Presenting my top 10 Bollywood movies:
KISMAT(1943)
This film, directed by Gnan Mukherjee and produced by S.Mukherjee proved the influence that Bollywood had over the public. All the films till then showed the hero of the film as a god-fearing honest person. This was the first film that challenged this rule of Bollywood, and boldly cast the then shining star Ashok Kumar as a cigarette smoking pickpocket. The film was criticized and faced mob attacks. Inspite of all this, the film was a superhit! It had an uninterrupted run of three years in the same cinema house in Calcutta.
Worth mentioning is the popular song written by Pradeep and tuned by Anil Biswas. The song was a patriotic number and the lyrics were:
Aaj himalay ki choti se phir humne lalkaara hain,
Door haton ae duniyawaalo, Hindustan hamara hain.
It was British rule in India in 1943. Pradeepji cleverly used the words Germany and Japan to get this song past the British Censor Board. But when the song hit the theatres, it became an instant hit and one could find everyone chanting it alongwith Vande Mataram. Finally the British had to issue a warrant against Pradeepji who had to go underground. All in all, Kismat definitely was the first film to show the power that films could generate in the society.
DR.KOTNIS KI AMAR KAHANI(1946)
Though V.Shantaram did give two films before this, his first memorable film came in the form of Dr.Kotnis ki Amar kahani. Starring himself and Jayashree, this film showed Dr.Kotnis’ story, who boycotted a fantastic medical career, and instead opted to go on a humanitarian mission to China with a team of doctors where the Chinese people were suffering the cruelties of war. The film shows the hardships that they face. The film was accused of being made in order to please the communists. But the fact remains that the film was a hit, and gave us V.Shantaram.
AWARA(1951)
The battle of the rich and the poor was first depicted in this greatest hit of all time. It was a hard-hitting film as per the prevailing social conditions then. It starred Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Prithviraj Kapoor. The sheer success of this film took Indian cinema at international level. The title song Awara Hoon(I am a vagabond) was translated in various languages around the world, and the whole crew of the film was invited as guests of honour to Moscow, USSR. It was the biggest success in the history of Indian cinema.
DO AANKHE BARAH HAATH(1957)
V.Shantaram struck again! This time it was the unique subject of a jailor who believed that prisoners could be reformed to be good citizens of the nation. The jailor mortgages his experience and his job to take six dangerous criminals with him to a village, where he conducts a remarkable experiment. He loves them like a mother, scolds them like a father, works with them like a friend, and slowly turns them into good human beings. The transformation is shown very nicely. Hats off to Shantaramji for such a marvellous film. It was during this film that V.Shantaram had a bull fight sequence in which he hurt his right eye, and lost his eyesight for some time. True to his passion, when he regained his eyesight, it gave him the concept for his next film, Navrang.
PYAASA(1957)
The genius of Guru Dutt will always remain unparalleled in Bollywood. His unique way of handling different plots will always be cherished by India. Though he gave many great movies, still, my personal favourite remains Pyaasa.
The story revolves around a soft hearted poet who never gets recognition.and the world goes crazy over his poetry after he is dead. In reality, the poet is not dead, and himself attends the function where he sees people who never acknowledged his talent talking highly about him. Finally, when he does reveal his identity, he is beaten for being an imposter. The film was a hard hitting slap on the face of the so called high society of those times, where a sentimental poet gets shunned by the people he believes in, and gets true love from a pro*titute. One more thing worth mentioning is the superb music by S.D.Burman and the soul touching lyrics of Sahir Ludhianwi(only Sahir could have written it!). Truly a remarkable film!
CHALTI KA NAAM GAADI(1958)
What a hilarious movie! This Satyen Bose-directed movie is a story of three brothers, the eldest a misogynist, the middle one a blabbering idiot, and the youngest one a romantic at heart! The youngest brother falls in love with a rich girl, and what follows is how the eldest is convinced, some detective work, a bunch of crooks, and a bagful of laughter. The reel life brothers are acted by real life brothers Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar and Kishore Kumar. The rich girl is the ever-so-beautiful Madhubala. This movie is a must if you want to laugh your heart out.
KUNWARA BAAP(1974)
I have always been deeply touched by this highly emotional movie. Mehmood, the comedian, proved that when he came in his colours, he could make the audience cry with the same mastery with which he could make them laugh. Directed by Mehmood himself, this film was the story of a poor rickshaw driver who finds an orphan. This small child revolutionizes the rickshawala’s life. Mehmood adopts him as his own son. Heavens break down on him when he realizes that his neglect in health matters have cost his little one the dreaded lifetime disease of polio. The poor rickshawala swears his undying attention to his son, and refuses to marry his sweetheart as he wants to give all his attention to the kid. The story of this father-son duo touches your heart. Only the stone hearted can avoid tears when Mehmood picks up his little bundle of joy and runs in the school running race competition, after some heartless teacher snatch the crutches of his child.when the rickshawala gives in to the claims of the child’s original parents, for the sake of the child’s future.when the small crippled child goes to a shop to buy a mother with two rupees in his tiny hands! WHAT A MOVIE!
SHOLAY(1975)
Based on the English movie The Magnificent Seven, this film reached new heights of technology. The very first 70 mm film, everything in the movie is fantastic. With a six-year run in a major cinema in Bombay, this film will always remain a milestone. This film broke all the records on it’s way to the top. Directed by Ramesh Sippy.
SATYA(1998)
Ram Gopal Verma has immense talent. No doubt about that. And this statement of mine is proved right when you see this movie. This film proved that all that a good film needs is a good script, good(not famous) actors, a powerful director and a vision! The dark alleys of the underworld are exposed in this hard-hitting movie. What really struck me was the direction, the technical finesse, and the careful handling of the subject. Great movie!
LAGAAN(2001)
Do I need to elaborate on this movie? I will just sign off by saying that it was truly a very well made movie! Hats off to Aamirbhai and director Ashutosh Gowarikar.
Well, folks, I have already reached the figure 10 in this list. So I guess I will have to stop here. Many films could not be added as I have already tried your tolerance to the maximum. Many films deserved a mention.films like Achanak(1973), Golmaal(1979) and many many more! Suffice to say that Bollywood owes a lot to these films and their makers. Kudos to them!