MUST SEE - WORTH WATCHING - SKIP - CLASSICS
Ra.One (2011) Superhero action-adventure Ra.One
—the most expensive Indian film to date and boasting special effects that are equal to that of any Hollywood production—is a quintessential Indian family film that absorbs sci-fi into its panoply of genre with ease. It's exuberant, goofy, thrilling, and sweetly touching, with a conflict that's not really about the epic struggle between good and evil. The protagonist's mission is personal. (more)
Aarakshan (2011) A dramatized intellectual debate about a hot-button social/political issue—caste-based reservations in education and employment (affirmative action, as it's called in the U.S.)—not an easy project to attempt, but director Prakash Jha turns out a powerful, personalized narrative. In his best role in years, maybe decades,
Amitabh Bachchan plays a principled college principal caught in the middle of this issue.
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Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) This may be a bachelor party/road trip movie, but
The Hangover it is not. The guys here drink plenty, fling with girls, and get into a bar fight that lands them in jail, but they are not the overgrown frat boys who don't want to give up their wild, juvenile ways usually found in this genre. It's a refreshing, realistic story about mature, adult male friendship—made, interestingly, by a woman.
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Dev.D (2009) Director Anurag Kashyap, one of India's most exciting experimental filmmakers, flips a classic on its head with his modern adaptation of the 1917 novella
Devdas. Over the last century, the novella has been made into a film 12 times. Kashyap's is the latest and perhaps the last. He scrubs the story of melodrama so that Dev's dissipation is not romantic, as in past film versions, but strictly pathological.
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7 Khoon Maaf (2011) Vishal Bhardwaj—best known for his Shakespeare adaptations
Maqbool (2003) and
Omkara (2006)—turns to literature once again—this time, Ruskin Bond's short story
Susanna's Seven Husbands—for his latest film,
7 Khoon Maaf. While the basis for his films often come from elsewhere, Bhardwaj is one of the most original Hindi filmmakers today, and he outdoes himself once again with
7 Khoon Maaf.
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Chak De! India (2007) India's miracle-on-ice analog celebrates girl power while tackling sexism, religious prejudice, and regional rivalry in its portrayal of a fictional Indian women's national field hockey team battling enormous limitations and obstacles to reach the World Cup.
Shahrukh Khan is the only big star in the film, and he dominates it with his considerable presence. But the rest of the casting is also excellent.
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Ishqiya (2010) The Wild-West world of
Ishqiya is a man's world—where only the strong survive and the unscrupulous thrive. But at the center of it is a woman—a sly, formidable woman with a secret agenda—who calls the shots and lets the men think otherwise. Debutant director Abhishek Chaubey reinvigorates the curry Western with this inventive comic caper wrapped around a mysterious tragedy.
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Lagaan (2001) Many Indian films these days try to cater to Western sensibilities in order to gain critical acclaim abroad and boost foreign box office—and these attempts usually fail. Why, then, did an unabashedly Bollywood film like
Lagaan—with its effusive melodrama, six musical numbers, and nearly four-hour running time—successfully capture the attention of the West and even snag an Academy Award nomination?
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Jodhaa Akbar (2008) Director Ashutosh Gowariker transports audiences to another world—a world of courtly romance, legendary battles, and palace intrigue—the 16th-century world of the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. But
Jodhaa Akbar is more than a lavish period piece and more than a love story between captivating characters. Its focus is the Muslim emperor's noble goal of religious tolerance.
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Robot (2010) Romantic fantasy, moral conflict, outlandish costumes—what took Indian cinema so long to do science fiction? The two make perfect sense together.
Robot—the most expensive Indian film ever made—is a glorious step into the future of sci-fi reinterpreted. It’s a visually spellbinding, adrenalin-overloaded man-versus-machine showdown, but it isn't all technical spectacle.
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Devdas (2002) At the time of its release,
Devdas was the most expensive Bollywood film ever made—and every rupee shows. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali spared no detail, from the costumes to the choreography. The sumptuous sets literally shimmer, enhanced by artful cinematography. But what's most engaging about the film is its wrenching story of separated lovers.
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Fashion (2008) It's an old story—a small-town girl with big dreams of supermodel stardom. And it's no revelation that there's a dark side to fashion. Messed-up models have been depicted in film plenty—but not so much in India. The release of
Fashion—an exposé-like cautionary tale about the industry there—was well-timed as Indian models have been emerging on the world stage as never before. The two leads produce renewed insight into just how ugly the beauty industry is.
