Shree 420 Puns

One of India’s greatest directors, Raj Kapoor directed only 10 movies during his lifetime spread across 5 decades. At the peak of his popularity in the 50s and 60s, he directed 3 movies all of which were masterpieces of the golden era of Indian cinema. Each of these 3 masterpieces were the highest grossing movies of their time and garnered acclaim and fame across the globe making RK an international star and Shree 420 became the first movie in Indian history to gross more than Rs 2 Crore at Box office.

Shree 420 (1955)
Directed by Raj Kapoor
Produced by Raj Kapoor
Starring - Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Lalita Pawar, Nemo and Nadira
Written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
Music by Shankar Jaikishan
Budget/Box Office - Rs 60 Lac/Rs 5 Crore (INR 700 Crore adjusted for inflation)
Awards - National Award for Best Film and 2 Filmfare Awards
IMDB Rating - 8/10
RT Rating - 88%
My Rating - 10/10

RK’s common man, vagabond, tramp persona was as iconic and famous across the globe as Hollywood’s tramp Charlie Chaplin. Shree 420 became the highest grossing movie in India in 1955, it was Number 2 at the box office in Soviet Union and a superhit in most of Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This was another masterpiece created by Raj Kapoor and his close knit family of Shankar Jaikishan, his music directors who were the soul of his movies, Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri, his lyricists who were the heart of his songs, Mukesh and Manna Dey, who were his voice along with his leading lady's voice by Lata Mangeshkar, his cinematographer Radhu Karmakar who was literally his eyes and his talented and beautiful muse and leading lady Nargis. Shree 420 would be the last movie directed by Raj Kapoor to feature all of his gang as Nargis never worked as leading lady in a RK directed movie again.

Shree 420 is a love story at heart which pits love against temptation, traditions vs modernization, innocence vs experience, ethics vs ambition and generosity vs greed. Nargis plays a poor teacher named Vidya which means knowledge. She represents love, virtue, ethics and everything good in the world. Nadira plays a rich modern woman named Maya which means illusion. She represents temptation, ambition, greed and everything bad in the world. RK filled the movie with such symbolism elevating it from standard commercial fare to an exceptional entertainer.

RK plays a poor, educated and honest small town man named Raj who arrives in

In today’s world when content is king and finally can stand tall along with star power, the writer’s role in making a great movie has become more obvious than ever before. In the early days of Bollywood, a movie did business mainly on the shoulders of its stars. The movie's stars were the only thing we saw on the movie posters. With the evolution of music, its composers, songs and singers started playing an important role in the success of the movies. Then gradually directors started to matter in the golden era with the emergence of the likes of Bimal Roy, Raj Kapoor and Vijay Anand. Their brand of direction and production was enough to attract their fanbase to the movies. It wasn’t till Salim-Javed literally wrote their names on the posters of Zanjeer in 1973 that the movie's writers started to mean something in Bollywood. The Salim-Javed brand was enough to ensure a decent footfall in the cinema halls so directors and producers lined up at their doors to buy their scripts. At the same time the multi-talented Gulzar became known not only for his songs and direction but being the writer of several National and Filmfare award winning movies in the 70s and 80s.

However barring these few names along with a few writer - directors like Guru Dutt, Chetan/Vijay Anand, Manoj Kumar, Subhash Ghai, Raj Kumar Hirani etc the names of most movie’s writers still remain unknown to a great extent. Here is a short list of brilliant writers who have given birth and shape to some of the finest works in Bollywood over the years but are not as well known as the actors and directors who brought their stories to life on the silver screen. What would Bollywood be without the stories penned or adapted by these legends.

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas - As winner of 4 National Awards, a Palme D’or and the Crystal Globe, K.A. Abbas is one of India’s finest writers of the golden era. Not only was he one of the pioneers of Indian Parallel cinema but he was the heart of Raj Kapoor’s movies. Chetan Anand’s “Neecha Nagar”, V Shantaram’s “Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahaani” along with Raj Kapoor’s catalog of masterpieces including “Awaara", "Shree 420", "Jaagte Raho", "Mera Naam Joker", "Bobby” and even Big B’s debut feature “Saat Hindustani” which he also directed are all works of Abbas. Abbas wrote several books and short stories along with the longest running column in Indian history called “Last Page" for a period of 52 years from 1935 to his death in 1987. RK's brilliant career was built on the s

Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand are considered Bollywood's Golden Trio as they shaped the future of Bollywood with their masterpieces in the 50s and 60s. A quick look at their joint filmography of the 50s and 60s says it all about their contribution to Indian Cinema during Bollywood's Golden era as they sowed the seeds of inspiration for future generations.

Dilip Kumar - Shahid, Andaz, Devdas, Azad, Naya Daur, Yahudi, Madhumati, Mughal-E-Azam, Ganga Jumna, Leader and Ram aur Shyam

Raj Kapoor - Aag, Barsaat, Andaz, Awaara, Aah, Boot Polish, Shree 420, Jaagte Raho, Chori Chori, Anari, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Chhalia, Sangam, Teesri Kasam and Mera Naam Joker

Dev Anand - Ziddi, Baazi, Jaal, Taxi Driver, C.I.D., Nau Do Gyarah, Paying Guest, Solva Saal, Kala Pani, Kala Bazaar, Hum Dono, Asli Naqli, Tere Ghar Ke Samne, Guide, Jewel Thief and Johny Mera Naam

https://preview.redd.it/62yfk13xj6981.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8df0ebdacff16793be9c69b9e0d9a113ea97fc36

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

(By Sukanya Verma | September 28, 2017)

Every time she breathes, she makes music and the applause follows.

