Jan 07, 2006 08:08 PM
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(Updated Jan 07, 2006 08:13 PM)
Its been nearly 100 years of Indian Cinema. We are the the biggest movie making industry in the world. Indian Film Industry Makes more movies in a year then Hollywood would make in 5 years. Unfortunately 7 to 8 out of the 10 releases we have are worth less then trash. The 2 which are good you will find very very few movies which are inspirational. After seeing countless hindi movies (I have seen only 700 odd so countless is really an exaggeration) I have managed to come up with 5 movies, which “I”: felt were inspirational. Not many may agree with me but then, to each one his/her own.
PS – I am not writing a hard core movie review but just a brief over view of the movie.
Anand (1970)
Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s classic about a happy-go-lucky attitude guy Anand(Rajesh Khanna) who befriends a introvert doctor Bhaskar Bannerjee(Amitabh Bachchan) and makes everyone around him happy despite the fact that he is suffering from a terminal illness of Liver Cancer. Superbly scripted by Gulzar and truly captures the spirit of Human Triumph. A must watch.
Mera Naam Joker (1970)
Raj Kapoor’s magnum opus Classic was a box office disaster when it was released first but is now considered, just like Kagaz Ke Phool, an immortal classic. Just Like Guru Dutt’s Kagaz Ke Phool, this was a semi-autobigoraphical film with a huge star cast but Raj Kapiir in the lead role of Raju the Clown who makes people laugh but has to undergo so much of pain and tragedy in real life. Again a truly inspirational movie. The movie length was a little bit more then 4 hours. This is quote an achievement considering the fact that it was edited to this length from its original of 6 hours.
Lagaan (2001)
It’s almost the end of 19th Century in India. There is a major drought in a small time village of Champaner in Northern India. The British Government, in order to increase revenue, still decide to impose a double tax on the poor farmers. A confrontation with local firebrand youth Bhuvan(Aamir Khan) makes the British Captain Andrew Russel(Paul Blackthorne) challenge the villagers to a game of cricket. If the villagers win then the taxes are forfeited for 3 years. If the Poms win it, then they have to pay 3 times the normal tax. Bhuvan, against the ire of the village, agrees to the challenge. The one hindrance that he has to now pass, after convincing 11 people to play, is to actually learn to play the game and beat them fairly, despite the fact that none of them had ever held a bat or a ball in their lives. A kind Elizabeth(Rachael Shelly) teaches the villagers the basic rules of the game and this leads to a phenomenal climax. One of the most inspiring Hindi Movies of all time. Inspired from one of Comic Book Series of Asterix - Asterix in Britan
Awwal Number (1990)
Forget the fact that this Dev Anand movie had the evergreen Dev Anand in an amazing unbelievable role of A Police DIG cum Chief Of Selection Committee for Cricket. This movie, I still believe, had a plot which was original and ahead of its time. India are already down and out 0-2 against the aussies in the one day series. To keep face they need to win the last match to be held at Bombay. The only hindrance is that a new comer Sunny(Aamir Khan) is chosen over the Arrogant Cricket Captain Ronny(Aditya Panscholi) who also happens to be Dev Anand’s brother. In a fit of anger, Ronny decides to blow up the stadium. An inspirational film on 2 counts, where it shows a person in a dilemma to choose over his blood or his duty and also where even after loosing, if you have the determination you can still end up as the winner.
Censor (2001)
Another Dev Anand Film about a film Director Vikramjeet(Dev Anand) who makes a film which the Indian Censor Board refuse to pass without Cuts. Somehow Vikramjeet manages to smuggle the film to USA where it gets nominated and even wins Dev Anand Oscars for the Best Foreign Language and Best Director Awards. The triumph is short lived when a legal suit is passed against Vikramjeet and how he finally manages to win it in a dramatic court room climax. Although this was, like most of Dev Anand’s films of the last 30 years, a flop, it had a unique script and a most important never say die attitude of Dev Anand.
Thank you for reading my review. Comments are essential as they are the only direct feedback I get.
