40 Bollywood Classics You May Have Missed

In which movie was Nana Patekar playing a character called  “Neelkanth Padmnabh Prajapati Dhoomketu Barishkar”?Hint: The movie was adapted from the English play The Rainmaker.Answer: Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jayen Why should you see this movie? That is because the film redefines the idea of a musical in Hindi films. Not because it has twelve songs but because much of the dialogue is actually in verse. Lyricist and dialogue writer Kamlesh Pandey used the nautanki form of theatre where the dialogue blends into songs. When he felt that the situation demanded a song, he would write one before moving forward. Since the movie was produced by Doordarshan, they had no box office compulsions. Maybe that is why they could experiment with all these ideas.Can you think of any other Hindi film where the dialogue is entirely in verse? I can think of only one example - Heer Raanjha (1970) where the entire film is in verse written by Kaifi Azmi .Anyway, back to Thoda Sa … the film was directed by Amol Palekar who had pre-recorded the beats for the actors. This movie had music by Bhaskar Chandavarkar. Bhaskar was sitar player, academic and film and theatre composer who worked with well-known directors of Indian cinema like Mrinal Sen, Girish Karnad, Aparna Sen and Amol Palekar in various languages including Marathi, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Oriya.Interestingly the film is presented from the point of view of Anita Kanwar who plays the female protagonist and not the rainmaker’s character played by Nana Patekar. Get hold of this film and watch it. It is a film I have watched and think it escaped the notice of the box office but is still a compelling watch.Thoda Sa… isone of the forty movies that journalist Avijit Ghosh recommends in this book called 40 Retakes that he lists as his choice of movies you must revisit if you have missed them. The oldest film recommended in the book is Mr Sampat (1952) and Antardwand (2010) is the most recent film that makes the list of 40 films.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LytifZOOENwFor each film the author starts by listing the reason why it makes the cut. For instance the reason for recommending Antardwand is “because it is a searing examination of patriarchy. Because it is a rare authentic document on rural Bihar.” The film explores the notion of pakadua biyaah (kidnap wedding) in Bihar. Eligible bachelors are abducted and forced at gun point to marry young girls. The story is inspired by the real life story of the director Sushil Rajpal’s friend. The dancing girl who does the mujra is is an actual baiji who did for the camera what she did for a living. The author says that even he had drawn up a list of twenty films, Antardwand would make the cut. And you know what, it is a film I have missed and now I am going to watch it for sure.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcInXr54zOwThe author started off with a list of a hundred films that he recommends you should not miss. Then trimmed the list down to fifty and finally dropped another ten films from that list to produce this compilation.Imagine a friend who is a movie buff, trying to convince you to go and see the movie he has just seen. He briefly tells you the story, tells you some trivia about the film, gives you a bit of behind-the-scenes gossip and tells you why you should see the film. You want to tell your friend that you already have seen the film. But his narration is so compelling that you feel compelled to go to see the movie again - this time with your friend. This book reads like that. Sometimes the reason for recommending the film is more compelling than the film itself. But then that is where this book is a recommended read for all film buffs.-------------------Join me on Twitter @AbhijitBhaduriWatch Khamosh one of the recommended films <click here>