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Top 10 Bollywood Critics & Film Reviewers

Within the ever-changing realm of Bollywood, film critics and reviewers wield significant influence, molding public perceptions and steering the industry's trajectory. Let's explore the top 10 Bollywood critics and film reviewers who stand out for their astute assessments, articulate evaluations, and an unwavering ardor for the cinematic craft.

Raja Sen: Renowned for his incisive wit and perceptive critiques, Raja Sen is a seasoned film critic celebrated for his engaging writing style. His reviews, frequently featured in leading publications, provide audiences with a distinctive viewpoint on the diverse spectrum of Bollywood offerings.

Rajeev Masand: With an impressive career spanning over two decades, Rajeev Masand is a veteran film critic whose reviews carry substantial weight. His comprehensive film analyses and interviews with industry luminaries contribute to his reputation as a dependable voice in Bollywood criticism.

Mayank Shekhar: Bringing a contemporary and refreshing approach to film critique, Mayank Shekhar is a film critic and journalist whose work reflects a deep understanding of both mainstream and independent cinema. His reviews make him a preferred source for cinephiles.

Komal Nahta: A stalwart in the industry, Komal Nahta is not only a film critic but also a trade analyst. Recognized for his analytical prowess, Nahta's insights into box office performances and film reviews have established him as a prominent figure in Bollywood journalism.

Udita Jhunjhunwala: Udita Jhunjhunwala, a seasoned film critic, stands out for her comprehensive reviews delving into both the artistic and technical aspects of filmmaking. Her critiques offer audiences a deeper understanding of a film's narrative and impact.

Saibal Chatterjee: Saibal Chatterjee's contributions to film criticism are marked by keen observations and unbiased reviews. His insightful analyses, coupled with a wealth of experience, establish him as a respected authority on Bollywood cinema.

Shubhra Gupta: Recognized for her thought-provoking reviews, Shubhra Gupta brings a nuanced perspective to the table. Her insights into storytelling, performances, and societal relevance contribute to the ongoing cultural dialogue surrounding Bollywood films.

Conclusion:

These leading 10 Bollywood critics and film reviewers have established their unique presence through passion, dedication, and insightful analyses. As the industry continues to evolve, their invaluable contributions play a pivotal role in shaping the narrative and fostering a profound appreciation for the rich cinematic tapestry that emanates from the heart of Bollywood.

Top 10 Famous Bollywood Critics/Film Reviewers

Films are the best source of entertainment for some of us. Films aren’t perfect on the logic, neither are they flawless, however that doesn’t stop us from enjoying the film. But, before booking tickets for a particular film we tend to go through reviews. Some of read film reviews by certain film critics. These critics/reviewers don’t write about the negative points of a film, but also highlight other pivotal points that may even help determine the success of a film. Critics who review Bollywood films have a special fan base of their own. If you wondering who Bollywood’s favorite critics are, then your search ends here. Here’s a list of popular Hindi film critics.

In This Content

10. Omar Qureshi

Omar Qureshi is a Bollywood film critic who is also the editor-in-chief for the Hindi channel ‘Zoom Tv’. His popular opinions on films have made him an influential film critic.

9. Raja Sen

Raja Sen is a film critic who started his career as a writer for Rediff.com. He first started writing for F1 and later began to write about movies. He is also working on penning scripts for films. He also starred in the Indie film ‘Good Night Good Morning’.

8. Khalid Mohamed

Film critic-turned-writer Khalid Mohamed began his career as a journalist. He was also the editor-in-chief for Filmfare magazine. He has directed films like Fiza and Tehzeeb.

7. Derek Bose

Derek Bose initially worked as a senior editor for Indian Express. One of the most well-known names in the industry, Derek has held senior position at the India’s top news organizations. He has authored the book Bollywood Unplugged: Deconstructing Cinema in Black & White.

6. Komal Nahta

Komal Nahta is a popular television personality and film critic. He is the editor of ‘Film Information’. He hosts a popular show where he analyses the business of Bollywood films. He discusses about the performance of a film based on the box office collection. Apart from that he also reviews Bollywood films on Friday. He has been representative for BBC for a period of 10 years, where he covered Bollywood news. He is the editor of the entertainment website, Koimoi. He has also been the host for ETC Bollywood Business since 2010. He is also a part of the advisory board for some well-known companies.

5. Mayank Shekar

Mayank started his career as a journalist for Mumbai Mirror and Mid-Day. He worked as a film journalist and editor at the Hindustan Times. He also doubles us as an author. Mayank has authored the book called Name Place Animal Thing. The book covers on everything from food, religion, politics and television. A member of the Central Board of Film Certification, Mayank was a recipient of the Young Achievers award awarded by the Indo-American film society. Mayank currently posts his reviews on his website theW14.com.

4. Anupama Chopra

Anupama Chopra is a journalist, author and a critic. Her first book Sholay: The Making of a Classic won her the National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema. She later went on to write King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema which was featured on the ‘Editor’s Choice’ list of the New York Times Book Review. She also released a book ‘100 films to see before you Die’ which featured all her weekly columns. She also hosted shows like ‘Picture This’ and ‘The Front Row with Anupama Chopra’. She currently hosts ‘Film Companion’ on YouTube where she reviews the latest Bollywood releases.

3. Taran Adarsh

Son of popular film producer B. K. Adarsh, Taran Adarsh is a popular film critic and film analyst. He is also a journalist and an editor. Taran began his career as a producer with the Hindi film Hello Bollywood, which went unnoticed. He then went on to write on films and eventually went on to become a film critic. He also predicts and analysis Box Office collections for Bollywood films. In the show titled B BIZ he interviews celebrities and provides box office reports. He works as a film critic for the popular Bollywood website Bollywood Hungama.com.

2. Rajeev Masand

Rajeev Masand is a popular film critic and entertainment journalist who works for CNN-IBN. He began his career at the age of 16, while working for Times of India. He then went on to The Indian Express. His popularity soar heights after he began hosting the show ‘Now Showing’ where he reviewed the latest Bollywood films and rated each film with stars.

1. Baradwaj Rangan

Baradwaj Rangan is a popular critic and deputy editor for the popular Indian newspaper ‘The Hindu’. He started his career by writing for the website Sitagita.com. After which he began writing for The New Indian Express and later The Hindu. He has authored the books Conversations with Mani Ratnam and Dispatches From The Wall Corner: A Journey through Indian Cinema. He is described as the most intelligent writer who writes about Indian cinema. In 2015, he was awarded the National Award for Best Film Critic.

Santosh Kumar is a Professional SEO and Blogger, With the help of this blog he is trying to share top 10 lists, facts, entertainment news from India and all around the world.

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20 Highly Rated Hindi Movies

Bollywood has produced some captivating films over the years. From acclaimed classics to recent blockbusters, there are many Hindi movies that have received high ratings on all fronts. Here is a curated list of 20 highly rated Hindi movies that you should consider adding to your watchlist for an unforgettable viewing experience.

1. Mother India (1957)

100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.1/10 on IMDb

Mother India is a timeless classic directed by Mehboob Khan that showcases the indomitable spirit of a mother ( Nargis Dutt ) who faces numerous hardships to protect her family and uphold her values. It's a powerful and emotionally resonant film that reflects the strength and resilience of Indian women.

2. Mughal-E-Azam (1960)

100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.2/10 on IMDb

Mughal-E-Azam is K. Asif’s opulent and grand historical drama set during the Mughal era. It boasts stellar performances by Dilip Kumar as Saleem and Madhubala as Anarkali, captivating music, and lavish sets. The film's timeless love story and unforgettable dialogues make it a cinematic masterpiece.

3. Sholay (1975)

Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay is an iconic Bollywood film known for the most memorable bromance between Jai and Veeru (played by Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra ), action-packed sequences, and iconic dialogues. It's a quintessential Indian classic that continues to entertain and resonate with audiences across generations.

4. Anand (1971)

100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.8/10 on IMDb

Anand is a heartwarming and poignant film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee that explores the themes of friendship, love, and the celebration of life in the face of mortality. Rajesh Khanna 's portrayal of a terminally ill man and Amitabh Bachchan's performance as his doctor are, simply put, outstanding.

5. Pyaasa (1957)

100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.4/10 on IMDb

Pyaasa is a masterful film that delves into the dark side of society and the struggles of an aspiring poet. Guru Dutt 's direction, powerful performances, piercing poetry by Sahir Ludhianvi , and soul-stirring music by S.D. Burman create a cinematic experience that is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant.

6. Guide (1965)

100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.5/10 on IMDb

Guide is a captivating and introspective film that explores themes of self-discovery, spirituality, and societal expectations directed by Vijay Anand. Dev Anand's performance as a conflicted guide turned spiritual leader is exceptional. The film's narrative complexity and beautiful music make it a must-watch.

7. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

95% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.1/10 on IMDb

Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan is an epic sports drama that combines cricket with a powerful narrative of freedom and triumph over oppression. The film's ensemble cast ( Aamir Khan , Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley among others), remarkable music by the genius of A. R. Rahman , and the patriotic spirit it evokes make it an extraordinary cinematic experience.

8. Andaz Apna Apna (1994)

Andaz Apna Apna is Rajkumar Santoshia's timeless comedy that has achieved a cult status in Indian cinema. It's a hilarious tale of two slackers (Amar and Prem, played by Aamir Khan and Salman Khan) competing for the affection of a wealthy heiress Raveena (played by Raveena Tandon/Karisma Kapoor). The film's comic timing, eccentric characters, and quotable dialogues make it a laugh riot.

9. Udaan (2010)

Udaan is a poignant and coming-of-age drama that depicts the struggles and aspirations of a teenager dealing with a restrictive and abusive father. Vikramaditya Motwane ’s realistic portrayal, powerful performances by Ronit Roy and Rajat Barmecha, and sensitive storytelling make it a must-watch for its emotional impact.

10. Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)

94% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.2/10 on IMDb

Gangs of Wasseypur is an intense and gritty crime saga that spans generations and portrays the brutal power struggles in a small town. Anurag Kashyap 's direction, strong performances by a stellar ensemble including Manoj Bajpayee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and realistic depiction of violence make it a groundbreaking film.

11. Rang De Basanti (2006)

92% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.2/10 on IMDb

Rang De Basanti is a thought-provoking film that reflects on contemporary Indian society through the lives of a group of friends. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra addresses issues of corruption, patriotism, and youth activism. The film boasts powerful performances by Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, and Siddharth. A stirring and impactful narrative make it a must-watch.

12. Kahaani (2012)

91% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.1/10 on IMDb

Kahaani is a gripping thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat with its intriguing plot and unexpected twists. Vidya Balan delivers a stellar performance as a pregnant woman searching for her missing husband in Kolkata. Sujoy Ghosh’s atmospheric setting and suspenseful narrative make it a nail biting experience.

13. Talvar (2015)

91% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.2/10 on IMDb

Talvar is a gripping thriller based on the infamous Noida double murder case. Meghna Gulzar presents multiple perspectives and raises questions about the flaws in the Indian legal system. The film's realistic portrayal of the red tape in judicial systems, strong performances by Irrfan , Konkona Sen Sharma , Neeraj Kabi and Tabu along with compelling storytelling make it a must-see for true-crime enthusiasts.

14. Kapoor & Sons (2016)

91% on Rotten Tomatoes, 7.7/10 on IMDb

Shakun Batra ’s heartwarming family drama, Kapoor & Sons delves into the dynamics of a dysfunctional yet lovable family. The film explores relationships, secrets, and the complexities of human emotions with sensitivity and authenticity. The ensemble - Ratna Pathak Shah , Rajat Kapoor, Siddharth Malhotra , Fawad Khan, Alia Bhatt and Rishi Kapoor carry the film effortlessly with their stunning performances and the film's relatable storytelling make it a hard but compelling watch.

15. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)

90% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.1/10 on IMDb

Zoya Akhtar ’s coming-of-age drama/comedy Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is a beautiful film that celebrates friendship, adventure, and self-discovery. It follows three friends (Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, and Abhay Deol) on a road trip in Spain, where they confront their fears and rediscover the joy of living. The film's picturesque locations, stellar performances, and meaningful dialogue make it as quotable as it is inspiring.

16. Guru (2007)

89% on Rotten Tomatoes, 7.7/10 on IMDb

Guru is a biographical drama directed by Mani Ratnam inspired by the life of industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani. It explores the journey of an ambitious businessman and addresses themes of entrepreneurship, success, and ethics. Abhishek Bachchan 's portrayal of the titular character and A.R. Rahman's soul-stirring music makes it a motivating watch.

17. Haider (2014)

88% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.1/10 on IMDb

Haider is Vishal Bhardwaj's powerful adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" set against the backdrop of the Kashmir conflict. It's a hard-hitting film that explores themes of revenge, love, and the complexities of human emotions. Shahid Kapoor and Tabu’s riveting performances and the film's atmospheric setting make it a cinematic gem.

18. Piku (2015)

87% on Rotten Tomatoes, 7.6/10 on IMDb

Piku is a charming and slice-of-life film that revolves around the relationship between a father and his independent-minded daughter. Shoojit Sircar skilfully combines humor and emotional depth. Stellar performances by Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone , and Irrfan Khan leave no stone unturned. The film's relatability and heartwarming moments make it a must-watch.

19. Queen (2013)

87% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.2/10 on IMDb

Vikas Bahl’s Queen is a fresh, delightful and empowering film that follows the journey of a young woman who embarks on a solo honeymoon after her wedding is called off. Kangana Ranaut 's exceptional performance, coupled with the film's quirky characters and heartwarming moments, make it a feel-good entertainer.

20. Swades (2004)

Swades is a thought-provoking film that explores the theme of social responsibility and the importance of giving back to one's country. Ashutosh Gowariker patiently weaves a tale of love for one’s own country and the importance of giving back. Shah Rukh Khan delivers a powerful performance, and the film's soulful music and heartfelt story leave a lasting impact.

Special Mention: Barfi! (2012)

85% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.1/10 on IMDb

Barfi! is a heartwarming and visually stunning film directed by Anurag Basu that tells the story of a hearing and speech-impaired man and his relationships with two women ( Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Ileana D'Cruz). Ranbir Kapoor's remarkable performance, coupled with the film's charming narrative and enchanting music by Pritam, make it the perfect watch for a wonderful summer afternoon.

The 100 best Bollywood movies

Leading Bollywood critics and experts help us pick the best mainstream Indian movies

We need to talk about Bollywood. Not as a source of magnificently uplifting movies with great songs and flamboyant costumes – that’s a given – but as a term. For the purposes of this list, we’re using it as a catch-all for the full multitude of Indian film industries. This, we know, will upset purists who will point out – correctly – that it should only be used to refer to the Hindi film industry based in Mumbai. But rightly or wrongly, the term has come to represent Indian cinema more broadly, taking in everything from the Telugu-language films of Hyderabad to the very un-Bollywood work of Kolkata great Satyajit Ray. It’s an imperfect framework to examine a complex, multilingual film culture, but it’s a great way to introduce a tonne of worthy movies to dive into.

Which brings us to our next dilemma, because choosing a definitive ‘best-of’ list is an impossible task. Our top 100 is a bulging, wildly varied collection of our favourites: there are rom-coms like Jab We Met , sports dramas like Chak De! India and Lagaan , ‘curry westerns’ like Sholay , black-and-white tragedies like Pyaasa and Awaara , coming-of-age classics like Dil Chahta Hai and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara , and art-house staples like Ardh Satya and Ankur . Our picks are as diverse as our experts, ranging from UK-based Bollywood radio jockey Anushka Arora and Indian journalist-turned-screenwriter Aniruddha Guha. Our contributors also include writer-director Varun Grover who penned the lyrics for Gangs of Wasseypur (featured below in our list).

Boasting both larger-than-life blockbusters and grounded socio-realist dramas, this list bears testimony to the fact that Bollywood is more than song-and-dance cinema. And whether you’re looking for musicals, action, comedy or romance, there’s something here for you.

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 100-91

100. bobby (1973).

Director: Raj Kapoor

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia

Genre: romance

The late Rishi Kapoor makes his debut as a wealthy adolescent Hindu boy who falls for the titular heroine (Dimple Kapadia), the 16-year-old granddaughter of his Goan Catholic nanny. When his snobbish parents object to their ‘friendship’, the young lovers decide to elope. Bobby introduced Indian audiences to a rebellious teenage love that had rarely been expressed so sensuously before. The lead duo are convincing enough, and Kapadia became a national sensation with her mini skirts and halter tops – an exposing bikini sequence also raised eyebrows at the time. Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s jubilant soundtrack added to the appeal of this sweet romance, helping ensure its longevity.

The big scene When the top screen villain of the time, Prem Chopra, makes a cameo as himself.

Anil Sinanan

99. Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! (1994)

Director: Sooraj R Barjatya

Cast: Madhuri Dixit, Salman Khan, Tuffy

Genre: musical, romance

The 1980s was a tough time for Bollywood as a commercial industry. The VHS boom and subsequent piracy led to a drastic drop in cinema attendance. There was also a general disillusionment with the crude action potboilers of that era. Then came this 1990s blockbuster that prompted audiences to return to Bollywood. Sooraj Barjatya’s romantic drama can be quite a lot to take in for novices. Expect 14 songs, two weddings and to top it all, a cremation. Nothing else really happens, yet its shameless, lavish depiction of every celebration of a picture-perfect north Indian family, and their intricately vibrant Hindu wedding rituals, sucked audiences into cinemas again and again, and kickstarted the global awareness of contemporary Bollywood.

