Like the title says, what are some good Bollywood films you’ve seen and recommend. I haven’t seen any, and I’m curious. Are there any that have good character development, interesting dialogue, and/or not-so-cliche plots or am I looking in the wrong genre for that?
Well, you’re probably out of luck on the cliche thing. But you have GOT to see Lagaan. Yes, it’s a four hour Indian movie about cricket. It’s awesome, and hilarious, and sweet, and totally engaging. It barely feels like two hours, let alone four.
Monsoon Wedding, FTW.
Here’s a thread from not too far back.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=474777&highlight=Bollywood
“Taare Zameen Par” aka “Every Child is Special” is a fantastic movie about an autistic child’s struggles through the Indian school system. It is totally relatable to non-Indian audiences and can compete with the best of American and European films.
The movie was made in 2007 and I saw it on an overseas flight earlier this year. Unfortunately, the U.S. DVD is still in production and will come out “soon” last I checked (anyone have any updates?)
Great movie, but not really Bollywood.
Neither of these is a Bollywood film per se though they do feature Bollywood stars and are set in India.
Water is a film by Deepa Mehta about a child-widow who is forced to give up worldly life and join a home for other widows after her old husband dies. There is a romance in there which doesn’t really work but most of the film is excellent: harrowing but in the end almost uplifting.
Being Cyrus is black comedy set in the Parsi (Zorastrian) community. The comedy is quite broad but good fun and like a Coen film the movie turns very dark in the middle.
Monsoon Wedding is another not-really Bollywood film and though I think it’s a bit over-rated it’s also quite fun.