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Peepli Live (2010) Many will say that
Peepli Live is not your typical Bollywood film—it is and it isn't. It shows a side of India that's grinding instead of glamorous, it's a small film rather than a larger-than-life one, and there are no big-name stars in it. But one very big Bollywood name produced it—
Aamir Khan. If you don't laugh at life—the old saying goes—you'll cry, and true to Bollywood tradition,
Peepli Live makes sure we do both.
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A Wednesday! (2008) In an age when Bollywood directors try to give their audiences all the wealth and glamour those audiences don’t possess in real life, occasionally a director will make a film that mirrors the reality of moviegoers.
A Wednesday! is one such film. Made by debutant director Neeraj Pandey, the movie is a cinematic follow-up to the real-life July 11, 2006 Mumbai train bombings.
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Raavan (2010) In every Bollywood film, there’s a kernel of the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic about Lord Rama and his wife Sita, who was kidnapped by Raavan, a 10-headed demon king. It’s a sacred text and a great story. Director Mani Ratnam’s latest,
Raavan, is a full-blown adaptation of the Ramayana.
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Don: The Chase Begins Again (2006) Shahrukh Khan once said he wanted to be the first Indian James Bond. But what need now? Don is way cooler. The film has all the fun hallmarks of a Bond flick—exotic locations, beautiful women, criminal masterminds, high-tech gadgets, and fantastic fight scenes—but it is not a take-off of the 007 franchise. Rather, it's a remake of the 1978 Bollywood cult classic
Don.
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Black (2005) What would happen if Helen Keller were Indian and her famous tutor a man with a drinking problem? Sanjay Leela Bhansali answered that question in his 2005 film,
Black, his interpretation of Keller’s story.
Rani Mukerji and
Amitabh Bachchan play student and teacher—roles loved by critics and fans alike. The film won 11 Filmfare Awards, an unbroken record to date.
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Luck By Chance (2009) Everything clicks in Zoya Akhtar’s smart directorial debut—setting a standard in a film industry it comes close to lampooning. The ridicule is good-natured, though, even accepting of the way things work in Bollywood, and while the characters represent showbiz clichés, they are subtly rendered—for the most part. And the ones that aren’t are ridiculously fun.
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Kites (2010) Kites was specifically made to appeal to Western sensibilities—it’s not the first Bollywood film to try to crossover, but it is the first to succeed at it, and it does so while remaining true to the essence of Hindi cinema.
Kites looks like an American film, but it feels like an Indian one. By stripping itself of the typical trappings of Hindi films, it reveals the heart of Bollywood—a beating, bleeding operatic heart.
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Bunty Aur Babli (2005) On the heels of their award-winning performances as an abusive thug and his suffering wife in
Yuva (2004),
Abhishek Bachchan and
Rani Mukerji are paired again, this time in lighter fare—a romantic comedy—playing a hen-pecked con artist and his vivacious partner in crime—and their delivery is just as strong.
Amitabh Bachchan appears with his son Abhishek for the first time in this film.
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Saathiya (2002) Saathiya is a perfect example of what Bollywood does best—a realistic romantic drama about two impulsive kids who fall in love against the odds and have no idea what they’re getting into. That’s right, Bollywood naysayers—realistic. No contrivances or extravagances—
Saathiya is a fresh, charming, honest story about sweet, thrilling, ordinary young love.
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Fanaa (2006) Because of their length, Bollywood films almost always have an intermission, and the intermission is usually preceded by a surprising cliffhanger.
Fanaa has one of the best intermission cliffhangers ever—making it difficult to review the film without ruining the surprise. However, you’ll find no spoilers here—
Fanaa is too good to give away.
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Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) The complicated saga of the 1857 Indian uprising against the British East India Company—called the Sepoy Mutiny by the British and the First War of Independence by Indians—is not conducive to the telling of a condensed narrative. But this film succeeds at doing exactly that by tightly focusing on the issue that finally lit the tinderbox and the man at the center of it all.
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Bluffmaster (2005) Bluffmaster has a little romance, a little comedy, a little tragedy—call it masala-lite. It’s taut and low-key, but still funny and heartfelt, making it particularly appealing to the film sensibilities of Americans, who aren’t used to the emotional rollercoaster of full-blown masala. But regardless of your preferences,
Bluffmaster is a highly entertaining film with vivid characters and a smart script.
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Company (2002) Company is a film that belongs on any list of best mob movies of all time. While many of Ram Gopal Varma’s films are highly stylized, his approach here has a documentary quality. Actor
Ajay Devgan turns in one of the best performances of his career as Malik, a smart, smooth mid-level gangster.
Vivek Oberoi makes a brilliant film debut as Chandu, a cocky, small-time hood.
