Newton Makes It to the Top of IFI List of 10 Best Films of 2017

Delhi, India, February 19, 2018 --(PR.com)-- "Newton," a film directed by Amit V Masurkar has been chosen as the Best Feature Film of the Year 2017 in a survey done by IFI.

Newton's lead protagonist Rajkummar Rao has received the Best Performance (Male). Vidya Balan got Best Performance by an Actress in 2017 for "Tumhari Sulu" directed by Suresh Triveni.

The survey involving some of the top Indian Film Critics.

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 KonkonaSen Sharma
3. Mukti Bhavan (Hindi): Directed by ShubhashishBhutiani
4. Lipstick Under My Burkha (Hindi): Directed by Alankrita Srivastava
5. Anaarkali of Aarah (Hindi): Directed by Avinash Das
6. Trapped (Hindi): Directed by VikramadityaMotwane
7. Ajji (Hindi): Directed by DevashishMakhija
8. Take Off (Malayalam-English): Directed by Mahesh Narayan
9. Secret Superstar(Hindi) Directed by Advait Chandan & Jagga Jasoos(Hindi): Directed by AnuragBasu
10. Hirakata Prasanga (Kannada): Directed by Ananya Kasarvalli and Atanu Ghosh’s Mayurakshi.

Rajkummar Rao has been chosen as 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 actor from Gurgaon emerged the clear winner followed by Irrfan at 2nd position for his work in varied films like "Hindi Medium," "Doob: No Bed of Roses" (a Bangladesh India co-production)and "Qarib Qarib Single."

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

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, Gautaman Bhaskaran, Saibal Chatterjee, K N T Sastry, Ratnottama Sengupta, Namrata Joshi, Dalton L, Alaka Sahani, 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 preferences and 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 Kasarvalli tied at No. 10 along with 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.