Bollywood is not everyone’s cup of entertainment. The song-dance routines, plot less story lines, excessively (or minimally) dressed leading heroines, over indulgence in bhai-chara emotions and clichéd endings – maybe attracting the overseas market but many of our own kind refuse to invest even 0.01% faith in our Hindi Film Industry. I call this marginal but not rare species, the Bollywood Non-Believers.
Over the past couple of months I would say I have some-what managed to understand the psychic of this “I-Am-Above-Hindi Films” breed – all thanks to a good friend with whom I quarrel almost every other weekend when deciding what to watch at the cinemas. And believe me, she isn’t the polite sort either and would leave no stone unturned in expressing her dislike for Bollywood, something I have been in-love with (to the point of obsession) for nearly 20 odd years.
Okay, now without being all delusional, yes I agree these days’ Hindi philums tend to be more of a marketing gimmick with hyped-up promos – best example of which are Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehana and the disastrous, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. Today, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Bollywood works as an industry, just like any other; churning out mass products rather than treating each film as an Art form. But tell me; is this still a good enough reason to abandon the entire assortment? I for one certainly don’t think so.
And therefore as a pukka Bollywood fan, this post is an attempt to change, if not entirely but at least in some way the thinking of the Bollywood Non-Believers. Here is a list of five Hindi films which I think will definitely make a positive impression even on the hardcore critiques, though an “open” attitude is a must from their end.
As they say, “Jhor ka jhatka dheere se” – I believe, make a dhamakedar impact with our best ones and slowly…steadily open them up to the “mass product” ones; digestion is much easier.
(The names are in random order)
Film: Hu Tu Tu
Director: Gulzar
Lead Actors: Tabu, Suniel Shetty, Nata Patekar and Suhasini Mulay.
Highlights:
- Based on Indian Political System, very much in tune with the present day scenario.
- Excellent performance by leading actress Tabu. She even received the Best Actress Award in the year 2000 for this film.
- Powerful screenplay by Mr. Gulzar and to top it, his direction made the likes of Shetty and Nana a worthwhile watch.
Film: Sadma
Director: Balu Mahendra
Lead Actors: Sridevi, Kamal Hassan and Silk Smitha.
Highlights:
- A perfect definition of a “hatke” film. Not for the faint hearted though, emotional scenes will literally choke your throat.
- Stunning performances by the leading hero and heroine, seriously in spite of watching the film umpteen numbers of times, I still can’t decide who was better Sri or Kamal.
- Fantastic music by Illayaraaja.
- Watch out for the climax, Kamal Hassan will crunch your heart.
Film: Rangeela
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Lead Actors: Aamir Khan, Jackie Shroff and Urmila.
Highlights:
- Undoubtedly the first film to give Mumbaiya language a nation-wide popular status.
- Interesting songs and even more interesting dance choreography.
- Aamir Khan is simply adorable but most important of all, it was the beginning of (then sane) Ram Gopal Varma.
- Best Scene: Aamir Khan in yellow shirt-pant standing next to color matching yellow taxi.
Film: Maqbool
Director: Vishal Bharadwaj
Lead Actors: Pankaj Kapur, Tabu, Irfaan Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Piyush Mishra.
Highlights:
- One man who can do total justice to the “remake” genre and still manage to pull it as an original, that man is Vishal Bharadwaj. Based on Macbeth and God Father, Maqbool is probably one of the best commercial films of the recent times.
- Every single person, be it in front of the camera or behind it, has done a fantastic job. Though my personal favorites are Nasser and Om Puri enacting the roles of two corrupt cops, just like the as the ‘witches’ of Macbeth.
- The film is a little too Urdu-ish which could be heavy at times but hey, don’t they say “variety is the spice of life”.
Film: Mirch Masala
Director: Ketan Mehta
Lead Actors: Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Om Puri, Deepti Naval, Paresh Rawal, Supriya Patak and Mohan Gokhale.
Highlights:
- One of the rare films of the 80s (or even today) with “women” oriented theme and starring the best of theatre artistes.