For more than half a century, the beautiful, lilting, hearty quality of Lata Mangeshkar's singing has regaled changing generations of listeners. The fact that it's not merely tough but impossible for anybody to name just one favourite song of hers says a lot about her stature.

In her incredibly long and flourishing career as India's most treasured songstress, she's voiced a myriad of emotions. On her 86th birthday today, we celebrate the legend's 25 distinctly different moods.

Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya - Mughal-E-Azam

• Mood: Defiant

• Music: Naushad

K Asif's grand epic achieves its most memorable high in Madhubala's spellbinding performance around the glittery Sheesh Mahal-inspired sets and Latatai's rebellious assertions that would go on to resonate powerfully among aspiring romantics.

Aaj Kal Paon - Ghar

• Mood: Dreamy

• Music: Rahul Dev Burman

Would Rekha's starry-eyed state have the same impact in the absence of Lata Mangeshkar's measured, mellifluous rendition of Gulzar's fond words? Negative.

Piya Bina - Abhimaan

• Mood: Heartbroken

• Music: Sachin Dev Burman

She's sung a lot of despondent ditties but her deep understanding of Jaya Bachchan's character - of a wife hurting over hubby's disgruntled behaviour while keeping her emotions in check as a professional playback singer in Abhimaan - contributes significantly to Piya bina's simplicity and sorrow.

Naam Ghum Jayega - Kinara

• Mood: Philosophical

• Music: R D Burman

Meri awaaz hi pehchaan hai...perfect lines, perfect melody, perfect Lata Mangeshkar.

Aa Jaane Jaan - Inteqam

• Mood: Seductive

• Music: Laxmikant-Pyarelal

Proving sexy songs aren't just younger sister Asha Bhosle's forte, Lata Mangeshkar turns the heat on and how for the smouldering Helen cabaret.

Allah Tero Naam - Hum Dono

• Mood: Devotional

• Music: Jaidev

The songbird offers the ultimate prayer for humanity with characteristic grace and sensitivity for this Hum Dono gem.

Mose Chhal Kiye Jaaye - Guide

• Mood: Angry

• Music: S D Burman

While a luminous Waheeda Rehman expresses disgust for her beau on screen, Lata Mangeshkar injects soul to her injury off it in the refined melodies of Guide.

Vande Mataram, Anand Math

• Mood: Patriotic

• Music: Hemant Kumar

Her passionate chants of Vande Mataram continue to evoke instant nationalist fervour even after six decade

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

They’re on standbi

Buenosdillas

Pilot on me!!

There is only one right way to complete my series of "Top 100 Bollywood Soundtracks Review" by paying respect to the True Showman of Bollywood. "Raj Kapoor" is the benchmark of Indian cinema that all generations of filmmakers strive to achieve. Before he became India’s greatest showman, before he became India’s favorite Joker, he was the common man, the vagabond, a persona that was as iconic and famous across the globe as Hollywood’s tramp Charlie Chaplin. His persona of the common man that all Indian’s routed for was shaped by Raj Kapoor and his band of merry men - Shankar Jaikishan his music directors who were the soul of his movies, Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri his lyricists who were the heart of his songs and Mukesh his voice. With the help of his friends and the talented Nargis, Lata, Manna Dey and Rafi he would conquer the hearts of the world. That is how the legend of Raj Kapoor was born with Barsaat, Awara, Aah, Shree 420 and Chori Chori in post independence India.

Their immortal partnership begins with Barsaat, a movie directed by Raj Kapoor which introduced India to the music of Shankar Jaikishan and the words of Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri. The RK films logo came into being from the iconic scene of Nargis and Raj Kapoor in this movie. The movie also introduced the actress Nimmi and was the first movie written by Ramanand Sagar who would go on to make several big movies but will be most remembered for his Epic series Ramayan. The success of this movie allowed Raj Kapoor to build RK Studios and launch his Iconic brand. The amazing soundtrack of this movie begins with back to back masterpieces by Lataji as she sings “Jiya Beqarar Hai” and “Mujhe Kisi Se Pyar Ho Gaya Hai”. Both songs are extremely melodious as Shankar Jaikishan start their career with what would certainly become their memorable brand of music. Then the first ever song penned by Shailendra lands on a RK soundtrack as Mukesh and Lataji sing "Patli Kamar Hai”. The simplicity and incredible depth of the song’s lyrics is what made RK stick with this amazing partnership of musician, lyricist and singer till their last days. "Bichhde Hue Pardesi” by Lataji and "Zindagi Mein Hardam” by Rafi are incredible songs penned by Hasrat Jaipuri to bring side A to an end.

Side B kicks with the most popular song of the movie “Hawa Mein Udta Jaye Mora Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka” by Lataji, a song which has been covered, reimagined and remixed multiple times. Lataji sings her solo “Ab Mera Kaun Sahara”

As a part of my Bollywood course, I viewed Shree 420. Any thoughts on the movie?

