Best Indian Films 2021: Of fairytales and mythology, unfairy tales and bitter realities

As human beings remained largely confined to our homes and constrained by masks for a second year in a row due to the pandemic, cinema provided us with solace and talking points beyond COVID-19. The films on my list of 2021’s best from Indian cinema pushed boundaries in terms of their approach to storytelling, their themes and technique. I’ve confined this collection to those that were either released in theatres in the past 12 months or on OTT platforms or both, not just at festivals, to keep it accessible to the public. Here they are:   (1) Best Film: **_Maadathy – An Unfairy Tale_**   Director: Leena Manimekalai Language: Tamil   An overwhelmingly beautiful, heartbreaking film about the human willingness to pedestalise in mythology the very individuals and communities that they oppress in reality. Leena Manimekalai’s Maadathy merges folktale, myth and terrifying realism to strike at the root of the woman-is-goddess trope that society uses to soft pedal patriarchy.   The cinematography is so bewitching that it is hard to believe this is a low-budget indie.   Aided by a brilliant cast that includes the wonderful Semmalar Annam, Maadathy exposes the worst of modern-day slavery in the form of India’s caste system. The film is courageously unapologetic to upper castes, and goes a step further by portraying hierarchies of exploitation even among the marginalised, making it a landmark addition to the growing library of Tamil films confronting caste without cushioning the impact for denialists.    

(2) The Great Indian Kitchen (Mahaththaya Bharatiya Adukkala) Director: Jeo Baby   Language: Malayalam   For my full-length review of The Great Indian Kitchen, click here

(3) Sardar Udham  Director: Shoojit Sircar Language: Hindi-English   For my full-length review of Sardar Udham, click here (4) **_Jai Bhim_** Director: TJ Gnanavel   Language: Tamil Male-superstar-driven films about subjugated castes often use the subjugation as a mere tool to build their lead star’s larger-than-life image. Jai Bhim is different. Suriya plays Tamil Nadu’s real-life activist judge, Justice Chandru, and while he is no doubt the hero here, he is never allowed to overshadow the characters played by Lijomol Jose and K Manikandan, their suffering or the woman’s unflinching stand against an exploitative system.   A determination not to enter upper-caste-male-saviour territory and an avoidance of hyper-masculinity within a discussion on caste are among this film’s stand-out qualities. In the midst of these hosannas, it is important to call out the makers for brownfacing a comparatively light-skinned actor, Lijomol, for her role.   Jai Bhim is moving and disturbing. It is also an ideal illustration of how to acknowledge an ally from a dominant community without fashioning him as a messiah, and how to make a film about that ally without side-lining the pain, strength and courage of the people he stands by.  

(5) Minnal Murali  Director: Basil Joseph Language: Malayalam   For my full-length review of Minnal Murali, click here (6) _Meel Patthar (Milestone) _  Director: Ivan Ayr Language: Hindi-Punjabi with some Kashmiri For my full-length review of Meel Patthar, click here

(7) **_Cinema Bandi_** Director: Praveen Kandregula Language: Telugu _Thithi_ meets Supermen of Malegaon in this delightful Telugu film about an autorickshaw driver who chances upon an expensive camera one day. Having heard about indie cinema earning money despite being made on shoestring budgets, he recruits a photographer friend to shoot a film that he hopes will turn his fortunes.   A hilarious portrait of conservative rural India, Cinema Bandi is funny without being patronising towards the people of the village in which it is set. It stays consistent in its tone throughout, barring a couple of farcical patches (for one, supposedly decent male characters are shown chasing a woman down a lonely country road because they want to cast her in a film – unsurprisingly, their behaviour evokes terror in the woman, as such conduct inevitably would in real life, making it far from being the funny scene it is meant to be). As it proceeds further, Cinema Bandi goes from strength to strength by  giving space and depth to its female characters although it is a male-centric enterprise, by steering clear of lazily villainising the well-to-do owner of the camera, and by never losing sight of the hero’s primary objective: to earn money with his film, and transform not only his own life but that of the entire village.   It is great to see stalwarts of the mainstream, writer-directors Raj & DK, backing this little film as producers. Cinema Bandi is a charming tribute to cinema and to the human spirit.  

(8) Sherni  Director: Amit Masurkar Language: Hindi   For my full-length review of Sherni, click here

(9) Karnan   Director: Mari Selvaraj Language: Tamil A village needs a bus-stop. A simple ask, it might seem to those dwelling in bubbles of privilege. But in Karnan starring Dhanush, that bus-stop encapsulates the entire gamut of deprivation faced by those placed at the lowest rungs of the social ladder in India’s depraved caste system: from the denial of the nuts and bolts of subsistence all the way to the denial of choice, dignity and peace of mind.   Director Mari Selvaraj debuted in 2018 with Pariyerum Perumal, a film in which the protagonist faced caste discrimination in an educational institution and elsewhere. Basic infrastructure is the starting block of his Karnan, which is written as a clever inversion of the Mahabharat, with caste wars as the theme.   The rage that runs through Karnan sustains it even though it bows to the conventions of commercial cinema by giving primacy and centrality to the male warrior in its vision of caste rebellion. That rage is captivating, as is the film.  

(10) Malik  Director: Mahesh Narayanan Language: Malayalam   For my full-length review of Malik, click here Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial