I wanted to write a post about those films which I liked the most in 2010. But as I made a mental list of it I realized almost all of them are films which didn’t attain box-office success or critical acclaim which they so dearly deserved. So, I thought of coming up with a list called the ‘Unsung Heroes of 2010’. They truly are according to me.

Rann: Perhaps the only movie which exposed the nexus between TV news channels and politics and that too with a riveting story and an intense script. Unfortunately the pro-song and dance audience gave a cold shoulder to this one for being too serious. Even a superlative lead performance from the great Amitabh Bachchan wasn’t enough to even make this well made effort from Ram Gopal Varma even an average success.

Karthik Calling Karthik: One of the rare psychological thrillers to have come from Bollywood, Karthik Calling Karthik managed to churn out a suspense tale which just nobody could predict and one which keeps us glued throughout. It also had a mature and convincing act by Farhan Akhtar. However, Vijay Lalvani’s brilliant debut both as a director and a scriptwriter wasn’t noticed at the box-office.

Red Alert-The War Within: The film for which I feel bad the most! Ananth Mahadevan’s intense and flawless dark thriller brings to light the issue of naxals with an outstanding act by Suniel Shetty that can silence his critics forever. One cannot expect such films to be blockbusters but one can surely expect the class audience to take a look at it which didn’t happen. It’s also disheartening not to see Suniel Shetty’s nomination in any of the annual film awards.

Aakrosh: Those who have seen Aakrosh will agree that this is one of the best works of Priyadarshan. But how many of us did see this? Despite some great performances from a well known star cast (Ajay Devgan, Akshaye Khanna and Bipasha Basu), a famous director, a well publicized product and finally, a well crafted faced paced thriller, it only received ignorance from the audience.

Rakht Charitra (Part 1 and 2): Although it was a portrayal of late Andhra leader Paritala Ravi’s life, director Ram Gopal Varma made sure the film appears interestingly dramatic and highly impactful. It is understandable that a film with such brutal violence didn’t click at the box-office. However, I find it unbelievable that Vivek Oberoi’s career best performance and Surya’s sensational and mind-blowing debut weren’t nominated at a single awards ceremony.

I don’t mind if ‘no-brainers’ work wonders at the box-office. But I more than mind if all wonderfully made serious films or films based on hard-hitting issues go un-noticed (forget box-office success) and get a kick on the back. Well, because of this trend, we can see only films like House Full, Dabanng and Golmaal 3 becoming superhits. And it looks like the dirty trend is going to continue in 2011 too. So, see you again for a similar post after a year as I am sure there will be a number of well made serious films in 2011 too that will have similar fate.