October 19, 2004

Curious, George: Which Bollywood Movie Should I See? The Prince Charles Cinema in London is hosting a Bollywood festival. Can any Bollywood-savvy Monkeys recommend which of these films to see?

To give you a sense of my (probably very Western) tastes--Lagaan is among my favorite movies, and I really liked Monsoon Wedding, but in my quest to find another Bollymovie I like nearly as much, I've been constantly disappointed. Either the dance numbers are great but the cardboard characters get agonizing after while (the 2002 Devdas , Bride and Prejudice), or it's too slow and doesn't have enough dancing (the 1955 Devdas,Dil Chahta Hai). If you have any recommendations that aren't at the festival, I'd be interested in those, too.

posted by jacobw 20 years ago
  • I recommend the one with the singing and dancing and the women with big knockers.
  • mexican: you must be talking about Gumnaam. Yeah. I'm still looking for Enid Coleslaw.
  • Unfortunately I can't seem to access that site, so I'll give some non-festival suggestions. I don't care for the song-and-dance nonsense movies (i.e., Lagaan), so these are all a bit on the artsy side. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is my top recommendation. The director Aparna Sen makes very interesting movies. If you can find subtitled versions of Jugonto (in Bengali, so not really Bollywood; also sometimes spelt Yuganto) or Poroma (also Bengali), see them. I liked Rahul Bose's Everybody Says I'm Fine, but it is a very western film. This was his directoral debut, but he was great in Split Wide Open and English August, both by Dev Benegal. I've been recommended Kaizad Gustad's Bombay Boys, also starring Bose, but haven't seen it yet. PS: the soundtrack to Iyer is by one of my most favourite instrumentalists, Ustad Zakir Hussein.
  • Going over the list... Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge Most popular movie of the 90s, but I don't care for it much. Pakeezah Took 10+ years in the making. Fantastic songs. Nice experience. Aashiqui OK movie. Very good songs. Company Bollywood equivalent of Scarface (mafia on the run). Didn't like it that much, but watchable. Mughal-e-Azam Most expensive movie at the time of its making. Good songs. Rangeela Excellent songs. Nice story. Parinda Good story. Nice songs. Satya Indian pseudoequivalent of City of God. Very good movie. Sholay The granddaddy of Indian movies. Most Indians would fondly place this among their top 3 favourites. Waqt Classic Indian melodrama with some very good songs. Shree 420 One of the best movies of the Indian version of Orson Welles, Raj Kapoor. Fantastic songs Aawaara Another acclaimed film by Raj Kapoor. You asked for other recommendations. Well, there are tons. Do remember that if you were to make a list of top 100 Hindi films, most would be pre-1980. This festival is noticeably skewed in favor of movies from the last decade or 2. There was a similar thread at Ask Metafilter, in which I participated. Instead of repeating myself, just check it out.
  • Hey, The Music Room was on TV here at lunchtime today. So I watched it again. OK, more like Bengaliwood, but a great film even so, by one of my very favourite filmmakers.
  • See Fire. It was good enough to cause riots at the theatre, people throwing chairs through windows at posters for it.
  • Watch "Hum." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102071/ HUM or "US"redefined the notion of entertainment in indian cinema by introducing sophisticated use of camera framing and an exploration of the use of irony in the guise of farce .Most villains in Mukul Anand's films are caricatures and in this respect "HUM" introduces this specificity in this talented director's cinema. The rhythmic song and dance number "JOOMA CHUMMA DE DE "got packed houses dancing literally from India to USA.This film also brought to a cinema art et essai director his first feeling of what a popular film director's reputation meant.
  • HUM or "US"redefined the notion of entertainment in indian cinema LOL.
  • If they're showing golden oldies, try to see 'Aayee Milan Ki Raat", from '88 or so. The story's meta-stupid -- something about a girl who falls in love with a guy her father hates, so the father hires a badass sorcerer to turn him into a snake, which she then carries around singing to. But it's got a great Anand-Milind soundtrack featuring Anuradha Paudwal (my 4-eva fave), and good dance numbers, including one that seems to include at least half the population of India and fifty billion candles. Wolof, 'The Music Room" is wonderful, isn't it? And so is 'Devi'.
  • 'The Music Room" is wonderful, isn't it? My favourite is Charulata, but they're all good.
  • Go see Coxwell and Gerrard, a Canadian/Indian production that was released this year. We live a short distance from the intersection of those streets in Toronto, and it's definitely one of my favourite parts of town. Oh, the plot of the film? I have no idea.
  • Thanks everyone. I've been wanting to get my damn dirty ape paws on some Bollywood, and this gives me a starting point. Great album by the way, if anybody's looking for music.
  • WTF?
  • I'm sure it makes sense in the greater context of the film. Perhaps this is a husband-and-wife scientist team, and they've created this race of animal-headed people, whom their benefactors hunt for sport. Until the animal-head people turn the tables, and hunt the scientists in a terrifying and gruesome sequence, which is what we're witnessing here.