The big scene When wonder dog Tuffy has to decide whether to reunite the lovers or not.

98. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013)

Director: Ayan Mukherjee

Cast: Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin, Aditya Roy Kapoor

Genre: romance, comedy

This romantic comedy fits the Bollywood template perfectly. It boasts flamboyant colours, songs and dances, and more importantly, a big, fat Indian wedding. But beyond the glitz and glamour lies a tale of modern Indian urban youth and their notions of romance, professional life and everything in between. The film follows two characters, Bunny (Kapoor) and Naina (Padukone), and their group of friends, who we first meet as they leave university before the film flashes forward to the end of their twenties. What made Ayan Mukherjee’s comedy-drama doubly successful was that its two stars were former lovers in real life, lending them a special chemistry.

The big scene After the big song ‘Balam Pichkari’, Bunny’s friends discover a letter congratulating him for landing a job in the US. The four friends go their separate ways, leaving Naina’s love for Bunny unspoken.

Anushka Arora

97. Veer-Zaara (2004)

Director: Yash Chopra

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherji

Yash Chopra, one of Bollywood’s most successful and respected directors, delivers a groundbreaking musical romance on an epic scale. Will the love that Indian Hindu Veer (Khan) and Pakistani Muslim Zaara (Zinta) feel for each other be able to overcome cultural, emotional and physical borders? Chopra employs his trademark ‘chiffon sari in the Swiss Alps’ style while including progressive political and social messages about Indo-Pak unity, women’s rights, inept justice and a hope that the two rival nations need even today. An added bonus is the music, with the late duo of composer Madan Mohan and playback singer Lata Mangeshkar achieving sombre lyrical perfection.

The big scene When the tragic lovers cross paths in a Pakistani courtroom after being apart for over two decades.

96. Umrao Jaan (1981)

Director: Muzaffar Ali

Cast: Rekha, Farouque Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah

Genre: drama

Umrao Jaan is an adaptation of Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s well-known 1899 novel about the eponymous Lucknow courtesan Umrao Jaan (Rekha) who fights to escape the profession she was kidnapped into by following the path of true love. The carefully crafted period setting captivated viewers and critics upon release, showcasing a career-defining performance from Rekha.

The big scene The song ‘Dil cheez kya hai’ sees Rekha, wearing a now-legendary red outfit, dancing with iconic choreography by classical dancer Gopi Krishna to the music of Khayyam.

Ashanti Omkar

95. Swades (2004)

Director: Ashutosh Gowariker

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Balal

Genre: drama, romance, musical

In this soul-stirring human drama, director Ashutosh Gowariker turned his gaze from colonial era India – his previous film was the Oscar-nominated Lagaan – to present day and served up a movie that took a loving but unflinchingly critical look at ‘our country’ (as the title translates). Breaking his romantic hero typecast, Shah Rukh Khan plays NASA scientist Mohan, who makes a life-altering trip from America to his Indian roots. Moving to an Indian village that’s short of electricity and riven with petty conflicts, the expat slowly realises the truth of the adage spoken by one of the villagers: ‘It is the destiny of ice to melt in its own water.’

The big scene Mohan harnesses energy from the local stream by building a small dam for the village. The fruits of his labours are beautifully illustrated when a lightbulb comes on for the first time inside the home of an elderly woman, who simply exclaims: ‘Electricity!’

Sahir Avik D’souza

94. Salaam Bombay! (1998)

Director: Mira Nair

Cast: Shafiq Syed, Raghuvir Yadav, Nana Patekar

This moving story of kids living on the streets of Bombay (now Mumbai) isn’t Bollywood in the traditional sense. Writer-director Mira Nair had lived and studied in the US for several years by the time she returned to India to make her eye-opening debut film about a young boy named Krishna (Syed) falling deeper and deeper into trouble in the big city. But this is still one of the most stark, realistic films to emerge from India in recent times. Nair cast real street children, and the film’s strength is that it documents the truth but does not judge – we’re given more than enough room to make up our own minds on the issues raised by the film. To this day, Salaam Bombay remains one of the three Indian films to be nominated at the Oscars for Best International Feature.

The big scene A pre-fame Irrfan Khan (who later shone not just in Bollywood but Hollywood as well) pops up briefly as a professional letter writer.

93. Gully Boy (2019)

Director : Zoya Akhtar

Cast : Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Kalki Koechlin, Vijay Raaz, Kubra Sait

Genre : drama, musical

Set in the ever-bustling Dharavi slums in Mumbai, Gully Boy is loosely inspired by the real-life underdog journeys of Indian rappers Naezy and Divine. Murad Ahmed, played with raw and earnest energy by Ranveer Singh, goes on an 8 Mile -style journey, honing his craft with Shrikant ‘MC Sher’ Bhosle (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Shweta ‘Sky’ Mehta (Kalki Koechlin) as supporters while tending to his overprotective, doctor-to-be girlfriend, Safeena Firdausi (Alia Bhatt). Performing in a concert to impress rapper Nas – yes, the real Nas – becomes Murad’s goal. He battles more than just words, but a judgemental society, parasitic office jobs and the social conventions that stand in his way.

The big scene One of India’s top rappers, Emiway Bantai, performs, and then the original ‘Gully Boy’ rapper, Divine, invites Murad on stage. The crowd chants Murad’s name. He performs the thumping anthem ‘Apna Time Aayega’ (‘My Time Will Come’) and delights the audience.

92. Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani

Genre: comedy, drama, musical

Yes, Ben Kingsley was the real deal in Gandhi. But for a creatively different perspective on the Indian freedom fighter, Lage Raho Munnabhai can be quite the joyride. Three years after debuting with the sleeper hit, ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’, director Rajkumar Hirani brought back the lovable gangster Munna Bhai (Dutt), for perhaps the best-ever Bollywood sequel. Munna starts brushing up on his knowledge about Gandhi in order to impress a radio host. In a fantastical twist, Gandhi materialises before Munna and starts having conversations with him, leading everyone to believe he’s lost his mind. Theatre artist Dilip Prabhavalkar made a rare Hindi film appearance as Gandhi and nailed a personality that’s always been tough to portray on screen.

The big scene An elderly man pushed around by a government official resorts to ‘Gandhigiri’ (Gandhiism) to achieve his means, starting his own non-violent protest by stripping off his clothes and publicly shaming the corrupt bureaucrat.

Aniruddha Guha

91. Ardh Satya (1983)

Director: Govind Nihalani

Cast: Om Puri, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri

Genre: crime, drama

A titan of Hindi socio-realist cinema, Govind Nihalani’s trademark ‘law and order’ political style exposes brutality in the Mumbai police force. Anant (Puri) is a no-nonsense cop who is thwarted at every level by the system in his effort to arrest a corrupt politician. When he kills a petty thief, the morally grey policeman is forced to seek protection from the very politician he loathes. A surprise hit with no major stars or hit songs, ‘Ardh Satya’ remains a realistic, caustic comment on the worrying nexus between corrupt politicians and bent cops in India then and now. Om Puri’s hauntingly tragic performance is timelessly enthralling.

The big scene When Anant comes face-to-face with the politician he hates.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 90-81

90. hera pheri (2000).

Director: Priyadarshan

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Paresh Rawal

In this popular comedy of errors, a nonsensical plot about a botched kidnapping and phone calls going to the wrong number is balanced by some fine acting from lead actors Kumar, Shetty and Rawal. The latter became an overnight star on the back of this Priyadarshan-directed feature for his portrayal of Baburao, a naïve, alcoholic garage owner, who rents his home out to two young boys. Hera Pheri is still enjoyable even after repeat viewings and its legacy can still be felt with the unforgettable characters and quotable dialogue.

The big scene While demanding ransom from the wealthy grandfather of an abducted girl, Baburao makes a rough calculation of all his daily expenses and asks for ‘paune bara’ (Rs11.75 lakh, or about £12,000).

89. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor

Genre: biopic, drama, sports

Milkha Singh – known as The Flying Sikh – was a world-champion Olympian in the 1950s and 1960s, who infamously lost the most important race of his life, losing out on a medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is the quintessential sports biopic charting his journey as one of India’s greatest runners, and how he overcame personal demons related to witnessing the massacre of his family during India’s partition. The film’s success comes from its strong attention to detail, a committed and physically demanding performance by Farhan Akhtar, and an inspiring fact-based story.

The big scene When amateur runner Milkha is stripped and bullied for trying on the ‘India’ team jacket, which is only worn by champions, and then goes on to beat his opponents in a subsequent race.

Shai Hussain

88. Dhobi Ghat (2011)

Director: Kiran Rao

Cast: Aamir Khan, Monica Dogra, Prateik Babbar

Genre: romance, drama, musical

Kiran Rao broke into filmmaking with this urban fable about five characters, the fifth being the sprawling city of Mumbai itself. (It was alternatively released as Mumbai Diaries .) Arun (Khan) is a reclusive painter who moves into a new apartment and finds video diaries left by the previous tenant, Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra). Shai (Dogra) is a photographer who befriends Munna (Babbar), a slum boy who hopes to break into Bollywood. Tushar Kanti Ray’s cinematography and The Last of Us composer Gustavo Santaolalla’s background score beautifully complement this story about different classes of people co-existing in a metropolitan city.

The big scene While Shai heads out with her camera in the middle of the night, she spots Munna, who moonlights as a rat killer. Embarrassed about being found out by Shai, Munna flees.

87. Kati Patang (1970)

Director: Shakti Samanta

Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Asha Parekh, Prem Chopra

Genre: romance, musical, drama

Inspired by the Hollywood weepie ‘No Man of Her Own’ (1950), Shakti Samanta’s film addresses the still-taboo theme of widows remarrying. The film goes out of its way to proclaim the untainted virgin status of its female lead, as Madhu (Parekh) only pretends to be a widow in order to assume a new identity. Complications follow when she is attracted to her ‘dead’ husband’s best mate (Khanna). The real superstar of this melodramatic film is RD Burman’s classic score: every track remains popular to this day.

The big scene The first 15 minutes include an escape from an arranged marriage, a romantic betrayal, a death, a reunion and a fatal train crash.

86. Black Friday (2004)

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Cast: Aditya Srivastava, Kay Kay Menon, Pavan Malhotra

Genre: drama, thriller

Long before director Anurag Kashyap broke on to the international scene with films like 2012’s ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, he struggled to release this controversial real-life drama about the infamous 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai – arguably his best film to date. Kashyap stuck to investigative journalist Hussain Zaidi’s version of the planning, execution and aftermath of the explosions and extracted great performances from his ensemble cast. ‘Black Friday’ is a rare thing: an engaging Hindi film based on a true story.

The big scene Kashyap shot one of the best chase sequences on film when a suspect runs from policemen in the Dharavi slum. The six-minute scene is said to have inspired Danny Boyle when he made ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

85. Gangs of Wasseypur: Part One (2012)

Action and adventure

Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Richa Chadda

Genre: action, thriller

Martin Scorsese, one of director Anurag Kashyap’s cinematic idols, loved the Gangs of Wasseypur duology so much that he penned a letter expressing his admiration. But you don’t need the Goodfellas maestro’s approval to watch this bloody, brutal and visually arresting film which became nothing short of a phenomenon in India. The drama revolves around two feuding families and a coal-mining racket. Menacing mafia don Sardar Khan (Bajpai) and his Bollywood-loving stoner son Faizal (Siddiqui), are both compelling screen presences. Kashyap subverts Bollywood’s tradition of shooting airbrushed heroes and heroines in pristine locations and instead gets to the gritty nooks and crannies of the titular town. Intended as a 321-minute crime epic, Kashyap eventually divided the narrative into two companion movies.

The big scene Sardar Khan’s pregnant, nonchalant wife Nagma (Chadda) finds him in a brothel and pulls out a knife – the sight of the terrifying hard man cowering and fleeing is comedic gold.

Rahul Verma

84. Arth (1982)

Director: Mahesh Bhatt

Cast: Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil

Genre: romance, drama

Mahesh Bhatt’s breakout film was partly inspired by his own turbulent love life, giving the semi-autobiographical drama a sense of intimacy still rare in Hindi cinema. Pooja (Azmi) finds the bubble of her happy marriage starting to burst when she discovers that her filmmaker husband, Inder (Kharbanda), is having an affair with actress Kavita (Patil). Pooja’s search for her own independence leads her to many revelations, while Inder is ultimately left in solitude.

The big scene An intoxicated Pooja and Kavita finally meet in person, and chauvinist Inder has no option but to see exactly what’s unfurling in his life as Arth takes a feminist turn.

Varun Grover

83. Dhoom (2004)

Director: Sanjay Gadhvi

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, John Abraham

Genre: action

Bollywood’s most successful modern franchise features stylish villains on the run from a lovable yet inept duo: policeman Dixit (Bachchan) and Ali (Chopra), a streetsmart thief who becomes an unexpected ally. But the biggest oomph factor comes from the suave villain Kabir (Abraham), the head of a motorbike gang. The series is heavily defined by its action set pieces and owes a big debt to the likes of The Fast and the Furious and Ocean’s Eleven . But on its own, Dhoom made bike riding cool for an entire generation of Indians.

The big scene The bike-chase scene, with the heroic duo jumping over a moving train while dodging a barrage of bullets.

82. Kahaani (2012)

Director: Sujoy Ghosh

Cast: Vidya Balan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Parambrata Chatterjee

Genre: thriller, drama

A heavily pregnant woman (Vidya Balan) arrives in Kolkata alone and goes straight to the police station. But why? So begins a shadowy quest to track down her missing husband and a gauntlet of police officers inclined to dismiss the worries of a pregnant woman. Slowly, director Sujoy Ghosh draws them – and us – into her web of secrets and lies, as the mission begins to morph into something more sinister. Ghosh expertly sows the culture of Kolkata deep into his thriller, so much so that the city becomes a character in the story and a much-needed ally for Vidya.

The big scene : In the climax, as Vidya’s intentions are revealed and the cops give chase, she slips into a crowd of women in a parade. The women accept her without question and smear her face with the red powder to prevent her capture. Sahir Avik D’souza

81. Dabangg (2010)

Director: Abhinav Kashyap

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood

Genre: action, drama, musical

Writer-director Abhinav Kashyap’s pulpy homage to 1970s Hindi cinema is an entertaining action movie that gave actor Salman Khan’s stardom a boost and revived the masala genre in a major way – for better or worse. Khan plays Chulbul Pandey, a charming yet corrupt cop in north India who hounds politicians and gangsters and refers to himself as ‘Robin Hood’ Pandey. There are plenty of plot holes, but the film rides on a breezy script with some self-aware humour, Khan’s charm and well-choreographed action scenes.

The big scene The musical number ‘Munni Badnaam Hui’ (‘Munni was defamed’) brought back the ‘item song’ trope, a crude term to describe a song featuring scantily dressed women. It’s not Dabangg ’s proudest moment, but its impact on Bollywood music of that decade can’t be denied.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 80-71

80. black (2005).

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Cast: Rani Mukerji, Amitabh Bachchan

This emotional drama, centred on a deaf-mute woman, Michelle (Mukerji), and her educational struggles, was loosely inspired by the real story of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan. Like most films directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali ( Devdas, Guzaarish ), Black can be uncomfortably manipulative and awkward in its attempt to inspire. But there’s no denying that Bhansali conjures up gorgeous worlds. In the 2000s, strong heroines and stories of female ambition were still fairly rare in Hindi movies. It’s impossible not to cheer for the determined Michelle as she stumbles in the shadows.

The big scene Michelle gains her university degree and makes a rousing speech to the graduating class.

Beth Watkins

79. Thappad (2020)

Director : Anubhav Sinha

Cast : Taapsee Pannu, Dia Mirza, Ratna Pathak Shah, Manav Kaul, Pavail Gulati

Genre : drama

‘Just a slap – but he can’t hit me,’ says a tremblingly defiant Amrita (Taapsee Pannu) in Thappad . A perfect housewife and daughter-in-law, she has found no reason to complain until in a sudden and uncharacteristic moment of stress her husband Vikram (Gulati) slaps her. It’s the first time he’s done this, but this one act opens Amrita’s eyes to the many tiny injustices of the life she’s been living. She asks for a divorce, and sticks by her decision even when she learns she is pregnant. This feminist drama tells Amrita’s story, but surrounds it with stories of the women around her – her mother, her mother-in-law, her neighbour, her lawyer, her neighbour’s daughter, her brother’s girlfriend – and their relationships with the men in their lives. Pannu’s stirring performance anchors it all. The big scene : Vikram asks their neighbour, a witness to the slap, to lie to the authorities and testify that he didn’t assault his wife. A widow, she fixes him with a beady look and mentions her beloved late husband. ‘I would like to believe men are wonderful people,’ she says, ‘so I will pretend I did not hear what you just said.’

78. Bandit Queen (1994)

Director: Shekhar Kapur

Cast: Seema Biswas

The novelist Arundhati Roy rightfully criticised Shekhar Kapur’s version of the life of Phoolan Devi (Biswas) for simplifying the criminal-turned-politician’s experiences to fit a typical rape-revenge story. Devi was a bandit who was jailed for acts of revenge against people who abused her as a child and who later became a politician. But Bandit Queen remains a harrowing depiction of the inequalities of the caste system and sexism in rural north India. The film succeeds in making us all witnesses to its horrors – and complicit in them when, like so many of the characters, we say nothing.

