A for ANIMAL: This monstrous hit has helped its hero, or reasonably anti-hero, Ranbir Kapoor break into the Rs 500 crore membership on the home box-office for the primary time in his profession regardless of being panned by a bit of critics for its poisonous misogyny, extreme violence, sexist and chauvinist perspective. Calling his detractors “illiterate and uneducated”, director Sandeep Vanga Reddy has already introduced a sequel, Animal Farm, with the opportunity of an epic trilogy, promising that it is going to be “bigger, darker and meaner”. Now that’s a beastly prediction!

B for BARBENHEIMER: From youngster’s play to an grownup fantasy comedy, Barbie has grown up and the way! Highest grossing movie of 2023. Highest grossing comedy movie ever. Highest grossing movie by a solo lady director. Warner Bros’ highest grossing movie. To add to the highs, it has earned 11 Grammys nominations, 18 nods for Critics’ Choice Awards, 9 for the Golden Globes and heads the Oscar shortlist with 5.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, chronicling the journey of J Robert Oppenheimer, the ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb’, exploded on the identical Friday as Barbie to turn into the best grossing biographical movie and the best grossing World War II-related movie. The two movies collectively flagged off the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon.

C for CROSSOVER: Hindi movies have lastly turn into pan-India with the cross-pollination of expertise between Bollywood and regional cinema. So, regardless of the debacle of Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan’s Adipurush, Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash are prepping for Ramayan in 2024 whereas the outstanding success of Shah Rukh Khan, Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara’s Atlee-directed Jawan has created a buzz round Siddharth Anand’s War 2 that includes Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR. Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD with Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas and Deepika Padukone and Rajinikanth, Big B and Rana Duggabatti’s Thailavar 170 amongst no less than 25 such collaborations will additional cement the crossover development.

D for DEEPFAKES: A video of Rashmika Mandana in a black yoga swimsuit coming into the elevator rapidly went viral. Turned out it was really social media influencer Zara Patel digitally altered to seem like the actress who made her displeasure felt about such deepfake movies in a public assertion. Sara Tendulkar has additionally complained of being impersonated on X.

Alia Bhatt and Priyanka Chopra are different victims of the AI expertise with the latter’s voice digitally altered and her unique traces edited to advertise a model. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described this misuse of AI expertise “worrying” after watching a faux video of himself performing the garba at a perform he didn’t attend.

E for EMMY: Jim Sarbh, Best Actor (Drama) nominee for Rocket Boys, might have misplaced to The Responder’s Martin Freeman whereas Karla Souza gained the Best Actress Emmy for the Mexican drama collection Dive, edging out Delhi Crime’s DCP Vartika Chaturvedi IPS aka Shefali Shah. But Vir Das did the nation proud successful the coveted award for his Netflix Special, Vir Das Landing, which was adjudged Best Comedy. Subsequently, he turned the primary Indian comic to carry out at London’s iconic Apollo Theatre.

The Tsarina of day by day soaps and women-centric movies, Ekta Kapoor, was additionally honoured with the International Emmy Directorate Award for her contributions to the world of arts and leisure.

F for FARZI: Shahid Kapoor’s digital debut Farzi was the most-searched OTT present of 2023 with different crime thrillers, Rana and Venkatesh Daggubatti’s Rana Naidu and RajKummar Rao’s Guns & Gulaabs, additionally sparking off a lot curiosity. In its second season, Asur and Sex/Life, and Bigg Boss in Season 17, additionally remained long-running favourites with viewers wanting ahead to Jubilee returning with its subsequent season.

G for GOOGLE PLAY:

Level SuperMind: Focus & Calm was adjudged Best App and Best for Personal Growth in Google Play’s annual showcase with THAP: Your Happiness Gym because the Users’ Choice App. Monopoly Go! has been voted the Best Game of 2023. Subway Surfers Blast is the Users Choice Game whereas the Best Made in India Game is Battle Stars 4v4 TDM & BR.

H for HORROR:

Evil Dead Rise has turn into the best grossing movie within the collection with worldwide assortment of $146 million. Ditto Insidious: The Red Door, one other supernatural horror movie and the fifth instalment within the Insidious franchise. Two different Hollywood choices, The Pope’s Exorcist and The Nun II, dominated the Indian box-office whereas Vikram Bhatt’s 1920: Horrors of the Heart, the fifth movie in his 1920 Bollywood franchise, was a shock hit.

