Bollywood Film Recommendations

[SanFranBear]

I've recently joined an international movie club and its been fab.. this month, to celebrate Diwali, we focused on movies from India and I have fallen in love with Bollywood films.

So far, on recommendations from friends I've watched:

• Sholay - what an absolute belter of a film, the most fun I've had in ages.. so multi-faceted with a beautiful friendship at it's heart! Just wonderful!
• Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge - another really fun movie and I loved the transition from Europe and the UK to the traditions and celebration in India
• Grand Masti - didnt realise this was a sequel and not sure I'll be watching the first one as all a bit dated and misogynistic but there were some really daft bits in it and a couple of banging songs
• Kalki 2898 AD - epic, big screen blockbuster which I got really sucked into and really looking forward to the next installment
• Kuch Kuch Hota Hai - just pressed play on this one.. its got 5 stars on Prime so am hoping it'll be fab although off to a pretty tragic start!

Thanks so much - I'm really looking forward to exploring more. I think some of the above are described as Masala movies (mixture of all genres) but I'd love more recommendations (and where they can be watched if you know).

Naseeb. Absolute classic with Amitabh Bachchan

Are you happy to see any other regional Indian films ?
Malayalam and Tamil films are good.

Kathal - about a well respected married guy in a small village coming out as gay.
Aavesham - gangster who interferes with university students from a different state in Bangalore.

83 is very good about India’s first cricket World Cup win against West Indies in 1983.
think it’s on Prime or Netflix

There also a good one I watched about a female wanting to be a bowler on India cricket team and Abhishek Bachchan as an ex bowler. Can’t remember the name I’ll goggle and edit if I find it. It’s on one of the steamers

ETA movie is called Ghoomer and it’s not on streamers (sorry) I must have seen it on a plane journey.

I am happy to watch any and all, @ProfessorLayton1 ... I'm learning so much and loving every minute of it! Would love some suggestions...

And thank you all for taking time out to add to this thread - I'm certainly not going to be running out any time soon!

Happy to recommend other films, will get back once I have had a little think about it. They are more rooted in culture of the region and have very successful industries. A lot of Hindi films are remake ( often really badly!) of successful regional films.

Happy Holi to those who celebrate!

1. Khal Nayak...its old but has fab songs and dancing, madhuri dixit..??
2. Crew. its a new one with remixes of some older songs...

Ahhhh you have had amazing suggestions. I am a total Amitabh Bachchan nerd and love all his old stuff. In particular I love:

• Muqaddar ka Sikander (never have I ever coveted a doll so much in my life) - banging tunes in this one
• Mard - this is a total pot boiler, never quite sure exactly the time period given the dad dressed as a Gladiator, Lady Helena in Victorian regalia and Ruby in her swanky gold lame off the shoulder dress, but this the film I go to when I am sick and just need some familiarity
• Deewar
• Agneepath
• Don (original and SRK versions)
• Zanjeer, arguably the film that made him

Without Amitabh Bachchan I like

• Dharam Veer (I hold the controversial opinion that this is a superior story of friendship than Sholay and better tunes - with the expception of Haa Jab Tak He Jain in Sholay)
• Bhagavat

I LOVE the Dhoom franchise mad as they are.

Raees was a great film.

It took me a while, @Olika but I finally watched Jab Tak Hai Jaan last night.. felt like something cosy and romantic and it definitely delivered... I can't work out if SRK is handsome or not but he's definitely insanely charming and has such screen presence, I can't help but really enjoy watching him. And he finally kissed his love interest - properly kissed!!

I also caught RRR a week or so ago which I was recommended by a member of my film club - what an epic! I was confused by the 'all animals are CGI' statement at the start - and then I watched it and was like 'aaaaaah - yes, makes sense'.. whilst obviously fictional, it's made me aware of just how little I know or understand about the history of India - and some of this is so recent! So ignorant of me...

I love how much you love Amitabh Bachchan, @LeylaOfCircassia and given it was also recommended by @LardyandMardy and @FondantFancyFan , I've just pressed play on Naseeb - looks like an oldie but very up for it...

To celebrate all things April Fools, my club went for 'Comedy' as their theme for the last couple of weeks so I've watched a few from around the world (most notably Parasite, which was excellent!) but have also caught a couple of Bollywood bad boys!

I watched Murder Mubarak as I love a murder mystery! I found it quite tricky to keep up with, to be honest, but it suddenly clicked and was very enjoyable! I didn't guess Whodunit though - I was close but no cigar!

And then last night, my DS and I watched PK, as recommended by @Mrs86... much more thought-provoking than I expected. It was a really interesting insight into how religion is viewed, not just in India but with mega-preachers and the like all over. DS and I both came away with a 'that was very much more than just a silly alien movie'.. great recommendation!

Ooh.. I almost forgot that I also watched Ludo which had distinct 'Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels' vibes to it. It was very much its own film though and I thoroughly enjoyed it - interesting to see Abishek Bachchan being all dark and brooding! Would definitely recommend...

Caught Maine Pyar Kiya yesterday as a lazy, Sunday cosy watch and it was fab, just what I was after so thanks @Mrs86 and @maybeinanotherlifetime. So many silly bits though, which were unexpected, and the crazy dangerous construction site made me smile. Oh, and the late eighties fashions - my goodness!!

I've seen another film is being released with the same name but seeing as the lead woman has a blood-soaked sword in the first poster, am guessing it's a different film and not a remake 😃

It's been ages since I updated the thread and whilst I haven't watched that many, there's been a few. First off - Taal - which had some amazing dance numbers but I really disliked the stalker-ish nature of the lead man! Poor Mansi said No a million times but he just kept on keeping on - so yeah.. he didn't deserve the girl!

