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ViN’s Top Ten Bollywood Movies Countdown

My all time bollywood choicest flicks.


Number # 10


This hilarious movie is unique in the sense one can’t have enough of the phattas and every-time one watches it again, the jokes make you laugh again. Superb acting by the lead as well as character acters..like Paresh Rawal, Shakti Kapoor..Ajit look-a-like. All in all a wholesome package.



Number # 9


This little known movie coincided with the beginning of my love-story with cricket. Aamir was delivering knock-out punches since he had made his debut in QSQT. This movie and Tum Mere Ho fell rather flat on the box office. But this one left an impression with its music, on-field climax, Dev Sa’ab’s swagger and Aamir’s cricket triumph well before Lagaan.




Number # 8



This flick from the parallel cinema with a military background left a denting impression on me when I saw it first as an 11 year old along with our entire school in a special show. It introduced me to the power-house named Nana Patekar and made me his fan instantly. Madhuri Dixit was made to work without a single tinge of make-up and she herself counts it as her most powerful performance till date.




Number # 7



Well, what uncomplicated style of film-making by Raju Hirani. That is a rare talent. And to dish it out third time in a row needs a genius. Who will not see this movie and allude it to his own college days? So did I. Boman Irani again in a lovable negative role and the trio just takes your breath away. Kareena also fits nicely in the scheme. And so does Chatur Ramalingam..




Number # 6




The genius of the Great Raj which revels automatically amidst emotional settings, makes this movie an unforgettable one. Then, you put among the audience an emotional fool like me, and the recipe is perfect. Who in his life has not had a crush on his teacher? I mean, one can relate the relationships it depicted and therefore the ‘Joker’ in everyone comes to the fore.




Number # 5




I don’t need to emphasise here. “Kitne Aadmi the” to “Tumhara naam kya hai Basanti” to “ Yeh haanth hame de do Thakur”..the folk-lore carries on. To suffice this up, Raju Srivastava and likes still make their daily bread with spoofs on this one. This timeless classic has weathered the test of times and lives on and the Amitabh’s win-win coin scenario continues for this movie.




Number # 4



This movie brought with itself a whiff of fresh air. Farhan, in his directorial debut, conjures up the image of neo-males of metro-sexual kind and their love-stories fabulously. Saif is re-incarnated, Akshay Khanna is finally cast in a role which befits him completely and Aamir continues to be Aamir. My infatuation to the movie can also be attributed to the fact that I was surfing the tides of my own college experiences.




Number # 3





What a masterpiece by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. The film had a couple of issues to address. Firstly, it could have turned a bit overboard on “preachiness” and secondly the plot that beer drinking modern day youth turning into national heroes overnight, could have been too poetic and hypothetical. Mehra proved to be a smooth operator on both these counts and spun the tale brilliantly. I particularly liked the amalgam of the youths with freedom fighters in black and white and again, the transition was smooth and easy. Liked Siddharth’s cameo the best of them all.




Number # 2






I am of the kinds who tend to flow with the tide in a movie. The poignant scenes tend to moisten the eye-lids once in a while. But due to some strange reason, after I saw this movie I remember crying profusely and for considerable lengths. Kamal Hasan is arguably the best actor when it comes to expressing sobriety and grief and the climax of this movie is etched in my memory. The music genius of Illayaraaja comes to the fore with timeless classics like “Surmayee ankhiyon mein” and “Aye Zindagi gale laga le”.




Number # 1




Babu Moshai..here comes the numero uno. Anand with maestro like Hrishikesh Mukherjee as director, Gulzar as dialogue writer, Rajesh Khanna as the top most actor of that time, Amitabh as the new wizard on the scene and Salil Chowdhary as the music director, completes a perfect mix. When Bhasker says on the tape recorder, “ Babu Moshai..yeh duniya to ek ranmanch..”, I missed a beat. The ‘lymphosarcoma of the intestine’ weaves a brilliant narration and sometime it feels if one had to die, one should bow out like Bhasker did; on a high.

With that ends the ViN’s Top Ten Bollywood Movies Countdown. However there were a few movies which, though, were as good, lost out by the skin of the teeth. So here is a list of few movies which make ViN’s Hall of Fame.


A. Satya


Ramu’s claim to fame. Strong performance from Manoj Bachpai and an obscure J D Chakravarthy in India’s perhaps first mafia movie.



B. Rock on



Farhan’s avtar as a director, actor and a singer. My favourite also because here was a movie with music as the base for spinning the yarn.



C. Zinda



I like both Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham, just for the heck of it. This movie had best of both and strong and murky cinematography by Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay Dutt plays a natural as an illegal prisoner.



D. Khamoshi-The Musical





People said Nana could be one dimensional with his strong dialogue delivary. This flick presents Nana as a deaf and dumb character and he carried it with true élan. The genius of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and plenty of touchy scenes makes this as one of my all time favourites.



E. JJWS





How can someone of my generation miss this one out? A little bit of school enmity, adolescent love, sibling rivalry and brilliant music. “Pehla nasha” is my bestest romantic song yet.