dominated. You can’t take away the male domination on the basis of female-oriented films doing good business in the box-office.”

'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' Box Office Collection: Shahrukh Starrer Fails to Beat Salman’s ‘Dabangg’, ‘Bodyguard’

Shahrukh Khan's romantic movie "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" became the highest grossing film released during Diwali. Late Yash Chopra's last directorial film is a superhit in India as well as abroad.

But the movie, touted to be the biggest blockbuster of the year, failed to break the record of Salman Khan's "Ek Tha Tiger" and Aamir Khan's "3 Idiots."

It collected total Rs 69.86 cr at overseas box offices and Rs 120.85 cr at domestic. The worldwide total of "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" now stands at Rs 190.71 crore net.

"JTHJ" also failed to beat the record of Salman Khan's "Bodyguard" and "Dabangg" and also Akshay Kumar's "Rowdy Rathore" at the box offices.

"Bodyguard" and "Dabangg" each collected approximately Rs 140 crores in India, while "Rowdy Rathore" collected Rs 124.15 cr (till third weekend). But the romantic movie successfully left behind another Shahrukh starrer, "Ra.One," with Rs 115 crore.

In the international market, "JTHJ" has done excellent business. With Rs 69.86 cr ($ 12.701 million), it has become Bollywood's third highest and Shahrukh's second highest grossing film overseas. 

However, the business of the film has declined considerably in its third week because of the two new releases, "Talaash" and "Khiladi 786."  In India, the business has almost stopped because of the lesser number of screens.

The romantic film also features Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma in lead roles.

Also Read:'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' Box Office Collection: Shahrukh Starrer Becomes 4th Grosser Film at Domestic BO in 2012 

Also Read:'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' Box Office Collection: Shahrukh Khan-Starrer Earns ₹121 Crore in Four Weeks 

Shah Rukh Khan 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' tracks in acoustic covers Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/bollywood/news/a447069/shah-rukh-khan-jab-tak-hai-jaan-tracks-in-acoustic-covers.

Shah Rukh Khan's tracks from Jab Tak Hai Jaan have been covered by a non-Hindi speaking UK performer.

Ris Lev - a part-British African and part-Russian singer - has released his own versions of the film's music through his YouTube chann


"I like singing in Hindi/Punjabi, playing my guitar, and all things Bollywood. With my YouTube videos, it's a fun way for me to connect with other people who like Bollywood," Lev told Digital Spy.

"I've covered all of the Jab Tak Hai Jaan songs except 'Jiya Re', and only because I can't figure out the chords."

Lev's guitar interpretations of AR Rahman's music have been described as acoustic stripped-back versions of the original. 

"I play at this speed, as that's the tempo that seems to come most naturally to me when I play the guitar, it feels fun to play that way," he added.

Ashanti Omkar, who is Bollywood Editor for Cineworld Cinemas, said of the singer: "I came across Ris when he used to work at The O2 and he was always keen to discuss the newest Bollywood releases. I was taken aback at how he enunciated the words, and how he delivered the songs in his own inimitable style. 

"He made Bollywood his own. Upon digging deeper, he told me about how he was British African and Russian - a very unusual mix. 

"I'm so proud to see how Bollywood in cineplexes has allowed it to reach so deeply - beyond Asian audiences in the UK - and has touched the likes of Ris."

Event of jab tak hai jaan

jab tak hai jaan old pics

'Jab Tak Hai Jaan': 10 important life lessons from the film

New Delhi: You probably know by now that 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' is a heavy duty romance triangle between Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma played out over a period of 10 years. If unrequited love isn't your thing, this is a film to skip. But JTHJ is also a great example of how cinema can teach you not to be stupid in life or take it completely for granted.

There are spoilers ahead so if you haven't seen the film, please feel free to come back later. This was director Yash Chopra's swansong and his hand is evident in every scene of the film, some beckoning you to postcard-perfect, snow-covered London and some to the rugged terrains of Ladakh.

