2015 has really been a mixed year in terms of good and bad cinema. While most of the mainstream Bollywood cinema of Superstars couldn’t break the cliched cages, prominently dominated by box office collections, on the other hand, Indie cinema has produced some real gems which have not only made us proud by winning awards at many prestigious world film festivals but have also been equally loved by the audiences.

We are enlisting our most favorites among 2015 releases. Here it goes:-

1. COURT

A gem of Regional(Marathi) cinema which has won accolades as “Best Film” in Venice International Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, Minsk Film Festival Listapad, Singapore International Film Festival as well India’s National Film Awards and was India’s official entry for the Academy Awards-2016. The film depicts an Indian courtroom drama where a Dalit singer has been framed upon charges of abatement to suicide through his folk performances, in an extremely realistic frame.

He knows, judges know, lawyers know, everyone knows that charges are superficial but the court proceedings are inescapable. Court also marks the debut of young 28 years old film-maker Chaitanya Tamhane who also has written a brilliant script for the same. We came across an interview of this young brave director oozing with confidence who is making cinema on his own terms. Do watch

The court examines the potholes of Indian legal system in a brutal yet subtle way from different aspects of four parties being victim, defense and prosecution lawyers as well as judge. It must be on your must-watch list if you haven’t experienced it yet.

2. MASAAN

Masaan is poetry in the form of cinema. With the script as beautiful and impactful as almost giving the feel Hindi Sahitya, Masaan takes the audiences diving deep in the holy Ganges and emerge out looking into Banaras in the completely different light. Masaan has two stories, one of Devi who has been harassed by the system for acting on her physical desires in the name of moral policing but she denies to compromise on her dignity and another is of Deepak who belongs to the Dalit community of corpse burners but wants to break through this old societal norms. They both want to escape Banaras to find inner solace and their stories converge in the end. Neeraj Ghaywan’s debut work has earned him love and awards both domestically and internationally.

Watch it for the earthy essence of Banaras, Sanjay Mishra, Richa Chadda and interesting new finds Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi.

 3. TITLI

Another film by a debutant director, Kanu Behl, Titli is “Oh! Not so Yashraj Film” from the Yashraj banner and is one of the most impressive works in Hindi cinema in recent years. It is harrowing, gut-wrenching, shocking yet equally moving. Behl’s portrayal of Delhi’s underbelly which is far from the mammoth growth of the city, where there is no hope for a life with dignity and where people resort to crime to earn their bread is eyeopening, it’s difficult to watch yet difficult to take your eyes off.

Ranveer Shorey outshines amongst all, Amit Sial and Lalit Behl give amazing performances, but watch it for newcomers Shashank Arora who breathes into the character of Titli and Shivani Raghuvanshi, the only relief among the dark and gloomy men.  Don’t dare miss Titli.

 4. KILLA

Marathi Cinema is giving wonders to the Indian film industry in the last few years. After Shwas, Fandry and Court, it comes up with another soul touching gem Killa. A coming-of-age tale of a young boy who has lost his father an year before and moves to small village in Konkan as his mother gets promotion where he finds difficult to adapt because of loneliness, personal loss and sense of not belonging to the place, is a story which each one of us can relate to and have gone through somewhere in our lives , be it school, city or workplace. It’s his personal journey of searching for the feel of belongingness, making acquaintances around, overlooking his mother’s mental trauma and lastly growing upon his own feelings and understanding the significance of life and his mother. It is cinematographer turned film-maker Avinash Arun’s debut work and when a cinematographer makes a film, it has got to be visually striking, so is Killa. Arun has captured Konkan’s lush green beauty amazingly in the backdrops of Monsoons. Killa has some of the most poised as well as striking performances by child actors. The film was selected for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Crystal Bear by the Children’s Jury in the Generation KPlus Selection.

Watch it as it takes you down to a nostalgic trip of your childhood. There are no language and regional barriers for childhood. It’s magical everywhere.

4. PIKU

We all have loved Piku, a young, gorgeous, independent, modern equally short-tempered woman who puts herself as a daughter above everything else,  a dominating, eccentric, hypochondriac father and middle-aged businessman cum driver trapped between them. A simplistic, humorous, comedy-drama of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s school by Shoojit Sircar won critical acclaim as well as mass love. Juhi Chaturvedi’s story and screenplay, unique treatment by Shoojit Sircar an sharp editing by Chandrashekhar Prajapati makes it one of the best women eccentric movies of recent times. It also won best actors awards for Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan. We mainly loved it for the linear yet unconventional treatment of story with subtle ends and beginnings of scenes.

 5. DUM LAGA KE HAISHA

You can’t get the earthy feel of this lovely, high on content, low on budget film if you are not the typical 90’s kids , era of tape recorders and music cassette when we use to make list of our favorite songs to be recorded by local shopkeepers, dominant by Kumar Sanu’s heavy and melodious tone and if you haven’t grooved into Nadeem Shravan’s jhankaar beats.  Shot entirely in Haridwar and Rishikesh, the film captures the essence of the life in smaller towns of UP  on the sides of holy Ganga with utmost simplistic and beautiful delicacies. It has the best-assembled cast of most underrated yet highly capable star cast, quirky and tickling dialogues and quintessential melodious music of 90’s.

Dum Laga ke Haisha breaks stereotypes in many ways and we haven’t seen something like this in many years.

6. TALVAAR

This highly gripping, well researched and almost documentary style of thriller depicts the infamous Noida double murder case in the completely new light. Vishal Bharadwaj’s solidly structured script is Roshomon styled storytelling which presents the facts of the cases keeping both parents and the servants as guilty of murder. An honest effort by director Meghna Gulzar, extremely well-drafted script by Bhardwaj and finest editing by A. Sreekar Prasad prevents it from falling into cliched Bollywood biographical thrillers and courtroom drama. The performances by very impressive lead actors Irfan Khan, Neeraj Kabi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Sohum Shah, Prakash Belawadi and other supporting casts makes it more worth watching.

 7. BAJIRAO MASTANI 

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s most ambitious Magnum Opus which was being slated to be made for 12 years, is his homage to one of Indian cinema’s greatest love stories — Mughal-e-Azam.  Sanjay is Hindi cinema’s most opulent artist and each frame is designed for beauty. The director has handled his performers with utmost sensitivity and intelligence, and all three offer real star turns. Padukone’s Mastani displays a steely determination in the face of her hosts’ contempt that proves oddly ennobling. Chopra never allows Kashi to become an afterthought: those eyes register a wife’s hurt every bit as vividly as they have happiness elsewhere. And Singh’s bullet-headed Bajirao, forever charging into uncharted physical and emotional terrain, marks another fine showing from one of Bollywood’s most versatile leads. It shows us that another Mughal-e-Azam is possible in this day and age because there is a filmmaker who possesses the epic vision of K Asif. Watch it for its breathtakingly beautiful sets, elaborate and well thought of costumes and accessories and dreamy cinematography.

8. BADLAPUR

9. DETECTIVE BYOMKESH BAKSHY