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Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) First-time director Rajkumar Hirani and veteran actor Sanjay Dutt make movie magic in this funny, touching story about a Mumbai gangster with a heart of gold. While Munna has all the traditional perks of being a “bhai”—a team of lackeys and a hangout with all the amenities—he’s really interested in helping people. His methods just happen to involve extortion, threats, and kidnapping.
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3 Idiots (2009) Who would have guessed that slapstick and suicide could work so well together in the same film? Leave it to Bollywood to pull it off. After all, Hindi filmmakers are experts at “masala”—a culinary term that means “spicy mixture,” but in film, it refers to the blending of multiple genres, including comedy and melodrama. The goal is to strike a perfect balance, and
3 Idiots does exactly that.
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Dostana (2008) Mumbai crash-lands in Miami, and voilà, Bollywood meets
The Birdcage. The two go together like sun and sand. The reason it didn’t happen sooner is because same-sex romance was a taboo movie topic in India—until
Dostana came along. The film isn’t preachy about tolerance, but rather, a rollicking good time, right from the get-go. Maybe that’s why audiences embraced the theme despite its touchiness and turned out in droves.
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Paa (2009) The opening credits of
Paa read: “Introducing
Amitabh Bachchan.” If only this were indeed his film debut—then audiences would get to enjoy him for another lifetime. But
Paa at least gives us the chance to see him in the autumn of his career as if it were for the first time. The 67-year-old Bollywood legend plays a 12-year-old boy so convincingly that it’s startling.
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Wake Up Sid (2009) Debutant director Ayan Mukerji uses an adept, light touch on this sweet and subtle coming-of-age story, starring
Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma, who endearingly portray two 20-somethings with a lot of growing up to do: Sid, a rich brat, and Aisha, an aspiring writer who moves to Mumbai.
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Dil Chahta Hai (2001) It’s a classic coming-of-age story: three old friends, fresh out of college, are standing on the brink of manhood and struggling to take the leap of faith that love requires. Akash (
Aamir Khan), Sameer (
Saif Ali Khan), and Sid (Akshaye Khanna) are upper-middle-class urbanites, with cushy lives and promising futures, but they’re reluctant to trade the fun of youth for the seriousness of adulthood.
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Yuva (2004) Superbly written and acted, this gritty film tells the interconnected stories of three Bengali men: Lallan, a thug; Michael, a political activist; and Arjun, a love-struck college grad. While the film primarily focuses on the moments of truth these men come to face, their richly developed love interests are likewise forced to make wrenching choices about the direction of their lives.
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Dhoom 2 (2006) However incongruent action and musical numbers may seem at first, the two are perfect compliments—both are spectacles, after all—as evidenced in any number of Hindi action flicks, including one of the finest,
Dhoom 2. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes the sequel is better than its predecessor, and while the action hit
Dhoom (2004) is solidly entertaining, the second chapter far surpasses it.
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Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) The ethnicity of the Indian characters living in New York City is incidental, and so is their wealth. The story revolves around two unhappily married couples seeking the only thing they don’t possess: love. For all their trendy clothes and cool jobs, they struggle—at least personally.
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Dil Bole Hadippa (2009) Actress
Rani Mukerji knocks one out of the park with her portrayal of a Punjabi village girl who dresses as a man in order to play big-league cricket. Off the field, she’s the lovely, folksy Veera, who beguiles her coach, Rohan (played by
Shahid Kapoor). Veera’s deception jeopardizes the budding romance, but what’s a spunky girl to do when she’s got one shot at her dreams?
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Omkara (2006) As was the case with director Vishal Bhardwaj’s first Shakespeare adaptation,
Maqbool (
Macbeth), gushing praise of his version of
Othello is unavoidable. He electrifies this classic tale of insidious jealousy, setting it in mob-infested rural India, a place more like the American Wild West than Elizabethan England.
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Maqbool (2004) Director Vishal Bhardwaj’s first foray into the world of Shakespeare is nothing short of astounding—
Maqbool is one of the finest adaptations of
Macbeth ever produced. His interpretation, while faithful to the story, is no slave to it, and he spins an enthrallingly distinct version of the Scottish play. Equal credit for this masterpiece goes to lead actors
Irrfan Khan and Tabu and their original, mesmerizing portrayals.
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Kaminey (2009) Director Vishal Bhardwaj—best known for his film adaptations of Shakespeare’s
Macbeth (
Maqbool) and
Othello (
Omkara)—breaks new ground in Bollywood with his latest creation: a violent, convoluted, Tarantino-esque trip through the mean streets of Mumbai—stellar soundtrack and all. The Bard’s influence is still apparent in Bhardwaj’s work, particularly in the double role played by
Shahid Kapoor, that of twins.
