The Truant Tales

Its hard to believe, that after all the mocking, I do find some Bollywood movies appealing. I had to sift through a lot of rubbish, but here are some of my favorites;

My Top 5 Bollywood Movies

5) Black

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Magnum opus took Bollywood by storm. Initially meant for the niche urban market, its was surprisingly well accepted by the masses - a shock considering that it had no song and dance sequences, was saturated with rich dialogues (mostly in English) and presented a 'de-Glam' version of Bollywood's leading actors - Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherji. The story dealt with the relation between an alcoholic eccentric teacher (AB) and a blind, deaf and mute child (RM) and how the she overcomes all the obstacles to graduate. The final scenes featuring a reunion of the two is the most touching of them all, with the student guiding the teacher. Absolutely ravishing sets and cinematography, with the movie shot with a blackish hue.

4) Legend of Bhagat Singh

In 2002, there was a spate of movies based on the life of Indian freedom fighter 'Bhagat Singh' (Infact, one friday saw the release of two such movies). Most of them were average being littered with a lot of those bollywood formulas. But this one, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, was a little short of brilliant. From the first scene depicting the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, to the final hanging, the movie treated this shaheed's (martyr) life with the dignity and respect. Even though it did take liberties with his love life, the movie sticks to his life story. Helped by brilliant acting by Ajay Devgan and his supporting cast, this movie absolutely blew my mind. Also note the similarities between the actors and the freedom fighters.

3) Guru

Mani Ratnam is one of the premier directors of Bollywood, so it was only him that could pull off such a story. Loosely based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani (the founder of Reliance Industries), it follows of the life of a dreamer who makes it big and struggles to maintain the balance between the either side of the ethics spectrum. The start is a little slow, but when it does pick up pace it amounts to riveting cinema. The movie stands on the shoulders of breathtaking acting, especially by Abhishek Bachchan who gained a lot of weight for this role. The cinematography, music is also breathtaking.

2) Black Friday

The most powerful film to come out of the bollywood stables. Directed by Anurag Kashyap in 2004, it took three years to get the censor board's approval for release. The film Chronicles the events leading upto the March 13th serial bomb Blasts and the police investigations following it. Absolutely riveting. A taut story line supported by some of the best acting I've seen in a long long time. Kay Kay Menon is brilliant as the cop who struggles with his conscience for torturing suspected terrorists, Aditya Srivastav as the terrorist who questions the morality of his actions , but most of all its Pavan Malhotra as Tiger Memon the mastermind of the attack who is baying for revenge following the demolition of Bombay riots. Brilliant in every possible way.

1) Johnny Gaddaar

Number one and for a good reason. I would never have imagined a hindi movie riped with so much black humour (Infact, it has deposed Fargo as my favorite 'Black humour movie'). 5 partners plan a deal that would yield them a huge monetary reward, but greed takes over one of them who pulls of a heist. But after that, his plan goes bad. Very bad. The story is absolutely brilliant. A classic crime caper (a lot of references to James Hadley Chase) handled beautifully by the director Sriram Raghavan. Great acting, cinematography and everything one would expect from a perfect thriller. The start is good, but after the heist the movie is gripping. There is no song and dance sequence. The title song is brilliant, suiting the mood of the film. A MUST SEE.

Note : Except for Guru and Black (to some extent), none of the other movies made an impact in the box office. They all still remain cult classics, to be collected in DvD's by the faithful.

Narrowly missing the scene : Taare Zameen Par, Being Cyrus, Bheja Fry (a remake of the french classic 'The dinner game'), Sarfarosh, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Kaante, Hera Pheri, Rang De Basanti (didn't make it because of its shoddy hasty ending).