Favourite Indian Films
List activity
954 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
42 titles
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsKanu BannerjeeKaruna BannerjeeSubir BanerjeeImpoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.
- DirectorKamal AmrohiStarsAshok KumarMeena KumariRaaj KumarIn Lucknow at the turn of the century, a dancer and courtesan believes that her pure soul and body will enable her to find true love and honor.
- DirectorRitwik GhatakStarsSupriya ChoudhuryAnil ChatterjeeGyanesh MukherjeeA selfless young woman (Supriya Choudhury) sacrifices her own happiness for her unappreciative family.
- DirectorAnup SinghStarsShiboprosad MukherjeeShami KaiserSupriya ChoudhuryA man and a woman crossing the India-Bangladesh border reflect on their love and on the events leading to the 1947 Partition of Bengal.
- DirectorRitwik GhatakStarsMadhavi MukherjeeBijon BhattacharyaAbhi BhattacharyaA man (Abhi Bhattacharya) opposes the love between his sister and the orphan (Satindra Bhattacharya) they adopted years earlier.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSoumitra ChatterjeeSharmila TagoreAlok ChakravartyThis final installment in Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy follows Apu's life as an orphaned adult aspiring to be a writer.
- DirectorTapan SinhaStarsAnil ChatterjeeSharmila TagoreChhayadeviOn his way to Puri by train, a writer gets acquainted with a group of four Bengali widows accompanied by their niece.
- DirectorGovindan AravindanStarsBharat GopyJalajaV.K. SriramanBesides a long glittering river, some men raise a pole. A tent balloons up. Where there was wide sand and the sound of water lapping, there is now a truck, chairs, hoops, stools, ropes, goats, a lioness, a pair of fat girls, some bicycles, and an old man with a philosopher's dignity, putting on white paste. Across a dirt road, the circus truck comes to a village. The tent goes up. Schoolboys run to the tent. Village women come and watch an acrobat roll a hoop across a tightrope. A lion leaps from the edge of one stool - across darkness - onto another stool. A gap-toothed old woman gazes at a goat on a tight rope; her eyes are wide with curiosity. For three days the circus makes small ripples in the life of this village. Municipal permits are required. At a toddy shop, a soldier befriends the circus strongman; a pump attendant sits on a rock each day watching a village girl bathe and dry her hair. The dwarf brings back to the circus a watermelon larger than his head.
- DirectorJohn AbrahamStarsS. GopalKrishnarajSri LalithaA donkey strays into a village dominated by the upper caste Brahmins.
- DirectorGuru DuttStarsWaheeda RehmanGuru DuttKumari NaazSuresh Sinha, a famous director, discovers star potential in Shanti, a woman he stumbled into one rainy evening, and casts her as the lead in a film. In a twist of fate, Shanti becomes a superstar and Suresh faces a decline in his career.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSoumitra ChatterjeeMadhavi MukherjeeShailen MukherjeeThe lonely wife of a newspaper editor falls in love with her visiting cousin-in-law, who shares her love for literature.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsPatricia WaltersNora SwinburneEsmond KnightThe growing pains of three young women contrast with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSharmila TagoreKaberi BoseSimi GarewalA group of Calcutta city slickers, including the well-off Asim (Soumitra Chatterjee), the meek Sanjoy (Subhendu Chatterjee) and the brutish Hari (Samit Bhanja), head out for a weekend in the wilderness.