The big scene Devi and her gang attack a wedding party in search of recompense for the horrors she suffered in her youth.

77. Kabhie Kabhie (1976)

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee Gulzar, Shashi Kapoor

Yash Chopra’s most romantic movie is a superior Bollywood soap dealing with intergenerational love, personal sacrifices and secrets and lies in the lives of two middle-class Delhi families. College sweethearts Amit (Bachchan) and Pooja (Gulzar) separate when Pooja announces that her parents have arranged her marriage to Vijay (Kapoor). Years later, the respective adults and their teenage kids meet… The film’s strong social messages – that the past is the past and that the younger generation will marry the partners of their choice – hold true today.

The big scene If there is only one Bollywood soundtrack you ever listen to, it has to be this one, with the title track widely considered to be the best Bollywood song ever.

76. Udaan (2010)

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane

Cast: Rajat Barmecha, Sanjay Gandhi

Coming-of-age dramas had existed in Bollywood before, but Udaan redefined the genre for a new age. After spending eight years at a boarding school, 16-year-old Rohan (Barmecha) is expelled and returns home to Jamshedpur to discover that his uptight father has remarried and been widowed a second time in his absence. Rohan also has a young step-brother he knew nothing about. He dreams of becoming a poet but is forced to work in the family business and later attend engineering school. Vikramaditya Motwane’s moving directorial debut offers a realistic setup, a universal story of teen angst and some superb, understated performances.

The big scene Rohan and his father jog together each morning. One day, Rohan finally out-runs his father, metaphorically and literally.

75. Zubeidaa (2001)

Director: Shyam Benegal

Cast: Karisma Kapoor, Rekha, Manoj Bajpayee

The voice of Bollywood’s nightingale, Lata Mangeshkar, and the music of Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman ( Slumdog Millionaire ) sweep through this poignant period tale about Zubeida, the beautiful mistress to a king in Rajasthan. Karisma Kapoor plays the doe-eyed princess to perfection, and Khalid Mohamed, son of actress-turned-royal Zubeida Begum, wrote the script, based on the tragic life story of his own mother.

The big scene During a ritual at Zubeida’s first marriage, she runs away, saying she’s ‘not a bride but a goat about to be sacrificed’, before trying to shoot herself with her father’s pistol.

74. Teesri Kasam (1966)

Director: Basu Bhattacharya

Cast: Raj Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman

Genre: romance

Bullock-cart driver Hiraman (Kapoor) takes a mysterious female passenger, Hirabai (Rehman), to a faraway fair. En route, they bond over some meaningful songs and food. She reveals that she is a dancer. They arrive at their destination and the villagers speculate that Hirabai may actually be a sex-worker. But Hiraman isn’t one to judge as he’s instantly smitten with Hirabai. A turbulent romance follows. Pure star power, melodic songs and scenic black-and-white cinematography of rural Bihar combine to sustain interest in this progressive culture-clash love story.

The big scene The title translates as ‘three vows’, and it’s the final vow that brings on the tears.

73. Naseeb (1981)

Director: Manmohan Desai

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Rishi Kapoor

Manmohan Desai’s star-filled film repeats his customary ‘lost and found’ formula of villains separating a young family who in adulthood reunite to seek revenge. Desai’s frequent use of two-second shots and close-ups whips the proceedings along. Like his earlier classic ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ (1977), this is Bollywood kitsch at its best.

The big scene The entire film is a series of highlights, including a boxing match, a glass mansion on fire and a climactic song with the three heroes and their girls dressed as characters including matadors, Cossacks and Chaplin.

72. Zanjeer (1973)

Director: Prakash Mehra

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Ajit, Pran

Genre: action, drama

The action-packed ‘Zanjeer’ was an early masterpiece from the writing duo Salim-Javed, giving Amitabh Bachchan his first major role and cementing his ‘Angry Young Man’ status. It’s an unapologetically bitter and stylish revenge story about an honest cop, Vijay (Bachchan), who has been haunted since childhood by nightmares about his father’s murder by a stranger – but all that’s known about the killer is that he wore a bracelet with a white stallion charm. As an adult, Vijay’s path crosses the gangster responsible, Teja (Ajit), and the stage is set for a final showdown.

The big scene Vijay’s first couple of interactions with Sher Khan (Pran), the goon with a golden heart, see the script hitting the sweet spot.

71. Omkara (2006)

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan

Vishal Bhardwaj’s modern ‘Othello’, set in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh, sidesteps Bollywood bombast and keeps its emotions in check. Bhardwaj extracts surprising performances from actors previously associated with more populist work: his cast display real torment and depth, particularly Saif Ali Khan as a deformed, scheming ‘Iago’ (called Langda here). ‘Omkara’ is one of Bhardwaj’s three adaptations of Shakespeare for Hindi cinema: 2003’s ‘Maqbool’ interpreted ‘Macbeth’, while 2014’s ‘Haider’ did the same for ‘Hamlet’.

The big scene The climax when the fate of Omkara’s lover, Dolly (Kapoor) – falsely accused of having an affair – is finally sealed.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 70-61

70. chhoti si baat (1975).

Director: Basu Chatterjee

Cast: Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha, Ashok Kumar

Genre: romance, comedy, musical

An expert at depicting the urban middle class, director Basu Chatterjee’s protagonist in Chhoti Si Baat is once again a simple man (played to perfection by Palekar) faced with everyday problems and finding simple solutions to deal with them. Arun is an unconfident man who fantasises about wooing Prabha (Sinha). He is taken under the wing of a flamboyant colonel (Kumar), who helps young men overcome their insecurities. An adaptation of School for Scoundrels , the film is best remembered for portraying the culture of 1970s Bombay with quirky humour.

The big scene A montage of the colonel training Arun, and telling him that the world is divided between winners and losers. ‘In the cricket of life’, he says, ‘there’s no draw.’

69. Jewel Thief (1967)

Director: Vijay Anand

Cast: Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Tanuja

Genre: thriller

This spy thriller tells of Vinay (Anand), an ordinary young man with a striking resemblance to a jewel thief, Amar (also Anand). It’s three hours of decadence, with loose gems, fast women and a hero on the run. Its staying power comes not just from its extraordinary visual indulgences – the film is candy-coloured, classy and sexy – but also from a brilliant script that carefully reveals layer after layer and eventually turns one of Hindi cinema’s favourite tropes on its head. Almost 50 years later, watching the details unfold is still a breathtaking experience.

The big scene The songs are all knockouts, but ‘Baithe Hain Kya Uske Paas’, with the actress Helen shimmying on a bar in feathers, zebra print and spangled red fishnets, proves that more is indeed more.

68. Devdas (2002)

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, Jackie Shroff

Genre: drama, romance

Extravagant yet still full of heart, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s opulent adaptation of Sarat Chandra’s simplistic novel marked a move into excessive theatricality for the director. Its main characters, Devdas (Khan) and Paro (Rai), are childhood lovers, but class differences and disapproving parents cause them to part ways. Full of spite, Devdas goes on a drinking spree and ends up in the arms of a dancing girl, Chandramukhi (Dixit). Chandramukhi falls in love with a broken Devdas, but he can’t think of anything beyond Paro, alcohol, and death.

The big scene A drunk Devdas expresses his anger at his father by jumping into a pond and performing his own last rites.

67. Gunga Jumna (1961)

Director: Nitin Bose

Cast: Dilip Kumar, Nasir Khan

This 1961 drama helped to set the template for what would become a Bollywood staple: stories of brothers on opposite sides of the law. Poverty-stricken villager Gunga (Kumar) scrapes together just enough money to fund an education for his younger brother Jumna (Khan). Jumna becomes a police officer, while Gunga joins a group of bandits after heroically defending his love against a powerful landowner. The brothers head towards an unavoidable face-off.

The big scene When Jumna’s fellow police officers open fire on Ganga’s bandits, and the two men remember that, despite everything that’s happened, they’re still brothers.

66. Madhumati (1958)

Director: Bimal Roy

Cast: Dilip Kumar, Vyjayantimala, Pran

Genre: romance, thriller, musical

Director Bimal Roy’s rare foray into commercial cinema was a heady cocktail of revenge, romance and reincarnation, with a supernatural element thrown in. City-bred Anand (Kumar) moves to a village to manage the estate of the evil Ugaranarayan (the legendary Pran), who rapes and murders Anand’s lover, Madhumati (Vyjayantimala). A grief-stricken Anand finds a lookalike of Madhumati and talks her into luring Ugaranayaran to confess his crime. The film boasts a brilliant score by Salil Choudhury.

The big scene Anand thinks that Madhumati’s lookalike is extracting a confession from Ugaranarayan and then realises it’s actually her ghost.

65. Chandni (1989)

Cast: Sridevi, Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna

It’s the ultimate love triangle: Rohit (Kapoor) and Chandni (Sridevi) meet at a wedding and fall in love. But just before they get married, an accident takes away Rohit’s legs and self-esteem, forcing Chandni to exit the relationship. She meets Lalit (Khanna), who himself is nursing a broken heart, and things get complicated. Director Yash Chopra’s clever handling of the story, which offers a distinctly female perspective on troubled love, makes ‘Chandni’ rise way above the pack.

The big scene When a recuperating Rohit meets Lalit and they talk about the girls they love, unaware that both are talking about the same person.

64. Jagte Raho (1956)

Director: Amit Maitra, Sombhu Mitra

Cast: Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Motilal

Genre: drama, satire, musical

This experimental masterpiece by directing duo Amit Maitra and Sombhu Mitra sees Raj Kapoor portraying a thirsty villager stuck in a city apartment block after being mistaken for a thief. Kapoor’s unnamed character moves from one part of the building to another, coming across several people, all of whom hide murky secrets. This largely single-character-driven film features several cameo appearances by well-known Hindi film actors, each playing caricatures of urban folk who Kapoor is first scared of, and later comes to despise.

The big scene Veteran actor Motilal appears in one hallucinatory scene of the movie, drunkenly singing the song ‘Zindagi Khwab Hai’ (‘Life is a dream’).

63. Secret Superstar (2017)

Director: Advait Chandan

Cast: Zaira Wasim, Meher Vij, Raj Arjun, Aamir Khan

Genre: drama, musical

The highest-grossing Indian film to boast a female lead, Secret Superstar is more than just another Bollywood musical. The inspiring drama follows the journey of Insia (Wasim), a teenager who dreams of escaping her abusive father and becoming a playback singer. After a video of herself singing a song while wearing a niqab to conceal her identity goes viral, she has to either face her father’s wrath or give up on her artistic dreams. At its heart, though, this is a film about the relationship between mother and daughter that also explores women’s positions in India’s traditional, male-dominated society.

The big scene When Insia tells her mother that they should flee their abusive home, leaving her young brother, Guddu, behind, and her mother says that Guddu will grow up to be just like his father if they abandon him.

62. Sharmeelee (1971)

Director: Samir Ganguli

Cast: Shashi Kapoor, Raakhee

Genre: romance, thriller

‘Sharmeelee’ is a typical example of that Bollywood storytelling staple: good twin versus bad twin. Ajit (Kapoor) marries the shy Kanchan (Raakhee), thinking she is the vivacious Kamini (also Raakhee), not realising they are identical twins. Kamini spots the couple at a nightclub and decides she can have the domestic bliss she craves by eradicating her meek sister and taking her place. The outlandish plot is played straight as it clumsily examines the nature of surface beauty and inner goodness. The film’s main selling point today is SD Burman’s soundtrack, especially the undervalued Lata Mangeshkar solo ‘Megha Chhaye Aadhi Raat’ (‘Dark clouds have covered the skies’).

The big scene An exploitative and dated rape sequence in which the baddie manhandles the leading lady and exposes her underwear.

61. Parineeta (1953)

Cast: Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari

Understated elegance is the order of the day in this adaptation of a Bengali novel. As brought to life by director Bimal Roy, it’s a nuanced tale of true love lost and found, with astute performances from celebrated actors Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari. The 2005 remake was similarly well received, and made Vidya Balan an overnight star in India.

The big scene The show-stopping theatrical dance piece ‘Ae Bandi Tum’, performed by Gopi Krishna and Roshan Kumari and sung by Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 60-51

60. lootera (2013).

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Adil Hussain

In his second outing as director after Udaan , Vikramaditya Motwane re-imagined O Henry’s short story ‘The Last Leaf’ for this period romance. A simple girl, Pakhi (Sinha), falls in love with a robber, Varun (Singh), when he arrives in her town disguised as an archaeologist. Effectively recreating the 1950s, complete with Dev Anand film songs playing on the radio, Lootera brought together the ace technical team of production designer Aditya Kanwar and cinematographer Mahendra Shetty, who gave the film a distinct, lush period look. Amit Trivedi’s music and vocals add to the bleak beauty of it all.

The big scene A sick Pakhi steadily rejects Varun’s advances while he seeks refuge in her house after running away from the police.

59. Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla

Borrowing its story from Cary Grant’s Houseboat (1958), Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke follows Vyjayanti (Chawla), the bubbly daughter of a conservative Tamil family, as she flees from a forced marriage and finds kindred spirits in three children who decide to hide her at their home. All of this unfurls under the nose of their guardian Rahul (Khan). When Rahul discovers Vyjanyanti, she becomes the children’s governess, and a love between opposites blossoms. A wonderfully sweet soundtrack accompanies this delightful, light and entertaining family-friendly comedy.

The big scene When Rahul finally stands up for Vyjayanti’s honour in defiance of his boss.

58. Garam Hawa (1973)

Director: MS Sathyu

Cast: Balraj Sahni, Farooque Shaikh, AK Hangal

Genre: history, drama

Also known as Scorching Winds , this is perhaps the most jarringly accurate Indian drama to depict the plight of minority Muslims in northern India following Partition in 1947. Set in the late 1940s, elderly Muslim shoemaker Salim (Sahni) must decide whether or not to leave his ancestral home in Agra and migrate across the border to newly-created Pakistan. Meanwhile, Hindu-Muslim tensions at home threaten to rip apart his family. Director MS Sathyu, a Marxist activist, created a heart-wrenching tale of innocent lives torn apart by hatred and suspicion. Balraj Sahni’s noble performance will move you to tears, and the issues are equally relevant to India today.

The big scene W hen the grandmother hides away to stay in her ‘home’.

57. Mr & Mrs ’55 (1955)

Director: Guru Dutt

Cast: Guru Dutt, Madhubala, Johnny Walker

Genre: comedy

Director-actor Guru Dutt uses a familiar plot to hilarious effect in this satire of India’s urban upper class in the post-independence period. Anita (Madhubala) can only inherit her father’s wealth if she gets married – leading her feminist aunt to suggest that she goes through a ‘fake’ marriage with cartoonist Preetam (Dutt) and then ‘divorce’ as soon as possible afterward. But, as expected, both Anita and Preetam fall in love. Dutt’s evocative directing style is put to inventive use during the songs: the camera appears never to sit still. The film is best remembered today for the tunes sung by the director’s wife, Geeta Dutt, and for being effortlessly funny.

The big scene The heroine’s swimming pool song, complete with charming chorus girls twirling umbrellas.

56. Aiyyaa (2012)

Director: Sachin Kundalkar

Cast: Rani Mukerji, Prithviraj, Anita Date

Filmmaker Sachin Kundalkar took one of three parallel stories he previously told in the 2009 Marathi-language film Gandha and turned it into a madcap Hindi comedy with a fantasy-driven exploration of female sexuality. Meenakshi (Mukerji) falls in love with Tamil boy Surya (Prithviraj) after she’s drawn to his smell. The peculiar characters around Meenakshi include her father, who smokes four cigarettes at once, a grandmother with gold teeth, and her friend Mynah (a superb Date), who has an obsession with Lady Gaga.

The big scene Meenakshi finds herself fantasising about romancing with Surya while dancing to an archetypal Tamil cinema-inspired song that’s garish, vulgar and full of pelvic thrusts.

55. Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978)

Cast: Shashi Kapoor, Zeenat Aman

Raj Kapoor’s attempt to portray the conflict between the sacred and the profane, and to show that beauty is only skin deep, is an admittedly patchy affair. When engineer Ranjeev (Shashi Kapoor) hears the religious songs sung by ‘ugly’ village belle Rupa (Aman), he is convinced her face will be as beautiful as her voice. He marries her without seeing her, so the shallow groom is understandably upset on his wedding night. It’s a flawed masterpiece that is guilty of exactly of what it purports to criticise. But it’s also groundbreaking for its sexual explicitness, including wet kisses. Excellent soundtrack, too.

The big scene Any scene with lead actress Zeenat Aman: she is practically topless for most of the film.

54. Baahubali: The Beginning & Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2015, 2017)

Director: SS Rajamouli

Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah Batia, Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, Nassar

Genre: fantasy, action, musical

These Telugu-language blockbusters mark the zenith of the swords-and-sandal genre in India. Inspired by Hindu mythological works like the epic poem Mahabharata and the Amar Chitra Katha comic-book series, director SS Rajamouli’s two-part fantasy epic about a young man, Shivudu, who later discovers his name is Mahendra Baahubali – it’s complicated – offers some of the most spectacular Indian cinema ever made. Both films blend high fantasy and action with an almost Shakespearean sense of drama, resulting in a double bill that knows when to rein it in.

