India's greatest films in 100 Years - II

18. Garam Hawa (1973, Urdu), directed by MS Sathyu

Cast: Balraj Sahni, Dinanath Zutshi, Geeta Siddharth, Shaukat Kaifi, Farouque Shaikh, Jalal Agha

IPTA stage director MS Sathyu's film debut remains to this day the most insightful depiction of the plight of the north Indian Muslim minority at the time of the Partition exodus across the man-made border.
Set in Agra, the story is about an elderly shoe manufacturer and his family who are faced with a crucial question: should they continue to live in India or migrate to the newly-formed state of Pakistan? The prospects are daunting and there is little hope of a future in a climate of distrust and hate.
Sathyu recreates the Partition-era Muslim milieu of Agra with great care and precision and Balraj Sahni, in his last major role, lights up the screen with his magnetic performance.

19.Ankur (1974)
Language: Hindi
Director: Shyam Benegal
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Anant Nag
Ankur was the debut film for its director as well as actors Shabana Azmi, who won a National Award, and Anant Nag. Ankurgained a measure of notoriety because of a whipping scene and profane language. The story of a love affair between a Dalit woman and the landlord's son, Ankur explores the themes of caste, social and economic boundaries, alcoholism and religion.

20. Deewar (1975)

Language: Hindi
Director: Yash Chopra
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy, Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh
The film that marked the rise of the Angry Young Man, Deewar shattered stereotypes with its dramatis personae – the anti-hero central figure of the brother who becomes a smuggler, his girlfriend who smokes, drinks and gets pregnant, the mother who rejects him for his criminal lifestyle, and the younger brother who becomes a police officer on the trail of his elder sibling.

21.Sholay (1975, Hindi), directed by Ramesh Sippy

Cast: Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Hema Malini, Amjad Khan
A hugely successful adventure flick that drew upon conventions of the Western to deliver a pure Bollywood movie experience that remains unmatched to this day.
There was nothing original in the plot or the narrative style, but for its time, Sholay was a huge step forward for popular Hindi cinema, with its top-of-the-line action sequences, its classy cinematography and a clutch of fine performances.

22. Manthan (1976)

Language: Hindi
Director: Shyam Benegal
Cast: Smita Patil, Girish Karnad, Naseeruddin Shah
Manthan was written by director Shyam Benegal and Amul founder Dr Verghese Kurien. A semi-fictionalized story of the White Revolution that Dr Kurien pioneered, Manthan navigates caste and gender politics to emerge into a brave new world.

23. Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977)
Language: Hindi
Director: Satyajit Ray
Cast: Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Richard Attenborough, Amjad Khan, Shabana Azmi
Set in the period leading upto the Mutiny of 1857, Shatranj Ke Khilari is the story of two devoted chess-players unable to focus on or cope with the clash of cultures and collision of political and social events taking place around them. Satyajit Ray was so impressed by Amitabh Bachchan's baritone that he used him as the film's narrator, unable to find another role for the then-struggling actor.

24. Bhumika (1977)
Language: Hindi
Director: Shyam Benegal
Cast: Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Amol Palekar, Anant Nag, Amrish Puri
Based on the memoris of Marathi actress Hansa Wadkar, Bhumika stars Smita Patil as the actress Usha and follows her journey from free-spirited teen to bitter middle-aged woman. Bhumika won the Filmfare Award for Best Film, and Smita Patil's performance fetched her the National Award.

25. Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)

Language: Hindi
Director: Manmohan Desai
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Parveen Babi, Rishi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Neetu Singh, Pran Preaching religious tolerance, Amar Akbar Anthony is a landmark in mainstream Bollywood – a masala movie with a message. The heartwarming story and memorable characters are matched by Laxmikant-Pyarelal's fun score.

26.Junoon (1978)
Language: Hindi
Director: Shyam Benegal
Cast: Shashi Kapoor, Jennifer Kendal, Shabana Azmi, Nafisa Ali, Naseeruddin Shah, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
It's 1857 and Indian soldiers have mutinied against the British. Escaping a massacre, a British mother and daughter are forced to live in the house of a local feudal chieftain, navigating domestic routine to survive.

27.Gol Maal (1979)
Language: Hindi
Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Cast: Amol Palekar, Utpal Dutt, Bindiya Goswami, Dina Pathak
This much-loved comedy serves up a double helping of Amol Palekar pretending to be two different people, to counter his employer's wholly unreasonable dislike of clean shaven men.

28 Arth (1982)

Language: Hindi
Director: Mahesh Bhatt
Cast: Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Based on Mahesh Bhatt's relationship with actress Parveen Babi, Arth took a long, hard and unforgiving look at an extramarital affair that led to the breakdown of a marriage. Shabana Azmi's performance as the wronged wife won her the National and the FIlmfare awards for Best Actress.

29 Ardh Satya (1983)

Language: Hindi
Director: Govind Nihalani
Cast: Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri, Sadashiv Amrapurkar
This hard-hitting cop film examines many bitter truths surrounding crime and policing, through the story of a Mumbai sub-inspector dealing with his own frailties as well as the injustices around him. Om Puri won the National Award for Best Actor and an award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for his performance as Sub Inspector Anant Velankar.