Every era is defined by one movie whose impact exceeds all other movies and can be felt over multiple generations. Pyaasa in the 50s, Guide in the 60s, Sholay in the 70s, DDLJ in the 90s and 3 Idiots in the new millennium are a few such movies. Rajkumar Hirani started his fairy tale Bollywood journey with back to back critical and commercial successes "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." and "Lage Raho Munnabhai". He was all geared up to complete his Munnabhai Trilogy with "Munnabhai Chale America" for which he created a brief teaser with Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi reprising their iconic characters of Munnabhai and Circuit. However the turbulence in Sanjay Dutt’s life and some Munnbhai fatigue after making the first 2 movies became the reason for Hirani to look for an alternative story to bring to the screen. In Chetan Bhagat’s “Five point someone” Hirani found a relatable story which he could adapt and enhance with his own experiences and thoughts to bring to the screen. That is how one of the most successful movies of this millennium which seamlessly mixed humor, satire and social issues much like Hirani's previous Munnabhai ventures was born.

3 Idiots (2009)
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani
Produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Starring - Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor and Boman Irani
Written by Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi
Music by Shantanu Moitra
Budget/Box Office - INR 55 Crore/INR 460 Crore
Awards - 3 National Film Awards for Best Film, 6 Filmfare Awards including Best Film and Director, Best Foreign Film in Beijing Film Festival and Japan Academy Awards
IMDB Rating - 8.4/10 
RT Rating - 100%
My Rating - 10/10

Hirani wanted to cast SRK, his original choice for Munnabhai along with John Abraham and Saif Ali Khan for his new movie “Idiots”. However SRK didn’t have any available dates yet again for Hirani and the search for the lead continued. Hirani tried casting newbie Ranbir Kapoor who was in the middle of making his debut feature with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Aamir Khan fresh off the success of Rang De Basanti where he successfully played a young college student got finalized for the movie. Aamir went on a strict diet and workout regime like RDB to look young enough for his role of Rancho, a character less than half his actual age. Along with Aamir came his costars of RDB, Madhavan and Sharman Joshi in the roles of his college friends Farhan and Raju.

It is a very rare treat to see superstars and icons from two different eras come together to ignite the screen on fire. Every generation has their favorite superstars who are adored more than any other. A showdown between the greats of different eras generates such tremendous excitement in their fanbases that the pressure on the stars to please their fans is tremendous. That is one of the reason such feasts of generational superstar collaborations are a rare commodity. Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan’s showdown in “Shakti” is one such rare treat that Bollywood fans got in the 80s that pleased fans of both eras and resulted in great cinema for all. Another such treat was the collaboration of the Brando of South India, Sivaji Ganeshan and his successor extraordinaire Kamal Haasan in their cinematically celebrated and socially criticized masterpiece “Thevar Magan”.

Thevar Magan (1992)
Directed by Bharathan
Produced by Kamal Haasan
Starring - Sivaji Ganeshan, Kamal Haasan, Revathi, Gautami and Nassar
Written by Kamal Haasan
Music by Ilaiyaraaja
Budget/Box Office - NA (Superhit)
Awards - 5 National Film Awards including Best Film, 2 Filmfare South Awards including Best Actor and Actress and India’s Entry for the Oscars
IMDB Rating - 8.7/10
My Rating - 9/10

A 17 year old Kamal Haasan had choreographed a dance for the legend Sivaji Ganesan in "Savaale Samaali” in 1971. Little did anyone know at that point of time that Kamal Haasan would grow up to become a powerhouse of Indian Cinema with hits in multiple languages, 4 national awards, 2 Filmfare, 17 Filmfare South awards and 7 movies entered for the Oscars. In the early 90s when Haasan was at the top of his game, he decided to write, produce, act and sing in a movie with the legendary Sivaji Ganesan. Ganesan considered by many as one of the greatest actors to emerge from South India was the first Indian actor to win a best actor award in an international film festival in the 60s and also become a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. Seeing these 2 legends together in a movie was already an attractive enough proposition so it was nirvana when Haasan delivered a masterful script which did justice to the talent of both masters.

The movie is often compared with its inspiration “The Godfather” with which it has some conceptual similarities but also has several differences in its character arcs and overall story. Thi

Sriram Raghavan started his career with a documentary film on Raman Raghav which caught the eye of Ram Gopal Varma. Soon his first Neo Noir thriller "Ek Hasina Thi" was released with minimal fan fare to a decent box office. He followed his first success with the Meta Neo Noir thriller, “Johnny Gaddar” which paid homage to the 60s master of suspense and thriller Vijay Anand as it entertained the public. After a not so successful experiment with the spy thriller “Agent Vinod”, Sriram was back in form with the fiery “Badlapur”. Badlapur was a big critical and commercial success which would be difficult for most directors to top. However Sriram soon unveiled his most powerful thriller named "Andhadhun" onto an unsuspecting audience.