The big scene When Mahendra Baahubali’s father, Amarendra shows off his strength by lifting a gargantuan statue, preventing it from falling and killing people.

53. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962)

Director: Abrar Alvi

Cast: Meena Kumari, Rehman, Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman

‘Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam’ is a period film about the end of an era. Abrar Alvi’s adaptation of a Bengali novel by Bimal Mitra is about the stormy relationship between a rich, decadent business owner (Rehman), his lovelorn wife (Meena Kumari) and their young servant (Guru Dutt). It’s all told against the backdrop of the last days of the old system of zamindari (a way of collecting tax) in colonial, nineteenth-century Bengal. Shot with great sensitivity and innovation by Guru Dutt’s main man VK Murthy, ‘Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam’ is a more romantic twin to Satyajit Ray’s ‘Jalsaghar’.

The big scene A drunk Kumari pleads with her arrogant husband to stay and make love to her via the song ‘Na jao saiyan’ – a bold scene back then.

52. Tezaab (1988)

Director: N Chandra

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Anupam Kher

Actor Anil Kapoor followed his 1987 super-hit ‘Mr India’ with this film (the title means ‘Acid’) that gave actress Madhuri Dixit her breakout role, swept the box office and won four Filmfare awards (Bollywood’s equivalent to the Oscars). It tells of a criminal, Munna (Kapoor), trying to get himself back on the right side of the law while also attempting to rescue his love, Mohini (Dixit), from the grasp of her villainous father. It’s passionate and violent.

The big scene The song and video for ‘Ek Do Teen’ (‘One Two Three’) by composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal put actress and dance queen Dixit firmly on the Bollywood map.

51. Sangam (1964)

Cast: Raj Kapoor, Vyjayanthimala, Rajendra Kumar

This is cinema as love song. Two best friends from childhood, Sunder (Kapoor) and Gopal (Kumar) love the same girl, Radha (Vyjayanthimala). She marries Sunder, the one she doesn’t love, but then he goes missing at war. When Sunder returns, the discovery of an old love letter sows seeds of suspicion and friendships are tested. The standard love-triangle template is made exotic by Shankar-Jaikishan’s timeless music and Raj Kapoor’s love for foreign locales.

The big scene The accusatory song on piano – ‘Dost dost na raha’ (‘Friend did not remain a friend’) – is one of a kind in Hindi cinema (a man berating another man for trying to steal his woman), and the most intense point of the film.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 50-41

50. rockstar (2011).

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri, Aditi Rao Hydari

Genre: musical, romance, drama

Ranbir Kapoor embodied the film’s tortured, Jim Morrison-like protagonist Jordan so convincingly he had to keep reminding people that he wasn’t a real rock star. Jordan is one of Indian cinema’s most complex male characters. Mohit Chauhan’s soulful vocals and AR Rahman’s versatile score provide an unforgettable soundtrack with songs set in all kinds of locales. While the spiritual ‘Kun Faya Kun’ is performed at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Dargah, the mausoleum of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, other songs unfurl in the backdrop of Prague, Kashmir and more. Meanwhile, angst-ridden anthems like ‘Sadda Haq’ bring out the inner turmoil of the broken artist.

The big scene The heart-wrenching montage during the song ‘Nadaan Parindey’ as we see Jordan overcome with debilitating grief.

Ashanti Omkar

49. Main Hoon Na (2004)

Director: Farah Khan

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Sunil Shetty

Genre: comedy, drama

Army officer Ram (Khan) goes undercover as a university student for a mission that can broker peace between India and Pakistan. While stalking the villain, Ram also loses his heart to a chemistry professor. Main Hoon Na exists in a knowingly meta world where global superstar Shah Rukh Khan involuntarily bursts into song every time Miss Universe (Sen) glides by. The film dances that fine line between parody and celebration like no mainstream Hindi film before or since. It’s a celebration of all things filmi – family reunions, the redemptive power of love, fantasies played out in song – while also revelling in how ridiculous it can all be.

The big scene In front of a huge crowd, Ram saves the life of his younger brother, who’s about to fall to his death from the roof of the university. One onlooker nicknames him ‘Rambo’.

48. Queen (2014)

Director: Vikas Bahl

Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Rajkummar Rao, Lisa Haydon

A fiercely original filmmaking style and a novel plot made ‘Queen’ stand apart from all other 2014 releases, helping it to emerge as a critical and box-office hit. In a career-defining performance, Kangana Ranaut stars as Rani, a sheltered small-town girl who decides to go solo on her honeymoon to Europe after she’s jilted at the altar. Writer-director Vikas Bahl displays a strong flair for capturing human behaviour and peppers a simple story with lovable characters and witty dialogue.

The big scene Rani’s former beau begs her to return, but she simply thanks him for cancelling their wedding and thereby allowing her to discover herself.

47. Mera Naam Joker (1970)

Cast: Raj Kapoor, Simi Garewal, Rishi Kapoor

Genre: romance, biopic

Director-star Raj Kapoor’s semi-autobiographical magnum opus is four hours of self-loathing angst, which crashed at the box office and almost bankrupted the director-actor. A sad clown, Raju (Kapoor), invites the women he loved and lost in his life to his last ever performance. Told in three ‘chapters’, this overlong film is awash with iffy symbolism about the meaning of life, exhibits a questionable attitude towards women and is burdened with a mother-fixation subplot. But for all its flaws, this is no-holds-barred epic filmmaking with a moving soundtrack.

The big scene Raju’s mother collapses and dies just as he’s about to perform – but the show must go on.

46. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)

Director: Karan Johar

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukerji

Genre: romance, musical

Director Karan Johar began his association with Shah Rukh Khan with this romantic drama partly inspired by the Archie-Veronica-Betty trio in the American Archie comics. Rahul (Khan) and Anjali (Kajol) are best friends studying in the same college, but the tomboyish Anjali is threatened by the arrival of Tina (Mukerji). Years later, widower Rahul reconnects with Anjali. The film was a runaway hit, best remembered for Khan and Kajol’s sizzling chemistry and Jatin-Lalit’s music.

The big scene Anjali is unaware that one of her students, also named Anjali, is actually Rahul and Tina’s daughter. Then she watches Rahul on TV, who sends out a message about how much he misses ‘Anjali’.

45. Velu Nayakan (1999)

Director: Mani Ratnam

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Saranya, Nasser

Genre: crime, thriller

‘Nayakan’, the original, 1987 Tamil version of this film, was dubbed into Hindi in 1999 to become ‘Velu Nayakan’. An epic crime movie, it’s loosely based on the life of Varadarajan Mudaliar (here becoming Velu Nayakan, played by Haasan), a real mafia slumlord in Bombay, and also explores the struggle of south Indians living in the city. It drew inspiration from Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Godfather’. The song ‘Thenpandi cheemaiyile’ tops a much-admired soundtrack by veteran Indian film composer Ilaiyaraaja, who has now scored over 1000 films in his career.

The big scene You’re bound to feel an emotional tug every time you hear the song ‘Sitam Ki Andhi’ (‘Who has hit you?’) sung by Bollywood stalwart Hariharan.

44. Enthiran: The Robot (2010)

Mononymous superstar Rajinikanth has a cult fanbase all across Asia, including Japan, and has over 160 films under his belt. Enthiran and its sequel are the most famous of his pan-Indian films and have been dubbed into several languages. Scientist Vaseegaran (Rajinikanth) creates a humanoid robot called Chitti (also played by Rajinikanth) for the Indian army, only for it to go rogue. Director S Shankar throws in copious amounts of CGI to bring Chitti to life in a splurge of mind-blowing weaponry. The two films delve into the moral ethics of artificial intelligence, with bonkers action pieces that suit a gargantuan star like Rajinikanth.

43. Maine Pyar Kiya (1989)

Director: Sooraj Barjatya

Cast: Salman Khan, Bhagyashree, Alok Nath

Prem (Khan), a boy from a wealthy family, pursues forbidden love with working-class girl Suman (Bhagyashree). So far, so Bollywood, but ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ managed simultaneously to kickstart megastar Salman Khan’s career, cement director Sooraj Barjatya’s box-office clout and redefine romance and friendship in Bollywood in a way that wasn’t bettered for years. Released in a decade signified by violent masala flicks, this family-friendly film with an evergreen soundtrack and iconic dialogue was immediately and widely admired.

The big scene When Prem and Suman attend a party and their boy-girl friendship is mocked, Prem stands up for Suman’s honour and they fall in love. Obviously.

42. Khakee (2004)

Director: Rajkumar Santoshi

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn

Genre: drama, action, thriller

Amitabh Bachchan broke onto the scene with the role of angst-ridden cop Vijay in Zanjeer (1973). Khakee – its title alludes to the Indian police uniform – explores what would have happened to its broken hero after three decades. Yet again named Vijay, Bacchan’s protagonist is a by-the-books policeman who gets entangled in an operation to transfer a high-profile terrorist, until a rogue ex-cop becomes a thorn in their side. The ensuing cross-country trip from a village to Mumbai makes Khakee quite an adrenaline-fueled ride, a cut above the standard Bollywood cop thriller.

The big scene Bachchan berates another cop for being a puppet of the establishment. It’s exactly the kind of monologue we’ve come to associate with the actor over the years.

41. The Lunchbox (2013)

Director: Ritesh Batra

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Genre: romance, drama, comedy

Ritesh Batra’s BAFTA-nominated slice-of-life drama turned out to be India’s most popular recent export, winning rave reviews at Cannes followed by a wide release in the US, where the film ended up among the highest-grossing foreign-language films of the year. Simply structured yet purposeful, The Lunchbox focuses on the lives of two lonely individuals, Saajan (Khan) and Ila (Kaur). Both jostle for some peace amid the chaos of Mumbai, as they share notes through a tiffin box delivered back and forth.

The big scene Saajan is invited to dinner by his lowly colleague Shaikh (Siddiqui), and he bonds with Shaikh and his girlfriend.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 40-31

40. dil se.. (1998).

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta

Dil Se was acclaimed south Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s big plunge into Hindi films, achieved by teaming up with Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan. A commercial failure at the time, this story of a Delhi journalist falling in love with a terrorist has gained popularity in the years since. Ratnam’s interest in political headlines may have clashed with Khan’s lover-boy image at the time, but Dil Se allowed him to take on more experimental projects.

The big scene: Ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan shot Khan and Malaika Arora on top of a moving train dancing to AR Rahman’s ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’, a song that would go on to become a national hit and even play in the opening minutes of Spike Lee’s Inside Man .

39. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham… (2001)

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan

Genre: melodrama, romance, musical

‘It’s all about loving your parents,’ screamed the trailer for ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…’, a film that piled on the mush in true Karan Johar (‘My Name is Khan’) style. Here, Johar brought together a dream cast to play a fractured family. Billionaire Yashvardhan (Bachchan) is an authoritarian who banishes his adopted son Rahul (Khan) for marrying a woman against his wishes. Years later, Raj’s brother Rohan (Roshan) strives to bring the family together. Boasting opulent production design, lavish musical set pieces and an orgy of superstars, ‘K3G’ (as the film came to be known) is guilty-pleasure Bollywood at its best.

The big scene Rahul and Rohan reunite after several years. Sat on a park bench, Rahul asks Rohan questions about things they had talked about when Rohan was just a kid.

38. Jodhaa Akbar (2008)

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonu Sood

Genre: historical, romance, drama

This story of real-life Mughal emperor Akbar (Roshan) and his Hindu wife Jodhaa (Bachchan) doesn’t exactly follow the facts. But when artistic license is exercised so beautifully, who cares? Ashutosh Gowariker, director of the Oscar-nominated ‘Lagaan’, executes a perfect balance of spectacle, performances, ideas and story, never sacrificing the entertainment factor and allowing us to bask in the costumes and production design. He drenches his always-timely message of respect for all faiths in immeasurable imperial pomp.

The big scene A sizzling sword fight between the emperor and the princess, a woman with serious physical presence who refuses to bow her head.

37. Ghajini (2008)

Director: AR Murugadoss

Cast: Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Khan

Borrowing stylistic elements from Christopher Nolan’s Memento , this over-the-top thriller leans heavily on its main character’s short-term memory loss. Sanjay (Aamir Khan) is a leading Indian businessman, while Kalpana (Asin), a model, brags to everyone that she is Sanjay’s girl even though they’ve never met. When Sanjay discovers this, he decides to confront her but soon falls in love. Kalpana, however, runs afoul of a local crime lord, and Sanjay is determined to avenge her death. Ghajini was an enormous hit in India, with Aamir Khan’s eight-pack transformation setting the template for more jacked-up Bollywood heroes.

The big scene Sanjay is attacked by gangsters and suffers short-term amnesia. He tattoos memory prompts all over his body. Heard that somewhere before?

36. Kaala Patthar (1979)

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Shatrugan Sinha

Genre: action, crime, thriller, historical

The common man’s exploitation by greedy industrialists lies at the centre of Kaala Patthar , which loosely references the 1975 Chasnala disaster in which 375 miners drowned. Amitabh Bachchan plays sullen loner Vijay (a common name in his filmography), a disgraced naval officer who abandoned a sinking ship. Shashi Kapoor is clean-cut engineer Ravi, and Shatrugan Sinha is escaped convict Mangal. Despite Ravi’s protests, the mine owner sacrifices safety for profit. But when the mine is flooded, the trio unite. Kaala Patthar proudly wears its proletarian heart on its sleeve.

The big scene When the mine siren sounds, the entire workforce and surrounding village rush to help. It’s a striking symbol of the power of the collective over the individual.

35. Chak De! India (2007)

Director: Shimit Amin

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Shilpa Shukla, Vidya Malvade

Genre: sports, drama, musical

Between the clever gangster movie Ab Tak Chhappan (2004) and the grossly underrated Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year (2009), director Shimit Amin teamed up with writer Jaideep Sahni to give us this evergreen sports drama. The film narrates the story of a disgraced ex-India hockey player (Khan) who coaches the women’s team to World Cup glory. While sticking to the underdog-overcomes-obstacles template, Amin and Sahni deftly weave in themes of cultural diversity, religious difference and feminism.

The big scene The girls’ team goes up against the boys’ national team, winning the respect of the opposing team and the selectors.

34. Ek Tha Tiger (2012)

Director: Kabir Khan

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ranvir Shorey

Genre: action, romance

Salman Khan adds a dash of cosmopolitan sophistication to his usual machismo with this cross-border love story disguised as an espionage thriller. Khan plays an Indian agent codenamed Tiger who goes against protocol after he falls for a Pakistani agent (Kaif). As Tiger, Khan adheres to the muscle-man template, but he also struggles over questions of loyalty to his lady or his country – a complexity not always afforded to India’s defenders. Ek Tha Tiger ’s success spawned profitable sequels and numerous spin-offs and companion thrillers, creating Bollywood’s so-called Spy Cinematic Universe.

The big scene Tiger crashes through Dublin’s public transport system – a proud addition to the tradition of Bollywood heroes wreaking havoc in foreign locations.

33. Ankur (1974)

Cast: Shabana Azmi, Anant Nag

‘Ankur’ is the film that kickstarted an ‘arty-indie’ parallel film movement in Hindi cinema in the 1970s and early ’80s. Shyam Benegal’s directorial debut introduces Shabana Azmi (‘India’s Meryl Streep’) as Laxmi, the servant-wife of a deaf and dumb untouchable potter. Laxmi falls pregnant by bored middle-class student Surya (Nag) at his family’s holiday farmhouse. The rest of this admirable and realistic film explores the fallout from these events and bravely adopts a strong feminist stance. Gritty and political, this is an elegiac and essential rural melodrama.

The big scene The film’s final sequence: a young boy throws a brick at the landlord’s house, suggesting that the unfair social order may soon change, even violently.

32. Gol Maal (1979)

Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Cast: Amol Palekar, Utpal Dutt, Bindiya Goswami, Dina Pathak

Genre: comedy

At least two generations of Indians will count this as the best homegrown comedy ever made, and with good reason. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s immensely well-crafted comedy of mistaken identities has Ramprasad (Amol Palekar) doubling up as his non-existent twin brother and wearing a fake moustache, just to convince his idealistic boss Bhavani (Utpal Dutt) that it wasn’t him slacking off work and enjoying a sports match. Throw in a couple of fake mums, the boss’s daughter who is in love with the other ‘brother’, a drunk Keshto Mukherjee and screenwriter Rahi Masoom Raza’s memorable dialogue, and this is a delightfully chaotic comedy for all seasons.

The big scene The moment when Bhavani finally realises Ramprasad’s lie while he is gorging on parathas approaches comedy nirvana.

31. Barfi! (2012)

Director: Anurag Basu

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra

Genre: adventure, comedy, romance

A word-of-mouth success, Barfi! observes the magical relationship between an autistic woman, Jhilmil (Chopra), and a deaf-mute guy, Barfi (Kapoor). The film has the air of a fairytale, and Kapoor’s twinkly-eyed, vividly expressive performance as the title character evokes Charlie Chaplin as well as his own grandfather, Raj Kapoor. Barfi! announced Kapoor as a credible actor and rising superstar rather than just a lover boy archetype.

The big scene The song ‘Kyon’ sees mellow acoustic guitar accompany Barfi’s attempts to move on from the fairytale world of the film. Wherever Barfi turns, however, Jhilmil follows, and it dawns on him that she’s the one. The magical realism returns as the lush green landscape glows in approval.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 30-21

30. prem rog (1982).

