Indian Cinema that changed my life
Indian films are unfortunately known for song and dance, flashy glitz and extremely commercial love stories. But beneath the surface, there are gems of films that have explored form with content in truly original ways. Some of these films changed my life.
This list is more about unsurfaced films and does not include the more well known films from india like those by Ray and Ghatak.
This list is more about unsurfaced films and does not include the more well known films from india like those by Ray and Ghatak.
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- DirectorKamal HaasanStarsKamal HaasanShah Rukh KhanRani MukerjiSaketh Ram's wife is raped and killed during direct action day riots in Calcutta. He is convinced that Mahatma Gandhi is responsible for all the problems happening in the country and sets out to kill him.Saketh Ram, an innocent man gets dragged into the conspiracy to assassinate Mahathma Gandhi after he loses his young wife in the partition of India. The film explores the seed of communalism and wrong influence when one is vulnerable in the thirst for vengeance.
- DirectorSudhir MishraStarsKay Kay MenonShiney AhujaChitrangda SinghSet in the backdrop of Indian Emergency 1975, the story revolves around 3 friends whose lives changes drastically after the turn of events.The politically charged story follows three people from their college days into their young adulthood as one becomes a revolutionary, one a capitalist and the other stuck in between. Set during the Emergency of India (1975-77) the film explores life in post independent India through a love triangle.
- DirectorMani RatnamStarsMohanlalAishwarya Rai BachchanPrakash RajA struggling actor and a writer-politician become friends as young men and rise to great heights in cinema and politics respectively. But when both become contenders for the top political post in the state, a rift develops between them.Iruvar or The Duo is the true story of the rise of cinema and dravidian politics in a newly independent India. It follows two friends as they enter the film industry to cement their political power and influence but later their friendship wanes as the power rises.
- DirectorGovind NihalaniStarsOm PuriSmita PatilAmrish PuriA newly appointed police rookie deals with corruption, romance, and brutality.Govind Nihalani's gritty crime noir explores the life of a small time idealistic police officer as he tries to fight the local mafia outside and the oppressive corrupt bureaucracy inside the station. The film's violent and realistic portrayal of crime was both shocking and path breaking for its time.
- DirectorGovind NihalaniStarsJaya BachchanAnupam KherSeema BiswasDibyanath Chatterji, his bank-employed wife, Sujata, and only child, a son, Brati, live a middle-class existence in Calcutta, West Bengal, India, circa early 1970s. Sujata is a quiet, devout Hindu, religious, and compassionate woman, and Brati has finished his school and is now attending college. His parents are proud of him, and keep track of his progress. Then their world is shattered during the early hours, when they are informed by the police that Brati has been killed. Dibyanath and Sujata go to identify Brati's body, mourn, lament inconsolably. They know now that their lives will never be the same again - for by the police they will be called the mother and father corpse No. 1084. Sujata struggles to understand Brati's passing, meets his friends one by one, comes to know that Brati had a girlfriend, Nandini Mitra, and that's when she finds out that Brati was part of a rebel group often referred to as "Naxalbari", a militant leftist group. As she delves deeper and deeper into Brati's former life, she begins to understand her son's struggle, and decides to continue to further this. What Sujata does not know is her and Dibyanath's lives are in danger, and they well turn up dead and end up as numbered corpses in a police morgue.Govind Nihalani's excellent adaptation of Mahasweta Devi's novel of the same name is the story of the mother of a naxalite as she sets about to find out who her son really was and what happened to him after his brutal murder. Its a story of how she finds the strength to fight her own demons inspired by her son's fight against oppression.
- DirectorP.C. SreeramStarsKamal HaasanArjun SarjaNassarSuave and scintillating, this fast-paced action thriller follows the adventures and investigations of a group of honest police officers, who go undercover to bring down a terror network.The story of an intelligence officer as he guides a high profile undercover operation to infiltrate a dangerous and violent terrorist group who have plans of their own to infiltrate his home. Its dark and violent style is as realistic as it gets.
