In this list, I have included movies that should have been hit on their entertainment merit alone. Though a great many movies were made viz Pyasa, Mera Naam Jokar, Vijeta, which were good, but somehow in my view these were not the movies to entertain. Primarily these were made by the directors to satisfy their own creative urges. Anyway the list is:
- Is Raat ki Subah Nahin
This movie was and is still one of my favourites. Directed by Sudhir Mishra, who has recently directed Calcutta mail and previously directed a wonderful serial ’’Kab tak Pukaroon’’, way back in DD. The movie is a thriller and is an extremely fast paced movie. Most of us have loved Satya, for its realistic depiction of the underworld. But in my view, this movie portrayed an equally good description of the underworld. Most of the actors are from the NSD mould, and are extremely realistic in their performance. This movie had everything, from a crisp pace, to an interesting climax. Excellent acting by Nirmal Pandey, Aashish Vidyarthi, Saurabh Shukla and a tolerable one by Tara Sharma. Music was also quite good.
- Ek Ruka Hua Faisla
This was another of the movie made by the Hindi theatre people. The movie had Pankaj kapoor, K. K. Raina (brother of Raghavan in Aks movie), Anu Kapor, S. M. Zaheer etc. What makes this movie admirable is that till that time the very concept of a thriller was not really established in Hindi movies. Basically the idea was quite unique and treatment was brilliant. The movie depicts a scene, where a jury is discussing on a murder case of an old man. The suspect is his son. Initially all persons except one agree that he is guilty. That one person is not prepared to give out a hasty decision and wants to examine the facts. As the case is discussed, the inner contradictions and complexities of the jury come out. I really think that this movie was one of the very best in the circumstances in which it was made and is definitely worth a watch.
- Lamhe
One of the best movies made till date, this is perhaps the best Yash Chopra movie. It is also one of the best scripts written by Honey Irani. The reason this movie failed was because the movie depicted that a certain woman falls in one-sided love with a person who once silently loved her mother. Lamhe was an extremely sensitive movie. The movie had an excellent music by Shiv Hari, and some outstanding performances by Sridevi and Anil Kapoor. After this debacle, though Yash Chopra made movies like Darr, yet he was never the same man again. An excellent movie at a wrong time
- Armaan
Perhaps not entirely a flop, it deserved a much greater success than it finally had. The film is extremely well made, and quite sensitive. Honey Irani once again scripted this movie. Adding to that, she was also the director of the movie. The passion of dreaming something and the sacrifice that a man undergoes for that has been underlined. Amitabh has given a really wonderful performance in this movie. Anil Kapoor & Gracy Singh are also equally good. With movies like Armaan and Dil Chahta Hai, I sometimed feel really good about our film industry. The characters are becoming more normal and realistic. This is a big change from the larger than life protagonists in previous movies.
- Jo Jita Wohi Sikandar
When I saw Lagaan, a thought kept raking my mind, which was that movie which had a similar idea. Sports, as a medium to defeat the villain. Using a game to build up the excitement in the climax scene. Again and again as I read various articles praising the novel concept of using cricket as the backdrop in Lagaan, I was reminded of ’’Jo Jita...’’. In my view it was one of the very best movies I have seen till date. Suffices here to say, that it was ’’Dil Chahta Hai’’ of the early nineties. The same realistic representations of the young generations can be seen. The same very free & bindaas attitude, a sense of fun, coupled to this were some of the very best emotional scenes.