Five Offbeat Hindi Film that you #MustWatch

January 12, 2014 18 Comments

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“Cinema is the ultimate pervert art. It doesn't give you what you desire - it tells you how to desire.” 
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Old, new, Global, regional...I love Films. Films complete me...there are times when I cannot express self to me, I watch a film or many films. Good, bad or offbeat...I feel every film should be seen..sometimes some movies needs to be seen by the maker's eyes, his/her vision and that my friend will make all the difference.

I have grown up watching films from different languages, different genres and different part of cities. I knew my masala pot boiler from my artsy reckonings. If i watched the gracious Mani Ratnam rolling a story in is tamil hit "Alay Payuthe", I also enjoyed watching Satyajit Ray's "Gopi Gayan, Baga Bayan". My generation happily gorged on platter full of masala films starring Mithun Chakraborthy, Govinda to masterpieces of parallel cinema like Arth, Saaransh, Mirch Masala, Katha, Mandi and so on. Circa 2000, my list has only increased but suddenly my appetite went down seeing the quality of films that were being churned in name of parallel cinema. It gave some consolation that few makers are trying hard to bring back that glory. What went amiss is originality of the concept well narrated by likes of Roy, Gulzar, Sai Paranjape, Rituporno Ghosh, Shyam Benegal among others. However, still there's hope.

So when Blogadda and Makers of "Miss Lovely" asked to blog about 5 of my most favorite offbeat films, I went in to tizzy...how to chose just 4 in my list of many? Nevertheless, "TOP of Mind Recall" prevailed on me and here's my list of five favorite offbeat films

1) Pushpak [1987]



Pushpak changed the way we watched our films. It was a silent black comedy film written & directed by S Sreenivasa Rao starring Kamal Hassan, Amla, Ramya and Tinu Anand. The story was about an unemployed man who kidnaps a rich guy and instead of asking a ransom, starts living his life using the latter's identity. He does it all to woo a magician's daughter but after seeing the stark reality of life unfold, in front of him, he condemns his act and change his path to set the things straight.

The film was also about mistaken identity and metaphors like the rich hotel owner dying poor and poor beggar dying rich were quite stark and signified the dark truth of life. My most memorable scene from the film was when police men who came to dispose the dead beggar's body, leaves him to rot on road and get busy to amass his huge money left under the rug. Watch this film to see the cinematic marvel of story telling without using a word!
This film taught me how silence speaks many a things when words fail us. 



2) Udaan [2010]

Udaan starring Rajat Barmecha, Ram Kapoor and Ronit Roy is a story of a 17 year old teen Rohan who was thrown off from his boarding school as punishment for watching an adult movie along with his friends. He returns home to an abusive & stern father and a half brother whose existence was not known to him.  

The movie is a real life story [Anurag Kashyap] of his tryst with a stern father, an innocent half brother and supporting uncle who in spite of his best efforts could not bring truce between the former two.The film is all about his flight of dreams and flight of freedom against the tyranny.The film was shot at Jamshedpur, has beautifully captured the city and woven the tale around it in a poignant yet captive way. 

3) Lunch Box [2013]

The film starring the multi-talented Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawajuddin was a delight for the sensible film goers in India. In a simple way, it told the  story of a widower Sajan (Irrfan) who is on verge of retirement and a neglected housewife Nimrat Kaur and their chanced relationships through letters via a mistaken delivery by the famous "Dabbawalas" of Mumbai city. The film very beautifully and in a subtle manner captured the essence of loneliness and lack of companionship via it's simple and people next door characters.



4) Rudaali [1993]
Directed by Kalpana Lajmi, the film created it's own niche with powerful performances by Dimple Kapadia, Rakhi and the likes of Raghuveer Yadav, Sushmita Mukherji and Raj Babbar. It was also the last film of late actor- Amjad Khan. The story involved around a fateful Shanichari [a mourning professional] who was hired to mourn the death of upper class males and her life long misfortunes starting from her birth to death of her husband and her unconditional relationship with local landlord. It essentially essayed the plight of women in society that how relations fails their responsibilities in name of tradition, astrology and face of adversity.
The film' song- Dil Bhoom bhoom kare and Jhooti Mooti Mitwa were chartbusters.


