The year stood out for the many major surprises that it threw up. It had the usual complement of commercially successful masala-laced potboilers, designer films and skin flicks - Salaam Namaste, Kya Kool Hain Hum, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya and No Entry. But during a year when quality made a welcome and long-awaited return to Bollywood, they represented eminently forgettable drops in the ocean.

Black, Paheli, Page 3 were films that pushed the creative envelope while staying within the broad parameters of commercial Hindi cinema scored big in 2005

Black may have been overtly derivative, theatrical and showy, but it was a gutsy effort. Just as remarkable was Madhur Bhandarkar's Page 3 with a large and fascinating gallery of characters, viewed from a rookie pen pusher's somewhat gawky-eyed standpoint.

Shaad Ali's Bunty Aur Babli managed to look and feel very different from a routine boy-meets-girl love story or a predictable-confidence-tricksters-on-the-run-amok caper. The Subhash Ghai saga, Nagesh Kukunoor's heart-warming Iqbal defied all commercial wisdom by turning the spotlight on to a deaf-mute rustic cricketer determined to play for India. Another surprise hit of the year was Sudhir Mishra's political drama Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi -a niche film located its narrative in the upheaval of the political twists and turns of 1970s India. Yet, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi gave bigger releases a run for their money. Not so surprising however was the success of the Vidhu Vinod Chopra-produced Parineeta, directed by first-timer Pradeep Sarkar. A millennial reworking of a Saratchandra Chattopadhyay literary classic.

Several other unconventional Hindi films - Onir's My Brother Nikhil, Assamese veteran Jahnu Barua's Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara, debutant Shoojit Sircar's Yahaan and Prakash Jha's Apaharan earned generous accolades for their quality, emotional energy and creative integrity.

- Saibal Chatterjee