Top 5 Bollywood Movies | Movie Talk

 Hello, everyone! I'm really sorry to make a post just now. I've been swamped with work since November so I had no time to even plan to make a post. But I came up with this post because I had a hyperfixation with Bollywood movies this year and I watched a lot of them in a short amount of time. I planned to put all of them in my annual movie and tv series review post but I gave up and will mention my top 5 so far instead. So without further ado, let's start with number honorable mention:

Honorable Mention : Chori Chori

This movie tells the story of Khushi (Rani Mukerji), a quirky, whimsical, very manic pixie dream girl who worked as a waitress/bartender in a hotel, there she met a freshly broken up to young architect named Ranbir (Ajay Devgn). During his drunken state, Ranbir revealed to Khushi that his fiancee broke up with him when he'd already started the building of their future house together and showed the drawing of the house to her. The next morning, due to her terribly keeping up with the pay of her rent, Khushi was kicked out from her place. With only the knowledge of the area of Ranbir's future house and her being a pathological liar, she was freeloading in Ranbir's future house, while saving Ranbir's ass by lying to his family being his fiancee. If I had to describe this movie in one sentence is "While You Were Sleeping's camp little sister". I treated this movie as "camp" because of how fun Khushi was as a character to watch, then after that my life was so much easier, because it's a fun movie, and I will treat it as such. Yes, this movie got many romantic comedy cliche tropes, such as grumpy x sunshine, fake relationship, co-habitation, but those are some of my favorite tropes in romance so this was a perfect movie for me to unwind to. It was also very entertaining to watch how Khushi and Ranbir's relationship evolve from strangers to barely tolerating each other to barely being able to live without each other. Also I like how Khushi's character isn't one dimensional but we also don't know about her that much, like her background at the same time. Usually I would have been so mad about that but for Khushi being somewhat of a manic pixie dream girl, I don't mind, keep her identity and familial background hidden. In the movie, we not only see her being this happy-go-lucky girl, but we also see that it's mostly a facade and why she kept it. Also, I'd like to say, I loovveeeee Khushi's wardrobe in this movie. It's not something that I would've worn myself but they were all just look so cute on her.

5. Jodhaa Akbar

This movie is based on actual historical events behind the creation of Taj Mahal, you guys probably already know the story, on how a king who was so heartbroken because of the death of his queen, built a monument to eternalize his love for her. But this movie told the story on how that love started. Jodhaa (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) who was a Hindu princess was married to the Emperor of Mughal, Jalaluddin Akbar (Hrithik Roshan), which was an Islamic Empire, so there were some political tension there because the initial reason on why Jalal had to marry Jodhaa was because he needed to expand his empire on the land that is now called India. I'm sure you can look up for a more accurate explanation for it on the internet, so don't credit me on that. That was my understanding of the story. Then the story basically evolved into how Jodhaa started living as a queen, how both Jodhaa and Jalal adapted into this new life for them with a person who's from a different culture and religion than they were. The reason why I watched this movie in the first place was because both Aishwarya and Hrithik are my favorite Bollywood actor and actress and I need to watch a movie with them together that wasn't Dhoom 2 (I wasn't in the mood) and it needed to have a happy ending, and I was happy because I was already somewhat familiar with the story due to the historical events it was based on and there used to be a TV series of the story with the same title playing when I was younger and watched some of the episodes in passing, so I can say that the movie is less dramatic and the pace is much quicker compared to the series. Which makes sense, when you need to wrap up the story needed for the media in 2 hours. As I said earlier, I can not say much about the historical and political accuracy. However I can comment on the romance subplot of the movie and what I liked about it. I really liked the whole subplot of Jalal coming to Rajput to apologize to Jodhaa and get her back to his side. I turned into that one gif of Timothee Chalamet in the basketball game when he stepped his foot inside the palace and had to look for Jodhaa in between all the women of the palace as it was the tradition there for son-in-law visiting. Then, the next day they had a little sword fight training that was actually flirting in disguise, I loved that scene, it reminded me of that one scene in Princess Mononoke (best ghibli film, by the way) when Ashitaka met San for the first time and San attacked him right away. Also, I liked it when Jalal was cornered by Jodhaa, with her sword on his throat and he was just in awe of her beauty, like, Hollywood Directors, take notes! I feel like if you're in need of some historical movie with romance subplot and beautiful visuals that doesn't end tragically, this movie is the answer.

