In today’s weekend blog, I am back to Bollywood. As you all are aware that Bollywood makes hundreds of film every year, and most of the films are typical masala films, which are basically fun films where you have to leave your brain behind and go to theatre to watch these films. But sometimes you get to see some films which are really inspirational, although they may not have good commercial success. Given below are the 10 inspiring films made in Bollywood in recent times.
Please note that I have not given them any ranking, and listing is in random order :
1 Dangal– It was produced by Aamir Khan and directed by Nitesh Tiwari. The film is kind of biopic based on the life of a wrestler Mahavir Prasad Phogat, who for family pressure could not continue wrestling. His dream was to win medal for India in international event. As after marriage he did not have son, and had 4 daughters. The film is about how he train his 2 elder daughters to become wrestler, when he belonged to society which never encouraged girls to even study. How he inspires his daughters to become female wrestling champions, and one of the girl went on to win the Gold medal and other girl won silver medal in Commonwealth games of 2010. Even the songs of the film were quite inspiring. Wonderful acting by Aamir Khan as Mahavir Prasad Phogat, and his 2 daughters played by Fatima Sana Sheikh and Sanya Malhotra. Good music by Pritam.
2 3 Idiots– A film directed by Raj Kumar Hirani. The film showed how our education system is working. The film had a message that do not run after success, try to achieve excellence then success will chase you. The story is about 3 friends, 1st one Amir Khan who impersonates some one else for learning engineering, as the person whom he impersonate is filthy rich and just wants degree in his name. 2nd one Sharman Joshi who is from lower middle class, who wants to uplift his family status by securing good grades in exams and in the end getting well paying job, this dream of his puts him under great stress and under fear of under performing. 3rd is R Madhvan, a Muslim student whose father from his birth wanted him to become an engineer, although he has a passion for becoming wild life photographer. The film is about how the 1st one excel by becoming an engineer although he has no degree in his name, 2nd one, how he overcomes his fear with the help of 1st one, and similarly the 3rd one with the help of 1st one develops courage to tell his father that he does not become an engineer and peruse wildlife photography. Wonderful acting by all the three lead characters and ably supported by Boman Irani, as director of the engineering institute.
3 Guru– The film is directed by Mani Ratnam. The film is loosely based on the life and times of industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani, who built the one of the biggest industrial empire in India. The film shows the lead character Gurunath , played by Abhishek Bachchan, in a similar way develops his industrial empire, despite all the court cases, enquiries and medical conditions. Life’s best performance by Abhishek Bachchan and good music by AR Rahman.
4 Lakshya– Directed by Farhan Akhtar. This film is having a background of Kargil war of 1999. The story of the film is about a boy (played by Hrithik Roshan) who is college going but he does not have any ambition in life and does not know what he wants to become in his life. As one of his friends wants to join National Defence Academy, he also joins the same. Before this his girl friend (Priety Zinta) always taunts him about his aimless life. His attitude towards life changes after becoming army officer, and as officer he plays a very vital role in the Kargil war. He again meets his girl friend during the war, as she is covering the war as TV journalist. Hrithik Roshan’s performance in this film can be considered among his best ones.
5 Taare Zameen Par– Produced and Directed by Aamir Khan. The film revolves around a 9 year old boy, whose parents are fed up with him as he is very poor in his studies and does not want to learn any thing new, but otherwise he is very intelligent painter. His father puts him into boarding school, where his art teacher recognises his problem and tells his parents that child is dyslexic. The rest of the story is about how this teacher trains this boy, and who performs much better in the final exams. In the end the boy’s parents thanks the art teacher for turning the boy around. Wonderful performances by Darsheel Safary as dyslexic child and Aamir Khan as his art teacher.
Rest of 5 films I will cover in my next weekend blog.
Awaiting for your feed backs/views/comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
12th June 2020.