30 Masoom (1983)
Language: Hindi
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Jugal Hansraj, Urmila Matondkar
Broadly based on Erich Segal's Man, Woman And Child, Masoom is the story of a husband and wife divided by the discovery of an illegitimate son.

31  Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1980, Hindi), directed by Kundan Shah

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Bhakti Barve, Satish Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur

This dark, cocky satire about amoral politicians and avaricious businessmen is the greatest advertisement for FTII that there has ever been.

The film, whipped up by a bunch of institute batch mates, narrates a zany story about two struggling photographers who, while working on an assignment for an editor hunting for sleaze in high places, stumble upon a builder-politician nexus and a high-profile murder that is being sought to be swept under the carpet.

Shady deals, cover-ups and political shenanigans stumble out of the woodwork in this crazy cat-and-mouse game that leaves everybody open to manipulation.

The no-holds-barred climax, which unfolds during the Draupadi disrobing scene in a performance of theMahabharata, is the film's high point, a perfect summation of the spirit that propelled it.

32 Salaam Bombay! (1988)

Language: Hindi
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Shafiq, Hansa, Raghubir Yadav, Nana Patekar, Anita Kanwar
The second Indian film to make it to the Oscars, Salaam Bombay! is a chronicle of the lives of Mumbai's street-urchins. It won the National Award and any number of international awards. Salaam Bombay! was remarkable for its cast of children who were drawn from the streets rather than being junior artistes. Actor Irrfan Khan made his first appearance in the film, although his small role did not survive the edit room.

33 Bandit Queen (1994)

Language: Hindi
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Cast: Seema Biswas, Nirmal Pandey, Manoj Bajpayi, Govind Namdeo
A gritty and hard-hitting biopic of Phoolan Devi, Bandit Queen shocked with it's explicit language and scenes. The film won the National Awards for Best Film and Best Actress.

34 Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)

Language: Hindi
Director: Aditya Chopra
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol
Boy meets girl on trip around Europe, girl's stern father whisks her away to rural Punjab to marry his friend's son, boy follows girl, wins over her family and all ends well as a train chugs out of the station bearing the now united lovers. DDLJ remains the longest-running Indian film, and holds the record for the most number of Filmfare Award wins with 10.

35. Satya (1998)

Language: Hindi
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Cast: Chakravarthy, Manoj Bajpayi, Urmila Matondkar, Saurabh Shukla
The first film in RGV's gangster trilogy, Satya is a realistic portrayal of an man who comes to Mumbai seeking employment and is sucked into the maelstrom of crime and gang wars.

36. Lagaan (2001)
Language: Hindi
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh and ensemble
A group of villagers in colonial India organize themselves into a cricket team, play the British officers in their cantonment and defeat them. Their prize – the cancellation of taxes for the whole province for three years. The movie became the third Indian film to be nominated for an Oscar, and was one of the year's biggest hits.

37. Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

Language: Hindi
Director: Farhan Akhtar
Cast: Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Akshaye Khanna, Dimple Kapadia
This coming-of-age film follows the lives of three friends as they transition from being young and irresponsible to mature adults. It won the National Award for Best Film and a host of popular awards.

38. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is a 2002 Indian drama film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by N. Venkatesan. The film features Aparna Sen's daughter Konkona Sen Sharma as Meenakshi Iyer, a Tamil Iyer Brahmin who is a Hindu. Rahul Bose portrays the character of Raja Chowdhury, a Bengali Muslim wildlife photographer. The story revolves around these two lead characters during a fateful bus journey amidst the carnages of a communal strife in India. Zakir Hussain, an Indian tabla maestro, composed the background score and music for the film; Goutam Ghose, a film director himself, was the cinematographer.

39. Page 3 is a 2005 Indian film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar about the Page 3 Culture and media in the city of Mumbai. It starsKonkona Sen Sharma, Atul Kulkarni, Sandhya Mridul, Tara Sharma, Anju Mahendru, and Boman Irani. The film won three National Film Awards, including the Golden Lotus Award for Best Film. 

40.Taare Zameen Par (2007)

Language: Hindi
Director: Aamir Khan
Cast: Aamir Khan, Darsheel Safary, Tisca Chopra
Aamir's debut as a director took a sensitive look at dyslexia and was noted for the performance of Darsheel Safary as the eight-year-old central character struggling to cope with school and parental pressure.

41.Chak De! India (2007)

Language: Hindi
Director: Shimit Amin
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Sagarika Ghatge, Shilpa Shukla
An underdog film, Chak De! India stars Shah Rukh Khan as a disillusioned and disgraced former hockey player hired to coach a women's hockey team.

42. 3 Idiots (2009)

Language: Hindi
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani
The highest earning Bollywood film is a crowd-pleasing story of three friends and life in engineering college. Many of the inventions shown in the film are real-life ones by a student, a barber and a painter.