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Sarkar (2005) Amitabh Bachchan rivals Marlon Brando as the iconic criminal patriarch in this fascinating retelling of the American classic
The Godfather. The director tips his hat to Francis Ford Coppola by shooting the film like a chiaroscuro painting in an Italian Catholic church. The film follows the same basic plot as the original, but there are many key twists that make this version compellingly unique.
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Vivah (2006) Poonam (Amrita Rao) is despised by the jealous aunt who raised her, but in this Cinderella story, her ugly cousin loves her like a sister and her kind uncle finds her a Prince Charming to marry, Prem (
Shahid Kapoor). There’s little conflict at first, but with all the delicious tension between the two main characters, who are going to burst if they don’t get their hands on each other, who cares?
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Chalte Chalte (2003) If there were a recipe for the perfect romantic movie, this would be it—all the right ingredients are mixed just so and the result is a feast of imperfect love. Priya (
Rani Mukerji) is upper-crust, Raj (
Shahrukh Khan) is working class; she’s polished, he’s brash; and the two can’t resist each other.
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Life in a...Metro (2007) The intertwined stories of nine people living in Mumbai capture the poignancy of coping with the everyday pressures of modern life, with its endless challenges and choices. There’s nothing humdrum about the relatable characters—each is unique, complex, and richly developed. The actors are outstanding in their portrayals of flawed individuals, who, in the pursuit of promotions and possessions, lose love, and sometimes integrity, along the way.
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Love Aaj Kal (2009) Imtiaz Ali, director of
Jab We Met, delivers another touching commentary on the nature of love—how it can be dramatic—when it makes a man travel a thousand miles just to glimpse a girl—and poignantly mundane—when it makes a man call the one person, a thousand miles away, who understands him.
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New York (2009) John Abraham’s character, Sam, who’s as American as apple pie, goes through wrenching experiences after 9/11 because he’s Muslim, and Abraham more than meets the demands of the role. The film is an intelligent, balanced, and gripping story of friendship and betrayal, persecution and patriotism.
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Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) Sweet, nerdy Surinder (
Shahrukh Khan) marries his old professor’s daughter, the young and beautiful Taani (
Anushka Sharma), after both her father and fiancé die on the eve of her wedding. Ostensibly, Surinder marries her as a favor to his friend, but he’s secretly smitten with her, and he disastrously disguises himself as someone else to make her happy.
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Josh (2000) Director Mansoor Khan took the classic American musical
West Side Story and turned it into a distinctly Indian tale. While
West Side Story harkens back to America’s past,
Josh is relevant to contemporary India—with its many contentious ethnic and religious factions—and the film is therefore tinged with an immediacy and realism that’s missing from the Broadway musical.
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Salaam-E-Ishq (2007) Smart, funny, and expertly crafted, this modern masala weaves together six love stories that are stylistically distinct and focus on a different challenge that couples face. Each tale in this grand multistarrer delivers, but the best one is that of B-list starlet Kamini (
Priyanka Chopra) and mystery-man Rahul (
Salman Khan), who stage a fake romance as a publicity stunt and find true love in the process.
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Race (2008) Sexy, stylish, sensational—this movie has it all. The location is exotic, the ensemble cast gorgeous, and the fast-paced plot filled with hairpin turns you never see coming. To top it off, the songs rock! All the double-crosses in this murder mystery keep you guessing who the villains are—and who’s on whose side—right up to the end. While the story is far-fetched at times,
Race is one hell of a ride.
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Om Shanti Om (2007) This campy, retro spoof is directed by Farah Khan, who choreographed the Broadway musical
Bombay Dreams. Struggling actor Om Prakash (played by
Shahrukh Khan) falls in love with starlet Shanti (
Deepika Padukone in her Bollywood debut)—but fate drives them apart. Fast-forward 30 years and Om has been reincarnated as a huge star with the same first name, and a wannabe actress named Sandhya helps him rectify the past.
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Jab We Met (2007) Outstanding performances and a splendid story make
Jab We Met one of the best romantic comedies in years. Deeply depressed Aditya (played by
Shahid Kapoor) meets vivacious Geet (
Kareena Kapoor) on a train and her infectious joie de vivre eventually inspires Aditya to embrace life with the same enthusiasm and optimism, and he finds himself falling for her, even though her heart belongs to another.
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Baabul (2006) Motherly love has long been celebrated in Indian films. In
Baabul, fathers get a turn at admiration. The film starts out as a story about the love between a father and son, Balraj (
Amitabh Bachchan) and Avi (
Salman Khan), but as the story progresses, the extent of Balraj’s paternal love, this time for his daughter-in-law Milli (
Rani Mukerji), becomes apparent as he goes to great lengths to ensure her happiness.
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