4. Band Baaja Baaraat

Band Baaja Baaraat is a movie that came out in 2010, tells the story of Shruti (Anushka Sharma) who partnered with Bittoo (Ranveer Singh) to open a wedding organizer business, specializing in kitsch aesthetic and for people from lower middle class and to make their job easier, they swore to be strictly business partners, but of course, things got messy when they slept together and started to have feelings for each other. This movie is one of my favorite, somewhat more modern (because I mostly watch stuffs from late 90s and early 2000s), contemporary romantic comedy Bollywood movie. The concept itself is fresh, it got great characterization, the right amount drama and comedy, and also it's a little bit more on the underrated side, because I hardly ever heard people mention this movie even though it's a great movie in its own right. The acting was also good for actors who were relatively new in their career, especially for Ranveer since it was his debut. I love love the culture in the movie that resulted in the beautiful color palette of the movie. We can see a lot of wedding tradition sub cultures throughout New Delhi, starting with the small weddings in the beginning of the story to the big ones toward the end with big stage, venues, and props. I liked the pacing of this movie, and it felt like the pacing of a Hollywood movie. So I feel like, I would recommend this movie to someone who hasn't watched a Bollywood movie before and wants to watch something new and not necessarily the classics that the people always mentioned such Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. I recommend this movie so much if you want a modern Bollywood romcom.

3. Om Shanti Om

Before we get into movie number three, I just would like to say that going forward, the movies in the list will have Shah Rukh Khan as the male lead. I mean, you can't really discredit the fact that he's actually the King of Bollywood and has acted in numerous classics. Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let's get into movie number three. Om Shanti Om is a movie that set in 2 different time settings of the Bollywood industries, the 70s and the 2000s. The movie started with Om Prakash (Shah Rukh Khan), a junior artist in the 70s (basically actors who got small parts in big productions) who fell in love with an up and coming actress at the time, Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone) whose fates intertwined because Om saved her from a movie set accident. But they couldn't be together at the time because Shanti was secretly married to a movie producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal). The story got even more tragic when Om found out that Shanti was pregnant with Mukesh's baby and Mukesh who felt like he lost his up and coming star, killed her in a fire on the movie set of his upcoming movie, Om Shanti Om, with her as the lead. Om was also dead in the same night in a car crash. Fast forward to the 2000s, Om Prakash got reincarnated as an actor and the son of a Bollywood legend, and went by the name Om Kapoor. Initially he didn't remember about his tragic past life, until he saw Mukesh coming back to the Bollywood scene after successfully being a movie producer abroad. Then after that, he swore to get justice for Shanti by asking Mukesh to remake or well, continue the production of Om Shanti Om by the help of his mom and best friend from his past life and a mysteriously familiar girl named Sandy who was a huge fan of Om. This movie is, oh my god, it was so tragically beautiful, because, spoiler alert, they didn't end up together in the end and the picture that I picked as the poster was probably my favorite scene in the whole movie, it happened toward the end of the movie. Om and Shanti, staring at each other in tears, in different realms, with a beautiful score in the background, it just ripped your heart out. The story is just so beautiful, it shows the other side of the Bollywood industry that not most people see. Story aside, the aesthetic was also superb, especially during the 70s scenes. It's like seeing the industry in a new way. The soundtrack was, *chef's kiss*, really complimented the tone of the movie and helped convey the message in the movie. I would've ranked this movie higher had it not for the bittersweet ending and there is another element in the movies after this that I like more, but still, you need to give this movie a shot, and prepare some tissues!

