Reviews

Hindi Movies : must watch list for an Indophile non-desi

K
Kapil Kamboj Guest February 20, 2007 · 7 min read

Many of us know that the only thing true about India is that no single element represents the whole of India - her wonders, complexities, contradictions and the diversity. And Indian Cinema certainly can not - only Hindi movies surely can not. Still, I believe that the stories we tell and the songs we sing are a great representation of the people we are.

Many of my non-desi (firang !) friends have asked me numerous times on recommendations on Indian movies they should watch. I have prepared this list to for such Indophiles as a primer into the world of mainly Hindi films over the ages. The focus is to introduce them to some of our best artists in this craft - directors and actors whose work has had a remarkable impression on their generation ( and the following ones).

These are films, which through their characters, dialogues and songs, reside in the sub conscience of many-million Hindi speaking Indians and who have helped influence the idiom of our language. That way they lie in the fertile portion of our common milieu which influences our dreams and passions and represents them at the same time. These films either established a genre, represent the best example from a genre or broke new ground in Indian cinema. That is why this list also straddles the spectrum from serious art-house cinema of Shyam Benegal to crassly pulp-fictiony commercial cinema from Manmohan Desai or Karan Johar.

You would notice that I have tried to keep away from film-makers like Mira Nair whose works foreign Indophiles get first exposed to any ways. Also, however honest and rightfully critical their work is of our life and heritage, it is also at some level an attempt to gain attention by selling either over-hyped exotica or much-dramatized penury. I do like these films as well but they do not confirm to my current spec of being able to influence our lives.

A few disclaimers before I unleash the list. The first disclaimer is that these are NOT the best Indian movies - no such list is ever objective and coming from an amateur like me, this is just a list of my favorites. The second disclaimer is that this list is, in no ways, complete since it excludes some legendary film makers like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N Karun and many more whose work I have not been suitably exposed to because of my linguistic limitations.

Another disclaimer/advice - especially for non-Indians - Have patience with the films - in each one of them you would see more melodrama than you would have seen in a whole Oscar Show reel, more songs than a Broadway show, most longer than an NFL Play-off - but have patience. Alas, you would perhaps miss the beauty of the language ( poetry, dialectal nuances to build characters, analogies) in many of these films but I do hope that the charm would still show through.

and the Final one : this list is overtly biased in Amitabh Bachchan's favor - but I can't help it...he is the Best !

So, here goes :

V Shantaram

Mehboob Khan

Raj Kapoor

It is very difficult to chose a small sample from the works of the greatest show man India has seen. Yet, I have tried to keep the list to work from his golden era in B&W 1905s/60s with him as the Producer-Director-Actor

Bimal Roy

K Asif

Guru Dutt

Again, difficult to chose even from the limited amount of work this Director-Actor produced in his short life. Here's an example of serious cinema about the tragedies and pressures in the show-business contrasted to a very light hearted romantic comedy

Dev Anand

India's first real on-screen Casanova, did very well in creating his own inimical style and charisma ( some say, copied from a Hollywood star of 50s, I don't know who)

Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi

Acting & Parallel Cinema Power Houses. Smita's life and career were shortened by a merciless brain stroke while Naseer and Shabana have successfully helped make mainstream cinema respectful in art-circles and art-cinemas profitable at the box office.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee

This recently deceased director's strength lay in taking simple but heart warming stories with usually every day characters, little malice and find comedy/joy in almost everything - even in the story of a terminally ill cancer patient

Dilip Kumar Vs Amitabh Bachchan

Period.

Yash Chopra

the God of mature romances, poetry in dialogues and eternal melodies

Gulzar

This guys is basically a poet and a lyricist but has shown to be an extremely talented director as well

Maniratnam

The best story teller of our times. Movies originally made in Tamil

Masala

Pop culture, pulp fiction, mass cinema

Recent Marvels

Indian Independence / Biopic

Not many credible movies on this, unfortunately - may be this history is too close for it to truthfully told yet. I have picked 2 movies which are biopics for 2 contrasting faces of Indian Independence struggle - both continue generating passions still - Gandhi perhaps more than Bhagat Singh

Well, as I said, this list is not complete. So, my desi friends, please add on to the list - not merely your favorite films, but especially those which have represented and also inspired our collective imagination. Also, if you have been faced with similar questions - pl feel free to pass the list along.