5) Ek Ruka hua Faisla [1986]


A courtroom drama and remake of Golden Bear award winning- 12 Angry men, this 1980s film is a muct watch for all courtroom drama lovers who do not miss their daily dose of "Boston legals". Without giving away the plot, this film was a story of confusion over taking a judgement against a slum dweller bnoy who has killed his father. Will they solve the case or no? Do watch the film to know more. The film starred stalwarts of parallal cinema like Pankaj Kapoor, Annu Kapoor, KK Raina, MK Raina, SM Zaheer among others. The movie was directed by Basu Chatterjee.



Well that was it folks! Let me know your views and comments on the same. Also, do not forget to add your own favorite in the comments below.
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This post is a part of the Miss Lovely Activity in association with BlogAdda.

The autor is half Human, half machine. Go Figure or just revel in what I write

18 comments:

  1. I've read a lot of posts for this contest... and 'Rudali' is indeed a unique choice that you've made. A nicely written post... and i know you worked late in the night to complete it! :)

    All the best!

    Arvind Passey
    www.passey.info

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much :)
      I believe even Pushpak would be unique...

      Delete
  2. A great post Ekta! ...and wonderfully Unique choice!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love pushpak and I love Kamal Hassan
    I never heard of that last movie
    a different list u hva here

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too...I used to like Kamal Hassan a lot those days...but nowadyas I feel he has lost that magical sheen under commercial pressures.

      The last movie is a very old film..Do watch it out if you manage any DVD or so. I am sure you may like it :)

      Delete
  4. Great choice Ekta..Rudaali and Pushpak are really unique . Pushpak is my all time favourite.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mani..Yup they don't make films like Pushpak anymore...it was a class!

      Delete
  5. Indeed an interesting list :)

    Rudali and Ek ruka hua faisla are on top of my list too (though I've made a list :P)

    Pushpak definitely was a nice movie.

    Mirch Masala can also be added to this list.

    I've not seen Udaan and Lunchbox, hope to watch those soon when time permits.

    Good to see people with kind of similar taste in movies on indiblogger:)

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Sneha, thanks so much and welcome to my blog :)

      Yes, I wanted to include MIrch Masala too and many other movies but I was asked to write for only 5 films. May be will write some other time. It was a great movie indeed!
      If u manage time, do watch Udaan for sure..It was a very cool movie.

      Delete
  6. seen only udaan from this list..
    will bookmark to see later

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Cool :) Do watch and let me know if you like or no :)
      I guess they have a legal copy on Youtube as well..not sure though.

      Delete
  7. Pushpak found a place in my chronologically ordered list too, Ekta. :)

    Do have a look - http://stiryoursouls.blogspot.in/2014/01/flipping-through-celluloid-times.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thats cool Poonam...seem that this movie has "stir our souls".
      Yes, I read your post and loved the list. Keep up the good work :)

      Delete
  8. Great selection. What about Maqbool, Ishqyia?

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Yes, they too are indeed beautiful films... I wanted to add them but then was limited with no of films available to write. Besides, I think these movies should be the mainstream cinema and not off beat...they are superb movies.

      Delete
  9. Sounds good. Have seen the first 2.. last 2 I have not heard of. The list could've been made to 10 films..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey Ekta,

    These are very good choice of movies. It is very difficult to come up with a top five selection and feeling justified. Prior to the 90s Indian government used to fund movies. We had some brilliant parallel cinema released during that time.

    Some of my favorite picks would have included movies like Making of Mahatma (Shyam Benegal), Current, Saaransh, Suraj Ka Saarwan Ghoda, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (This was not a hit when it got released only later this picked up)

    If you like Parallel cinema then you would like this site which I believe is an initiative by NFDC http://www.cinemasofindia.com/

    Raja
    http://www.rajareviews.com

    ReplyDelete

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