Andhadhun (2018)
Directed by Sriram Raghavan
Produced by Sudhanshu Vats, Ajit Andhare, Gaurav Nanda, Ashok Vasodia, Kewal Garg, Sanjay Routray and Odette Mayfair-Joy
Starring - Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu and Radhika Apte
Written by Sriram Raghavan, Hemanth M. Rao, Pooja Ladha Surti, Arijit Biswas and Yogesh Chandekar
Music by Amit Trivedi
Budget/Box Office - INR 32 Crore/INR 450 Crore
Awards - 3 National Film Awards for Best Film, Actor and Story, 5 Filmfare Awards including Best Film (Critics) and Actor (Critics) and Bandung Film Festival Recognition
IMDB Rating - 8.2/10 
RT Rating - 100%
My Rating - 9/10

Sriram watched a French short film “L’Accordeur” about a blind pianist based on screen writer Hemanth Rao’s recommendation. They both were inspired by this short film and wanted to explore that premise further in a movie of their own. Sriram briefly used the concept in Agent Vinod as he brilliantly set up a shot with a blind girl playing a Piano surrounded by the scene's chaos and action as the soft melodic song “Raabta” plays in the background. This prompted Hemanth Rao to explore the concept further while Sriram started work on “Badlapur”. However when Sriram heard the premise of Hrithik Roshan’s “Kaabil” which also featured a blind lead character, he put his movie about a blind pianist on the back burner. His creative juices started flowing again when the concept of the blind pianist evolved into a sighted pianist pretending to be blind and becoming witness to a murder while he plays the piano. The movie was initially titled “Shoot the Piano Player” but the creators decided to give it an even more apt Hindi title "Andhadhun".

Sriram shared the premis

On a Lazy Sunday 6 months ago, I started putting together a short list of more than 500 Indian movies from various sources which I considered to be among the best ever made to get to my definitive list of Top 100 Indian movies of all time. The sources were as follows - Every winner of the National Award for best film, director, Actor/Actress, Every winner of Filmfare Awards from their inception in 50s to the current date, the top 10 highest grossing Bollywood movies for each year, the Highest rated Indian movies on IMDB (>8/10) and Rotten Tomatoes (>80%), India's Oscar entries for each year and Any Indian movie nominated/screened/winner at Cannes, Berlin, BAFTA, Golden Globes etc. I went through the filmographies of my favorite directors like Ray, Roy, Kapoor, Gulzar, Ratnam etc, Actors like Sanjeev Kumar, Kamal Haasan, Mohanlal, Uttam Kumar, Naseeruddin Shah, Big B and Actresses like Nargis, Shabana, Smita, Nutan and others. I checked if any of my favorite movies of all time were missing and asked a few friends and family members what were their favorite movies. The easy part was done.

Based on a combination of Box Office performance, IMDB/RT Rating, National/International Awards, I started identifying the movies which deserved a place in the Top 100. Then the fun started as I began rewatching and researching these movies to see if they were still as good as I remembered them. Some were even better while a few didn't age as well. I was also excited to discover several movies which I had never watched before especially regional movies recognized on the national stage and enjoyed experiencing them for the first time. On May 30th I wrote my first review starting with Maestro Satyajit Ray's Masterpiece "Pather Panchali". A movie which i had rewatched a few years ago with my daughter as her introduction to Ray's movies. I was amazed to see her experience this simple movie and get so emotionally attached to its characters. When she shed a tear for Apu's sister and family and asked me what other movies has Ray made, I knew this was a special movie. Hence began my list of Top 100 Indian movies of all time.

During the next 5 months I reviewed 90 movies and was delighted by my fellow subredditors and film aficionados feedback and inputs. I got positive and negative critique on my selections and several great recommendations. Some of the recommended movies were in my shortlist while a few were hidden gems I discovered on this journey thanks to my reddit fri

There arent too many Indian movies listed in Time Magazine's Top 100 movies of all time list who had such tremendous global impact like the movie, that made India’s iconic R.K. Studio. This Indian Gem sold more tickets in alien countries than their own domestic movies, with sales north of 250M tickets worldwide in the 50s. Often called the world’s favorite movie, this is one of the most beloved Indian movies of all time not only in India but Russia, China, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Cannes had no other option but to nominate the movie for its Grand Prize award. If you search YouTube for its iconic songs, you will be surprised to find an unending list of covers from all over the world including Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkey, China, Japan etc. This is one of the key movies that was instrumental in creation of a film industry in India. The immortal classic “Awaara”.

Awaara (1951)
Directed by Raj Kapoor
Produced by Raj Kapoor
Starring - Raj Kapoor, Nargis, K.N. Singh, Leela Chitnis and Prithviraj Kapoor
Written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and V.P. Sathe
Music by Shankar Jaikishan
Budget/Box Office - INR 50 Lac/INR 15 Crore (INR 1,500 Crore Adjusted for Inflation)
Awards - Released before Filmfare and National Awards were established. Nominated for the Grand Prize in Cannes Film Festival
IMDB Rating - 7.9/10
RT Rating - 86%
My Rating - 10/10

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas wrote the film for India’s legendary director Mehboob Khan, Khan didn't show much enthusiasm about the movie and wanted to cast Ashok Kumar and Dilip Kumar which Abbas didn’t think was the right casting. Hence Abbas took the movie to Raj Kapoor who had just tasted success with his first hit “Barsaat” and was looking at launching his first movie under the newly formed banner of R.K. Films and shoot in his newly created R.K. Studio. Raj Kapoor loved the script and wanted to cast his father Prithviraj Kapoor but was afraid to ask him to sign up for the movie. So he reluctantly asked Abbas to narrate the story to his father. Prithviraj Kapoor loved the story and asked who was the movie’s director. When Abbas revealed that his son RK was going to direct the movie, Prithviraj warned Abbas not to hire such an inexperienced director to tell such a bold and great story. Despite his reservations and strong opinion Abbas managed to convince Prithviraj to join the movie’s cast.