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Padmini Kolhapure

Raj Kapoor tackles the controversial subject of widows remarrying with this stark critique of old-fashioned family and tenancy structures, all framed within a big, commercial movie. It’s held together by teenage actress Padmini Kolhapure, who is utterly convincing and sympathetic as the unlucky bride who discovers the true meaning of love. There are rough edges to ‘Prem Rog’ and some hammy acting, but ultimately its liberal and progressive stance wins you over.

The big scene A climax sees a widow who dared to love about to be executed by being burnt alive on a cross.

29. Anand (1971)

Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Johnny Walker

Genre: drama, tragedy, musical

Regarded by many as the first superstar of Bollywood, Rajesh Khanna plays the title character, whose days are numbered after he’s diagnosed with cancer. Anand delves into his relationship with his doctor, Bhaskar, played by a young Amitabh Bachchan. Anand’s positive outlook on life and playful demeanour offer lessons to those around him, even as Bhaskar, a more serious man, struggles with his inability to reverse Anand’s medical condition. The impeccable acting aside, the film is memorable for Salil Chowdhury’s score.

The big scene Bhaskar cries over Anand’s body, hysterically demanding that his dead friend speak again, when a voice recording left behind by Anand starts to play.

28. Silsila (1981)

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha

Yash Chopra’s most infamous film is based on the alleged real-life affair between Bollywood’s biggest star, Amitabh Bachchan, and the ultimate diva, actress Rekha. Outrageously, Bachchan persuaded his actress wife, Jaya, to come out of retirement to play his screen wife and his alleged mistress, Rekha, to act in this silly film as his screen mistress. Chopra’s attempt to romanticise adultery via tuneful songs results in a somewhat sleazy film with a traditional cop-out ending. Today, it’s regarded as a flawed cult classic due to its controversial casting and tuneful soundtrack.

The big scene When real/reel wife and real/reel mistress meet in a highly-charged confrontational scene and both agree to fight for their man.

27. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)

Director: Zoya Akhtar

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar

Genre: comedy, adventure, drama, road movie

With a title translating to ‘you only live once’, this buddy-road-comedy-meets-midlife-crisis-drama finds three friends embarking on a bachelor trip in Spain: Arjun (Roshan) is a workaholic; Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) is a casanova writer who wants to track down his biological father; and Kabir (Deol) is unsure about his upcoming wedding. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had a message for middle-class Indians living the new liberal dream with well-paid jobs: it’s OK not to conform or experience a happily-ever-after romance.

The big scene As the friends do Pamplona’s bull run – in slow motion – there’s a voiceover of Akhtar’s character, Imraan, reciting a poem about being free. The poem is written by Akhtar’s screenwriter father, Javed ( Sholay , Deewar ).

26. Shaan (1980)

Director: Ramesh Sippy

Cast: Amitabh Bachhan, Shashi Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda

Genre: action, comedy, thriller

Ramesh Sippy’s follow-up to his career-defining Sholay (1975) rode in on high expectations and left many viewers underwhelmed. But this story of two con-men (Bachhan and Kapoor) mending their ways and collaborating with a sharpshooter (Shatrughan Sinha) to avenge the death of their cop brother at the hands of the dreaded Bond-villain-esque Shakaal (Kharbanda, in a stunning debut) has aged very well. The cons are very original and the scale of the film extravagantly ambitious.

The big scene The first image of Shakaal with his shiny, bald head and his punishment aquarium full of crocodiles and sharks sticks long in the memory.

25. Parinda (1989)

Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Cast: Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar

Genre: crime, drama, romance

The quintessential Bollywood crime film, Parinda tells of street-kid brothers Kishen (Shroff) and Karan (Kapoor). When Karan returns after completing his education overseas, he realises his brother has become a gangster working for Anna (Patekar). Boasting some fine editing by the late Renu Saluja and stellar sound design, the film earned acclaim for director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s neo-noir treatment, and all-around brilliant acting. Chopra later remade Parinda in Hollywood with Vincent D’Onofrio and Anton Yelchin, but nothing beats the original.

The big scene Karan meets his childhood friend, police officer Prakash, at a kabutarkhana (pigeon house), where the latter is gunned down by Anna’s henchmen. A shattered Karan is left holding his best friend’s lifeless, bullet-ridden body.

24. Jab We Met (2007)

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Dara Singh

Genre: romance, musical, comedy

A winning second film from Imtiaz Ali ( Rockstar ), Jab We Met is the definitive romantic comedy of the 2000s. Genuinely funny and heartwarming, it starts out as the classic story of the lost manchild, Aditya (Shahid Kapoor), encountering the female embodiment of joie de vivre, Geet (Kareena Kapoor), whose effervescent outlook changes his life. But before you can shout ‘manic pixie dream girl’, their roles are reversed, with Geet’s heartbreak and subsequent descent into depression tended to by the newly go-getting Aditya. In effect, he must bring back to her the joy and zest she bequeathed to him.

The big scene As Geet prepares to run away from home and reunite with her secret lover, Aditya asks her why she’s playing with her life like this. ‘Because it’s my favourite game!’ she gleefully replies.

23. Shree 420 (1955)

Cast: Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Nadira, Nemo

Lead actor and director Raj Kapoor modelled his on-screen persona in Shree 420 and other films after Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp. Here, he plays a vagabond who arrives in Bombay to earn a living and later falls in love with Vidya (Nargis). Raj’s desire to make quick money, however, leads him to join forces with corrupt businessman Dharmanand (Nemo) and his associate, the temptress Maya (Nadira). The film reflected a general state of unrest among unemployed youth and an increasing class divide in the country at the time. It’s no surprise that Kapoor’s working-class films like this gem made him a sensation in the Soviet Union.

The big scene Raj is lured to a party by Maya (her name translates to desire), with the song ‘Mudh Mudh Ke Na Dekh’ (‘Don’t Look Back’), as Vidya (which means education) cries outside the venue.

22. Om Shanti Om (2007)

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal

Genre: satire, romance, musical

A runaway hit on release, Om Shanti Om achieved what other similar films before it had tried and largely failed to do: to satirise the idiosyncrasies of the Hindi film industry. This love letter to the Golden Age of Bollywood offers enough homages while wearing the garb of a clichéd reincarnation story. Om (Khan) is a junior artist in love with superstar Shanti (Padukone) in the 1970s. Shanti, though, is in love with a wily producer, Mukesh Mehra (Rampal), who has her killed. In the present day, Om is now a superstar out to exact revenge on Mehra, now settled in Hollywood.

The big scene The film’s climactic scene borrowed from Bimal Roy’s 1958 classic, Madhumati , and sees Shanti’s spirit return to help Om exact revenge from Mehra.

21. Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Akshay Kumar

This musical romance and box-office hit explores the love lives of dancers in a musical troupe. There’s Rahul (Khan), who does not understand how two people can fall in love. Pooja (Dixit) believes in the idea of soulmates and lives by the statement that ‘someone, somewhere is made for you’. Lastly, we have Nisha and her belief that love starts as friendship and two good friends have the potential to love one another right to the end. ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ is remembered as one of the late Yash Chopra’s best.

The big scene Rahul and Pooja finally confess their feelings for each other in front of a large audience in a climactic scene guaranteed to bring audiences to tears. After all, ‘dil to pagal hai’ (‘the heart is crazy’), right?

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 20-11

20. awaara (1951).

Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Nargis

Genre: family courtroom drama

Known as The Show Man, Raj Kapoor’s most famous film is a grand Oedipal melodrama exploring the nature-versus-nurture debate. Will a bandit’s son always end up a criminal? ‘Awara’ explores class division in newly independent India, which excludes the film’s lowly ‘tramp’ hero, Raj (Raj Kapoor), at every point. Its surprise success outside India – especially in the USSR, Africa, China, Greece and the West Indies – was directly responsible for introducing the world to mainstream Hindi cinema.

The big scene The nine-minute dance number, ‘Ghar Aya Mera Pardesi’ (‘My lover has come home’), sung by Lata Mangeshkar, is a dream sequence famous for its elaborate sets.

19. Andaz Apna Apna (1994)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Raveena Tandon

Genre: comedy, romance, musical

Rajkumar Santoshi’s Andaz Apna Apna brought together two young, up-and-coming superstars, but the resulting film was a box-office failure. Its cult has grown over the years, spawning fan clubs and websites and ensuring record television ratings time after time. Amar (Aamir Khan) and Prem (Salman Khan) are wastrels who both want to marry a rich heiress, but they become involved in a feud involving warring twin brothers and a ridiculously over-the-top villain with a Salvador Dali moustache, Crime Master Gogo (Shakti Kapoor).

The big scene The film’s extended climax, during which all the characters fight over a bag of diamonds in a warehouse, boasts immense repeat value.

18. Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

Director: Farhan Akhtar

Cast: Aamir Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan

Genre: coming-of-age, drama, romance

Before the dawn of India’s urban multiplex culture in the mid-2000s, director Farhan Akhtar made his debut with this coming-of-age tale about three Mumbai boys whose language reflected how regular people talked – a refreshing change from other Bollywood films of the time. Akhtar has never been able to better his first film, but with ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ he ushered in a style of storytelling that was new to Indian audiences, where everything from the dialogue and design to the music was subtle and realistic.

The big scene During the song ‘Tanhayee’, the Melbourne skyline whizzes by Aamir Khan, who is far from home and desolate after learning about the marriage of his lover to another man.

17. Satya (1998)

Director: Ram Gopal Varma

Cast: JD Chakravarty, Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpai

Satya was among a slew of gritty gangster dramas that hit screens in the late ’90s, and director Ram Gopal Varma was a trailblazer in the genre. The film tells of Satya (Chakravarty), who is unwittingly sucked into the world of Mumbai crime. What sets Satya apart from other gangster films is the realistic portrayal of the criminals’ daily lives and Varma’s unrestrained, gloomy treatment of the subject. It’s considered his magnum opus by many.

The big scene Satya pleads with his lover to open her door, while outside the police are trying to kill him. There’s love and escape on one side of the door, violence and despair on the other.

16. Mr India (1987)

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Amrish Puri

Genre: sci-fi, action, romcom

Shekhar ‘Elizabeth’ Kapur’s most famous Bollywood film. Arun (Kapoor) becomes the invisible superhero Mr India, who uses his power to fight the evil Mogambo (Puri) who is intent on taking over the world. Stuffed with as many masala ingredients as possible, this is pure camp nonsense. But it’s told in such a cheeky kitsch way that the viewer surrenders to its sheer energy. ‘Mr India’ is huge fun, especially Mogambo’s catchphrase ‘Mogambo Khush Hua’ (‘Mogambo is happy’) which became a national craze.

The big scene The ‘Kaate Nahin Kat Te’ song is regarded as perhaps the definitive sexy ‘wet sari’ song sequence in the history of Bollywood.

15. Bombay (1995)

Cast: Arvind Swamy, Manisha Koirala

Genre: romance, drama, tragedy

This poignant film covers one of the darkest periods in India’s contemporary history: the 1992 and 1993 Mumbai riots. A love story about star-crossed lovers from different faiths who elope to what was then called Bombay to start a family, it proved so controversial on its release in 1995 that director Mani Ratnam’s house was bombed by extremists. Nevertheless, its heart, moral standing and cry for peace in India resonated, and Bombay became a critical and commercial success.

The big scene The sweeping love song ‘Tu Hi Re’, sung by Hariharan and Kavita Krishnamurthy – and composed by AR Rahman, the man behind the music of Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours – soundtracks a moment of pure passion between the film’s central couple. It’s widely considered to be one of Indian cinema’s most romantic scenes.

14. Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959)

Cast: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Johnny Walker

Genre: drama, romance, tragedy

In a bizarre case of life imitating the movies, actor-director Guru Dutt died in an apartment in 1964 after allegedly consuming a concoction of sleeping pills and alcohol: his unsuccessful relationship with actor Waheeda Rehman was said to be one of the things that caused him to fall into depression. Six years earlier, Dutt made ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’, in which he played a director who falls in love with a film actress (played by Rehman). The film ended with Dutt’s character – a dejected filmmaker – dying in his chair at a film studio.

The big scene The song sequence ‘Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam’, stunningly shot by cinematographer VK Murthy, sees Dutt and Rehman’s characters regretting the decisions they’ve made in life.

13. 3 Idiots (2009)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor

Genre: Comedy, drama, family

‘3 Idiots’ charts the japes and scrapes of three students at India’s top engineering university (the film was shot in Bangalore). Along the way, this coming-of-age comedy addresses ‘ragging’ (initiation rituals), the intense pressure to excel in education, student suicide and the tension between the ambitions of students and their parents. ‘3 Idiots’ was a huge hit and confirmed Aamir Khan as the master of balancing good old-fashioned family entertainment with meaningful messages.

The big scene The film’s catchphrase, ‘All is well’, is still part of everyday language in India.

12. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983)

Director: Kundan Shah

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Pankaj Kapur

Genre: satire, comedy, drama

Loosely inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film ‘Blow-Up’, ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’ (‘Who Pays the Piper’) tells of two Mumbai photographers, Vinod (Shah) and Sudhir (Baswani), who unwittingly take a picture of a corrupt businessman (Kapur) killing a government official. The two discover the dead body and fight to ensure that it doesn’t end up in the hands of a motley group – the killer, his competitor, his two associates and a journalist, all of whom have vested interests in the case.

The big scene The epic climax, in which all the characters become part of a staging of Mahabharata, is widely considered to be the best comic scene ever shot in a Hindi film.

11. RRR (2022)

Director : SS Rajamouli

Cast : NT Rama Rao Jr, Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Ray Stevenson, Alison Doody

Believe it or not, this massive Telugu-language action extravaganza and even bigger box-office hit is actually based on two real-life historical figures during the British rule in India. Director SS Rajamouli does give their lives a fully fictionalised and highly bombastic skew, imbuing the men with superhuman powers, fighting against and with a myriad of CG animals, as well as the evil Brits, and throws in some musical bangers and some top-notch dance choreography for good measure. The film’s musical highlight ‘Naatu Naatu’ swept at the awards, taking home the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. The story revolves around tribal leader Komaram Bheem (NT Rama Rao Jr), the protector of a village and its children, and his bromance with A Rama Raju (Ram Charan), a policeman with a hidden identity. They work together to save Malli, the daughter of Loki – not the God of Mischief, but a tribal Indian mum – who is forcefully taken from a forest as a trophy for a colonial wife and her brutal husband, the governor of the district. Cue, well, total mayhem.

The big scene Just when a colossal battle at the British colonial headquarters seems to have capped out for explosions, fights and all-round chaos, someone turns up with a truck full of ferocious wild animals.

The 100 best Bollywood movies: top ten

10. amar akbar anthony (1977).

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor

Genre: drama, comedy, musical

The escapist formula honed by director Manmohan Desai (‘Dharam Veer’, Roti’) peaked with this late 1970s film about three brothers – each named in the title – separated at birth. Brimming with clichés and implausible situations, ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ set the commercial template that many modern Bollywood filmmakers continue to follow. Thirty-five-year-old Amitabh Bachchan, the film’s star, defied his Angry Young Man image – created by a string of sombre action dramas – with his largely comical role.

The big scene The three characters enter a villain’s den in disguise to rescue their respective loves, at the same time singing the film’s title track, each of their names signifying the religion in which each was raised – Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.

9. Pakeezah (1972)

Director: Kamal Amrohi

Cast: Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar

Genre: historical romance

Lucknow, 1900. Sahibjaan (Kumari) is a ‘dancing girl’ who marries the respectable Salim (R Kumar), despite his dad’s disapproval. Sahibjaan soon considers herself unworthy of her husband and runs away. Will the lovers be reunited and will the ‘respectable society’ accept them? Fifteen years in the making – not helped by personal differences between the director and his leading lady, also his wife – Pakeezah offers an evocative soundtrack that is weaved seamlessly into the story, creating perhaps the most magical, lyrical portrayal of idealised erotic romance seen on the Indian screen. The title itself translates to ‘Pure’.

The big scene When Salim sees the exposed feet of the sleeping, covered Sahibjaan, he is immediately smitten.

8. Lagaan (2001)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh

Genre: adventure, drama, sport, historical

Set in the 19th century, Lagaan sees a drought-struck village unite, learn to play cricket and take on their cruel imperial rulers. The combination of cricket and colonialism seems like a no-brainer on paper and initially, nobody would touch this script with a bat. Then star Aamir Khan took the lead role and its critical and box office success ushered in a new era of alternative subject matter and varied storytelling. Lagaan is, thus far, the last mainstream Hindi film to be nominated for Best International Feature at the Oscars.

The big scene The climactic cricket match saw audiences cheering on the villagers. The sports movie had arrived in Bollywood and Chak De! India , Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Khan’s own Dangal later followed in the trailblazing wake of Lagaan .

7. Deewaar (1975)

Cast: Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Neetu Singh

Genre: Action, thriller, crime

Evoking ‘Mother India’ with its story of a good son pitched against a bad one and a mother caught between them, ‘Deewaar’ places an anti-hero centrestage. Amitabh Bachchan excels as the simmering Vijay, who turns to criminality to provide for his mum, while brother Ravi (Kapoor) becomes a cop. Inevitably, their paths must cross. ‘Deewaar’ was Bachchan’s first step on the road to mega-stardom and it epitomises his status as the bristling, angry young man railing against all around him.

