Movies from the other side of the world

To everyone who has ever asked me about my wedding and if it was anything like “Monsoon Wedding”, my answer for the last time, is no. Despite the fact that there is a large audience for foreign films in the United States, India, the largest producer of movies in a year doesn’t factor on many watch-lists. Though I’ll be the first to admit that popular Indian cinema can be tripe, it carries with it the power of tremendous entertainment. And you can bet that when films are produced in such large quantities, some of them are quality. India has over 15 primary languages with movies made in all of them. Hindi is a national language and all references to Bollywood films generally means that they are in Hindi. More often than not, there are some excellent films in regional languages, but that’s another post.

Listed below are a few good films, some created in years before I was born, others as I grew up, each reflecting different kinds of cultural image. Anyone who has the patience to walk through these movies in chronological order will see an evolution of Indian cinema, leaning out from under the British yolk to reestablishing it’s culture and values, to the strong western influences the country has today. India is a country rife with the dichotomy of extreme affluence as well as extreme poverty. Most movies end up depicting one side well. It’s hard to show all that India is in 3 hours (the standard time frame of Indian movies). What one has to remember is that Indian movies are always more theatrical than gritty. So the melodrama factor reigns high. Anyone who appreciates theatre is bound to like Indian movies. My advice to people commenting about how the movies bug them with their song-and-dance routines is to forward through the songs and watch the movie. (Warning: some movies have stories play out in the song) Otherwise sit back, relax, watch the songs and enjoy an extraordinary culture that struggles to rework itself in rapidly changing parameters, yet retain an essence of self. This list will open you up to movies other than the Monsoon Wedding.

(The videos posted aren’t the best scenes to represent the movies, though they are good ones. I chose them for sub-titles in many cases, simply my own discretion in the rest.)

Chalti ka naam gadi (Something oddly about life and cars…though I understand it in Hindi its hard for me to translate) (1958)
The movie follows the life and loves of three brothers (whose characters are portrayed by the three real-life brothers, Ashok, Anup and Kishore Kumar) and the car garage they own. This movie is a gem of the black-and-white movie era and is a testament to the comic genius of Kishore Kumar, the actor who sang even better than he could act and went down in history as India’s most prolific playback singer. It also gives fantastic glimpses of a Bombay I never knew.

Sholay (Sparks) (1975)
This movie is often said to have ushered in the modern era in commercial Hindi film cinema. It boasts a super cool cast with fantastic performances and memorable music. The movie is based in inspiration on The Magnificent Seven with basic tenet of mercenaries being hired to rid a village of a life-sapping dacoit menace. In this case, two jailbirds are hired by the leader of a village to protect his people because he can no longer defend on the account that he has lost his arms in this ongoing fight. Dharmendra and Amitabh are great in their roles, playing best friends of completely opposite natures brilliantly. And Sanjeev Kumar as the helpless yet defiant leader is amazing. But the scene stealer here is the bad guy. Amjad Khan redefined the role of the villain in movies with this role. He made this movie what it is. The most successful Hindi movie of all time, holding all kinds of world records in film worldwide. It ran to full house for more 2 straight years. And I still have conversation with other Asians who may not know much about hindi cinema, but know Gabbar Singh. This movie is all set for a remake in the modern era. As of yet, I still have not seen a Hindi movie remake that anywhere near to being good, let alone as good as the originals. The beauty of this is that, Amitabh who played one the main heroes in the first movie, plays Gabbar Singh, the arch villain in the remake. That alone will make me watch it.

Shatranj ke Khiladi (The Chess Players) (1977)
This is one of Satyajit Ray’s films, one of India’s prolific film makers and is based on a story by Munshi Premchand. It tells the tale of Oudh, one of the last independent states to hold out against the British Raj in India and it’s fall in 1856. It speaks of the ruler and the lassitude of his court where two of the nobles, the primary characters, choose to ignore the situation at hand by completely blindsiding it and spending endless hours playing chess. The movie is slow-paced. It does a great job depicting the sights and sounds of 19th century India.

Angoor (Grapes) (1982)
On of my absolute favs, this movie plays off on the Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare. It has one of the most prolific actors of his time, Sanjeev Kumar, an actor brilliant in whatever role he played, whether serious or comic. (sadly he died young). The movie tells a tale of two sets of twins, separated at birth with one of each set remaining with the other. The movie plays out the inevitable run-in all four have with each other in various ways and the confusion that sets out for their families and all others concerned. Good three hours of laughs

Saransh (The gist…of life) (1984 )
I love this movie, not so much for it story, which plays out well, but for its performances. Anupam Kher played an old man in his late 60s in this movie, when he was only 29. It is a fantastic performance in itself but probably the most prolific given that this was his first movie role.

Dilwale Dulhaniya le jayenge (Only the ones with true heart will win true love) (1995)
Come…fall in love was the tag line of this movie. This romantic hindi movies that will endure time and tide. The story is about a boy and girl of Indian origin in the UK who meet and fall in love, despite all odds. It is also about the Indian family and how parents struggle to maintain an image of India to their children that the children have neither known nor seen. The locales in Europe and India are beautiful (the movie is shot about a half in Europe and the rest in India) and the performances are haunting. This is a wonderful movie and exemplary of good Hindi commercial cinema. It has great music which even my hindi movie hating husband enjoys. (He can’t stand the melodrama)

Dil Chahta Hai (The heart wants….) (2001)
This movie marked the change in Hindi movies in the new millennium. It tell the story of three friends and their lives through the carefree years as college students and the time after that. The emphasis is on their relationships, how their paths diverge, yet how the bond of friendship ties them together despite all else. A wonderful movie with great performances by the lead male actors, Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna. A movie of my generation.

Lagaan (Tax) (2001)

A fictional tale set in the real time of the British Raj in India. This movie is for me, more than anything, one of the rare Indian movies whose main theme is a sport that succeeds in doing it well. The villagers of one village in a county, sick of paying taxes through their noses, with nothing to eat for themselves, challenge their haughty British overseer to a game of cricket. If they win, they will never be taxed. If they lose their taxes triple. The movie plays out on how the villagers learn a game that is entirely alien to them and the final match is a lot of fun to watch. If you don’t know cricket, you will understand more of it after this movie. Lagaan also ushered in the era of Westerners acting in hindi movies. A large part of this cast is British.

Black (2005)
A poignant tale of the life of a blind, mute and deaf girl and the teacher who lets her out of the prison of her mind into a world where she can communicate. The story follows through their relationship and the co-dependencies it creates. I hear it was based on a film from a different country, though I don’t know which one. This movie is one of the rare, non-formulaic Indian movies with no songs and dances.

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~ by summerlightning on March 24, 2007.