by Subhash K Jha

This year at the movies I felt like a child at a toy shop. So much to choose from.

So many colours of life, so many vibrant styles of cinema... such a wallop of wondrous eyeball-caressing experiences.... Yes, I saw them all. Here's looking back at my Favourite films.

1. Black: Ever since its release, I'm of hearing the carpers and the genuinely discerning talk about film's affinity to Arthur Penn's 1962 The Miracle Worker..It's like comparing Bimal Roy's Devdas with Bhansali's version of Saratchandra's novel.

The filmmaker's passionate interpretation of Helen Keller's brave struggle to overcome her handicap is truly the most inspired and inspiring film of the year.

Seamless as it is flawless Black is a truly universal film with the Bachchan giving what history might well judge as the single finest male performance in Indian cinema. Yup, the real miracle worker is Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

2. Page 3: A miracle of another order.... How did Madhur Bhandarkar do it?! After laying two turnips (Satta, Aan) he bounced back to his Chandni Bar caliber of raw real and pain-lashed cinema.

Filmed as a pastiche of scenes from Page -3 parties Page 3 is replete with characters who jump out and clasp you by your throat. No one gives an 'outstanding' performance.

All of the 40-odd characters blend into Bhandarkar's fluent narration, heralding a new-age cinema which doesn't sacrifice a solid storyline for technique and élan. Are the avante-gardists of Bollywood watching? Page 3 is the future of mainsteam cinema.

3. King Kong: Yup, size does matter. 2005 was the year of unconventional yet sublime love relationship. If in Black we saw an aging guru guide his physically challenged pupil into the light, in King Kong we see a love so unorthodox and forbidden and yet so heartwarming it makes us want to sing hosannas for the genius who invented love for the movies.

The love story emerges from the stunning pastiche of horror and special effects only in the second-half of this monumental achievement. The rapport that grows between Ann and the gorilla is structured almost as an operatic overture.

4. My Brother Nikhil: An elegiac tale of a swimmer coming to terms with his sexuality Nikhil was a pathbreaker that didn't take the untried path just to be different. Director Onirban had a gut-wrenching tale to tell.

Hats off to Sanjay Suri and Purab Kohli who had the guts to play Hindi cinema's first gay couple. The relationship was dealt with maturity and lack of fuss. The film was as mellow and aqueous as the Goan seas which overlooked this cool crossover film non-judgementally.

5. Sarkar: Ram Gopal Varma's finest work since Company ...Sarkar proved an astonishing showcase for the father-son Bachchan...It tapped an entirely new dimension in the personalities of both Amitabh and Abhishek, casting them as a father and son in ways that made then look compatible yet excitingly different from the way the public perceives them. The tinge of real-life (Bal Thackeray!) provided the material with the luminous layering of a film-noire.

6. Antar Mahal: Bong brilliance...included in this list for the long shadows it casts over the ambit represented by the man-woman relationship. Rituparno Ghosh's economy of space and expression was evident in the sparse use of his star attraction.

Abhishek Bachchan as the Bihari idol -maker gave a deeper performance than Bunty Babli, Sarkar or Bluff Master. The narrative was nubile and erotic. And the claustrophobic ambience of 19th century feudal Bengal came across effectively.

7. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mana: Is picture ko kisne mara? On one end Yashraj Films faced flurried flak for the derobed excesses of Neal 'N' Nikki. On the other hand they marketed their proudest product to date. Writer-director Jahnu Baruah's film about a daughter's struggle to cope with her father's illness was more a study of resilience than Gandhism.

8. Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi: A Gandhian tale with a difference .Sudhir Mishra's sly and sharp look-see at a lost generation during Mrs Indira's Gandhi's regime placed a love triangle at the helm, and then went at a defunct and corrupt political system with hammers and tongs.

9.Iqbal: Nagesh Kukunoor's ramrod-straight unsentimental tale about a deaf and mute boy(Shreyas Talpade) and his struggle to become a national-level cricketer was remarkable for its absence of sentimentality. There were occasions galore for soppy tears.

Kukunoor looked at the world of the brave and the unvanquished with dry-eyed normalcy. Hold on to that outstanding performance by Naseeruddin Shah as a burnt-out alcoholic coach. All resemblances to a certain Mr Bachchan's character in Black were purely coincidental.

10.Bose: The Forgotten Hero: Bose...the forgotten film! Inept marketing and the audiences' utter lack of interest in history(remember what happened to the Bhagat Singh films?) killed the impact of this meticulously mounted story celebrating one of Indian history's most unassailable heroes. Sachin Khedeker in the title role worked hard to get the nuances right. A labour of love born to blush unseen.

11. Parineeta: Pradeep Sarkar's ode to Saratchandra's persistent obsession with theme of childhood love across the economic barrier , took some startling liberties with the orginal material. The author would've probably committed suicide if he had seen his 'innocent' lovers sleeping together in this remake. And what a vibrant volte-face of image for Saif Ali Khan!

11. Shikhar: It's the easiest thing in the world to get cynical about a film that embraces idealism and a vision of corruption-less India. It's the toughest thing in the world for a filmmaker to attempt a film that tries to outrace the breathless rituals of cynical filmmaking that seems to be the order of the day.

Like Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades which came exactly a year ago, Shikhar attempts to look at life in the rural hinter-land as idealistic, unspoilt and desirable.

Matthan's idealism is predominantly Nehruvian. The builders and politicians of independent India have had a field day at out expense. Is it pay-back time now?Shikhar suggests it might be.