Raj Kapoor had a tough time directing his f

Do your worst!

Life inspired art when Raj Kapoor made a movie about the life dacoits seen through the eyes of a clean hearted simpleton who convinces the dacoits to surrender and the Indian government to grant them amnesty, as the only possible peaceful solution. The movie was applauded for its aspirations, acting and music but the ending of an actual peaceful surrender of dacoits was considered unrealistic in 1960. It would be breathtaking to see life imitate art in the 70s and 80s when the most hardened dacoits of Chambal would peacefully surrender when a path to integration with society for their families was offered to them. RK’s masterpiece was a couple of decades ahead of the reality of dacoits that actually inspired it.

Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960)
Directed by Radhu Karmakar
Produced by Raj Kapoor
Starring - Raj Kapoor, Padmini, Lalita Pawar, Tiwari and Pran
Written by Arjun Dev Rashk
Music by Shankar Jaikishan
Budget/Box Office - INR 50 Lac/INR 2 Crore (INR 660 Crore Adjusted for Inflation)
Awards - National Film Award for Best Film and 4 Filmfare Awards including Best Film and Actor
IMDB Rating - 7.4/10
RT Rating - 71% 
My Rating - 9/10

Raj Kapoor is one of those creative actor - producer - directors who always worked closely with his core team of musicians, lyricists, singers, actors and technicians. Radhu Karmakar, the cinematographer of every Raj Kapoor movie directed was inspired by Jai Prakash Narayan and Acharya Vinobha Bhave’s call to hardened dacoits to peacefully surrender. He narrated his idea of a movie on Dacoits and a path to peace to Raj Kapoor who immediately agreed to make this movie for his iconic cinematographer. RK asked Radhu to direct the movie since he felt so passionately about the subject. This would be the only movie Radhu would ever direct with RK standing right behind him with his hand on his shoulder. Radhu would happily return to his duties behind the camera for Raj Kapoor, even after the movie’s tremendous success at the box office and awards.

Raj Kapoor’s long time collaborator and leading lady Nargis had decided to marry Sunil Dutt and stopped making movies with Raj Kapoor. RK was at a stage of his career that he didn’t know if he could make a movie with another actress. This is the beginning of the second stage of his career as he moved from Nargis to Padmini and Vyjayanthimala as his main leading ladies and eventually made the big t

Ranbir Raj Kapoor was actually seen on screen for the first time 2 years before his debut feature “Saawariya” in a masterclass in storytelling, filmmaking and acting. The back of Big B’s character sitting at the fountain in Shimla’s wintery cold in the movie’s title scene is actually Ranbir Kapoor standing in for the legend. Ranbir stood in with his back to the camera in several scenes but that wasn’t even his biggest contribution in this extremely stylish and artistic spectacle from the master of grand blockbusters with grand characters, sets and stories. The director who started his journey with the classic "Parinda" as an assistant director, sharpened his writing skills with the masterpiece "1942: A Love Story" and gradually stepped up the scale and colors of his grand movies like "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" and “Devdas” created a very simple, dark yet inspiring tale of the award winning masterpiece “Black”.

Black (2005)
Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Anshuman Swami
Starring - Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherji and Ayesha Kapur
Written by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhavani Iyer and Prakash Kapadia (Based on the Miracle Worker)
Music by Mychael Danna
Budget/Box Office - INR 20 Crore/INR 40 Crore
Awards - 3 National Film Awards including Best Film and Actor and 11 Filmfare Awards including Best Film, Director, Actor and Actress
IMDB Rating - 8.2/10
RT Rating - 90% 
My Rating - 9/10

Sanjay Leela Bhansali was part of the Vidhu Vinod Chopra team where he learnt and polished his skills assisting on multiple movies. After the success of Parinda and 1942, Chopra asked Bhansali to step up and direct their next venture “Kareeb” with Bobby Deol but Bhansali had other aspirations. He ended up fracturing his relationship with his mentor Chopra to make his first movie about a deaf and mute couple and their bubbly musical daughter called "Khamoshi: The Musical”. The movie received a lot of critical acclaim, however it bombed at the box office on release. While making the movie, Bhansali spent a lot of time in the Helen Keller institute with differently abled children where the seed for “Black” was subconsciously sown in his mind. He would go on to make his romantic magnum opus “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” and then the big budgeted remake of “Devdas”. As he was getting ready to announce another huge production named “Bajirao Mastani” in 2003, he received surprising

