For the Hindi film industry, 2024 was dominated by extremes. The mega-hit Stree 2 helped stave off talk of the imminent death of Bollywood. The giga-hit Pushpa 2 – The Rule, which was dubbed from the Telugu, reinforced the belief that popular Hindi cinema is running out of ways to reel in audiences.
Beyond the box office chatter, several other films merited attention too – for their themes, storytelling, performances and overall willingness to go beyond accepted formulas. Here, in alphabetical order, is Scroll’s list of the most gripping, thoughtful and repeat-value of the year’s best releases.
Aattam: A play on human character
Several of the year’s best films were once again in Malayalam, starting with Anand Ekarshi’s Aattam. Made in 2023 and released in early January, Ekarshi’s film is a superbly performed examination of gender dynamics.
After the only woman in a theatre group experiences sexual harassment, her colleagues get together to identify the culprit. Who might he be – and what do their discussions say about each of them? The night is long and the truths many in the gipping movie, which unfolds like a courtroom drama.
Where to watch: Prime Video.
Aavesham: Fahadh Faasil is flower and fire
In Pushpa 2 – The Rule, Fahadh Faasil indifferently plays a cop pursuing a flamboyant, trigger-happy, gold-bedecked gangster. In Aavesham, Faasil stupendously plays a flamboyant, trigger-happy, gold-bedecked gangster.
Faasil never drops a beat in Jithu Madhavan’s hilarious send-up of Pushpa and other such movies that glorify gangsters. Faasil’s Ranga adopts three students, becoming their benefactor and then a pain in the posterior. Faasil is furiously funny, whether posing as a dangerous man or proving that he isn’t to be trifled with.
Where to watch: Prime Video.
All We Imagine as Light: The poetics of survival
In Payal Kapadia’s stunning feature debut, a red cooker serves as a portal to imagined futures and new beginnings. The globally feted film follows two Malayali nurses (Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha) living in – and surviving – Mumbai.
One of the nurses is estranged from her husband; the other is in love. A third employee at the hospital where they work (Chhaya Kadam) shows them that another world is possible. The complex and yet accessible palimpsest-style narrative appears to be the work of a veteran, rather than a director on her way up.
Amar Singh Chamkila: A Diljit Dosanjh-AR Rahman combo meal
Two factors elevate Imtiaz Ali’s largely conventional biopic of the murdered Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila. One is AR Rahman, who complements Chamkila’s original music with a soulful score.
The other is Diljit Dosanjh. The actor-singer, who has had a successful year on and off the screen, is perfectly placed to play Chamkila, whose short life encompassed a wealth of experiences.
Where to watch: Netflix.
Berlin: Cold War blues
Atul Sabharwal’s Berlin is an unusual exploration of Cold War-era politics playing out in Brutalist architecture-dominated Delhi. Sign language interpreter Pushkin (Aparshakti Khurana) is tasked with interrogating deaf-mute waiter Ashok (Ishwak Singh) on behalf of an Indian intelligence unit. Across hand gestures and lip readings, the men come to better understand each other – and the bigger game that is afoot.
Where to watch: ZEE5.
Bramayugam: Mammooty in monochrome
Rahul Sadasivan teams up with cinematographer Shehnad Jalal for an occult allegory about the horrors of caste. Bramayugam is led by the magnificent Mammootty, channeling the monstrous landlord he played in Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Vidheyan (1994).
The monochrome film is set in the 17th century, in a crumbling mansion with a couple of occupants, locked rooms and eerie sounds. Jalal’s lustrous compositions capture every corner of the house of secrets, which is as much a character as the people.
Where to watch: Sony LIV.
Crew: Flights of fun
Tabu flew high in 2024, landing an English-speaking role in the American series Dune: Prophecy. Tabu was also in the air and (almost) in control in Rajesh A Krishnan’s Crew.
Tabu, Kareena Kapoor and Kriti Sanon play stewardesses who work for a failing airline and resort to gold smuggling to stay afloat. Sexy, funny and brave too, the women come up with crackpot schemes to get what they feel they deserve.
The endearingly silly comedy, which includes memorable cameos by Diljit Dosanjh and Kapil Sharma, delivers a kick in the pants to billionaires who undeservedly live high on the hog.
Where to watch: Netflix.
CTRL: Tech utopia and dystopia
In Vikramaditya Motwane’s CTRL, Ananya Panday sharply plays Nella, whose break-up with Joe (Vihaan Samat) sees her signing away her privacy to an AI programme. The programme gradually takes over Nella’s routine, memories and mind, further destroying any line that may have existed between the real and the performative. Motwane’s film has a political subtext too for whoever is closely watching.
Where to watch: Netflix.
Family: Secrets and lies
Although made in 2023, Don Palathara’s Family was released in theatres and on a streaming platform only this year. The formally rigorous film is set in a Syrian Christian community, where a strict moral code comes in the way of truth about a man’s behaviour. Palathara deftly dissects the community’s dilemmas and double-dealing ways in a manner that is enigmatic as well as empathetic.
Where to watch: Manorama Max via Prime Video.
Girls Will Be Girls: A hard-earned coming of age
Shuchi Talati’s feature debut takes one of the most cliched genres – the coming-of-age drama – and imbues it with honesty and acuity. Talati dares to explore the contest between a teenager and her mother for a young man’s affections.
