Omkara or LRMB wud have been best choice.

Hey I LOVE that movie! And I think it’s better than most of the TACK offerings Bollywood has on show.

To quote Nair’s response to people who think her films are a watered-down India catering to the West – ‘it’s because my roots are so strong that I can fly.’

Great list, Floridian. Nishant, Haasil and ‘Albert Pinto ko…’ are excellent choices. Don’t know if you have seen Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!, an extremely funny satire, also by by Saeed Mirza.

Coming to think of it, hindi has seen some great comedies/satires. The best 10 off the top of my head, in roughly chronological order: 1.Chalti ka naam gaadi, 2. Padosan, 3. Chupke Chupke, 4. Golmaal, 5.Baton Baton me, 6. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, 7. Chashme Buddoor, 8. Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!, 9. Andaz apna apna, 10. Jhankaar Beats

I haven’t seen Apharan. Will try check it out.

Teesri Kasam is an amazing movie, the whole heartbreak and music. Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rahman are A+

Floridian,

I really like your list, and have seen all of the movies, you listed. A really good mix.

However, I completely disagree on #. 10. I guess it is a matter of opinion, and it is your list.

Bimal Roy spoke for common man, caste, farmers (Do Bigha Zameen, Sujata) more eloquently than Deepa Mehta will in 7 incarnations. Shodan’s link to Nasserudin Shah’s interview earlier in the thread is very revealing in that respect.

I think Dipanjan listed Khamoshi – a Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bahaduri’s beautiful tale about a deaf and dumb couple.

There is a saying in Hollywood that in European cinema you can have a lingering shot of beautiful cumulus clouds in the sky, well framed etc. In Hollywood, if you have a shot of the sky, the next shot better be of a plane coming out of it, and there better be an explosion in the next shot. This is the Hollywood style of filmmaking where pace, plot and structure are valued over all else. Indian films are a different animal. There are songs so that people can go take a leak or smooke, we have an intermission etc. It’s a different model of filmmaking. When people paid Rs100 for a movie, they wanted an evening of it.

gaunwallah, i echo ur sentiment about the movies that cater to our bhais. People keep forgetting that there’s a reason why Indian muscials have withstood the onslaught of hollywood. There is no other film industry in the world that makes any fucking money outside of hollywood, bollywood and maybe hongkong.

If you watch older Hollywood movies, the acting is very stylized (read stiff, loud, melodramatic) much like our fillums. Their aesthetic has changed (note I did not use evolved), does not mean that ours must too. The pattern for European culture has been that the more sophisticated you are, the more aristocratic etc the less you express yourself and the more you keep things within. That is a mark of class and status. And this has enterred cinema and all else. Performances are raved for being subtle and minimalist which in real life are completely unrealistic, yet poeple have been told over and over again by critics and other opinion shovers, that THIS is reality. But ofcoure there’s the debate on naturalism vs realism in film. Different debate.

Let me give you an example. When people die in the West, you have a funeral party where people are somber and make small chitchat and eat and drink and wear a suit. In South India (T.Nadu for sure), when someone dies, their dead garlanded body is taken on a procession down the streets with a band and people sing and dance and scream and get very “unsophisticated”. Almost like a wedding because it is considered a joyous departure for the dead guy. This difference in culture/sensibility can not and need not be bridged. Another example, if they do allow a very emotional or cathartic moment for the protagonist where they are deeply moved and express it with tears, screaming etc, the visuals are over the top but they mute the sound and have a score. The belief is that the audience will supply that and make the drama more effective. Very few Indian movies do that. When our Hero is angry, he screams and yells and watch it in a movie theater in India and there will be claps and whistles.

Now, for all the atrociousness on Ash’s part in D2, very annoying for someone in Amreeka or even the South Bombay crowd, but for those in small town India and Matunga, Byculla and Bhandup, it is kinda “cool” because they don’t speak like that.

I am not condoning the tripe that comes out of India and all you southie lovers, that talk about how great Tamil or telugu cinema is, puuhleease. They are just as bad. While malayalam movies used to deal with better stories and themes (one must also consider the literacy of mallus), their cinema has such shoddy production values. A sophomore Tisch student could make a better looking film. Malyalam cinema has now taken leaves out of the tamil/telugu/hindi book and make the same mass entertainer movies.

The market is big enough for everyone. Make your D2 and SRK family/romance musicals and make your hinglish “realistic” movies and make ur oscar attempt porn. There is money to be made for everyone and an audience for all.

The board would however do well with a better sense of what movies have a shot in the Oscar run. The type of movies that will do well in Oscar season are so obvious, you can literally see movies get made with that in mind. Pay it Forward and K-Pax anyone. Ox Hoof.

While we can shrug off the craving for an Oscar as being stuck with a colonial mindset, the financial rewards can not be overlooked. Random Venezuelan girl and German aunty have told me how much they loved lagaan. And that was the first Indian movie they saw.

Mani Ratnam’s movies are just ok. He talks constantly about the song plays into the narrative, but they seldom do. There are some motifs that he repeats and that Indian filmmakers repeat.

The playful loving couple – Even Omkara had this where Gun chases Kareena. Trite scene but superbly staged. Long take in slo-mo. Very impressive. Mani Ratnam and numerous others do the guy and girl playful bit over and over again.

The bubbly herione – Mahima in Pardes, Kajol in DDLJ, Lead actress in roja, Ash in Guru. List is endless. This is the only female protagonist we can have.

You want the Hollywood versions of this? Ok,

Hero/Protagonist remains stoic in the face of epic tragedy and then goes to his room and cries quietly. What a man! Even Om Puri does this in East is East. Clive Owen in Children of Men, Any movie written by Akiva Goldsman (Beautiful Mind, Gladiator).

OK running out of time, will try and complete this post later.

I have same problem w/ Vater. People are cutting it a lot of slack because of its fabled lightning rods for fundamentalists. It’s an average film that would’ve died without a whimper had the VHP clowns not intervened. To my gawaar eyes, Bimal Roy’s handling of “issues” seems more honest.

Kush, Floridian, If I may add to your lists. In no particular order and making no claims to their greatness. Just trying to widen the palette.

Kalyug: Shyam BenegalÂ’s ambitious update of Mahabharat. Not perfect, but worth checking out. Chameli Ki Shaadi: Funny and fairly realistic portrait of small town India. Sinhasan (Marathi): Based on two novels by Arun Sadhu. Dr. Jabbar Patel skewers Maharashtra politics. Almost every big-name Marathi star at the time acted in this movie. Pushpak: Silent film. Strangely, DVDs available in Hindi and Tamil. Tinu AnandÂ’s assassin is family favourite. Dir. Singeetam is a really nice guy. Half Ticket: For the sheer lunacy that is was Kishore Kumar.

I have at least 15 more, but must quit now. Enough thread-hoggery from me.