There is only one way to bring this journey of discovering and reviewing my favorite movies to its conclusion after 6 months. The same way I started this journey - With one of the most influential directors from India whose neo-realistic story telling style and masterpieces influenced generations of Indian and Global film makers and fans. The winner of 36 National Film Awards, an Honorary Oscar, the only honorary award ever given at Cannes, a Golden Lion, a Golden Bear, Dadasaheb Phalke, France’s Legion of Honor, Padma Bhushan, Bharat Ratan and many many more for his illustrious career. This legendary director was so ahead of his time that he created the alien concept of a trilogy of movies in the 50s, a decade before Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name Trilogy, 2 decades before Star Wars made Trilogies “a thing” and half a century before mainstream India caught up. There can’t be a better way to conclude my Top 100 reviews than the conclusion of Satyajit Ray’s finale of “The Apu Trilogy”. Apu’s narrative began with the story of a boy in the 1955 masterpiece “Pather Panchali” followed by the story of his teenage year in the 1956 gem “Aparajito” before its masterful conclusion in 1959 in the heartbreaking tale of his adulthood “Apur Sansar”. “The Apu Trilogy” won 3 national awards, 7 awards at Cannes, Berlin and Venice Film Festivals and countless awards across the globe. An achievement no other India director has even been able to replicate.

Apur Sansar (1959)
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Produced by Satyajit Ray
Starring - Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore
Written by Satyajit Ray (Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s novel)
Music by Ravi Shankar
Budget/Box Office - INR 1 Lac/INR 80 Lac (INR 70 Crore Adjusted for Inflation)
Awards - National Award for Best Film, Winner at British Film Institute Awards, Edinburgh Film Festival, US National Board of review, Nominated for BAFTA and India’s entry for the Oscars. Included in the Academy’s Archives
IMDB Rating - 8.5/10
RT Rating - 96%
My Rating - 10/10

The global success and acclaim of Satyajit Ray’s debut masterpiece "Pather Panchali” ensured that he would not have the same issues getting financial backing for its 2 sequels. “Pather Panchali” took 5 years to make on a shoestring budget which kept running out of funds, forcing Ray to pawn his wife’s jewelry and even his life insurance policy. The previously unknown newbi

Ganga Jumna may have become a little known movie for the current generations of the new millennium, however its impact on Indian cinema is unparalleled as one of the biggest trendsetters of the golden era. The movie inspired a youngster named Amitabh Bachchan to try his hand at acting and also served as the prototype of the angry young man persona he created in the 70s. Another youngster named Amjad Khan based his iconic character Gabbar Singh’s dialogue delivery based on Gunga’s Awadhi dialect in the movie. Another newbie named Ramesh Sippy took inspiration from Gunga Jumna to visualize Sholay’s opening sequence of the train attack by dacoits. Another bunch of youngsters named Salim and Javed created their own legacy along with Bollywood’s superstar Big B with a long list of movies like Deewar, Trishul, Amar Akbar Anthony etc based on Ganga Jumna’s Good - Bad brother storyline. Gunga Jumna inadvertently laid down the foundation of the Bhojpuri film industry which took shape a couple of year’s after the predominantly Awadhi language based Gunga Jumna became India’s 2nd highest grossing blockbuster on release. Gunga Jumna is in fact the Gangotri of Indian commercial cinema of the last century and is its creator’s brightest gem.

Gunga Jumna (1961)
Directed by Nitin Bose
Produced by Dilip Kumar
Starring - Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Nasir Khan, Nazir Hussain and Anwar Hussain
Written by Dilip Kumar
Music by Naushad
Budget/Box Office - INR 3.5 Crore/INR 11.27 Crore (INR 1,366 Crore adjusted for Inflation)
Awards - National Film Award for Best Film, 3 Filmfare Awards including Best Actress and Special Award at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
IMDB Rating - 7.7/10
My Rating - 9/10

Dilip Kumar AKA the Tragedy King AKA the “First Khan of Bollywood” was part of the Golden Trio of Bollywood with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. Often described as the ultimate method actor, Dilip Kumar pioneered his unique style of method acting which inspired the likes of Big B, SRK and Irrfan to name a few. Dilip Kumar’s method acting predates the Hollywood greats like Brando, Hoffman and DeNiro. Dilip Kumar had already won 5 of his record breaking 8 Filmfare awards by 1960 and starred in the biggest blockbusters of that era like Andaz, Devdas, Naya Daur, Madhumati and Mughal-E-Azam. He decided to write, produce and act in a movie often considered by many as his finest. Over the years it became clear

"Sheep without a Shepherd” is a 2019 Chinese blockbuster which earned $192M globally and received tremendous critical acclaim for its story and performances. A sequel to this Chinese blockbuster and a Malaysian remake are currently in production. Not many know that this Chinese blockbuster is actually a remake of an Indian movie which had already been successfully remade in 4 Indian languages and in Srilanka. The original masterpiece which became an award winning and cash making machine across multiple countries and film industries was the highest grossing Malayalam movie of all time “Drishyam”.