- DirectorMani KaulStarsMita VashishtMuhar BiswasRanjana SrivastavaAn impressionistic biographical look at Siddheshwari Devi (19081977), the classical Indian singer whose voice was appreciated by the maharajas and public alike. She was from Varanasi, India, known as Maa (mother). Born in 1907, she lost her parents early and was brought up by her aunt, the noted singer Rajeshwari Devi. She won many accolades during her career, including "Padma Shri" by the Government of India (1966). Despite living in a musical household, Siddheswari came to music by accident. Rajeshwari had arranged musical training for her own daughter, Kamleshwari, while Siddheswari would do small chores around the house. Once, while the noted sarangi player Siyaji Mishra, was teaching Kamleshwari, she was unable to repeat the tappa that she was being taught. Rajeshwari ran out of patience, and started to cane Kamleshwari, who cried out for help. The only person to help her was her close friend Siddheswari, who ran from the kitchen to hug her cousin, and took the thrashing on her own body. At this point, Siddheswari told her weeping cousin, "It's not so difficult to sing what Siyaji Maharaj was telling you." Siddheswari then showed her how to sing it, performing the whole tune perfectly, much to the amazement of everyone. The next day, Siyaji Maharaj came to Rajeshwari, and asked to adopt Siddheswari into his own family (they were childless). So Siddheswari moved in with the couple, eventually becoming a great friend and support for them. This moving incident was very vivid in Siddheswari's mind, and is detailed in the biography Maa, co-authored by her daughter Savita Devi.
- DirectorVijay BhattStarsMeena KumariBharat BhushanSurendraIn Mughal Emperor Akbar's court, young musician Baiju challenges maestro Tansen to a musical duel in order to avenge the death of his father, which he holds Tansen responsible for.
- DirectorMrinal SenStarsShabana AzmiAnnu KapoorPankaj KapurSubhash is a photographer from the city, who has come to take pictures of some old temples and ruins in a village. Ruins fascinate him. While in the village, he gets acquainted with a young woman, Jamini, who has had her heart broken in the past, by another visitor from the big city. Will history repeat itself, or will she find a way out of the ruins at last?
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsPinaki SenguptaSmaran GhosalKamala AdhikariFollowing his father's death, a boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsChhabi BiswasGangapada BasuPadmadeviDepicts the end days of a decadent zamindar (landlord) in Bengal, and his efforts to uphold his family prestige even when faced with economic adversity.
- DirectorShyam BenegalStarsShabana AzmiSadhu MeherAnant NagBelonging to a lower caste, Lakshmi and her deaf-mute husband Kishtayya serve the landlord's son, Surya. When Surya's young wife finds out about his affair with Lakshmi, they all find themselves at crossroads.
- DirectorAdoor GopalakrishnanStarsJalajaKaramana Janardanan NairRajam K. NairThe protagonist is trapped within himself and is unable to comprehend the changes taking place around him.
- DirectorKumar ShahaniStarsAditiIqbalnath KaulAnil PandyaTaran, the daughter of a wealthy landlord, finds herself on the horns of a dilemma when she has to choose between being with her lover and protecting her father's public image.
- DirectorGoutam GhoseStarsRaisul Islam AsadChampaRoopa GangulyHossain, a Bengali Muslim wants to establish a little Utopia on an island in the Padma delta. He doesn't care if the people who populate it are Hindu or Muslim.
- DirectorShyam BenegalStarsSmita PatilAnant NagNaseeruddin ShahA girl learns music from her courtesan grandmother and breaks into the burgeoning show business industry of 1930s Bombay, which eventually leads to decades of superstardom as well as romantic entanglements.
- DirectorGirish KasaravalliStarsNarayan BhattRamaswamy IyengarJanganathA young Brahmin Vedic school student, who is from an aristocratic family, befriends his school master's daughter who is a pregnant widow. The boy tries but fails in concealing his friend's pregnancy. The widow has an abortion forced on her, has the eponymous ritual performed on her and is excommunicated. The student returns home as his school shuts down.
- DirectorBimal RoyStarsAshok KumarNutanDharmendraDuring the British Raj of the 1930s, a prison-doctor falls in love with a convict who eventually reveals the story of her past and her connection to a freedom fighter.
- DirectorVijay AnandStarsDev AnandWaheeda RehmanLeela ChitnisWhen mistaken to be a sage by some villagers, an ex-tour guide reflects on his past and lost love to search for spiritual wisdom to guide the villagers.
- DirectorGovindan AravindanStarsMaster AshokanSivasankaran DivakaranKothara GopalkrishnanKummatty, a magician, appears and transforms village children into animals. A boy turned into a dog misses reversal. He awaits Kummatty's return for a year to regain human form. Kummatty eventually undoes the spell and departs into nature.