- DirectorAnurag KashyapStarsKay Kay MenonPawan MalhotraAditya SrivastavA film about the investigations following the 1993 serial Bombay bomb blasts, told through the different stories of the people involved --police, conspirators, victims, middlemen.Anuragh Kashyap's documentary style film exploring the Mumbai Blasts of 1993 marked a new phase in indian cinema. The film explores the case from all angles from the anguished police officer investigating the crimes to one of the estranged conspirators and his life on the run. The film is detailed and the non linear narrative makes it a film that inspires obsession.
- DirectorAnurag KashyapStarsAbhay DeolMahie GillKalki KoechlinAfter breaking up with his childhood sweetheart, a young man finds solace in drugs. Meanwhile, a teenage girl is caught in the world of prostitution. Will they be destroyed, or will they find redemption?A self conscious bollywood film that is a modern retelling of "Devdas" by Sharath Chandra Chattopadyay. An eternal story of love lost and found, the film follows Dev as he descends into a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol in present day Delhi after his breakup with a childhood sweetheart. His life changes as he falls in love with Chanda, a prostitute with a past of her own. The film with its brillaint visual style and postmodern outlook and music is a brilliant break in contemporary bollywood.
- DirectorAnurag KashyapStarsKay Kay MenonRaj Singh ChaudharyRaja ChaudharyA law student witnesses deception, homicide, and crime after being elected as General Secretary of his college.Anuragh Kashyap's politically charged film explores the theme of seperatism politics and its influence in university student groups in a fictional rajasthani town. A Revolutionary leader who commands the town, an innocent college student and his outspoken and rebellious friend, a seedy conspirator and a myriad of other characters make this is layered and complex film
- DirectorJohn AbrahamStarsKunhulakshmi AmmaNilambur BalanHarinarayanThe story revolves around the incidents following the death of a young Naxalite, upon whose death his friends travel to the village where his mother lives to inform her of the death of her only son.Amma Ariyan, Malayalam
John Abraham's brilliant, politically charged neo realist film explores a man's journey to find the mother of a murdered revolutionary to convey the news. A student of Ritwik Ghatak known for his nomadic lifestyle, Abraham's film is low budget and raw in its style but deep and absolutely complex in content and narrative. - DirectorVishal BhardwajStarsIrrfan KhanTabuPankaj KapurThe intrigue of the Shakespearean tragedy 'Macbeth' is transposed to the Mumbai underworld.Vishal Bharadwaj's poetic film explores adultery, betrayal, honour and power within a mafia unit in Mumbai. A modern retelling of shakespear's Macbeth that's contextualized to India, the film is known for its lush dialogues and dark and gritty cinematic style.
- DirectorVidhu Vinod ChopraStarsJackie ShroffAnil KapoorNana PatekarA man's friend, a police officer, is assassinated by gangsters in broad daylight. He discovers that his elder brother works in the same gang and decides to avenge his friend's death by infiltrating the gang.A film that explores the relationship of two brothers, one who is an idealist educated well and the other a hitman for a powerful evil don. The film was pathbreaking for its mainstream style but content and narrative that were realistic and dark. Nana Patekar's unforgettable performance as the antagonist earned him a national award and super star status.
- DirectorRam Gopal VarmaStarsJ.D. ChakravarthiManoj BajpayeeUrmila MatondkarAn innocent man is embroiled in underworld after being falsely charged and sets out to punish the perpetrators who subjected his life to misery.Ram Gopal Varma's groundbreaking film ushered in a new sub genre called "Mumbai Noir". The story follows a man as he gets dragged into the mumbai underworld in the midst of a gang war between two influential units. The story is based on many true stories and gangsters living and dead to form a layered and complex film.
- DirectorDibakar BanerjeeStarsNushrratt BharucchaAnshuman JhaNeha ChauhanA video camcorder, a store security camera, and concealed cameras candidly expose lives in three loosely-linked tales.A film with three stories that are intervowen, the film explores love, sex and dhoka (betrayal). Shot entirely with security cameras and hand held footage, the film is a voyeuristic view of the characters doomed lives.