Drishyam (2013)
Directed by Jeethu Joseph
Produced by Antony Perumbavoor
Starring - Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Asha Sarath and Siddique
Written by Jeethu Joseph
Music by Anil Johnson
Budget/Box Office - INR 3.5 Crore/INR 75 Crore
Awards - Filmfare South Award and International Film Festival of India for best Film
IMDB Rating - 8.3/10 
RT Rating - 96% 
My Rating - 10/10

Jeethu Joseph had already become a well renowned writer director of suspense thrillers with 4 hit Malayalam movies under his belt before he unleashed his finest mystery onto the world. The idea of Drishyam came to Joseph when he heard about a legal battle between two families in the 90s. He wrote a very tight script with Mammootty in mind to be shot and released in a period of 2 months. Mammootty declined and Mohanlal signed the movie but got chicken pox before the movie’s first day of shooting. The shooting started without the movie’s protagonist who joined after 10 days and actually completed shooting for the movie quicker than planned. The movie was released 2 months after the start of its principal photography and instantly became a blockbuster.

Drishyam is a very carefully crafted story which begins with an uneducated but smart man accused of murder sitting in a police station. In a flashback we see how Georgekutty played brilliantly by Mohanlal creates the perfect visual (Drishyam) for the world to see as he hides a crime to protect his family. Georgekutty is an uneducated cable TV provider who is extremely street smart and crime-literate due to his insatiable appetite of consuming crime movies and series. Georgekutty becomes the focus of an investigation when the Inspector General’s son goes missing in his locality. What ensues is a battle of wits between the cops and Georgekutty, whose meticulous a

The legendary Satyajit Ray is India’s most celebrated director across the globe and his work represents the finest of Indian and Bengali Cinema. Several Ray masterpieces were inspired from the works of Rabindranath Tagore, so it was natural that the void created after Ray’s passing would get filled by someone who took inspiration from the works of both Ray and Tagore. In 1992, the year of Ray’s passing, a new presence in Bengali cinema was felt for the first time as Rituparno Ghosh released his directorial debut “Hirer Angti”. It was a natural passing of the torch and Ghosh quickly created his own legacy with 12 national award wins in a relatively short period as the natural heir of Ray before his untimely passing in 2013. "Utsab” stands out as one of the brightest gems of intimate emotional dramas cut from the same cloth as many Ray masterpieces.

Utsab (2000)
Directed by Rituparno Ghosh
Produced by Tapan Biswas
Starring - Madhabi Mukherjee, Mamata Shankar, Rituparna Sengupta, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Arpita Pal
Written by Rituparno Ghosh
Music by Debajyoti Mishra
Budget/Box Office - NA
Awards - National Film Award for Best Director
IMDB Rating - 7.8/10
RT Rating - 100% 
My Rating - 8/10

The days of thought provoking masterpieces from the Bengali masters like Ray, Sen, Sinha and Ghatak felt like a distant memory as the new millennium approached. Similar to Bollywood and other regional cinemas, Bengali movies were now focused more and more on commercial aspects of movie making. During this period Ghosh’s intimate tales felt like a familiar yet fresh breath of air. Utsab is a homage to Satyajit Ray’s cinema with multiple references to the master in the movie. The opening scene of the movie with the preparation of Goddess Durga is compared with Ray’s opening scene from “Joy Baba Felunath”. There is a mention of Ray wanting to cast the elder daughter of the family in one of his movies and the movie’s biggest connect with the maestro is its leading lady.

Madhabi Mukherjee was the life and central character of Satyajit Ray’s masterpieces “Mahanagar”, “Charulata” and “Kapurush” in which she shined and received tremendous global acclaim and success. Her movies in the 60s especially her collaboration with Ray was the peak of her career. She continued acting with other directors in the 70s and 80s but could never touch the same heights of her glory days with Ray. It is not a sur

Sports and Cinema are religions in India which ignite tremendous passion and foster unsolicited love and dedication from 100s of millions of fans. Yet most attempts at combining sports and movies in the previous century rarely yielded positive results. Movies like Mithun’s "Boxer", Kumar Gaurav's "All rounder", Dev Anand’s Aamir starrer "Awwal Number" were quickly forgotten in the 80s. The 1983 World Cup winning squad’s master blaster Sandeep Patil ventured into acting with “Kabhi Ajnabi The” but lacked the same level of charisma and presence on screen as he did on the cricket field. It almost felt like movies and sports were not a good mix till a few movies began to turn heads at the turn of the century. The Oscar nominated “Lagaan” and SRK’s Chak De India led the field and confirmed that a well made sports drama can achieve significant critical acclaim and commercial success. 15 years after “Lagaan" gave Aamir Khan one of his most acclaimed movies he returned to the sports genre with a very different look in an inspirational movie named “Dangal" that transcended borders and achieved tremendous success across the globe.

