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The best trailers of 2009
Bollywood trailers are mostly trashy. Very few are creative, very few move beyond the people who star in the movies -- they're mostly just moving posters with faces presented front and center.
Yet some promos manage to startle, to provoke, to intrigue. To really make us want to watch the film.
Here, then, is a list of ten trailers for this year's releases. Nope, that fabulously profane Ishqiyaa trailer doesn't feature because the film's only out in 2010. But here's the best of 2009, a list compiled with much help from my gang on Twitter:
10. Love Aaj Kal
A slick use of splitscreen and racy visuals marks the trailer for this Imtiaz Ali film, even as Saif Ali Khan notices how it's only in Indian love stories that the girl's name comes first.
Add to that him as a sepiatoned Sikh alongside a Brazilian girl we'd never seen before, and this trailer that promised a really interesting film.
How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review
9.Wake Up Sid
Ranbir Kapoor sleeps peacefully before his cheek is assaulted by a well-meaning lady who says he should be a hero -- his mother agrees, saying he doesn't seem to do anything else anyway.
Cut to a montage of fun friendly visuals, and the hummable ru-roo-ru-roo theme -- plus the father-son office-for-car ensure we're intrigued by Ayaan Mukherjee's directorial debut.
And then comes the masterstroke: Konkona Sensharma shriekily demands rain, so Kapoor hurls mineral water into her face. Nice.
How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review.
8.Luck By Chance
It's a big industry in-joke, and while it's not the kind of thing that all audiences will immediately 'get,' the opening of this trailer -- featuring Farhan Akhtar as 'the struggler' and Konkana as 'the starlet,' albeit one playing a 'parallel heroine -- instantly evokes a curious grin.
Then comes producer Rishi Kapoor on a treadmill, Juhi Chawla as his shrewish wife, Sanjay Kapoor as a director, and Isha Sharvani as a star-kid. They're all stereotypes, but they all seem very fun -- not to mention Hrithik Roshan spoofing himself right from the get-go.
The dramatic montage that follows, the trailer could have done without, but the breeziness and frivolity of the first couple minutes have us hooked. How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review.
7,99
So few of our trailers are plot-driven, and this Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK film focusses on story instead of stars.
We see a chase, an accident and, tantalisingly, Boman Irani theorising on luck armed with poker chips. The film claims to be 'almost' a true story, and the humour seems organic.
Full disclosure: I wrote dialogues for this film, but biases aside, I do believe this one's a very well cut trailer, and the background music works. How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review.
6,Delhi 6
It's a bit of an unfair advantage to have AR Rahman's soundtrack to cut a trailer to, and the flurry of Delhi shots opening the trailer for Rakeysh Mehra's new film have this advantage.
Abhishek Bachchan, sunglassed and completely out of place in a convertible in Chandni Chowk, looks around dazed. Cut on a grinning Sonam Kapoor with that iconic pigeon on her head.
The curious moment-driven montage continues, an eclectic cast interspersed with intriguing, wonderfully shot Ramlila visuals. An ace promo, though one wishes every song from the film wasn't given its own chunk of screentime.
How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review:
5,Chandni Chowk To China
The energy and lunacy on display in this promo was mindblowing, Nikhil Advani's megabudget film promising us our very own Kung Fu Hustle.
Ranbir Shorey and Akshay Kumar wear weird moustaches, Deepika Padukone looks stunning-er than ever, amid an action-packed melange of complete, unashamed farce. And there's Kill Bill's Gordon Liu to give the project credibility. A seriously great trailer for the year's first big release.
How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review.
4,Dev D
Abhay Deol chews gum as a conversation is bleeped around, and then we cut to the unforgettable ek-doh-teen-chaar-chheh countdown introducing us to Emosanal Atyachaar for the first time ever.
What bloody impact.
As Deol ploughs through cocaine, we realise this Dev is unlike any we've ever seen. The protagonist-mounted camera leads to a surreal, trippy montage -- aggressively cut -- and we know that Anurag Kashyap's gone wild.
How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review.
3,Kaminey
A Vishal Bhardwaj film is always an event, and this comicbooky trailer introduces us to two Shahid Kapoors and a Priyanka Chopra like we've never seen them before, one lisping, one stuttering and the girl yelling about having raped a man.
Set around the PulpFictionny Dhan Te Nan, the character-introducing visuals promise mad chaos and a zany bunch.
All the Ss are changed to Fs in Charlie's honour -- 'this fummer', for example -- but the true scene stealing is done by Amole Gupte's Bhope Bhau as he jeers at the lisper.
Oh, and there's a brief glimpse of a running with horses shot that made women in theatres across the country tremble.
How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review.
2,Gulaal
Hello There, reads the Democracy Beer sign, changing to Hell Here before we know it.
Kay Kay Menon takes the nursery out of a rhyme, Piyush Mishra laments revolutionaries, and we see a twisted take on the classic Deewar dialogue.
The marvellous Aarambh Hai Prachand heralds war as faces are reddened and gunpowder is readied for revolt.
Kashyap ends whimsically, Mishra wondering what good the Gulaal is if everyone recognises everyone anyway.
How'd the film match up to the trailer? Read the review.
1,Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year
It's always refreshing to see a film with a bonafide concept trailer, as opposed to one that just goes through the montage-and-music motions.
Shimit Amin's next introduces us to the star-of-the-year as Harpreet Singh, salesman, who then promises to sell the film -- 'his film,' he says shyly -- in 60 seconds.
He says it's not a film about toppers -- '37%, with grace marks,' he points to himself -- and the actor is earnest enough to sell a line about heartbeats being more important than marksheets.
He ends with a loony dance, and by now we're at least interested enough to let the salesman in through the door.