I for ICC WORLD CUP:

The 2023 version was probably the most watched occasion within the historical past of cricket with the ultimate between India and Australia setting a brand new file with 130 million views, adopted by the semi-final between India and New Zealand with 80 million views and the India-Pakistan match with 75 million views. A staggering 30 crore folks watched the ultimate on TV, setting world data with peak digital concurrency of 5.9 crore and peak TV concurrency of 13 crore. What was disappointing was that after an ideal run as much as the finals, India stumbled on the final hurdle, letting Australia stroll away with the trophy and lowering King (Virat) Kohli to tears.

J for Jis Lahore Nahi Dekhya…: Designed and directed by Dinesh Thakur, Ank Theatre Group’s long-running play Jis Lahore Nahi Dekhya O Jamyai Hi Nai, which opened in January 2003, not too long ago accomplished a 400-show run. Theatre in Mumbai noticed one other record-breaking achievement.

Vijay Kenkre, son of famend director Damu Kenkre and proficient actress Lalita, turned the primary Marathi director to direct 100 performs with out realising he had reached the milestone until his spouse, Mangal, pointed it out.

Ok for KERALA: Jude Anthony’s highest grossing Malayalam movie, 2018, impressed by the floods in Kerala in 2018, was India’s official entry for the Academy Awards. Though it didn’t make the Oscar shortlist, the movie’s main man, Tovino Thomas, was the primary South Indian Actor to win the Best Actor Award on the Septimius Awards in Netherlands for his efficiency.

Sudipto Sen’s The Kerala Story, regardless of litigations and protests, was additionally a shock blockbuster with a worldwide gross of Rs 300 crore. Panned for its Islamophobic propaganda, this story of 4 nursing college students recruited into the Islamic State, was supported by the RSS and the BJP, and even endorsed by PM Modi throughout an election rally in Karnataka.

Ok-Dramas proceed to search out favour, from an workplace romance (King The Land), revenge-thriller (The Glory) to supernatural romcom (My Demon). There was even a historic drama (My Dearest) set through the Qing invasion impressed by the 1936 novel Gone with the Wind.

L for LOVE, ACTUALLY: Kiara Advani, who tied the knot together with her Shershaah co-star Sidharth Malhotra, on February 7, 2023, was the highest searched individual on Google. The couple’s marriage ceremony {photograph} on Instagram was India’s most favored image with 16 million likes.

M for MATTHEW PERRY:

The ‘90s sitcom Friends made Chandler everyone’s good friend, so it got here as a shock to Matthew Perry’s followers in India to study that he had drowned in a scorching tub on October 28. In his 2022 memoir, the actor had shared his struggles with drug habit. The post-mortem report revealed that he was taking testosterone injections which have been making him indignant and imply. However, his Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston shared that within the days previous to his shock demise, Matthew had been optimistic in regards to the future. He had even requested his medical doctors to steadily scale back his reliance on Ketamine and Buprenorphine used to deal with his habit. So, then, was it suicide or an accident that killed him? Guess we’ll by no means know!

N for NAATU NAATU: SS Rajamouli’s RRR, headlined by Ram Charan and Junior NTR, had the world dancing to “Naatu Natatu”. MM Keeravani’s catchy composition gained the Oscar and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. It was a double whammy for India on the Academy Award with not simply the Telugu interval motion drama changing into the primary Indian full-length characteristic movie to bag an Oscar, however Kartiki Gonsalves’ The Elephant Whisperers additionally bringing the statuette residence for Best Documentary (Short Subject). 

O for ORRY:

Social media sensation and Bigg Boss 17 contestant Orhan Awatramani grabbed eyeballs not simply on the fact present, but in addition off-camera together with his revelations that he expenses Rs 20-30 lakh per selfie and desires to marry a wealthy woman. He entered the House with seven suitcases, reasoning that if Lata Mangeshkar was a singer as a result of she sang, he was a liver as a result of he lives. “Who’s Orry?” was a query that even Karan Johar’s posed on his Koffee present.

P for PREGNANCY: Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli’s secret was out through the latest ICC World Cup when the actress was seen flaunting a child bump. This would be the couple’s second youngster after daughter Vamika. While many celeb kids have been born in 2023, none sparked as a lot curiosity as Ileana D’Cruz’s “little darling” after she introduced her being pregnant on social media on April 18, with a onesie and a pendant with the phrase “mama”, and with out naming the “papa”. The actress welcomed her son, Kao Pheonix Dolan, on August 1, and at last launched the world to her associate with a blurry black-and-white image, adopted by a clearer one. He is just not Katrina Kaif’s brother as was speculated, however Michael Dolan whom she had married in May.