- DirectorKamal HaasanStarsKamal HaasanAbhiramiPasupathyA temperamental farmer gets embroiled in a bloody clan feud in a southern Tamil Nadu village.Kamal hasan's controversial film is about a journalist as she interviews the two accused in a massacre. The crime is explored from both angles as old rivalries, politics, betrayals and conspiracies are brought out and the line between fact and fiction is blurred.
- DirectorRam Gopal VarmaStarsNagarjuna AkkineniAmala AkkineniRaghuvaranShiva is disgusted by the corruption in and around his new college, and along with his friends, he decides to take a stand against the status quo.Ram Gopal Varma's debut film explores student politics and violence and is based on real life incidents inside the infamous Usmania University in Andhra Pradesh. A pathbreaking film in the Telugu industry, it was highly influential and often referenced.
- DirectorBharathirajaStarsKamal HaasanSrideviBhagyarajKamal Haasan, the central character, is a man terribly soured by his unvaryingly devastating encounters with the opposite sex. He develops a pathological hatred for women and uses his charm to seduce young women and kill them immediately after having sex with each. These proceedings are recorded watched repeatedly by his adoptive father and mentor, another crazed woman-hater with a similarly disillusioning experience with the female sex, who vicariously enjoys his protege's exploits. The old man stays holed up in a far corner of the house watching his son carry out what he is too infirm to do.Barathi Raja's controversial Tamil film stars Kamal Hasan as a misogynistic serial killer. One of the few films of the era to break the conventional mode of film making, the film is experimental in every sense, from the story to the visual style. It caused controversy for its portrayal of dark and disturbing subjects and influenced many future directors.
- DirectorAnurag KashyapStarsManoj BajpayeeNawazuddin SiddiquiTigmanshu DhuliaA clash between Sultan and Shahid Khan leads to the expulsion of Khan from Wasseypur, and ignites a deadly blood feud spanning three generations.Anuragh Kashyap's epic history of violence in small town India is another landmark example of pure Indian film making. It chronicles the life of the Khan family for three generations and their rise to power and feud with the powerful coal mafia don Ramadhir Singh. The film starkly portrays the change in times and culture in the passing generations and its influence on violence and street life.
The film is in two parts, released a month apart. - DirectorMysskinStarsCheranAnanyaa ShahY.G. MahendranA common man's ability to defeat the devil. A cop identifies the mystery and solves the problem.Mysskin's dark and atmospheric film echoes Barathiraja from his peak. The film explores the hunt for a menacing serial killer who seems to leave deliberate clues for the police. JK, an anguished but brilliant police officer who is in the process of fighting his own personal demons leads the case. But the investigation opens up a much bigger conspiracy and involves the re opening of many seemingly solved cases of disappearance and suicide.
- DirectorM. SasikumarStarsJaiM. SasikumarSwathi ReddyAzhagar and his friend Paraman kill the person who humiliated Kanugu's brother and surrenders themselves to the police. However, they soon learn that Kanugu has betrayed them.The story of three unemployed youths in small town Tamil Nadu who are unknowingly dragged into a life of political violence and crime. Set in the 80s, the film has a unique nostalgic visual feel and was pathbreaking for its realism and tone.
- DirectorAnand PatwardhanPrime Minister Indira Gandhi enacts a state of emergency under which dissenters are detained and tortured. Some still remain in prison even after her assassination.Anand Patwardhan's brilliant journalistic film about the dark years that marked the Indian Emergency.
- DirectorAnand PatwardhanSince gaining independence in 1947, India has been a secular state. But now, as religious fundamentalism grips much of India's population, the greatest danger to the nation's extremely strained social fabric may come not from Sikh or Muslim separatists, but from Hindu fundamentalists who are appealing to the 83% Hindu majority to redefine India as a Hindu nation.Anand Patwardhan's film documenting the savage Babri Masjid demolition. The film explores the seeds of communalism and its influence on political power.
- DirectorAnand PatwardhanA documentary in two parts: the first (Trial by Fire) examines the link between the violence of the Hindu nationalist movement and sexual violence against women. The second (Hero Pharmacy) looks at masculinity in urban India.