The big scene Inspector Ravi faces down gangster Vijay in his elder brother’s grand, ill-gotten house and declares that as long as Vijay is a criminal there is a ‘deewaar’ (wall) between them, and that their mum must choose between the two.

6. Guide (1965)

Cast: Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Leela Chitnis

Director Vijay Anand adapts RK Narayan’s English-language novel into a sprawling drama. ‘Guide’ tells of a man, Raju, who transforms from a tour guide in his youth into a great holy man later in life. The film is considered ahead of its time for showing its protagonists, Raju (Anand) and Rosie (Rehman), having an extra-marital affair, and also for presenting its lead character as an unscrupulous scumbag. Both were deeply unusual in a Hindi film of the time.

The big scene Raju has an epiphany on his deathbed – a spiritual awakening where he realises that even though the body dies, the soul will never fade away.

5. Pyaasa (1957)

Cast: Guru Dutt, Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman

Filmmaker Guru Dutt, known for bringing tragic stories to celluloid, plays Vijay, a struggling writer whose two best friends happen to be a streetwalker and a masseuse. Vijay tries unsuccessfully to get his book of poems published and is later believed to have died in a train accident. A cunning publisher prints the book and makes a killing. Maestro composer SD Burman provides a stellar soundtrack, memorable for Sahir Ludhianvi’s poetic verses. With ‘Pyaasa’, Dutt established himself as a filmmaker who could effectively depict the reality of the world around him.

The big scene When Vijay ‘returns from the dead’ at his own memorial. Dutt’s silhouette, with the flash of light around him flooding the dark auditorium, sticks in the memory.

4. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)

Director: Aditya Chopra

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Amrish Puri

Genre: romance, comedy, family

Familiar themes of personal choice versus family responsibility, and of forbidden love, are remixed for the 1990s in this epic, era-defining romance. In London, Raj (Khan) is an immature young man, while straight-laced Simran (Kajol) is all set for a marriage arranged by her domineering father. She goes InterRailing in Europe, meets Raj and they fall in love against the backdrop of Swiss mountains. The popularity of the film (the title translates as ‘The brave-hearted will take away the bride’) is reflected in the fact that it has screened daily in Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir cinema for 19 years and counting. This ultimate romance also raised the bar impossibly high for guys chasing girls.

The big scene The hit song ‘Tujhe Dekha To…’ sees Simran and Raj reunited in Punjab’s rolling fields, and its lingering gazes and passionate embraces are old school Bollywood at its finest. Raj’s line – ‘Senorita bade bade desho me aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti’ (‘Senorita, don’t get stressed by the little things’) – has crossed into daily usage. Indeed, no less a figure than Barack Obama quoted it during his inaugural visit to India in 2015.

3. Mother India (1957)

Director: Mehboob Khan

Cast: Nargis, Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt

The first Hindi film to be nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film at the Oscars, this is a heartbreaking story of the complexities of rural farming in newly independent India and the exploitation of farmers by their feudal landlords. It follows the hardships faced by Radha (Nargis), a village mother of three sons who is abandoned by her husband and forced to toil the paddy fields to survive. The film entrenched the idea of the pure, self-sacrificing mother figure as synonymous with the notion of an idealised Indian (Hindu) nation.

The big scene When Radha’s rebellious son Birju (Dutt) shoots the lecherous evil landlord and kidnaps his daughter, she must take matters into her own hands to restore order.

2. Mughal-e-Azam (1960)

Director: K Asif

Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala

Translated as ‘Emperor of the Mughals’ and set in the late sixteenth century in India’s Mughal period, this is the doomed story of Prince Saleem (Kumar), son of the ruling Emperor Akbar (Kapoor), who falls in love with dancing slave girl Anarkali (Madhubala). This is true epic filmmaking, with magnificent sets, huge battle scenes with hundreds of real elephants, elaborate costumes, an evergreen score and naturalistic acting. It remains a gorgeous evocation of a bygone era, and was one of the rare occasions when a film of the ‘Muslim social’ genre (i.e. interested in Muslim people and culture) became a blockbuster in Hindu-centric India.

The big scene This mostly black-and-white film suddenly bursts into colour when the classic ‘I have loved, so what is there to fear?’ confrontational dance number begins.

1. Sholay (1975)

Cast: Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan

Genre: action, thriller, western

This cult masala western sees escaped convicts Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Bachchan) defend a village terrorised by bandits led by the maniacal Gabbar Singh (Khan). ‘Sholay’ has it all – epic dishum-dishum fight scenes, bromance, humour, memorable songs, plot twists, thrilling dance sequences and sparkling performances. The haunting score and Bollywood’s baddest villain are the icing on a rollicking, all-action cake.

The big scene Three bandits return from a raid empty-handed to face Gabbar’s ire: miraculously they survive trial by half-loaded gun (six chambers, three bullets) and Gabbar laughs hysterically. His men join in and there’s a collective relief-filled exhale – then Gabbar shoots them anyway. The threat of a visit from Gabbar Singh has been used by parents to get kids to bed on time ever since.

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The 5 Best Indian Films of 2022 That Weren’t RRR

One of the year’s biggest entertainment stories was RRR — or Rise. Roar. Revolt. — S.S. Rajamouli’s enrapturing Tollywood epic, which has broken through a western barrier that seemed impenetrable for Indian films, becoming a critical and commercial hit. A quintessential theatrical experience between its audacious dance number and raucous scenes of animal mauling, the Telugu-language period musical has also found global success online following its surprise streaming release in May via its Hindi dub on Netflix (and, to a lesser degree, its original version on the Indian streaming service Zee5 ). For many viewers outside South Asia, it was their first experience with an Indian movie of any kind, potentially opening the door to a wider exploration of the world’s largest film industry.

India’s nearly 2,000 annual productions are spread across several regional and language-specific subindustries. The Hindi-language Bollywood was the unprecedented financial leader until recently , when it was overtaken by industries in the nation’s south thanks in part to the dual Telugu and Tamil releases of Rajamouli’s own Baahubali duology (also available on Netflix ). But while RRR typifies what some of the Indian mainstream has on tap — violent bombast, banger tunes, emotional sincerity, and sometimes-uncomfortable jingoism — this year has played host to a wide variety of great Indian pictures. Some play in the same sandbox as RRR , though they express their splendor and action in different modes. Others depart significantly in their style and politics, acting almost as counterweights to the perception of Indian films in the West as colorful, spectacle-first musical melodramas.

Of course, none of these movies were made with the express intent of changing that perception (even RRR wasn’t created with western viewers in mind), but since the curiosity now exists, a quick scroll through your chosen streaming service will likely turn up a litany of Indian movies you may not have noticed before. Five of the year’s best are now streaming on various platforms, and they each represent wildly different facets of Indian filmmaking from ongoing independent movements to mainstream sister industries with their own lengthy histories of stars and styles.

Director: Lokesh Kanagaraj Language: Tamil

Vikram is a prime example of how even star-driven, over-the-top extravaganzas can feel nothing like RRR . The second entry in director Lokesh Kanagaraj’s shared black-ops universe — though you don’t need to have seen predecessor Kaithi to keep up — it’s a seedy action spectacle led by 68-year-old superstar Kamal Haasan, who plays an intriguing dual role of sorts (the less revealed beforehand, the better). With his signature buttery-smooth bravado in tow, he leads a string of conceptually original action scenes that explode Vikram ’s crime-drama plot from within.

Haasan’s mysterious character crosses paths with black-ops officer Agent Amar (Fahadh Faasil), whose covert unit skirts the law in pursuit of drug kingpin Sandhanam (played by Vijay Sethupathi, one of the world’s most magnetic character actors in an especially zany role). However, this seemingly straightforward genre romp collides headfirst with a parallel tale of a masked, militarized cult seeking to wipe out corruption before all hell breaks loose in a series of tightly wound, white-knuckle set pieces. Cinematographer Girish Gangadharan’s camera crafts a lurid atmosphere as it follows each man down dark corridors and murky moral paths in one of the most ludicrously enjoyable movies of 2022.

Gangubai Kathiawadi

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali Language: Hindi

Starring Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn (who also appear in RRR ), Gangubai Kathiawadi is the latest period musical from the purveyor of modern Bollywood’s most visually intoxicating works, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose stylized expressionism lends credence to the idea that places can be characters, too. A loose biopic based on the book Mafia Queens of Mumbai , it follows a young girl sold into prostitution, Ganga (Bhatt), and her subsequent 1960s rise to crime-boss madame and, eventually, pro–sex work politician.

Set in an ornate, heightened red-light district, it’s the kind of operatic character piece at which Bhatt excels, centered on a tough-as-nails woman with concealed vulnerabilities. Devgn, despite having a smaller role as a local gangster who takes Ganga under his wing, forms a vital part of the feminist credo of the film, which attempts to normalize and even valorize sex work — often demonized by Indian society — with surprising appeals to mainstream sensibilities (in the vein of Bollywood’s “social issues” filmmaking). Rather than trying to eke out a new place for sex workers in conservative society, it makes the convincing case that they are already a vital fixture.

Director: Achal Mishra Language: Maithili

Achal Mishra’s photography background seeps into each frame of Dhuin , his restrained, 50-minute filmic novella about a young stage actor during the pandemic. An emerging master of composition, Mishra’s carefully considered 4:3 vistas draw particular focus to unspoken social dynamics as protagonist Pankaj (Abhinav Jha) absorbs the quiet indignities often foisted upon young artists in a utilitarian world and even dishes them out himself on occasion.

A frigid mist sets in over the small town of Darbhanga. Soon, Pankaj’s dreams of moving to Mumbai turn similarly foggy, torn between his duty toward his elderly father — a worker displaced by COVID, a story Mishra wove from the struggles of an actor on his previous film, Gamak Ghar — and Pankaj’s realizations of his own artistic shortcomings the more he compares himself with his peers. Even in group scenes, Mishra’s camera rarely averts its gaze from Jha’s subtle performance, resulting in a quiet portrait of insecurity and the fragility of dreams beset by harsh realities.

Director: Nagraj Manjule Language: Hindi

One of the premier voices in Marathi-language cinema, Nagraj Manjule’s Bollywood breakout is a fitting biopic to watch in a World Cup year. Starring screen legend Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Borade (based on Slum Soccer founder Vijay Barse), Jhund brings a unique flair to the Indian sports drama and leaves you wishing you could spend more time with its characters even after three whole hours.

With an ensemble of newcomers scouted from actual slums — and a few regulars from Manjule’s previous films, Fandry and Sairat — it’s led by a fiery first-time performance from Ankush Gedam as a listless youth who battles not only perception (of caste and economic circumstance) but the legal limits of personhood in a world where something as fundamental as identity requires money and paper. Manjule and cinematographer Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti imbue each movement with enormity — practically every second shot in the opening act is a dolly zoom — and each dialogue exchange with intimacy, building a stylish, propulsive, and resonant tale of frustrations channeled through sport.

A Night of Knowing Nothing

Director: Payal Kapadia Language: Bengali, Hindi

Ideologically and aesthetically, Payal Kapadia’s debut feature is the polar opposite of RRR , though it’s just as (if not more) exacting in its use of cinematic imagery. A haunting piece of docu-fiction, it weaves a dreamlike narrative about lost film reels found at the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India — the director’s alma mater — discovered alongside love letters written by an anonymous student. As these mournful notes are read aloud, Kapadia combines this story with real footage of student protest and resistance against Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu government, revealing a lucid collage of life in modern India.

A tapestry born of light and physical texture (its digital impersonation of 16-mm. film grain is nothing short of magical), A Night of Knowing Nothing is a rousing example of cinema as activism and an avenue to confronting the deep, unavoidable entanglements between the personal and the political.

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Cinema Escapist

Explore and connect the world through a cinematic lens

The 13 Best Bollywood & Indian Movies on Netflix

We reveal the top Bollywood (and other Indian) movies on Netflix—updated for 2020 and available in India, the US, the UK, and many other countries.

By The Editors , 1 Jul 20 04:49 GMT

As it looks for global growth, Netflix has invested heavily in Indian content. The streaming service now has dozens upon dozens of Indian films—mostly Bollywood, but also some from non-Hindi industries like Tollywood —available worldwide.

You might be asking—what are the best Bollywood movies on Netflix ? Or the best Indian movies on Netflix in general, regardless of whether they’re in Hindi or another language?

The Cinema Escapist staff has collaborated to compile this list of the top 13 Indian films on Netflix, including many top Bollywood movies. These Bollywood and broader Indian movies on Netflix represent a variety of genres, such as drama, comedy, action, and romance.

Given our global readership, we’ve made sure to choose films that are available in as many countries as possible—including the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore, and more. This list is up-to-date for 2020, and we’ve double checked to ensure these movies are still available. We’ve also tilted our selections in favor of Indian movies with some social or political significance, in line with Cinema Escapist ’s editorial stance of using film to learn about society.

Read on to learn more about the 13 best Bollywood/Indian films on Netflix, current as of 2021!

13. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Director: Zoya Akhtar | Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif | Genre: Buddy, Roadtrip, Comedy, Romance | Year: 2011 | Language: Hindi

If you enjoy buddy comedies or road movies, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (translated as “Life Doesn’t Come Again”) is one of the best Bollywood productions belonging to those genres. The film centers on three childhood friends named Arjun, Kabir, and Imraan who reunite for a road trip through Spain.

Spain’s tourist bureau probably loved Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara , because the film enticingly showcases beautiful Spanish scenery and events like La Tomatina and the running of the bulls in Pamplona . This unique foreign backdrop makes the movie more interesting, and creates great opportunities for the three old friends’ relationship to develop in both hilarious and touching ways. The film offers an energetic and heartwarming feel-good experience that’ll leave you satisfied at the end.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is available to stream on Netflix in 28 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

Watch this Indian movie on Netflix .

12. Baahubali: The Beginning

Director: S. S. Rajamouli | Starring: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah, Anushka Shetty | Genre: Action | Year: 2015 | Language: Tamil and Telugu, with Hindi and Malayalam dubs.

We mentioned that many of the films on this list would be Bollywood/Hindi-language, but not all of them. Baahubali: The Beginning is one selection that doesn’t come from Bollywood; instead, it was filmed in both Tamil and Telugu (for non-Indians, those are two prominent South Indian languages, each of which have their own robust film traditions).

This 2015 epic action movie centers on a young man named Shivudu who grows up in the fictional kingdom of Mahishmati. Upon learning about his hidden family legacy, Shivudu gets launched into a journey of sweeping proportions, filled with action and adventure.

Baahubali: The Beginning was one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, and broke numerous box office records. Its sequel Baahubali 2 (also available on Netflix in both Tamil and Hindi ) did even better and remains one of the highest grossing Indian films of all time as of this article’s publication.

Be forewarned—this is a true blockbuster, in both good (i.e. action-packed, entertaining) and bad (i.e. CGI overuse, exaggerated action) senses of the word. However, just like Hollywood’s Transformers films have still made a significant cultural impact, so has Baahubali .

Baahubali: The Beginning is available in 25 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

Watch Baahubali: The Beginning on Netflix in Tamil , Hindi , English , or Malayalam .

Director: Ashutosh Gowariker | Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Ballal | Genre: Drama | Year: 2004 | Language: Hindi

At last, Shah Rukh Khan makes an appearance on this list with Swades . In this highly acclaimed cult classic, the superstar actor plays a US NASA project manager named Mohan Bhargava who returns to India and rediscovers his roots and helps his home village along the way (“Swades” translates to “our country”).

Swades is based on the true story of two Non-resident Indians named Aravinda Pillalamarri and Ravi Kuchimanchi who started and volunteered with an organization called the Association for India’s Development . While the film doesn’t follow Pillalamarri and Kuchimanchi’s stories exactly, it still tugs at the heartstrings of many overseas Indians with its realistic and poignant narrative.

If you enjoy movies starring Shah Rukh Khan that touch on the experiences of overseas Indians, we’d also recommend My Name is Khan , which unfortunately isn’t widely available on Netflix but is probably streamable on other services.

Swades is available in 14 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and more.

Watch this Indian movie on Netflix

10. Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran

Director: Abhishek Sharma | Starring: John Abraham, Diana Penty, Boman Irani | Genre: Historical, Action, Drama | Year: 2018 | Language: Hindi

At Cinema Escapist , we don’t shy away from nationalistic films; they provide an interesting and entertaining way to learn about their origin nations. Thus, we’re recommending Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran —a historical action drama that views nuclear weapons and espionage from a decidedly nationalistic Indian perspective.

Parmanu dramatizes the Pokhran-II nuclear tests , which India conducted in 1998. The film stars John Abraham as a Research & Analysis Wing (India’s foreign intelligence agency) agent named Ashwat Raina—who must help India’s nuclear program keep test preparations secret from America’s CIA and Pakistan’s ISI .

We especially recommend Parmanu for non-Indian audiences, as this movie offers an action-packed way to learn about India’s complex relations with the US, Pakistan, and China. As India grows more muscular in world affairs, it’s important to learn more about its motivations and political context. Furthermore, Pokhran provides diversity away from Hollywood, as it belongs to a tradition of international films/shows that depict Americans as adversaries. If you’re interested in more muscularly nationalistic Indian movies, you should also consider Uri: The Surgical Strike , which isn’t on this list because it’s not on Netflix.

Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran is available on Netflix in 28 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

9. C/o Kancharapalem

Director: Venkatesh Maha | Starring: Subba Rao Vepada, Radha Bessy, Kesava Karri | Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance | Year: 2018 | Language: Telugu

One of the few non-Bollywood films in this list, C/o Kancharapalem is a Telugu indie anthology which depicts the love stories of four characters of varying ages. The format is reminiscent of Love Actually , but goes far beyond the trappings of a love story to quietly weave in questions around religion and social standing, gender dynamics, and changing belief systems.

The true strength of the film lies in the genuine performances of real people cherry picked from Kancharapalem , where the film is also shot. With no prior acting experience, the untried actors are simultaneously awkward and endearing, and shine with authenticity.

C/o Kancharapalem illustrates that love has many shapes and forms: it can mean gifting a songbook to a classmate so she can learn the lyrics to her favorite song or bringing along a bottle of sugar water for your diabetic co-worker. The magic of the film lies in the effortless depiction of the evolution of love. In an industry famous for overspending , this film proves that a moving screenplay can wholly capture both audience interest and heart.

C/o Kancharapalem is available in 17 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

8. Article 15

Director: Anubhav Sinha | Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Nassar, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra | Genre: Crime, Drama | Year: 2019 | Language: Hindi

If you’ve ever wanted to curl up in a ball and question the extent of human cruelty, we have just the hard-hitting film for you. Article 15 loosely follows the Baduan rape case through the eyes of fictional police officer Ayan Ranjan. As Ranjan conducts his investigation of the rape and murder of two teenage girls, he exposes the painful residue of India’s history with caste hatred .

Article 15 provides an easy-to-digest introduction to the caste system, and attempts to educate as much as it critiques. The well-rounded cast of characters weave complex agendas into a simple crime story. Every horrific twist will make justice seem increasingly distant, and invests you further into the plot. You won’t realize just how strong of a grip the film has on your emotions until its closing moments.

So hold tight to your existential dread, grab some tissues, and settle in for a haunting but necessary movie. If you want to learn more about Article 15 , check out our full-length review !

Article 15 is available on Netflix in 27 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

7. Made in China

Director: Mikhil Musale | Starring: Rajkummar Rao, Mouni Roy, Boman Irani | Genre: Comedy | Year: 2019 | Language: Hindi

As Made in China reminds us, India and China have the world’s largest populations—and that’s the result of Indians and Chinese having lots of sex. Yet, talking and learning about sex is largely taboo in Indian society . This leads to frustrations in the bedroom, and public health challenges .

Made in China addresses this ironic reality through the lens of dark comedy. The movie stars Rajkummar Rao as Raghu Mehta, a serial failed entrepreneur who stumbles upon a purportedly magical Chinese aphrodisiac called Tiger Penis Soup. Mehta convinces a doctor to be his business partner, and the two embark on a mission of business conquest—and sexual health education.

Raunchy and irreverent but nowhere near disgustingly vulgar, Made in China offers a surprisingly tasteful and exceptionally hilarious take on an important social issue in India. The film will keep you laughing out loud, and its characters are highly relatable and likable.

Made in China is available on Netflix in 26 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

6. Toilet: Ek Prem Katha

Director: Shree Narayan Singh | Starring: Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar | Genre: Comedy, Drama | Year: 2017 | Language: Hindi

Toilets are serious business in India. After his 2014 election, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to build 100 million of them to make up for an acute shortage and discourage defecation in the open. Open defecation not only creates sanitation issues, but also makes life more dangerous for women .

Thus, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (translated as “Toilet: A Love Story”) released amidst one of India’s biggest toilet-building campaigns to great fanfare—and social relevance.

Starring superstar Akshay Kumar, the film offered audiences an accessible window into the challenges associated with toilet-building and open defecation. Kumar plays Keshav—a man from a superstitious rural family who falls in love with an educated woman named Jaya (Bhumi Pednekar). Unfortunately, Keshav’s family lacks toilets, and this thwarts their relationship. Thus, Keshav and Jaya must battle against conservative attitudes and family members and take a stand for sanitation and women’s dignity.

Aptly blending comedy with social commentary, Toilet both entertains and educates without seeming tone deaf or puerile. If you’re interested in other socially conscious films starring Akshay Kumar, we’d also recommend Pad Man (also streamable on Netflix) —which addresses taboos around menstruation and lack of affordable sanitary pads for India’s women.

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is available on Netflix in 28 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and more.

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj | Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Shraddha Kapoor, Narendra Jha, Kay Kay Menon | Genre: Political, Crime, Drama | Year: 2014 | Language: Hindi

To watch, or not to watch, that is the question…

Well, we’d like you to watch Haider —which is perhaps the most meaningful and entertaining adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the world.

Starring Shahid Kapoor, Haider adapts Shakespeare’s tale of regicide and revenge to take place in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Kapoor stars as Haider Meer, the son of a prominent doctor who gets “disappeared” during the Kashmir conflict in 1995 . Haider suspects his uncle of betraying his father—and plots revenge whilst struggling with existential angst and Kashmir’s political complexities.

Regardless of where you stand on the Kashmir issue, and even if you don’t have much knowledge about the conflict, Haider is a worthwhile watch.

For one, it’s action-packed. There’s no other Hamlet adaptation that features AK-47s and grenades; those who think Shakespeare is only for boring stuffy old white people will find their minds changed. Furthermore, the movie brings up pointed questions about identity and sovereignty that will resonate in a world where such topics are at the forefront of public discourse everywhere.

Haider is available on Netflix in 28 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more. Learn more about Haider in our full length review .

4. Taare Zameen Par

Director: Aamir Khan | Starring: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tanay Chheda | Genre: Family, Drama | Year: 2007 | Language: Hindi

Already a Bollywood superstar of considerable renown, Aamir Khan made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par , which tackles the suffering and pain of 8-year-old Ishaan Awasthi as he lives with dyslexia. In an education system that has traditionally marginalized children with learning disabilities, Ishaan struggles to read and write, and hides his inability behind a mask of mischief. Frustrated at the implication that his child may be “abnormal,” Ishaan’s father packs his son off to boarding school in hopes that he will learn some discipline.

The vivacious Ishaan retreats into a shell, even forgoing his previous penchant for painting, until Nikumbh (Khan), the new art teacher at the school, recognizes that Ishaan suffers from dyslexia. Nikumbh works with Ishaan to improve his reading and writing, and is able to coax the child back to his previously spirited self.

Ostensibly about dyslexia, Taare Zameen Par drives home the point that every child has unique capabilities and untapped talent that are often smothered beneath the competitive regiment of the Indian education system. The film is still relevant today, as stigma around mental health and disabilities remain rampant within India.

Taare Zameen Par is available on Netflix in 34 countries, including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

3. Andhadhun

Director: Sriram Raghavan | Starring: Tabu, Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte | Genre: Crime, Thriller, Black Comedy | Year: 2018 | Language: Hindi

Black comedies have been going strong in Bollywood lately, and Andhadhun is one of the strongest Hindi-language examples of the genre.

Adapted from a 2010 French short film called The Piano Tuner , Andhadhun centers on a pianist named Akash who fakes being blind to bolster his virtuosity. At a private performance, he witnesses a murder—which he can’t report unless he decides to come clean about his false blindness.

Offbeat and deliciously twisted, Andhadhun bears resemblance to the films of top American directors like the Coen brothers and Alfred Hitchcock, which should appeal to non-Indian audiences. The film is thrilling, suspenseful, and offers a taut performance that’s hard to look away from.

Andhadhun is available to stream on Netflix in 27 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

Director: Nitesh Tiwari | Starring: Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra | Genre: Sports, Drama | Year: 2016 | Language: Hindi

To date, Dangal is one of the highest grossing Indian or Bollywood movies ever made. The movie is based on the true story of the Phogat sisters , who are Indian wrestling stars.

In Dangal , superstar Aamir Khan appears yet again as Mahavir Singh Phogat—the father of Geeta and Babita Phogat, the two oldest Phogat sisters. Besides undergoing intense training, Geeta and Babita must overcome patriarchal prejudices on their path to wrestling success.

With a rousing narrative, gripping fights, and emotional character relationships, Dangal is a must-watch. It’s not just popular in India— even Chinese audiences loved the movie for its authenticity, social consciousness, and generally high production quality.

Dangal is available on Netflix in 34 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

1. 3 Idiots

Director: Rajkumar Hirani | Starring: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi | Genre: Comedy | Year: 2009 | Language: Hindi

Our choice for the #1 Indian film on Netflix is 3 Idiots , a celebrated classic college comedy also starring Aamir Khan (you might notice we’re pretty big Aamir Khan fans). If you grew up in an academically competitive society—be it India, South Korea , China, or an immigrant enclave in the West—you’ll find 3 Idiots highly, highly relatable.

3 Idiots satirizes academic competitiveness through the lens of three students at the fictional Imperial College of Engineering (ICE), modeled after the IITs . Aamir Khan plays Ranchoddas “Rancho” Chanchad, the most eccentric of the trio. Rancho has a thirst for knowledge, but realizes that ICE’s hypercompetitive and inhumane system discourages true learning. He proceeds to subvert that system through hilarious antics that earn him the ire of ICE’s director—the infamous Professor Viru “Virus” Sahastrabuddhe.

Aamir Khan was already famous in India before 3 Idiots , but the film catapulted him to international prominence. To this day, 3 Idiots remains one of the most loved and discussed Indian movies outside India . If you want a mix of unbeatable humor, exceptional human drama, and uplifting social commentary, look no further than 3 Idiots !

To learn more about 3 Idiots , read our full-length review.

3 Idiots is available on Netflix in 17 countries , including India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and more.

Want to watch more international media on Netflix? Check out our list of the Best Korea Dramas on Netflix and the Best Anime on Netflix !

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10 must-watch Bollywood movies, ranked

So, you’re interested in Bollywood movies. Alright, I’ve got some recommendations for you. (Note that this list will not have films like Danny Boyle’s award-winning Slumdog Millionaire. We are going all Indian written and directed films. No continued Western imperialism here.)

What is Bollywood?

Let me briefly explain what “Bollywood” means for the people in the back. First, the term refers to the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai or Bombay before 1995. The first known Indian feature, Raja Harishchandra (1913), and the first sound film, Alam Ara (1931), were focused on Indian folklore and mythology. The success of the pictures led to film studios being developed in Bombay (now Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata), and Madras (Chennai). Filmistan Studio (started in 1943) and Raj Kapoor’s RK Studios (1948) became significant production houses.

In the Golden Age of Indian film (1940s-60s), filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Guru Dutt, and Mehboob Khan came to the fore, with films that will be mentioned in the list. The so-called “Masala” era brought genre-blending (and bending) and the emergence of the “angry young man” persona, as popularized by actor Amitabh Bachchan. The evolution of the ’90s saw a shift toward the inclusion of romantic comedies and dramas, with a focus on NRI (Non-Resident Indian) audiences. 2001’s Lagaan also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Bollywood is the world’s largest film industry on raw film production and has become a significant cultural export. Of course, the musical numbers are key features, as are the colorful, elaborate productions—though this has changed in recent decades with the development of more hardboiled films.

Alright? Let’s get to the list.

10. Mother India (1957)

Directed by Mehboob Khan, Mother India is arguably the most influential film in Indian cinema history. This is an epic, long-spanning drama chronicling the life of Radha (portrayed by Nargis), a poor village woman struggling to raise her sons while surviving an unscrupulous landlord. The film investigates female empowerment, class warfare, and conflicts between moral duty and maternal love. It is one of the first Technicolor films made in the country. It introduced the self-sacrificing Indian mother archetype and set a high standard for production value.

9. Sholay (1975)

A so-called “ curry western ” that follows two criminals hired by a retired police officer to capture a bandit—the villainous Gabbar Singh, one of film history’s most memorable and influential characters. Ramesh Sippy’s picture, with R.D. Burman’s legendary soundtrack, defined the “masala” film. It also pioneered 70mm film, and its sound design (stereophonic sound) would set a new standard.

8. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)

The film that solidified NRI romance into the canon, the romantic comedy detailed a couple falling in love in Europe. The film also subverted traditional, sometimes garish hero/heroine dynamics to present a more balanced relationship. The success led to more films targeting the audience of the Indian diaspora.

7. Mughal-e-Azam (1960)

The sheer scale of the film evokes comparisons to David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia —but Mughal-e-Azam preceded that epic movie by two years. The costly film, which took ten years to complete, depicts a love story between Prince Salim and Anarkali, a court dancer. K. Asif’s portrayal of Mughal-era grandeur has been mimicked countless times over the history of Indian cinema.

6. Lagaan (2001)

This epic musical/sports period drama, written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, featured an international cast and crew—highly unusual for a Bollywood production, even at this time. A.R. Rahman’s classic score includes the song “Ghanan Ghanan,” which used rain as percussion. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the film introduced millions to Bollywood cinema.

5. Pyaasa (1957)

Written by, directed by, and starring Guru Dutt, the film focuses on a disillusioned Urdu poet and his relationships with a prostitute, an ex-girlfriend, and a world that doesn’t take him seriously. Dutt’s Vijay became a new archetype in the scene. Waheeda Rehman as Gulabo, the pure-hearted prostitute, added depth to the portrayal of marginalized women.

4. Satya (1998)

Ram Gopal Varma’s gritty, realistic portrayal of Mumbai’s underworld was revolutionary. The first of his Gangster trilogy pioneered the Indian gangster movie, with the character of Bhiku Mhatre (portrayed by Manoj Bajpayee) as a new icon, representing the complex morality of Mumbai’s organized crime figures.

3. 3 Idiots (2009)

Shot as a non-linear narrative, this comedy-drama critiques the Indian education system through a story involving three engineering students. It set a new standard for intelligent mainstream work in Bollywood with its nuanced balance between smart humor and serious social commentary.

2. Black (2005)

Based loosely on Helen Keller’s autobiography, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s distinctive and triumphant film tells the story of a deaf and blind girl and her relationship with her teacher. Rani Mukerji’s portrayal of Michelle McNally was groundbreaking in its depiction of disability in Indian cinema. The film also did not feature the typical song-and-dance sequences.

1. Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

This coming-of-age drama explored friendship, love, and the challenges of growing up in modern India as a group of friends transition into adulthood. The film’s visual realism and Farha Akhtar’s debut push Indian film into a younger, urban feel with great depth and complexity typically shown in Bollywood films. The soundtrack by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy blended Indian and Western musical styles in a way that better reflected the realities of young people at the turn of the century.

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The Best Bollywood Movies That’ll Sweep You Away

There’s so much more to this genre than musical numbers (though we love those, too!).

Sitting, Table, Leisure, Interaction, Sharing, Outdoor furniture, Conversation, Outdoor table, Love, Jheri curl,

Whether you're new to Indian cinema or are simply looking to catch up, we've gathered together a list that will help you navigate some of the best Bollywood movies. A portmanteau of "Hollywood" and "Bombay," the genre refers specifically to the Hindi-language sector of India's massive film industry centered in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). This list combines the classics to more current favorites that include high-profile stars like Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as well as leading men like the so-called " Khans of Bollywood ," who draw audiences out in droves. In fact, one movie on this list is so timeless that it stayed in theaters for 23 years ! Ranging from crime thrillers like Andhadhun to sweet rom-coms with epic dance breaks (looking at you, Badhaai Ho ) , our list of top Bollywood movie picks has something for everyone.

Thappad is a gripping social drama that confronts the patriarchy, and what happens when a woman refuses to submit to it. Amrita's (Taapsee Pannu) world and sense of self crumbles after her husband Vikram (Pavail Gulati) slaps her at a party, in front of their family and friends.

Monsoon Wedding

Mira Nair's film was an international hit when it came out in 1995. The movie proves that at a single wedding, there's enough drama and life to fuel a movie—if not an entire long-running TV show. Sit back and enjoy this infectiously joyous comedy.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge played in a famous Mumbai theater for 1,200 weeks, or approximately 23 years . That means that several generations grew up watching the love story. Called the ultimate Bollywood rom-com, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is about a young man and woman who meet while inter-railing in Europe. The movie catapulted Shah Rukh Khan to fame.

If you're looking for an empowered heroine to root for, look no further. Queen is the story of a 24-year-old woman (Kangana Ranau) who, upon being dumped by her fiancé, goes on a honeymoon by herself. The 2014 feel-good movie is about a love affair, of sorts—between a woman and the big world.

Deemed a movie that "everyone in India needs to see" when it came out in 2019, Article 15 is an unflinching look at India's still-present caste system. The crime drama, which is loosely based on a true story , follows a police officer reluctantly investigating the disappearance of three young women from a lower caste.

Jodhaa Akbar

If you have time on your hands and a hankering for a historical romance, then Jodhaa should be your pick. The modern classic finds inspiration in the marriage between a Mughal empire Akbar (Hrithik Roshan) and Rajput princess Jodhaa (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan). What begins as a strategic alliance becomes a marriage of equals.

Devdas has been done before, actually—the famous 2002 movie is the third Hindi remake, and has been made 12 times in total . Here's the plot: In the early 1900s, Devdas (Shah Rukh Khan) returns to India after a decade in London, expecting to marry Paro (Aishwarya Rai), his childhood best friend. Their socioeconomic differences keep them apart. Expect dance numbers, elaborate sets, and India's most famous stars at the top of their game.

