In a recently concluded survey by non-governmental organization Indian Film Institute (IFI) to judge the best of Indian cinema in the year 2021, seven reputed Indian film critics had recommended their lists of the top ten Indian movies. Consequently, as per the final top 10 films list, a critically claimed Marathi language movie has outranked widely acclaimed films like ‘Minnal Murali’, ‘Joji’, ‘Sardar Udham’, and ‘Jai Bhim’.
The movie is none other than Chaitanya Tamhane’s ‘The Disciple’, which has become the top-ranked Indian film as per the critics’ survey. While the second and third spots have been secured by Tovino Thomas starrer superhero movie ‘Minnal Murali’ and Fahadh Faasil’s ‘Joji’.
The aforementioned top 3 titles are followed by the brilliant Malayalam political thriller ‘Nayattu’ and Kannada film ‘Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana’ which are both placed on the fourth rank while Ivan Iyer’s ‘Milestone’ is on the fifth spot.
The next five ranks on IFI’s top 10 films list are held by Shoojit Sircar’s historical drama ‘Sardar Udham’ (Rank 6), ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’ (Rank 7), ‘Kala’ (Rank 8), ‘Jai Bhim’ (also on Rank 8), and ‘Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam’ (Rank 9). Moreover, there is another tie between Vidya Balan’s ‘Sherni’ and Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa: The Rise’, which are both placed on the tenth rank.
Besides the top 10 films list, the survey has also named Fahadh Faasil as the best actor (male) for his spellbinding act in ‘Malik’. The runner-up best actor titles are jointly shared by Vicky Kaushal (for ‘Sardar Udham’) and Tovino Thomas (for ‘Minnal Murali’).
For the top-ranked best actor (female) title, there is another tie between Konkona Sen Sharma for ‘Geeli Pucchi’) and Nimisha Sajayan (for ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’). The runner-up best actress is bagged by Taapsee Pannu for her sincere act in the romantic thriller ‘Haseen Dillruba’.
So, as you can observe from IFI’s ‘Best Feature Films 2021’ list, although ‘The Disciple’ is the No.1 film, it’s the Malayalam film industry that has dominated the list. Because an impressive number of six Malayalam films have been included in the coveted list. And it did not come as a surprise because there is no doubt that the Malayalam film industry has been churning out some quality content especially from the year 2021.
The film critics who have contributed to the IFI survey were Baradwaj Rangan (Chennai), Sachin Chate (Goa), Siraj Syed (Mumbai), Chandi Mukherjee (Kolkata), Murtaza Ali Khan (New Delhi), Christopher Dalton (Kerala), and Utpal Datta (Guwahati).