Year-ender 2022: Tollywood's celebration of content over stardom

Another year is coming to an end and we are here listing out the hits-and-misses lists yet again. It’s really hard to zero in the best of the bests in Indian cinema’s 2022 lineup. However, one thing is for sure - 2022 will be remembered as the year we were left asking for the most important question in Indian movie history: has Bollywood lost the monopoly? The audience now prefers to watch something that strikes a chord, instead of typical age-old masala films and we couldn't be happier with all these unexpected hits that proved content still remains the king. However, here is a list of a few such films that made us believe that 2022 has also seen content-driven films getting appreciation from the audiences and critics alike.

2022 Tollywood box office report card

Prasun Chatterjee’s directorial debut is a ‘surprise package’. Set against the backdrop of the Babri Mosque demolition. It is an intimate film and an earnest documentation that breaks down how religious polarisation festers even with little ground. The film unfolds in a remote village in West Bengal, close to the India-Bangladesh border where eight-year-olds Palash and Safikul are neighbours and childhood friends. The portrait of their friendship is at its most sparkling amidst nature, away from the classroom or concrete walls filled with religious flyers or even from their homes, which have a makeshift wall between them.

Ishaan Ghose’s ‘Jhilli’ takes audiences deep into one of the largest dumping grounds in the country. Dhapa, located along the eastern fringes of the city, has probably never been captured on celluloid in such great detail. Ghose explores an impressive visual language, which on occasions, is hypnotic and rousing at the same time. It’s not the first film about have-nots and won’t be the last. But Jhilli aspires to be more.

Anirban Bhattacharya’s first feature film as a director is yet another surprise package of 2022. The visual artistry, the screenwriting, the score, the cinematography, and the humour, everything seems to be in sync. Based on a Badal Sircar play of the same name the film follows the last descendant of an erstwhile Bengal dynasty — Bhupati Roy is buried under a mountain of debt and wants to sell off his ancestral home.

The film draws heavily from the director Srijit Mukherji’s experiences of college days. From canteen adda sessions, escapades to falling in love, there’s everything that’ll take you down memory lane. The plot revolves around a much-in-love couple — Khilaat, a software engineer, and Joyee — who find themselves in a weird situation after a car accident erases Khilaat’s memory of the past 10 years. After he regains consciousness, Khilaat feels uncomfortable as he can’t remember how and when he fell in love with Joyee. Joyee tries her best to bring his memory back by recounting stories of their college life, their first meeting and so on. But much to her disappointment, nothing works. Caught in some sort of an emotional crisis, the desperate couple seeks help from a doctor, who apparently can transplant memories. And so begins the hunt to find the memory of love.

With Shrimati, director Arjunn Dutta creates a world that is pretty close to reality. The story opens to a largely identifiable life of an affluent family with a familiar scene that sets the pace of the narrative. Much like the protagonist herself, the plot follows a sedentary path that likes to move in its own pace. That is why the tale is rather common, and yet, acceptably packaged. The cinematography catches onto the scenes from Kolkata, from the north to the south, pretty expansively, appreciating the little-known frames this city continues to offer. In there, the director focusses on moments that wordlessly bring the focus on the protagonist from the city.

Arun Roy’s film 8/12: Binay Badal Dinesh is based on the historic attack on the Writers’ Building, then the seat of government in Calcutta, by revolutionary trio Binay-Badal-Dinesh on 8 December 1930. Starring Kinjal Nanda, Arna Mukhopadhyay and Remoo as the trio, the film depicts the premise of the attack launched on Lt Col NS Simpson, inspector general of prisons, infamous for torturing political prisoners. Shot in black and white, the period film engages the viewer with its focused plot progression.

Ranjan Ghosh’s Mahishasur Marddini is staged at the ‘thakurdalan’ of an old residence. It’s not the first Bengali film that delves into gender discrimination but it does engage with a different form of story-telling which is interesting to watch. Mahishasur Marddini moves beyond tackling gender violence and also addresses the idea of privilege, which is so often missing from films about inequality. The film unpacks quite a few topical storylines to drive home its message.

Indraadip Dasgupta’s ‘Bismillah’ is set in a world in which reality is slightly magical. It sets forth the story of an impoverished family that cannot afford rice but wouldn’t sell their principles. It makes it difficult for old Rashid to match up to the pace of DJs who have taken over weddings and no one really cares about the cultural heritage brought in by the serious shehnai. However, his principles are sharp and so are his demands from his sons – especially the young Bismillah who likes playing flutes over the shehnai.

‘Mahananda’ ticks almost all the boxes. From the actors to the crew members and musicians – everyone seems to have worked in tandem with director Arindam Sil. The strength of the film is its non-linear narrative through which the protagonist’s childhood and youth are portrayed. The character of Mahananda Bhattacharya is developed as a stout, uncompromising individual, who stood by marginal communities, including the Shabar. In fact, it was Mahasweta Devi who challenged the colonial convention of labelling the Shabar tribe’s ‘natural criminality’ – a notion that was set by the British rulers.

Kaushik Ganguly’s ‘Lokkhi Chhele’ is a beautiful film not because it’s well made, includes some great performances, or has a touching story. In a film that’s all about faith, religion is just an insignificant afterthought. Amir, the Lokkhi chhele, is a human being first. And that’s the mirror society needs right now.The film follows Amir and his friends as they overcome various obstacles to save Lokkhi. And along the way, it delves into the bigotry that’s prevalent in society and many other evils.