‘Newton’ tops IFI list of 10 best films of 2017

‘Newton’, directed by Amit V Masurkar has been adjudged the Best Feature Film of the Year 2017 in a survey organized by the Indian Film Institute, New Delhi while the film’s lead protagonist Rajkummar Rao has bagged the Best Performance (Male). Vidya Balan made it to the Top of the IFI list for Best Performance by an Actress in 2017 for ‘Tumhari Sulu’ directed by Suresh Triveni.

The survey involving 14 top Film Critics of the country has rated top ten feature films of 2017 and three best performances each by Male and Female actors. ‘A Death in the Gunj’ Actor Konkona sen Sharma’s directorial debut finds the second spot in the ratings while Masurkar’s ‘Newton’ emerged a clear winner by more than 50 percent margin.

The full list of feature films is as under:

1. Newton (Hindi): Directed by Amit V Masurkar
2. A Death in the Gunj (English-Hindi): Directed by Konkona sen Sharma
3. Mukti Bhavan (Hindi): Directed by Shubhashish Bhutiani
4. Lipstick Under My Burkha (Hindi): Directed by Alankrita Srivastava
5. Anarkali of Aarah (Hindi): Directed by Avinash Das
6. Trapped (Hindi): Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane
7. Ajji (Hindi): Directed by Devashish Makhija
8. Take Off (Malayalam-English): Directed by Mahesh Narayan
9. Secret Superstar(Hindi) Directed by Advait Chandan & Jagga  Jasoos(Hindi): Directed by Anurag  Basu
10. Hirakata Prasanga (Kannada): Directed by Ananya Kasarvalli and Atanu Ghosh’s Mayurakshi.

Rajkummar Rao has been adjudged the Best Actor of 2017 for his performances in ‘Newton’ directed by Amit V Masurkar, ‘Trapped’ by Vikramaditya Motwane and ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ directed by Ashwini Iyer Tiwari.

The young actor from Gurgaon emerged the clear winner followed by Irrfanat 2^nd position for his work in varied films like ‘Hindi Medium’, ‘Doob: No Bed of Roses’ (a Bangladesh India co-production)and ‘QaribQaribSinglle’.

The third top performer on the IFI list is Pankaj Tripathy seen in ‘Gurgaon’, ‘Newton’, ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ and ‘Anaarkali of Aarah’ in 2017.

Vidya Balan made it to the Top of the IFI list for Best Performance by an Actress in 2017for her work in ‘Tumhari Sulu’ directed by Suresh Triveni.

Ratna  Pathak Shah was adjudged a close 2^nd for her performance of a middle-aged woman seeking romance in Alankrita Srivastava’s ‘Lipstick under my Burkha’ and the feisty Swara Bhaskar was adjudged 3^rd for her role in ‘Anaarkali of Aarah’ by Avinash Das.

The survey conducted by the Indian Film Institute an NGO and a Not for Profit body invited top 14 Film Critics of the country through a rating mechanism where a film rated by the Critic at No. 1 spot got 10 marks while the one placed at No. 10 got 01 mark and so on.

To pick a fair representation of films cutting across languages and regions, Critics were chosen from all corners of India.The Critics who participated in the Survey include Ajay Brahmatmaj, Swapan Mullick, GautamanB haskaran, Saibal Chatterjee, K N T Sastry, Ratnottama Sengupta, Namrata Joshi, Dalton L, AlakaSahani, Sachin Chate, M K Raghavendra, Siraj Syed, Chandi Mukherjee and Arnab Bannerjee.

Speaking about the survey Manjulaa Shirodkar, Director, Indian Film Institute said,“The pan India exercise is the first-of-its-kind done in the country to reach a consensus among critics to assess the best of Indian cinema. They were asked to share their preferencesand not provided a shortlist. What is heartening to note is that the films that made it to the top are those which have the backing of mainstream production houses like Disney India; Junglee Pictures, T Series and Prakash Jha Productions.

“And it is great to see that the actors adjudged the best, be it Rajkummar Rao, Vidya Balan, Irrfan or Ratna Pathak Shah, enjoy fan following across spectrum, blurring the fine lines between so called mainstream and niche cinema. The IFI seeks to redefine the film appreciation dynamics in our country through this exercise.”

Of the 52 films that came up in the final listing, 3 from the top 10 are directed by women filmmakers. Interestingly, Aamir Khan’s production ‘Secret Superstar’ was tied with Jagga Jasoos at No.9 while a small budget film like ‘Harikatha Prasanga’ on the life of a Yakshagana artist directed by Ananya Kasarvallitied at No. 10 alongwith Atanu Ghosh’s Mayurakshi.

Each of the Top 10 films has successfully experimented with content and genre. Take Jagga Jasoos, A Death in the Gunj, Mukti Bhavan, Trapped, Ajji, Take Off and even Harikatha Prasanga. Clearly content and script are the winners in the IFI list.

The Indian Film Institute is a Not for Profit NGO established by Filmmaker, Film Festival Director Manoj Srivastava and Film Critic and Film Historian Saibal Chatterjee. The NGO works for the benefit of film makers supporting them with free advice and resources. The IFI works for promotion of the cinematic art through Film Screenings, Film Festivals, Workshops, Master Classes, Film Appreciation courses and also funds researches on Indian Cinema.

For more information, log onto www.indianfilminstitute.org