Preeti Panigrahi is superb as the prissy head prefect Mira, who gets jealous of her boyfriend’s equation with her attractive mother. The atypical love triangle of sorts, which is reminiscent of British filmmaker Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009), sensitively examines Mira’s confusion, her questionable decisions, and her moment of truth. Kani Kusruti, in another fine performance, is aptly cast as Mira’s Bohemian mother.
Where to watch: Prime Video.
Kishkindha Kaandam: A Matryoshka doll mystery
Dinjith Ayyathan’s Malayalam thriller, written and shot by Bahul Ramesh, begins with a missing gun, moves on to a vanished boy, and then embarks on an excavation of hidden truths. The movie reveals its layers of intrigue gradually, allowing us to relish the doe-eyed Asif Ali’s compelling lead performance and the peculiar dynamics within families.
Where to watch: Disney+ Hotstar.
Kottukkaali: An eloquent silence
Tamil director PS Vinothraj has an eye for landscapes, an ear for silence, and a feel for the ache of human desire. These characteristics were amply present in his debut Koozhangal (2021). In Kottukkaali, Vinothraj proves himself as one of Tamil cinema’s most exciting talents.
Kottukkaali follows a woman who refuses to speak. Furious at being engaged to a man she doesn’t want to marry, Meena zips up and lets her eyes do the talking. Anna Ben is a knockout as the adamant, angry Meena.
Where to watch: Prime Video.
Laapataa Ladies: Finding freedom
Although undeserving of being selected as India’s Oscar entry over All We Imagine as Light, Kiran Rao’s second film is charming in itself. Two brides in identical clothes are swapped during a train ride, the experience liberating both women in different ways. Ravi Kishen is a hoot as the police inspector in charge of investigating the muddle.
Where to watch: Netflix.
Maharaja: Starring Vijay Sethupathi and editor Philomin Raj
Maharaja (Vijay Sethupathi) walks into a police station to report a missing dustbin he has named Lakshmi. Greedy for the bribe offered by Maharaja, the police bend backwards to find the trash storage item, not realising that Maharaja has something else on his mind.
Nithilan Saminathan’s Tamil film, which also stars Anurag Kashyap in a pivotal role, is a gimmicky thriller that is carried off by Sethupathi’s immensely dignified dustbin-seeker and editor Philomin Raj’s diabolically clever cutting.
Where to watch: Netflix.
Manjummel Boys: Passion to the rescue
Chidambaram’s moneyspinner, inspired by a real-life incident, revolves around a group of friends who visit a cave popularised by the Tamil film Guna. When one of the men slips into a pit in a cave, the others move heaven and earth to save him. Apart from heartfelt performances, the movie has excellent camerawork by Shyju Khalid.
Where to watch: Disney+ Hotstar.
Meiyazhagan: The year’s best love story
96 director C Premkumar delivered 2024’s best love story – but not a typical one.
Love takes many forms in Premkumar’s beautifully performed heart-tugger (and tear-jerker too). When Arul (Arvind Swami) reluctantly visits the town he had to leave as a young man, he confronts emotions he thought he had successfully supressed. Arul meets a garrulous man (Karthi) who claims to know him. Is the man a relative? A braggart? Or God himself?
Where to watch: Netflix.
Paradise: The Ramayana reinvented
Celebrated Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise was released in 2024 after a festival premiere in 2023. Starring Roshan Mathew and Darshana Rajendran, the film is one of the most thoughtful explorations of the Ramayana in recent times.
The epic is backdrop as well as framework for a study of a couple whose relationship is tested during a holiday in Sri Lanka. A robbery drives a wedge between the couple, exposing their individual selves while also looking at Sri Lanka’s own troubles over the past few years.
Where to watch: Prime Video.
Sookshmadarshini: The nose knows
Nazriya Nazim is often overshadowed by her husband Fahadh Faasil. MC Jithin’s Sookshmadarshini is proof that Nazim is a star in her own right.
The Malayalam black comedy stars Nazim as Priya, a housewife who gets suspicious about her new neighbour Manuel and his mother Grace. When Grace goes missing, Priya is positive that Manuel is up to no good – but how to prove it?
Quirky comedy meshes with suspenseful storytelling backed by convincing performances, especially by Nazim as the busybody perhaps every neighbourhood needs.
Thangalaan: Vikram strikes gold
Pa Ranjith’s nineteenth-century drama is about the discovery of gold in a region of Tamil Nadu, but K.G.F it most definitely isn’t. Instead, Thangalaan emphasises the unsung contributions of labourers in unearthing the precious metal for their local and foreign masters.
The film’s theatrical, over-the-top and folksy tone makes for tough viewing. The hectic plotting and heavily underlined political messaging aren’t easy to take either. Yet, the movie is hard to ignore. Cinematographer A Kishor Kumar’s stunning vistas linger in the mind, while the sheer ferocity and remarkable consistency of Vikram’s central performance is riveting too.
Where to watch: Netflix.
Viduthalai Part 2: Red is the warmest colour
Vetri Maaran’s follow-up to Viduthalai (2023) is perhaps too ambitious for its own good. But Viduthalai: Part 2 has an understanding of labour relations and power structures that is mostly missing in mainstream cinema.
Vijay Sethupathi is in lethal form as a Leftist union leader who becomes a revolutionary after sustained oppression. Apart from portraying perverted policing methods and the ways in which governments crush popular movements, Viduthalai Part 2 provides a romantic and stirring exploration of the red-hot passions that drive revolutionary politics.