Q FOR QUEEN: Kangana Ranaut continues to be within the information periodically even though Tejas crash-landed, Chandramukhi 2 by no means took off and even her debut manufacturing, Tiku Weds Sheru, didn’t impress regardless of starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui. She sided with Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, asserting that mensuration is just not “some illness or handicap” and so girls don’t want paid depart for durations. Meanwhile, her father has confirmed that the actress, who performs Indira Gandhi in her second directorial Emergency, will contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, on a BJP ticket.

R for RICKY KEJ:

The Indian composer created historical past by finishing a hattrick, collaborating with five-time Grammy-winner and American rock legend Stewart Copeland to turn into solely the fourth Indian, and the youngest, to win probably the most coveted music award. He bagged a Grammy for the primary time in 2015, for Winds of Change, and a second in 2022 when Divine Tides was voted ‘Best New Age Album’. This yr Divine Tides was adjudged ‘Best Immersive Audio Album’ and Ricky devoted his third award to India.

S for SHAH RUKH KHAN:

Finally, it was the Badshah who saved Bollywood from being overrun by South cinema. Drawing viewers again to the theatres after the extended pandemic lockdown, he turned the primary Hindi cinema hero in latest instances to ship three blockbusters, Pathaan, Jawan and Dunki, in a single yr. At 59, he heads the 2023 ‘Top 5- Asian Celebrities in the World’ record and his Jhoome jo Pathaan is the most well-liked Bollywood track.

T for TELGI: After Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, Hansal Mehta returned with Scam 2003: The Telgi Story. The riveting second instalment within the franchise, stamped the picture of Abdul Karim Telgi, a convicted counterfeiter sentenced to 30 years of rigorous imprisonment, in public reminiscence. Mehta additionally grabbed headlines with one other internet collection, Scoop, impressed by Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison, the biographical memoir of Jigna Vora who was arrested for the homicide of fellow journalist Jyotirmoy Dey in 2011.

U for UNESCO:

In a first-of-its-kind honour for India, Kozhikode was conferred the title of ‘City of Literature’ by UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. Earlier referred to as Calicut, this Kerala metropolis is residence to 2 Jnanpith winners, MT Vasudevan Nair and SK Pottekkatt, together with the mom of poet Kamala Das, Balamani Amma, recipient of the Saraswati Samman. It has additionally nurtured different well-known writers like P Valsala, KT Mohammed and Thikkodiyan and is the venue for one of many largest literary festivals. Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh was named the ‘City of Music’.

V for VICTORY CITY:

Salman Rushdie didn’t promote his fifteenth novel in public following the a number of stabbings in 2022, however Victory City, the fictional translation of an epic initially written in Sanskrit, nonetheless acquired the Booker Prize successful writer loads of traction and optimistic critiques. Meanwhile Perumal Murugan’s Pookkuzhi, translated in English as Pyre by Anirudh Vasudevanm, was the primary Tamil novel to make the 2023 International Booker Prize longlist. Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song was the winner.

W FOR WAHEEDA REHMAN: After two Filmfare Best Actress Awards for Guide and Neel Kamal, and a BFJA Award for Teesri Kasam, together with the National Award for Reshma Aur Shera, Waheeda Rehman was introduced with the 53rd Dadasaheb Phalke Lifetime Achievement Award on the 69th National Film Awards ceremony.

The veteran actress has been honoured with the Padma Shri in 1972 and the Padma Bhushan in 2011.

X for XTRA INNINGS: At 67, Sunny Deol is again within the race with a sequel which launched 22 years after the unique, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. With a worldwide gross of Rs 691 crore on an funding of Rs 60 crore Gadar 2 is a shock blockbuster. With this movie and its recreated songs, together with Main nikkla gaddi le ke, Sunny has cast a hyperlink with the following era who are actually watching his previous hits.

Y FOR YOUTUBE YADAV: Elvish Yadav, a YouTube sensation with over 15 million subscribers on his channel, made historical past when he gained Big Boss OTT 2 as a wild card entry. He then went on to make hissstory after he was summoned by the Noida Police within the snake venom rave celebration case. The Gurugram-based digital creator’s response to fellow Temptation Island contestant Nikita Bhamidipati, who he believes is the right match for him, additionally had the web buzzing.

Z for ZOYA AKHTAR: Zoya Akhtar’s cinematic adaptation of The Archies comics, with Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor and Agastya Nanda as Veronica, Betty and Archie, respectively, fanned the nepotism debate. But SRK and Sridevi’s daughters and the Bachchan grandson made the teenager musical probably the most watched movie on Netflix.

Published on: Sunday, December 31, 2023, 04:45 AM IST