Take a look at our list of the best Bollywood movies in 2016.
From January’s Airlift to December’s Dangal, 2016 was a year of Biopics for Bollywood. This year did rise above the stereotypes and a few films did stand out for their subject or outstanding performance.
Bollywood of 2016 was path-breaking in many ways; with movies like Parched, Aligarh, Nil Battey Sannata, Waiting, Pink and Udta Punjab hitting the screens.
After 2014 movie Highway, Alia Bhatt once again smashed her bubbly image through Udta Punjab and Dear Zindagi and firmly cemented her presence further in Bollywood as a serious actress. Sonam Kapoor also shook off her clotheshorse tag with Neerja.
Take a look at our list of the best Bollywood movies in 2016 in the order of their release.
- Airlift
A well-crafted movie by Raja Krishna Menon, ‘Airlift’ is based on a real-life incident of an Indian businessman who helped rescue around 170,000 of his compatriots in the face of looming war crisis in the Middle east. Akshay Kumar’s impressive performance as businessman Ranjith Katyal and right dose of patriotism makes airlift a must watch. The movie also starred Nimrat Kaur.
- Neerja
The biopic, based on the heartfelt story of a young courageous air hostess Neerja Bhanot who gave up her life to save many when Pan Am flight 73 was hijacked in 1986. It is Sonam Kapoor’s best performance till date and Ram Madhvani’s movie is one of the finest biopics ever made in Bollywood.
- Aligarh
The most anticipated biopic of the year, ‘Aligarh’ revolved around Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who taught Marathi at the Aligarh Muslim University. The movie boldly talked homosexuality and Manoj Bajpayee’s stellar performance as the lead character and touched hearts. ‘Aligarh’ was lauded and honored at most film festivals in the country and abroad.
- Kapoor and Sons
Shakun Batra’s brilliantly crafted family drama was a subtle take on our own little imperfections and how we endeavor to fit despite those individual limitations. The cast included Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan and Alia Bhatt.
- Nil Battey Sannata
‘Nil Battey Sannata’ also sometimes known as The New Classmate was director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari’s debut feature and stars Swara Bhaskar, Ria Shukla and Pankaj Tripathi. The story portrays how a housemaid in Agra believes in the power of education and propels her reluctant young daughter into learning.
- Udta Punjab
Abhishek Chaubey’s ‘Udta Punjab’ won all the praises for exposing a relevant and grim issue of drug abuse in Punjab. The cast included Shahid Kapoor as a doped out, concert rapper, Alia Bhatt as a trafficked migrant worker and Kareena Kapoor as a doctor specializing in substance abuse recovery and Diljit Dosanjah as a cop trying to unravel the white powder conspiracy.
- Pink
Pink, a courtroom drama directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary, portrays three young women’s struggle to the male entitlement and patriarchy and discusses about the prejudices surrounding women in society. The film gave us the statement of the year: no means no. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang.
- Parched
Leena Yadav’s Parched was the bittersweet tale of four rural Rajasthan women Rani, Lajjo, Bijli and Janaki as they struggling with their individual demons. They unapologetically talk about men, sex and life and kick patriarchy in the nuts in their own fearless ways. The film stars Radhika Apte, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Surveen Chawla and Leher Khan.
- Dear Zindagi
Gauri Shinde’s ‘Dear Zindagi’ wasn’t a typical bollywood masala despite starring Shah Rukh Khan. The movie revolves around a budding cinematographer played by Alia Bhatt and how she gains a new perspective of life with the help of an unconventional thinker Jehangir Khan.
- Dangal
Aamir Khan’s Dangal is breaking all the box-office records, and made sure 2016 ends with a great biopic. The movie portrays Indian wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogats life journey and how he trains his daughters Geeta and Babita to follow his footsteps and became world-class grapplers.
Apart from these, Salman Khan starrer ‘Sultan’, Sushant’s Singh Rajput starrer biopic MS Dhoni The Untold Story, R Madhavan’s Sudha K Prasad movie Saala Khadoos, Radhika Apte’s Phobia and Irfaan Khans Madaari are all need special mention while talking about the best of bollywood in 2016.