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The Best Bollywood Films
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Now that Slumdog Millionaire has won Best Picture, Hindi cinema stands poised to finally make the international crossover. Anu Chopra reveals the five essential classics any burgeoning Bollywood fan should see.
Bollywood—or the Hindi film industry centered in Mumbai—makes 200-odd movies a year for an estimated annual audience of 3.6 billion worldwide. And yet, with a wider audience than Hollywood blockbusters, Bollywood’s films have yet to make a big impact stateside. Now, with the coronation of Danny Boyle’s Bollywood-tinged Slumdog Millionaire as Best Picture, classic Hindi films may reach a whole new audience. Consider the following five films a crash course in Indian cinema.
Mother India (1957): The first Indian film to be nominated for an Oscar, Mother India is the story of a village woman who single-handedly raises her two sons. When the younger one, whom she loves more, becomes a dacoit (armed robber) and threatens the honor of the village, she is forced to kill him. Mother India gave Hindi cinema some of its most enduring themes: the mother as the iconic moral center, the rebel son, the importance of honor and sacrifice. The film is an epic drama with powerful performances, big emotion and soaring music.
Mughal-e Azam (The Great Mughal, 1960): It took director K. Asif 15 years and 15 million rupees (about $300,000) to create this spectacular historical about Anarkali, a dancing girl in the court of the great 16th-century Mughal Emperor Akbar. Historians have dismissed Anarkali as fiction, but the legend around her suggests a tempestuous affair with Prince Salim. The emperor opposes the affair and eventually Anarkali sacrifices herself to save the prince. Mughal-e Azam tells this story with spectacular visuals, thundering dialogue, divine music, and arguably Hindi cinema’s most erotic love scene. The prince and the dancing girl, played by two of India’s greatest stars Dilip Kumar and Madhubala (said to be lovers at the time), are shot in tight closeup as he slowly caresses her face with a feather.
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Anupama Chopra is a film critic with New Delhi Television (NDTV 24/7). She is the author of King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema and also writes about Hindi films for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Vogue India.
Good list Ms Chopra.. but the following should also be added/considered -
Silsila
Umrao Jaan
Masoom
Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak
Dilwale Dulhania among the top five Hindi movies! You must be joking. Or is Mrs Chopra plugging her family business
Yes! Sholay is one of the most entertaining films I have ever seen! The music is fantastic, Mehbooba Mehbooba in particular, has an almost Animal Collective-like sound.
Ha. I get it. Slumdog Millionaire was a good movie and generated a lot of interest in the U.S. So, naturally, there is now the assumption that if Americans liked that, then they'll naturally love all the other Bollywood movies. Problem is, Americans don't get it. The weird singing, entire cast dance numbers, etc. etc. We've had access to these movies forever on cable. We usually watch them for laughs.
I would recommend:
Devdas (their Romeo and Juliet, and my all-time favorite movie.)
Khakee (good cop thriller)
Yahaan (wartime love story)
Ek Hasina Thi (interesting thriller with a feminist twist)
Salaam Namaste (lighthearted comedy)
Sarkar (sort of a Godfather remake)
Bluffmaster (lighthearted con man story a la Ocean's Eleven)
Guru (good biopic)
for non-musical Indian movies, I would recommend:
Black (inspired by the Miracleworker)
Earth (historical love story)
Chokher Bali (a much more mature love story than one normally sees in Indian cinema)
Raincoat (great character study. probably the only movie i've seen with just 5 characters in it.)
The Terrorist (gripping political movie. John Malkovich helped with it, but its an Indian movie)
Mangal Pandey (historical drama. if you watched PBS's India series, they showed a clip from this movie in the last episode.)
Bollywood and Indian movies are like any other countries' movies. If you don't know what to look for, there's a good chance you might come away thinking they are all bad. If those awful monster movies the Sci-Fi channel churns out were your first and only exposure to science fiction, you might come away thing America has no good science fiction movies.
Speak for yourself (MarineLtCol).
Why do you have to hate Marine? So what's the worst that can happen, people expand their movie horrizons for a little bit. It's a good thing.
what? No Disco Dancer?
This list makes me want to watch movies instead of working!
Just telling it like it is.
MarineLTCol -- You can speak for your section of the cultural world, but, believe me, there are lots and lots of non-Indians in the US who find Bollywood movies interesting, not as a steady diet, perhaps, but occasionally, like any other genre. CDR,USN(ret)
MarineLtCol IS telling it like it is. This isn't about what should happen, it's about what will happen... or in this case, what won't happen.
Americans are never going to flock to Bollywood because of all the reasons mentioned. "Slumdog Millionaire" itself is a British film anyway, the same way Attonborough's "Gandhi" was British. The same way "United 93" was British.
This is a non-issue from front to back.
Yea Disco Dancer! Put it on the list!
Americans may not flock to pure Bollywood movies, Marine, but the genre will influence American cinema. It badly needs a makeover.
Majority of Americans likely won't watch Hindi movies for the simple reason of language and context. But for the few who do watch Rang De Basanti and Dor (both are fantastic examples of Hindi cinema that translate across cultural lines gracefully with universal themes).
This American watches and loves Hindi movies. For those who clicked with Slumdog, I'd also suggest (in addition to the distinguised list above) a few more modern and a-bit-gritty Bollywood movies, including:
Omkara
Luck By Chance (on DVD soon)
Black Friday
Dev.D (on DVD soon)
Aamir
Parzania
There are too many more great examples to mention.
MarineLtCol, you certainly do not speak for me as an American. I've never checked out Bollywood films (a few flicks by S. Ray are all I've seen from India) - I always pass by the B'wood section at my local vid store because Ididn't know where to start...at least this can help get me dig in a little.
Discovering new genres and styles is exciting to me, whether it's art, music, food, film, whatever. I remember the first real Hong Kong action flick I saw (Hard Boiled w/ Chow Yun Fat) and I was blown away. I then saw as many as I could, thrilled by the vibrancy and sheer kinetic energy. I recall how engrossed I was encountering French New Wave (Breathless) - confused but drawn in. Or the delights of Thai food, the raw emotion of Abstract Expressionism, the joyous bouyancy of West African pop...Just because your brand of Americans have no seeming interest in discovering new things.
You laugh at B'wood films, but look at the garbage constantly thrust at us in the theaters and on tv...is it any less laughable?
Whoops...thought I'd deleted the "Just because..." sentence..the problems of.proof reading at 4am...
In addition to Anupama's distinguished list above, I'd recommend a few Bollywood/Hindi movies that also have a more modern and a-bit-gritty feeling, such as:
Omkara
Luck By Chance (on DVD soon)
Black Friday
Dev.D (on DVD soon)
Aamir
Parzania
There are too many fine examples to list here.
Marine, I see where you are coming from and think that you are, in general, right (though you shouldn't insult the movie genre you're being critical of or nobody will take you seriously).
I've tried to give foreign films a chance and have had hits and misses for the same reasons. I have tried french films, and really hate the dramas and love stories but LOVE the capers and action flicks and thrillers. I've tried Bollywood before Slumdog and now again after and I have to say that Slumdog is not anything like the Bollywood movies. This might be obvious, but just because a movie is filmed in India with no attention-grabbing headlines or high-paid hollywood stars doesn't mean it's opening America up to Indian film.
And just like I don't understand how people can enjoy American slasher movies where the victims are so dumb and don't act like real people, I don't understand the breaking out on song and dance that happens in real Bollywood movies. For me personally it's a distraction and laughable.
Thank you.
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