Okay, so after this, I feel like it's a bit of a cop out but I really can not pick a number one, and it made it harder for me once I found out that these two movies have the same director and production house, so these two movies are the interchangeable top 2.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

This movie tells the story about Surinder (Shah Rukh Khan) who is in a marriage of convenience with the daughter of his teacher, Taani (Anushka Sharma) who asked Taani to marry Surinder as her father's dying wish because he knew that only Surinder could make her happy. Taani who was also still in grieving because her fiance died a day before her supposed wedding to that fiance, had no choice but to say yes. So the movie started with the newlyweds moving in to Surinder's place. During the first days of their marriage, Taani had set barrier between them by saying to Surinder that she couldn't reciprocate his feelings but would do her best as a wife. Though, to make her happy, Surinder allowed Taani to join a dance class because she said that that's what she liked to do before she got married. Not only that, Surinder also created this whole new persona who was overly bright and very dramatic named Raj, based on the typical male lead in the movies that both Surinder and Taani watched during their night out together. He saw how happy she was watching that kind of  character in the movie. The premise is that Raj was her dancing partner in the dance class and Taani didn't realize that Surinder and Raj were the same person. So it got really complicated when Taani fell in love with both of them. I know, the story is very cliche, I know, but I love me some cliches in romance stories. The whole "Taani not recognizing her husband" actually can be explained by because she was in grieving and she didn't really pay attention to how Surinder looked at first, and also, I mean, most people didn't realize that Superman and Clark Kent were the same person so, you can cut Taani some slack. Now that we got that out of the way, I would like to say how sad this movie actually was if we put aside the comedy aspects of the movie. Taani who was obviously still mourning the lost of her fiance and father, suddenly found herself married, but still staying strong so that she didn't lose herself in it. Surinder who got shut down even before he started to fight for his feelings for his wife and would do anything to make her happy even though if that meant to erase his identity forever. I just liked how they frame grief and cathartic feeling differently. But then you'll also see how they still managed to find love in that situation. Also, I'd like to add up the fact that Taani found her old self not through a man or a relationship but through her love for dance and her determination to win the dance competition. This movie is the most grounded story wise out of all the movies mentioned here, yet again, they play with the feelings very well. And the soundtrack, of course, I feel like YRF (the production house for this movie, Band Baaja Baaraat) never disappoints when it comes to their music. So, if this movie is up your alley, you need to give it a try.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge 

The movie that I duped as "Before Sunrise (Bollywood's Version)' tells the story of Simran (Kajol), a good-hearted NRI (non-resident Indian) who lived in a relatively traditional household with her parents in London, went on a journey with her friends to Switzerland by train just for her last hurrah before she got into an arranged marriage. During her trip, she met a seemingly reckless, happy-go-lucky, progressive NRI man named Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) who annoyed her during the first half of the trip but they got this "annoyance to lovers" thing between them so by the end of their trip, they fell in love with each other even though Simran was about to be married and Raj knew of the fact. But the thing is, unbeknownst to both of them, Raj had met Simran's dad who owned a convenience store and let's just say that their meeting left a bad taste in Simran's dad's mouth and he swore that he would not let a man like that be his son-in-law. Little did he know, he was the man that his daughter fell in love with through her trip that got him in a frenzy to go back to India right away and held the wedding. But both Simran and her dad also didn't expect that Raj would fight his way to stop the wedding in the second act of the movie which was as good as the first one. I can see why this movie is on a lot of people's top 3 Bollywood movies of all time, it's just that good, it's a good piece of romantic media. To find out that this movie is still on cinemas in India and it's the longest running movie in cinema, I only can say "deserved". This movie got me that giddy feeling of watching romcom again after a long time of not feeling it. It was during the scene when they spent the night together after Simran was drunk and Raj pranked her saying that they slept together when they're not and after that Raj said that he would prove to her that she will treat her in the way that she deserved, I screamed. Also in the second act when Raj already came as a "guest" in the wedding and Simran was just lovingly staring at him that I was like, "Girl, get up," They were head over heels over each other and I would not accept any other opinion on that. If you like Before Sunrise and it had you asking "What if this movie is more dramatic and chaotic?", then you need to watch DDLJ, you won't be disappointed. 

That's all for my top 5 Bollywood movies. I may have some errors and mistake in my delivery of the post, and for that I apologize in advance. Thank you and I'll see you on the next post!