We pick the 10 most ludicrous aspects of the film that make 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' boringly mortal and teach us valuable life lessons in what not to do if you ever find yourself in any of the following situations.

Lightening does strike the same point twice:

Irony is a b****. To be struck by a car while on a motorcycle is one thing. But to be struck by a car twice is plain foolishness. Major Samar Anand is a poster boy for road safety. First, he gets hit by a car while showing off his biking skills to his new girlfriend. The second time he gets hit again by a car while waiting for Discovery Channel reporter Akira (Anushka Sharma). Look while you are crossing the road.

Rapidex English just goes out of business:

Everything is possible in cinema. If you set your mind to learning perfect English, you can learn it despite thousands of distractions in the form of a very pretty Katrina Kaif. Shah Rukh, who goes by using Pidgin English in London, morphs into a suave, smooth-talking gentleman with a bit of a nudge from the woman he loves. She in return aces a difficult Punjabi song with guitar chords and all, taught by Shah Rukh.

Who needs a bomb suit?:

There are bombs waiting to defused, literally everywhere and every day. Major Samar Anand, an officer with the army's bomb disposal unit, takes on one IED after another with his bare hands. Armed with just a clipper, Anand refuses a bomb suit every time his services are called for. Is it practical? Of course not. But that's what you do when you flirt with death - basically be stupid - without a care for your loved ones.

There are easier and less expensive ways to die, you know?

After being rejected by his lady love because of a promise she made to god, Samar Anand dives headfirst into a life of danger. He joins the Indian army's bomb disposal unit and defuses live ammunition for a living as a counter-vow to Katrina to risk his life every day. It does seem a very roundabout way to die, no? Jumping off a building or an overdose of pills would have been quicker. But who are we to get in the way of a death drawn out over several years?

Keep your chatty friends away when you are defusing bombs:

Anushka Sharma is a chatty, aspiring reporter for the Discovery channel with a penchant for finding trouble. Trussed to a rope and hanging under a bridge to film Shah Rukh Khan at work, she happily chats away without the slightest worry that she might be actually distracting him from what is clearly a highly dangerous job.

The army's only purpose is to play football with its guests:

Our jawans are in fact so bored of their monotonous lives that they are willing to wait on hand and foot for the world's most ditzy reporter. They cook for her and dance with her and hurl beer bottles around while she twists them around her little finger.

Come again, a promise made to...whom?

So Meera, who is a habitual trader with God, promises to give up Samar if Jesus would spare his life and keep him alive. It's the silliest thing we have heard in a long time. Who gives up a man she loves because she thinks that her being with him will be a danger to his life? What happened to fighting for someone if you love them?

Retrograde amnesia:

If you must have an affliction, go for retrograde amnesia. It is the most convenient illness known to Indian doctors to get the hero out of a sticky spot. He can't remember a thing from the past and finds it difficult to adjust to the present. But the condition is temporary and he will make a full recovery over time (read: after the plot twists are sorted).

British police...dude, don't let a stranger saunter into a cordoned-off area!

The British police allows a stranger who looks disoriented and can actually be the one to plant it, tackle live ammunition because 'he looks like he knows what he's talking about!' Are you kidding me?

You are still single because you read other people's diaries

Never, ever read someone's personal diary - children are taught this at age 5. Either Akira Rai's parents left that bit of education out or she defied her upbringing anyway. It's rude not only to read someone's diary but to quiz him on that afterwards, which she does. If she wonders why she's still single, it's because she does not respect people's private spaces.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan : Movie Review by me

 