- Visually stunning cinematography bringing forth the true essence of Gujarat in the 1940s.
- Brilliant climax, very effectively using the representation of chilies and spices to stand for female power.
So yeah, this is it for now but certainly not the end – Part 2 on the same will be up shortly.
Comments
15 comments | Add your comment »
Melody
Sep 6th, 2007 at 1:40 pm | #
After this post, I have a very scary feeling that I’m going to be made to watch all the DVDs of the above. Sigh.
Did I tell you I’m migrating to Australia?
shadows
Sep 6th, 2007 at 2:35 pm | #
Maqbool?? Good movie ?? Its not a Hindi movie, its in some other language that I am not conversant with.
Heck, I just cant understand the UP-Bihari dehati Hindi .. .. Neither can I understand Urdu.
I watched it for a while on TV, and just could not understand the dialogues fully.. (no, the sound quality was good, I use a DTH subscription)
Sakshi, may I recommend “Hazaro Khwahishe Aisi” starring Shiny ahuja and KK. Just happened to watch a part of it, first 20 or 30 mins or so. I really wonder how it went past our commie -leftist censor boards and government. Or maybe , the NDA was ruling when it was released. If it were released now, it would be chopped by the censors or banned by our “enlightened” government.
Naresh
Sep 6th, 2007 at 3:34 pm | #
All said and done, it is Bollywood at the end of the day that can entertain us well! No Hollywood film can do to me what a Golmaal does, or a Satte Pe Satta or even a Garam Masala does!
Bollywood is for pan-India, and hence, it has to cater to all the Indians and not just graduates, bloggers and co!
Full2njoy
Sep 7th, 2007 at 12:51 am | #
Sadma was awesome. Like Shadows mentioned above, ‘Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi’ was a good one. Shiney Ahuja is a revelation in that. Another must watch is Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Black Friday’. Mindblowing. Maqbool, Omkara were too good. In fact i had to watch Omkara 3-4 times on DVD to understand some of the dialogues
Sajan
Sep 7th, 2007 at 2:58 am | #
Nice selection Sakshi and though some may not agree, I too think Maqbool is a fantastic film. Tabu and Pankaj Kapur are brilliant. Another one I would like to recommened is “Mandi”…starring Smita Patil, Shabana Azmir, Naseer..practically the entire theatre clan.
Anshul
Sep 7th, 2007 at 10:08 am | #
Nice Selection Sakshi…
All of them are awesome movies…
but as ppl mentioned some above, u shud have also mentioned about Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi and OMKARA…
i’ll think of some more names for this list and will let you knw…
SHANTANU
Sep 7th, 2007 at 12:17 pm | #
Hmm… I would have selected Lagaan or Rang De Basanti instead of Rangeela. BTW, wasn’t Shiva RGV’s first movie in Bollywood?
Saakshi O. Juneja
Sep 7th, 2007 at 12:31 pm | #
Melody: Angel and you, ha! rite.
Shadows &Full2Enjoy: Well I was a little confused as to which film to pick – Maqbool or Omkara. But then choose to go ahead with Maqbool mainly because it showcases the best talent in the country today. Plus Omkara, according to me, is slightly more difficult to comprehend.
As for Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, I totally agree it’s a very good film. Shiney was brilliant and so was Chitrangada Singh – doesn’t she look a lot like Smita Patil. Though I thought Kay Kay was a little off track, especially when you compare this film of his with others.
Sanjan: Mandi is one of my all time favourite films. But here I tried to pick films from different genre but yes, Mandi will surely find a spot in my next list.
Shantanu: The reason why I picked Rangeela was because it’s definitely one of the “hatke” films, plus very light hearted. Whereas Lagaan is good but not everyone likes cricket. Rang De Basanti, good but still bundled with typical Bollywood clichés.
IdeaSmith
Sep 7th, 2007 at 12:34 pm | #
No mention of the Nagesh Kukunoor movies? Hyderbad Blues, Rockford, Bollywood Calling (yes watch this one Bollywood-bashers!), Hyderabad Blues 2, Teen Deewarein, Iqbal and Dor. I haven’t missed any of them and they are a must-dekko if for nothing else, but to honour the man who made ‘crossover desi cinema’ the new COOL.