I then thought I'd watch Mard, @LeylaOfCircassia as it was on Prime... but it wasn't the Amitabh Bachchan one, oh no! It was the 1999 version and my goodness, it was bad! I almost switched it off but within minutes, there was the most shocking of fist fights and I kinda wanted to see how bad it could be! And boy, was it bad 🤣 I shall have to watch the proper one at some point!

I did, however, watch a great film tonight - Ittefaq, a 'he said, she said' murder mystery with the beautiful Sidharth Malhotra and I so enjoyed it! No dancing or singing but lots of intrigue and I really recommend it!

Haha... I can't edit my post - again - so just wanted to add that I'd also watched Dil To Pagal Hai which has the most dated of preview pics on Prime. Fluffy and fun with some incredible outfits - very of their time! - and I really enjoyed the dancing.. given they were all supposed to be professional dancers, was to be expected but there really were some fab one! So thank you, @Christmasbear1 - took a while but totally worth it!

Ooo Itefaaq sounds good and any excuse to look at Siddharth!!

Zindagi na milegi dobara
Dil Chahta hai
Yeh jawaani hai dewaani

Its been ages since I posted on here but I've been quietly watching a few movies and still throughly enjoying myself.

The reason for my post today is I'm currently watching Fan, where Shah Ruhk Khan plays both 'himself', hugely successful Bollywood star and an obsessed fan of himself... and it's great! Not far in but it's amazing how some buck teeth genuinely change his face...

Can't wait to see how it progresses - hoping for some unhinged madness 😁

Thought I'd give an update as to what I've watched since my May post as well as what I thought of Fan.. why not, eh?

Firstly - Fan! I really enjoyed it and was really surprised it was considered a flop. I think ole Shah Ruhk Khan gets a bit of a bum rap, in that people think he's not massively talented, just lucky! But I thought he was excellent and genuinely seemed like two different people!

Onto my other films.. watched another SRK as I do really like him: Jab Harry Met Sejal which I thought would be a complete ripoff of When Harry Met Sally (although not sure which came first 😁) but it was definitely different and was enjoyable in its own right.. although the age gap between SRK and 'Sejal' really made me pause..

Then I watched War, mainly because War 2 is about to come out and my movie club wants to do an outing so thought should get up to speed... utterly ridiculous but really fun, in the same way that Kill was, earlier in the year!

I caught Dil Chahta Hai a couple of weeks ago and thought it was rather charming. And I like the main actors although couldn't quite get behind one of them being madly in love with the alcoholic older woman though - that was a bit odd!

Oh, and during June, my movie club 'assignment' was films starting with E (others had different letters), so I popped a couple of Bollywoods on there... Ek Thi Daaya which I didn't enjoy that much really, mainly because the witch thing was rather lame - although did like the twist at the end. And also Eega which I cannot recommend enough.. sounds totally shite but was fabulous (although once again, the plot involved a man basically stalking a woman into submission which is rather ick-inducing!)

Then finally, today I watched Samrat Prithviraj as I love a good Epic and Bollywood do these exceptionally well. This was fab - massive set pieces, beautifully choreographed battles, costumes, a few songs/dances and an almost believable love story! I can't imagine it's how things actually went down as its based on real events, but a great way to kill a couple of hours! Can't say I like Jauhar though - second time I've seen this and both times made me feel really uncomfortable..

I will endeavour to catch some of your recommendations as there's some really great ones on here... would love to chat to anyone who fancies it!

I thought of you last night, @LeylaOfCircassia when I pressed 'Play' on Agneepath last night - obviously the 1990 version (although I have to say, I thought I was older as it just looked a little dated)

The least said about Krishnan and the sister 'disco-dancing', the better I think, but I rather enjoyed it. I do like a revenge movie - and thought young Vijay was an excellent actor! It was a bit insane in places and people seemed to die very easily, apart from Amitabh Bachchan of course 😁, but glad I watched it.

Not sure what's next although my film club is focusing in Pride next month so any suggestions would be most welcome .. I think there have been a few earlier in this thread as well so will have a look back.

Way back when I started this thread, I started a parallel thread in Chat (www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5217756-bollywood-film-recommendations?page=1) and stumbled across it yesterday.

So I went with a choice from the first reply from @LadyCatNap and watched Hero. Seemed older than an 80s film but I actually rather liked it.. definitely something a little Stockholm Syndrome about the whole thing but I really liked the 'Ding Dong' song. I would say Jackie definitely looked much better as a Dacoit 😁

I've really really got into the Epic Genre for Bollywood and watched a Two-Parter last week.. pt1 and pt 2 of Ponniyin Selvan. What absolutely fabulous films.. not loads of dancing, although there was some, but an absolute ton of intrigue and double crossing and ancient lands and incredible battles and beautiful, beautiful costumes (and people)! It was absolutely wonderful - really recommend. And also found the 'first names only' element of the cast and crew really interesting as I had no idea about how a surname can signify class/caste.

I also always have an SRK on my 'Watch List' and this week it was Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.. of course, he got the girl (and I was genuinely rooting for him as it was a little bit of a twist to your standard RomCom) but it was all a little devious and I certainly wouldn't have been as forgiving as Taani.. but hey, I also wouldn't have married a man I didn't know because my Dad asked me to on his deathbed, so I guess we're quite different people 😁

Haven’t read the whole thread but if you haven’t already then please do watch BAHUBALI - it comes in 2 stunning parts. Not to be missed…

I went to see War 2 at the cinema last week... OMG - if its on anywhere near you, you really should go and see it immediately!

Utterly ridiculous, utterly compelling, wonderful film!!