Dangal (2016)
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari
Produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao and Siddharth Roy Kapur
Starring - Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sania Malhotra and Zaira Wasim
Written by Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain and Nikhil Mehrotra
Music by Pritam
Budget/Box Office - INR 70 Crore/INR 2,100 Crore
Awards - 1 National Film Award and 4 Filmfare Awards including Best Film, Director and Actor
IMDB Rating - 8.4/10
RT Rating - 88%
My Rating - 10/10

Divya Rao, a Disney creative team member read an article about a retired wrestler named Mahavir Singh Phogat who trained his daughters to become international champions. She took the concept to Siddharth Roy Kapur who looped in National award winner Nitesh Tiwari to write and direct a movie around these characters. Tiwari met the Phogat family and got their approval and the first hand real story from them. He wrote the script and recommended Aamir Khan for the role of the father. Aamir had recently interviewed the Phogat girls on his program “Satyamev Jayate” so knew their inspiring story when Tiwari and Kapur approached him. Aamir loved the story but had started making PK and also felt that it would be best for him to do this movie after another 10 years when he would have aged enough to

"Pushpa, I hate tears” is enough to paint the picture of this timeless classic. Rajesh Khanna’s melancholic and drunk character delivering this line to a crying yet beautiful Sharmila Tagore along with R.D. Burman’s haunting melody and Kishore Kumar's soul touching vocals fill this image with such pathos, desire and love rarely felt in a movie. Shakti Samanta’s hat trick of superhits of Aradhana, Kati Patang and Amar Prem made Kaka an Icon. His unparalleled and unbeaten 17 consecutive movie hit spree in 3 years at the Box office made him “The superstar". Shakti Samanta’s Aradhana started the 17 movie hit spree which ended with the box office disappointment of “Badnaam Farishte”. “Amar Prem” was the movie which marked his return to the top and continue his reign as Bollywood’s superstar till the angry young man eventually dethroned him in the mid 70s. Surprisingly Kaka wasn’t the movie’s lead as he played second fiddle to the movie’s main character of Pushpa played flawlessly by Sharmila Tagore.

Amar Prem (1972)
Directed by Shakti Samanta
Produced by Shakti Samanta
Starring - Sharmila Tagore, Rajesh Khanna, Om Prakash, Madan Puri and Vinod Mehra
Written by Arabinda Mukhopadhyay based on Hinger Kochuri by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay
Music by R.D. Burman
Budget/Box Office - INR 0.8 Crore/INR 3 Crore (INR 350 Crore adjusted for inflation)
Awards - 6 Filmfare Award Nominations with 2 awards for Screenplay and Sound
IMDB Rating - 8.2/10 
RT Rating - 81% 
My Rating - 10/10

This is a movie that has everything, a brilliant storyline, great acting, superb direction, memorable dialogues and the finest lyrics and songs ever recorded. The movie was based on a novel called Hinger Kochuri by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay whose first novel which is often considered an autobiography by many was none other than “Pather Panchali”. "Pather Panchali" was the story that introduced the world to Satyajit Ray and his beloved character of Apu and created cinematic history putting Indian cinema on the world map. Hinger Kochuri was his story about relationships which have no name and was brought to the silver screen by Arabinda Mukhopadhyay who wrote and directed the hit Bengali movie “Nishi Padma”. Shakti Samanta was so impressed with the movie that he asked Arabinda to write a script for a Hindi adaptation of the story. Since Arabinda wasn’t fluent in Hindi, he wrote the script in English and Shakti Samanta

Bimal Roy’s 1953 masterpiece “Do Bigha Zamin” gave Raj Kapoor sleepless nights when he was at the top of his game in the 50s. He resolved to make movies which mattered and meant something like the Bimal Roy classic. Raj Kapoor responded with 3 movies  in the next 3 years that redefined everyone’s favorite tramp into India’s showman. These 3 movies were masterful examination of the underprivileged and received commercial and critical acclaim across the globe winning applause and accolades at Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Filmfare and the National awards. It all began with the RK produced and ghost directed gem "Boot Polish” before “Shree 420” and “Jaagte Raho” created the legend of the Showman.

Boot Polish (1954)
Directed by Prakash Arora
Produced by Raj Kapoor
Starring - Baby Nawaz, Ratan Kumar and David
Written by Bhanupratap
Music by Shankar Jaikishan
Budget/Box Office - INR 30 Lac/INR 90 Lac (INR 75 Crore adjusted for inflation)
Awards - Palme D’Or Competition at Cannes Film Festival with Special Mention for Child Actress Baby Naaz and 3 Filmfare Awards including Best Film, Cinematographer and Supporting Actor
IMDB Rating - 8/10 
RT Rating - 100% 
My Rating - 9/10
Vittoria De Sica was the visionary Italian master of Neorealistic cinema of the 40s, 50s and 60s with masterpieces like Umberto D, Bicycle Thieves, Two Women and Shoeshine. De Sica’s Bicycle Thief inspired Bimal Roy to create “Do Bigha Zamin” which inspired Raj Kapoor to create his own desi adaptation of De Sica’s 1946 masterpiece Shoeshine. Raj Kapoor’s assistant director of Barsaat, Awara and Aah, Prakash Arora was credited with the direction of Boot Polish and even though RK never made any claims, many in the industry including Rishi Kapoor acknowledged that Boot Polish was ghost directed by RK. The fact that Prakash never directed any other movie after such a soulful piece of art like Boot Polish does give weightage to the theory about the movie’s real director.

RK cast two child artists and gave them top billing in his small budget tale about their poverty drenched childhood. Bhola (Ratan) and his younger sister Belu played by the brilliant Baby Naaz are left at the doorstep of their Aunt Kamala after their mother dies. Kamla is a prostitute played by Chand Burke, who was the paternal grandmother of today’s superstar Ranveer Singh. She beats the kids and forces them to beg on the streets. Her neighbor John played by a d