Jab Tak Hai Jaanis a 2012 Indian romance film directed by Yash Chopra and written and produced by Aditya Chopra under their production banner Yash Raj Films. The film features Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma in lead roles, making it the first film to pair Khan and Kaif and the second collaboration between Khan and Sharma after Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.It was Yash Chopra’s fourth film to feature Shahrukh Khan in the lead role, the former returning as a director after eight years post Veer-Zaara which released in 2004.Jab Tak Hai Jaan is Yash Chopra’s last directorial venture before his death on 21 October 2012, just three weeks before the release of the film.
The background score and soundtrack is composed by A.R. Rahman while the lyrics are penned by Gulzar. The film is scheduled to release during the six-day Diwali weekend which begins on 13 November 2012……Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

jab tak hai jaan images

Movie review: Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Movie: Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Cast:Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma

Direction:Yash Chopra

Rating:

He yanks off his cool shades and gets going with the job of diffusing a bomb. He has done it 97 times before - the veritable Hurt Locker who has dared God to take his life, but that just doesn't happen. He survives every time.

Shah Rukh Khan's bomb expert Major inJab Tak Hai Jaanworks wonders on a very different sort of bombs too. He is quite the Heart Locker, excuse the pun, who doesn't need much of an effort to woo the richie rich Barbie he spots floating across picture poster London scape, so what if he is just a snow shoveller (in an early scene when he is yet to become the Army hero). "Paree (fairy)", he sighs and, never mind that she owns an empire and is engaged, you know she will madly be in love with him within the hour.

You ease into Yash Chopra terrain watching SRK play the field in his best romantic avatar yet, ready for the mush crackers.

The girl is straight out of Planet Chopra, too. Stunning as only Katrina Kaif can be, and an obvious emotional wreck who habitually strikes divine deals in churches with the Almighty for anything and everything she wants. So much so, at a pivotal point she is actually telling God that she is willing to forget her lover forever if He saves his life.

That'sJab Tak Hai Jaanfor you, bringing back all the sweeping love, sacrifice and melodrama quotient that has ever defined the cinema of Bollywood's King of Romance. Watching formula at play all over again, it somehow feels all right as a mainstream maestro plays out his swansong.

Few masala films become larger than they set out to be, possibly deserve to be. You sense as much could happen someday to this film as it plays out an exhaustive three hours of love triangle plus some twists. Yash Chopra's final feature is not just about itself or the story it narrates. It is about celebrating a fancy's flight that set the template for filmy romance over the decades (minus the heroine's chiffon-sari sway in the Swiss Alps, which was not to be).Jab Tak Hai Jaanbecomes a final bow for mush in a way it may never come alive on the Bollywood screen again.

Overwhelming as that sentiment can be for hardcore fans, the film has its flaws. The fact that it could have been a good hour shorter. Or, less evident in the story it narrates and maybe a bit more daring in exploring man - woman relationships.

There is a moment in the film where that last-mentioned bit becomes glaring. The hero lies on a hospital bed suffering from retrograde amnesia. Recovery involves the heroine pretending to still be in love with him despite a past turmoil that wrecked their romance. No easy deal since, you have been made to believe immediately before, she is married and has a kid.

It is a momentary spark... can a Bollywood heroine resort to adultery simply to save her first love? Will the film bend tested rules - likeSilsilaorLamhedid in their times?

Sadly,Jab Tak Hai Jaandoesn't dare taking any such risks. Too much is at stake for YRF, and its talismanic hero SRK. The film prefers remaining feel-good fare, a visual feast in every frame no matter the mood on screen - much like its heroine Katrina.

She plays Meera, the classic YRF girl, and her love story with Samar - snow shoveller - turned - waiter - turned - bomb expert - will find its predictable end after ample highs and lows and via a triangle tangle involving the gutsy docu - filmmaker Akira.

A snap report card would be clear - cut. The songs could have been better but the background score is grand. The cinematography is world - class but the editing cuts pace. The characters are weak but the cast is in crackling form. The film proves SRK is still at the top of his game, just as Katrina wows with irresistible screen presence. Watch her street dance gig and you realise all over again why she is Bollywood's best female dancer. While on Anushka, the girl will go far. Just give her a meaty role and watch her go.