- DirectorK. AsifStarsPrithviraj KapoorMadhubalaDilip KumarA 16th century prince falls in love with a court dancer and battles with his emperor father.
- DirectorMani KaulStarsKana RamRaisa PadamseeHardanFilm is Based on Duvidha by Vijayadan Detha, it's about merchant's son, whose relationship with his young bride, Lachhi is thwarted by his work and a ghost who falls in love with her, resulting in the ghost soon impersonating the husband.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsChhabi BiswasKaruna BannerjeePahadi SanyalAn upper-class Bengali family is on vacation in Darjeeling, a popular hill station and resort near Kanchenjungha.
- DirectorShyam BenegalStarsRajit KapoorRaghubir YadavSiraj AhmedOn a lazy afternoon, a man shares his memories of a storyteller friend who once narrated a convoluted love story with intertwined plots. As these plots unravel, reality mixes with fiction.
- DirectorAnand PatwardhanSince gaining independence in 1947, India has been a secular state. But now, as religious fundamentalism grips much of India's population, the greatest danger to the nation's extremely strained social fabric may come not from Sikh or Muslim separatists, but from Hindu fundamentalists who are appealing to the 83% Hindu majority to redefine India as a Hindu nation.
- DirectorAnand PatwardhanStarsDeepa AroraRita BhatiaSupriya PathakThe film story based on daily battle for survival of the 4 million slum dwellers of Bombay who make up half the city's population
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsAnil ChatterjeeChandana BanerjeeAparna SenBased on popular Indian stories of the great writer Rabindranath Tagore, these short films reveal definitive moments in the lives of three young girls.
- DirectorMuzaffar AliStarsRekhaFarooq ShaikhNaseeruddin ShahIn Faizabad, British India, Dilawar is sentenced to several years in prison after Amiran's Daroga dad testifies against him. After his discharge around 1840, he extracts his vengeance by abducting Amiran and selling to a brothel madam. It is here Amiran will be re-named Umrao Jaan. Years later, Umrao has grown up and is an accomplished poetess as well as dancer extraordinary. She has many patrons, chief amongst them are Nawab Sultan and his father. The young Nawab is smitten by Umrao's beauty and her poems, but is finally forced to marry a girl of his mother's choice, leaving behind a heart-broken and devastated Umrao, who seeks solace in the arms of Faiz Ali and finally elopes with him, only to find out that he is a wanted bandit, and is shot down and killed by guards. Umrao re-locates to Kanpur where she establishes herself as a Poet and dancer, but is hunted down by brothel-keepers, Gohar Mirza and Husseini and brought back, where she is told that she must marry Gohar. Watch what Umrao does to escape from being married against her will, and her attempts to try and find her way back to her parents.
- DirectorMira NairStarsShafiq SyedAnjaanAmrit PatelYoung Krishna struggles to survive among the drug dealers, pimps, and prostitutes in the back alleys and gutters of India.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsUttam KumarSharmila TagoreBireswar SenEn route to Delhi to receive an award, a Bengali film star reevaluates his success through his fellow passengers, dreams, and past experiences.
- DirectorGuru DuttStarsGuru DuttWaheeda RehmanMala SinhaVijay, a talented but indigent poet, struggles for love and recognition in this selfish world.
- DirectorMrinal SenStarsSatya BanerjeeRadhamohan BhattacharyaDhritiman ChatterjeeA film crew comes to a village to make a film about a famine, which killed five million Bengalees in 1943.
- DirectorMani KaulStarsGurdeep SinghGarimaSavita BajajA woman waits for her truck driver husband, everyday, with his daily bread. Her concern for their dying relationship and her sister grows fast as she starts to doubt his loyalty.
- DirectorJabbar PatelStarsMammoottySonali KulkarniMohan GokhaleBiopic of B. R. Ambedkar, known mainly for his contributions in the emancipation of the downtrodden and oppressed classes in India and shaping the Constitution of India.
- DirectorVipin VijayA complex video journey on a motorcar, that incorporates mythic themes of searching, the need for being, for love, for a home and for a promise of a different future.