Let me warn you first that you might not like this list at all. I kept it very simple while writing this review & wrote it on the theme which made me exclude many of the classis mentioned below. The theme is the significance of the movie at the time & its overall impact.
Sometimes it becomes a problem to select 10 best of an actor/actress but when I started choosing 10 best of all, it wasn’t that difficult. Don’t know why! I also wanted to include the likes of Muzhe Jeene Do, Pakiza, Tisari Kasam, Pyasaa, Mother India, Madhumati but couldn’t due to final comparision & significance. Please do rate & comment on the review & let me know what *you think.
A special mention of ’Chandani Baar’, The first movie in my life I got upset & really disturbed by the ultimate display of reality & life of the bar-girls. Too much reality to digest in one movie. I felt sick & like throwing up that night. Tabbu: You are GREAT!
-RAJA HARISHCHANDRA-
HAVE to include this one, the sole reason being the FIRST Indian motion picture. Dadasaheb Phalake who hails from Nasik(my native place) created this movie, edited it, played it himself, marketed it to villages/cities of India. This one started it all. This movie shows what a will & drive of a possesed/determined man can do.
-MUGHAL-E-AZAM-
The story, The cast, The director, The music, The sets everything about this movie was larger than life. It needed almost 10 years to complete this movie. I think the director/producer broke half-way through & again started the shooting after a gap of a few years. Same fate like Pakiza.(Both had one of greatest music of all times). The cast looks old to very young from a scene to another scene!
Dilip Kumar & The GREAT Kapoor gave their best & I think everyone did. Madhubala was & still the ultimate choice for her character. Bekas pe karam kijiye.Sarkar-E-Madina, Teri Mehphil main.Hum bhi dekhenge, Pyar kiya to darana kya, Jab raat hain aisi matwali phir subah ka alam, Mohe panaghat pe nandalal chhed gayo re(a little misfit in the movie).
-SHOLAY-
Do read my’Top 10 Amitabh Bachchan Movies’ for details on this one of the greatest movies.
This movie is Khallllas!
-GUNGA JAMUNA-
One of the best from Dilip Kumar. The opriginal plot/story that was repeated many times after(Deewar). Dilip Kumar was the key person behind the happening on this movie. He plays Gunga & inspires generations to come by his acting. He & everybody else speaks Bhojpuri & to the perfection according to the critics. Amitabh has seen this movie 90+ time(according to himself). The songs like Nain Lad jai hain, Insaf ki dagar pe, Dhundo Dhundo re sajana, Do Hanso ka joda are AMAR. Dilip shows transition from an anadi villager to a daku perfectly. Ultimate tragedy without a melodrama makes it more effective.
-PADOSAN-
A tough choice over Angoor. The mother of all comedies in the history of Indian cinema. Mehmood & Kishore Kumar are just too much talent to show in 2-1/4 hrs of a movie. This movie is sheer magic displayed in 16 reels.
Mehmood plays the south master & shows minute details perfectly, the way a South Indian not very conversant with Hindi speaks Hindi. He is one man army or institution himself. Someway down the line he went out of control & did some shxx movies but this man was just’a blessed one’. Tum Ana.Ek door zad par chidiya chhotasa ghosala.woh ghosale main hum baitha.udha re tum ud ke ana.hum bolana tum ana.tum ana.phir choch se choch milana.ayyyooo.Kya re khujali wala zad.’
Kishore: For 1 to Infinity=> JUST GREAT! The way he converts the scenes to songs(Mere pyare balam), the way he acts in this converted song, the ay he eats pan, he says’Are Bangadu’. His presentation of the songs ’Mere Samane Wali khidaki main’, ’Ek Chatur Nar Karake singar’. The fact that this guy was an all time great singer of Indian cinema & second only to great Rafi is just a proof of his allrounder abilities & his sheer genius.! He left too early!
-DEEWAR-
Based on the theme of Gunga Jamuna but probably a little better execution & the similar tailoring to appropriate social time is what makes this a GREAT movie. Acting levels are ultra-high with Shashi Kapoor also giving one of the best performances in his career. We need not discuss Amitabh. More details in my 10 Best Amitabh movies.
10 best Amitabh movies:https://mouthshut.com/readreview/55751-1.html
-JUNGLEE-
This was start of a new era. Launch of the’Rebel’ in Indian cinema. It represented the changing social awareness & tests of our nation. This movie represented the young generation in a way that they refused to be from a’mold’ & wanted to be original. Shammi Kapoor rock & rolled for years to come & this was the start. This was also the start of Shammi-Rafi-Shankar-Jaykishan series & start of their friendship. Shammi is my one of the most favourite actors along with Amitabh & 2 Dilips(Kumar & Prabhawalkar). Shammi was as sweet a person as he was on the scene. Title Song, Ahsan Tera hoga Muzhpar, Nain tumhare majedar, Kashmir ki Kali hum main songs made this movie the kind of hit it was. Sair Banu was sweet* beautiful in her debut movie & made the most of what she got.
-ALBELA-
Bhagwan! THE MAN, everyone in India copies while dancing even today after so many years! Bholi Surat Dil jke, Meree Dil ki Ghadi Kare Tik Tik, Sham Dhale Khidaki tale, Main Dil maini mere koun ye deewana aagaya, Jab dhadake najar sharamye to samazho pyar ho gaya, Kismat ki kawa kabhi naram kabhi garam, Meri Jan pyar main ghar-bar bhi nilam hota hain, Hasino se muhabbat ka anjam bura hota hain, Dhire se aaja ri akhiyan main nindiya aaja ri aa ja.
The magic of this movie continues with all these songs even today. Geeta Bali is just sweeeeeeet. She always was.in every movie.
Ramchandra Chitalkar(C. Ramchandra) sang almost all the songs in this mobie which I doubt if was the correct decision. Rafi would have been a better fit for all these immortal songs!
This movie didn’t make much money the first time, it is only after Bhagwan sold it away, in the second run it started making hell lot of money! Poor Bhagwan!:(
-ANDAZ APANA APANA-
Inspired by’Dumb & Dumber’ this movie deserves a separate review. Will write soon. This movie is’too much’ to write when it comes to describe the funny scenes. Aamir Khan, Paresh Rawal, Tiku Talsania, Raveen Tandon, Karishma Kapoor, Salman Khan all have done very well in the movie. Rajkumar Santoshi proved that he can handle totally different types of movies as this one came after Ghayal I think.
Complete review:https://mouthshut.com/readreview/59001-1.html
-SARFAROSH-
According to me this movie shows how a commercial movie as callled by many movie makers doesn’t have to be stupid & can be a GREAT one. This is a role-model movie when it comes to Indian(again)’commercial’ movies. Please read my complete review for this movie. Every film maker should be shown this movie before they start directing/producing a movie!
Complete review:https://mouthshut.com/readreview/54727-1.html