Indiaholic
Sep 7th, 2007 at 6:08 pm | #
What do you mean to say when you categorize Nana with Suneil? Nana rules at what he does.
Gaurav
Sep 8th, 2007 at 2:28 am | #
Nice selection here however I too would have gone with some other film in place of Rangeela, like Laagan or Chandini Bar.
Melody
Sep 10th, 2007 at 6:38 pm | #
I have just found the FUNNIEST POST on the blogosphere. And it’s perfect for me – and all other, ahem, Bollywood unbelievers
By the super-brilliantly funny Twisted DNA: CRAPASTIC
Vasuki
Sep 22nd, 2007 at 2:16 am | #
Unfortunately, I belong to the big club of “Bollywood Bashers”, no not exactly, I bash Indian cinema in general. I have spent more than half of my life watching these movies and spent thousands of hours on them. Though most of them were considered by us as “entertaining” during our school and college days, they no longer hold the appeal for me. I agree there has been a very occasional “Dil Chahta Hai” or “Satya” and the very recent Munnabhai Series – but they have been very rare.
I think the problem is that cinema is no longer considered as an art. Of course, producers have to make profit, but cant they make a sellable art? And I have heard people telling “Timepass pichchar yaar, you can see once”.
I will tell a few problems with our movies:
1) Mindless unimaginative hollywood rip offs – I am not against rip offs per se, but there has to be some effort to make it watchable. It should not be get a dvd, copy-paste and release. (I reckon “Samay” was a superb adaptation from “Se7en”)
2) Indian melodrama – “We Indians are emotional people, we need emotions” God, this sentence beats me! And emotions means elaborate weddings, mindless crying, stupid Raj-Pooja romances. People in India get stuck up in traffic jams, fight with auto drivers, get home loans etc. If somebody looks at Indian movies may be 50 years from now, there wont be more than a few movies, that depicts this time slice in history.
3) Multiplex movies – The theme is movie has to be different. Good? and you will be asked is that required? Have the story in a big city, people speak hinglish, add a gay sub story and voila another ‘hatke’ film!
I am not telling that west makes just great movies. Most of hollywood is junk too, but the percentage is not as abysmal as ours. When was the last time we made a movie that the world took notice of us? No, dont tell me that its because the entire world does not know about India. Bergman or Kurasawa had no such problems!
Its not that we were too bad from the beginning. The early Yash Chopra movies were so loveable, that its hard to think its the same man who calls the utterly mindless “Veer Zaara” as an epic love story (may be age does that to people) When I look at Hrishida’s movies, I can feel what was it like in 70s and 80s. Can the future generations see any movies of this and last decade, may be 30 years from now and feel what was it like now? Any where are people like K Asif who had the passion to make a Mughal-e-Azam? Now, we think “Black” is a great movie and wish it to win an Oscar, when a majority of the film fraternity are ignorant that its a frame-to-frame copy of “Miracle Worker”!
God save India!
On a lighter note, read my post about India’s contribution to World Cinema.
Nimra
Sep 24th, 2007 at 10:23 pm | #
I agree with the list. But yeah Bollywood is so abysmal at times. Speaking of myself, I only watch about 5-10 new Indian movies a year at most. This year I have only seen Black Friday, Bheja Fry, Metro, and Chak de India. Just wish there was more emphasis on story telling rather than on picturizations in New York. Have you seen Chasme Buddoor? It is hard to find a copy where I live. Always wanted to see it though.
Mithun
Aug 14th, 2008 at 9:27 pm | #
And now for non-bollywood believers there is a dedicated site – Bollywood Bashers that focuses on bashing bollywood celebs and bollywood movies. Although there is nothing wrong with making money but Indian Cinema is doing so at the cost of losing its fundamentals. Last year I only watched a handful of movies and so far this year I have seen even less… the reason being… the lack of good content. Lets hope that at least some of the elite production houses will take a note of the situation and dedicate some resources to making meaningful cinema.