25 Must See Bollywood Movies

[bholus10]

Mother India (1957)
Meh****’s magnum opus ‘Mother India’ is a tribute to the Indian woman! The only film before ‘Lagaan’ to get a nomination in the Best Foreign Film Category at the Oscars, ‘Mother India’ is an epic. Nargis as Radha, a ‘Mother Courage’ like character was spectacular in the film. It was a performance of a lifetime, a role to die for.

It won her the Best actress award at the prestigious Karlovy Vary festival. The film is emotionally charged as Radha represents millions of women across the country struggling to preserve their dignity while bringing up their children single-handedly. She works like a beast to feed her children and pay off the moneylender.

Her sons played by Rajendra Kumar and Sunil Dutt help her in getting back their land from the vile clutches of the local moneylender. Sunil Dutt as the rebel son whom she shoots in the end is brilliant. While shooting for the film Sunil Dutt had rescued Nargis from a fire that had broken out on the sets. The two later married spinning a romantic folklore around the film.

[bholus10]

Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957)
The renowned filmmaker V Shantaram made a stirring ‘Do Aankhen Barah Haath’; a film about social reforms. It’s a stark black-and-white film about a jailor who believes that love and trust can turn even the most hardened criminals into God fearing responsible citizens. V Shantaram played the lead character of an idealistic jailor himself and his real life wife Sandhya plays a toy seller.

The jailor takes six ******ers out of jail and takes their responsibility to reform them. He gives them freedom and trust and gradually are reformed. Shantaram makes the film believable as the change is gradual and thankfully there is no melodrama in the film. The prisoners keep going back to their old ways but the jailors faith and psychologically handled situations make him a winner in the end.

[bholus10]

Devdas (1955)
One of the most accomplished filmmakers of Hindi cinema, Bimal Roy made many films that fit the classics list, but Dilip Kumar starrer ‘Devdas’ is an absolute must see. We have seen many versions of ‘Devdas’ based on the novel by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay but this black-and-white version remains the best. It is tragic tale of lost love and a complex mish-mash of human relationships.

Dilip Kumar as the self-destructive doomed lover, Devdas gives a remarkable performance. His drunken scenes are understated and that coupled with his inimitable style of dialogue delivery is a deadly combo. Its dialogue " Kaun kambakht bardasht karne ke liye peeta hai ?” was oft repeated by Dilip Kumar fans.

Vyjayanthimala as Chandramukhi and Suchitra Sen as Paro give sensitive performances. Motilal as Chunnibabu is a treat to watch. ‘Devdas’ won Dilip Kumar the Best Actor award and a Best Supporting Actress award for Vyjayanthimala.

[bholus10]

Do Bigha Zameen (1953)
Another Bimal Roy classic ’Do Bigha Zameen’ is one of the most unforgettable films of Indian cinema. The protagonist Shambhu brilliantly played by Balraj Sahni migrates to Calcutta from a small village where he owns two acres of land. He needs to earn money desperately to pay the debt as the moneylender wants his plot of land. His son joins him in the city and becomes a shoeshine boy.

Balraj Sahni becomes a rickshaw puller. The scenes with him pulling people in his rickshaw were so compelling that you felt the anguish and the urgency with which he enacts them. To get into the skin of the character, Balraj Sahni, a well educated westernized actor practiced rickshaw pulling on the streets of Calcutta and mingled

with other rickshaw pullers without telling them who he was. The film explores the cruelty that is meted out to the poor in villages and cities alike. The film wasn’t a big hit but it won major awards at the Cannes film festival, Karlovy Vary film festivals and Filmfare Awards.

[bholus10]

Awara ( 1951)
The USP of ‘Awara’ was the now famous Raj-Nargis pairing. Whenever Raj Kapoor and Nargis came together on screen, sparks flew. Their chemistry was electrifying and it crackles with raw passion in Raj Kapoor’s ‘Awara’. Nargis’s wild and carefree sensuality pulsates and Raj Kapoor’s scruffy hair-rebellious persona only adds fuel to the fire.

The film was a runaway success not just in India but also in the erstwhile USSR and China. Raj Kapoor plays Raju an aimless youth turned into a criminal living in the slums who is loved by a respectable lawyer played by Nargis.

The film established Raj Kapoor as the Chaplin-like ‘tramp’ of Hindi cinema. The music of the film was on the lips of not just Indians but people from all over the world especially Russians. The songs specially “ Awaara hoon”, “Ghar aaya mera pardesi ” and “ Dum bhar jo udhar muhn phere ” are remembered even today. The first ever dream sequence to be filmed in

Hindi cinema where a gorgeous Nargis wafts through the clouds in search of her lover, Raj Kapoor took three months to shoot. It is a symbolic picturisation of the turbulence in the mind of the hero, he escapes the hell that the villain has created and climbs up to the angelic heroine. This song was a big attraction in its time and it spawned numerous dream-sequences.