The Sky Is Pink

Priyanka Chopra Jonas headlines this utterly emotional 2019 movie, with a premise that makes us tear up just in recalling it. The film is narrated by Aisha Chaudhary (Zaira Wasim), a teenage girl who recently passed away of a terminal illness. She tells the story of her parents' relationship and their struggle with their daughters' illness. As if that weren't sad enough, The Sky Is Pink is based on a true story .

Executive produced by Nas, Gully Boy tells the story of Murad Ahmed (Ranveer Singh), a 22 year old college student, who lives in the slums of Mumbai and has a passion for hip-hop. It’s inspired by real life hip-hop stars, Divine and Naezy, who took India by storm when they released their first viral video, “Mere Gully Mein," on YouTube in 2015. Ranveer Singh also takes your breath away with every song.

Take a history lesson with this 1995 movie about the 1992 Bombay riots, a dark moment in India's history. The melodrama follows a Hindu man and his Muslim bride in a city being torn apart by religious violence. Technically, the blockbuster was made in Tamil, and dubbed in Hindi.

The first film by acclaimed director Shyam Benegal, Ankur is a work of India's art house cinema—also called "parallel cinema." It's about Surya (Anant Nag), son of a landlord, who is drawn to a servant, Lakshmi (Shabana Azmi), and then abandons her after she becomes pregnant. The movie is grounded within a complicated web of power and social issues while providing an indictment of society itself.

Lust Stories

A solid choice for your next girl's night in, this tells four separate stories of women who are exploring their sensuality. The tales are directed by some of the best directors in Bollywood, so you know you’re in for a treat.

If you loved the Oscar winning documentary, Period. End of Sentence , you’ll enjoy this movie inspired by the real-life “Pad Man," Arunachalam Muruganantham. In a society where even the concept of discussing sanitary pads is considered taboo, Laxmi sets out to create his own, cheaper version of the feminine product. Watch Now

This crime thriller is the movie we didn’t know we wanted but one we definitely needed. While trying an unorthodox approach to his music, piano player, Akash (Ayushmann Khurrana) falls into deep trouble when he becomes implicated in actor's murder. The flick will have you at the edge of your seat, trying to figure out what comes next, but you won’t be successful.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga

Finally, a mainstream Indian film about LGBT issues . This story revolves around a young woman struggling to open up about her sexuality due to her traditional, conservative family. This upbeat romance will absolutely make you laugh, cry, and fall in love with love.

Amitabh Bachchan aka the Robert De Niro of Bollywood, and the incredible Taapsee Pannu team up once again for this epic mystery crime movie. It’s all about Badal solving the murder mystery of who killed and framed Naina for her lover’s death. It has major Gone Girl vibes, if you like that sort of thing.

Bollywood’s favorite couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh team up once again with director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali for this masterpiece. It focuses on an eccentric ruler who travels a long distance to (essentially) kidnap the beautiful Rajput Queen, Padmavati. If you’ve seen Bhansali’s Ram Leela or Bajirao Mastani , you can expect the same level of aesthetic that transports viewers centuries into the past. As usual, Singh and Padukone deliver awe inspiring performances.

Badhaai Ho tells the story of a middle-aged couple who find themselves unexpectedly expecting. It tackles the issue that sexuality is often shamed in Indian culture, with a sense of humor.

Based on harrowing real life events, this story focuses on a Muslim family, whose son, an ISIS terrorist, was caught and executed. The family was put on trial for terrorism, without any legitimate evidence. This intense film comes at an important time as tensions between Hindus and Muslims continue to rise in India. Watch Trailer

Love Per Square Foot

After struggling to get their own places as single people, young professionals, Sanjay (Vicky Kaushal) and Karina (Angira Dhar), decide to get fake married to secure the apartment of their dreams. The story highlights how difficult it is to find housing in Mumbai without loans and a spouse, which has forced folks into shifty schemes like this one.

Elena Nicolaou is the former culture editor at Oprah Daily.

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Rolling Stone

The thing that has always distinguished TV storytelling from its big-screen counterpart is the existence of individual episodes. We consume our series — even the ones that we binge — in distinct chunks, and the medium is at its best when it embraces this. The joy of watching an ongoing series comes as much from the separate steps on the journey as it does from the destination, if not more. Few pop-culture experiences are more satisfying than when your favorite show knocks it out of the park with a single chapter, whether it’s an episode that wildly deviates from the series’ norm, or just an incredibly well-executed version of the familiar formula.

Still, that episodic nature makes TV fundamentally inconsistent. The greatest drama ever made , The Sopranos , was occasionally capable of duds like the Columbus Day episode. And even mediocre shows can churn out a single episode at the level of much stronger overall series. For this Rolling Stone list of the 100 greatest episodes of all time, we looked at both the peak installments of classic series, as well as examples of lesser shows that managed to briefly punch way above their weight class. We have episodes from the Fifties all the way through this year. We stuck with narrative dramas and comedies only — so, no news, no reality TV, no sketch comedy, talk shows, etc. In a few cases, there are two-part episodes, but we mostly picked solo entries. And while it’s largely made up of American shows (as watched by our American staff), a handful of international entries made the final cut.

Fargo, “Bisquik” (Season 5, Episode 10)

"FARGO" -- "Bisquik" -- Year 5, Episode 10 (Airs Jan 16) Pictured: Juno Temple as Dorothy “Dot” Lyon. CR: FX

Our list of classic episodes starts with its most recent entry, from a January 2024 installment of the great FX anthology drama inspired by the work of the Coen brothers. Fargo Season Five dealt with the growing sense of polarization in America, and the debts — both literal and figurative — that everyone feels they’re owed from everyone else. It all culminates in a long, surprising, utterly gorgeous scene where our firecracker of a heroine, Dot Lyon (Juno Temple) finds herself face-to-face with immortal sin-eater Ole Munch (Sam Spruell), who has come for a rematch of their clash in the season premiere. With her husband and daughter in the house with her, Dot declines to fight this terrifying man, and instead explains, patiently and with palpable kindness, that perhaps Ole Munch might prefer a world focused less on resentment and more on love. — Alan Sepinwall

The Cosby Show, “Theo’s Holiday” (Season 2, Episode 22)

THE COSBY SHOW -- "Theo's Holiday" Episode 22 -- Air Date 04/03/1986 -- Pictured: (l-r) Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudy Huxtable (Photo by NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

There’s a temptation with these lists to immediately disqualify anything associated with the true monsters like Bill Cosby. But his crimes shouldn’t erase from the history books the wonderful work of everyone else involved in “Theo’s Holiday,” in which the Huxtables get together for an elaborate role-playing exercise to teach Theo (Malcolm Jamal-Warner) a lesson about the economics of life in, as he puts it, “the real world.” All the actors throws themselves into these larger-than-life characters, like Clair (Phylicia Rashad) as a cheery restaurant owner as well as a fast-talking furniture saleslady, or little Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam) as a powerful businesswoman. The idea of the whole clan teaming up to both mock Theo and help him out is so intoxicating that even his best friend Cockroach (Carl Anthony Payne II) admits, “I wish they did this kind of stuff at my house!” — A.S.

South Park, “Scott Tenorman Must Die” (Season 5, Episode 4)

A show that features an anthropomorphized turd in a Christmas hat and at least one projectile vomit scene per episode, South Park has never been known as highbrow. Yet there are elements of “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” a Season Five episode focused on Cartman’s elaborate revenge plot against a high schooler who scammed him by selling his pubes, that are nothing less than virtuosic. There’s the plot itself, a retelling of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, which culminates (spoiler alert, I guess) with the protagonist forcing a woman to unwittingly eat her own children. There’s the exquisite cameo appearance by Radiohead, the culmination of Scott Tenorman’s debasement. And there’s Cartman’s classic taunt, “Charade you are, Scott Tenorman,” a reference to an obscure track of Pink Floyd’s Animals. Co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have often referred to “Scott Tenorman Must Die” as the apex of Cartman’s villainy, marking the character’s transition from obnoxious troll to next-level sociopath. But really, the episode marks another transition entirely: that of Stone and Parker from poop joke purveyors to dark-comedy masters. — Ej Dickson

You’re the Worst, “There Is Not Currently a Problem” (Season 2, Episode 7)

YOU'RE THE WORST -- "There Is Not Currently A Problem" -- Episode 207 (Airs Wednesday, October 21, 10:30 pm e/p Pictured: (l-r) Chris Geere as Jimmy, Aya Cash as Gretchen. CR: Byron Cohen/FX

Here’s an odd but welcome trend: FX not only has an excellent track record with extremely niche half-hour comedies (some of which you’ll find higher on this list), but many of them manage to weave thoughtful, even dramatic, material about mental health issues into their usual humor. The hip-hop comedy Dave did it with a terrific episode where we learn that Lil Dicky’s hype man GaTa struggles with bipolar disorder. The final Reservation Dogs season revolved around a character who’d spent much of his life institutionalized. And You’re the Worst — a romantic comedy about two selfish, immature people who would be horrified to learn they were the main characters in a romantic comedy — found a new level with an episode revealing that Gretchen (Aya Cash) suffers from clinical depression. Much of “There Is Not Currently a Problem” is fairly comedic: a bottle episode where the gang is stuck together with Gretchen and Jimmy (Chris Geere) because a local marathon has caused a traffic jam in their neighborhood. But this forced closeness comes while Gretchen is trapped in her latest depressive episode, with no choice but to finally reveal her condition to Jimmy — and to admit that she’s less worried that he’ll reject her for it than that he’ll become the latest man convinced he can “fix” her. Cash conveys every bit of the pain and fear Gretchen is experiencing, in a way that enriches the laughter rather than undercutting it. — A.S.

In Treatment, “Alex: Week Eight” (Season 1, Episode 37)

Most episodes of this drama were presented as real-time therapy sessions between Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) and one of his patients, or Paul visiting his own shrink. Occasionally, though, outsiders found their way into Paul’s office, like Alex Prince, Sr. (Glynn Turman), the father of one of Paul’s patients, seeking answers as to why his son committed suicide. Alex Jr. had spent most of his sessions to that point painting his dad as such a monster, it should have been impossible for any actor to both live up to those stories and not seem like a cartoon. Turman, in one of the best dramatic performances you will ever see on television, somehow did it, channeling both the bogeyman and the grieving father, in a riveting two-hander with Byrne. — A.S.

Bob’s Burgers, “Tina-rannosaurus Wrecks” (Season 3, Episode 7)

BOB'S BURGERS: Bob gives Tina her first try behind the wheel in the all-new "Tina-rannasaurus Wrecks" episode of BOB'S BURGERS airing Sunday, Dec. 2 (8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. BOB'S BURGERS ô and © 2012 TCFFC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Bob’s Burgers loves puns, but “Tina-rannosaurus Wrecks” is a groaner of a title even for them. No matter, because the episode so expertly combines many of the series’ hallmarks into one tight, funny, awkward package. Once again, a well-meaning parenting gesture by Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) goes awry, when he lets Tina (Dan Mintz) drive the family station wagon in a nearly empty parking lot, and she somehow crashes into the only other car there. Once again, the Belchers find themselves on the verge of financial calamity, when the other car turns out to belong to Bob’s ruthless rival, Jimmy Pesto (Jay Johnston). Once again, the family gets mixed up in the plans of a lunatic, when insurance adjuster Chase (Bob Odenkirk) forces them to aid him in an insurance fraud scheme in order to get out of the mess with Jimmy. And, once again, Bob’s lovable but terrible children somehow prove surprisingly useful, when Tina uses her brother’s Casio keyboard to get incriminating evidence that frees them from Chase’s clutches. All’s well that ends… not necessarily well, but at least not substantially worse than usual. — A.S.

Enlightened, “Consider Helen” (Season 1, Episode 9)

Today, it seems almost obligatory for cable and streaming shows to devote one or two episodes a season to presenting the POV of a minor character. When future White Lotus creator Mike White did it with his first HBO series, Enlightened , it was still relatively rare. And in this case, the shifts in perspective came as a welcome, even necessary, relief from all the time spent in the head of the show’s fascinating but maddening main character, Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern), a toxically narcissistic former executive trying to rebuild her life after a nervous breakdown. With “Consider Helen,” White moved the focus to Amy’s mother Helen (played by Dern’s real-life mom, the great Diane Ladd), to present a day in her life, to show what a chore it is to have to deal with such a pathologically needy child, and to make clear that Enlightened itself understood exactly how its audience would respond to Amy. — A.S.

Maude, “Maude’s Dilemma” (Season 1, Episodes 9 & 10)

MAUDE, Bea Arthur, Adrienne Barbeau, 1972-1978

This two-parter, in which Maude (Bea Arthur) is shocked to discover that she’s pregnant again at 47, and has to decide whether she wants to get an abortion, was so ahead of its time, even the original Supreme Court verdict on Roe v. Wade was two months away. Well after Maude decided to end her pregnancy, the rest of television shied away from the subject, often having pregnant characters suffer conveniently-timed miscarriages before they could make up their minds and potentially alienate viewers and sponsors. But “Maude’s Dilemma,” with a teleplay by future Golden Girls creator Susan Harris, ran toward the thorny subject, and handled it with both humor and grace. — A.S.

Scrubs, “My Screw Up” (Season 3, Episode 14)

SCRUBS -- "My Screw Up" Episode 14 -- Pictured: (l-r) John C. McGinley as Dr. Perry Cox, Brendan Fraser as Ben Sullivan -- (Photo by: Carin Baer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

There are plenty of shows we call dramedies, even though they’re really just half-hour dramas, as well as lots of alleged comedies that aren’t particularly interested in making the audience laugh. The hospital show Scrubs , though, was remarkably comfortable at balancing silliness and sadness throughout its run, especially in “My Screw Up.” Brendan Fraser reprises his role as Ben, wisecracking brother-in-law to John C. McGinley’s bitterly sarcastic Dr. Cox. Ben’s leukemia appeared to be in remission when last we saw him, so there’s room for him to relentlessly tease J.D. (Zach Braff) about having made out with both of Ben’s sisters, as well as a lighthearted subplot where Turk (Donald Faison) tries to convince Carla (Judy Reyes) to take his name when they’re married, in exchange for having a mole she hates removed. But things also get plausibly serious, even before we get to the Sixth Sense -style twist: Ben was the patient whose death earlier in the episode caused a rift between Cox and J.D., and Cox has been in denial about it ever since. Even the revelation that Cox has been imagining conversations with his dead friend is reflective of the show’s juggling of comedy and drama — it’s the dark mirror of how Scrubs generates so much humor from taking us inside the highly-distractible mind of J.D. — A.S.

Watchmen, “This Extraordinary Being” (Episode 6)

Even for a series as sophisticated and layered as Watchmen , this episode is an acrobatic feat. In the most dramatic departure from the show’s source material, the 1980s comic of the same name, “This Extraordinary Being” tells the origin story of one of this world’s seminal vigilante superheroes, Hooded Justice (a man lionized in a modern-day TV show-within-the-show that kicks off the episode). Told almost entirely in black and white, it sees our current-day heroine Angela Abar (Regina King) — herself a vigilante who goes by Sister Night, when she’s not working her day job as a cop — sucked into the memories of her grandfather, Will Reeves, after swallowing a bottle of his “nostalgia pills.” Transported to 1930s New York, we watch Will (played as a young man by Jovan Adepo), and sometimes Angela-as-Will, join the NYPD, where he encounters racism so virulent, his fellow cops stage a near-lynching, covering him with a hood and briefly hanging him from a tree as a warning to stand down. The message he takes away, though, is that there is plenty of evil to fight in the world, even in his own precinct. He just has to do it undercover — appropriating for his costume the very hood and noose that had been used to terrorize him. With balletic camerawork, a period soundtrack of big band standards, and visceral performances from King and Adepo, the episode is a sweeping achievement that inverts a fundamental truth of the series’ world — this revered hero that everyone assumed was white is Black — and underscores one about ours: Justice often comes at a steep price. — Maria Fontoura

The Golden Girls, “Mrs. George Devereaux” (Season 6, Episode 9)

THE GOLDEN GIRLS -- "Mrs. George Devereaux" Episode 9 -- Aired 11/17/90 -- Pictured: (l-r) Bea Arthur as Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak, Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux, Betty White as Rose Nylund, Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo (Photo by Ron Tom/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

The Golden Girls experienced so many adventures together, as Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), and Sophia (Estelle Getty) lived together as pals and confidantes. But “Mrs. George Devereaux” is a truly touching treatment of grief and loss. Blanche, the most frivolous of the Girls (and the funniest), opens the door and beholds a strange sight: her late husband George, telling her that he faked his death and now wants her back. The episode explores how all the characters live with their different kinds of grief — and how that grief is what brought them here together in the first place. It has the most emotional resonance of any Golden Girls episode, but it’s also the funniest in terms of pure farcical comedy, as Dorothy gets swept up in a bizarre love triangle with two 1970s heartthrobs, guest stars Sonny Bono and Lyle Waggoner. As usual, Blanche gets the best line, when she confronts Cher’s ex-husband with the command, “Sonny Bono, get off my lanai!” — Rob Sheffield

SpongeBob SquarePants, “Pizza Delivery” (Season 1, Episode 5)

The absurdist humor that made SpongeBob SquarePants beloved across multiple generations is already at full strength in this early episode. At the end of another shift at the Krusty Krab, a customer calls in to order a pizza to be delivered to his home. Never mind that the restaurant doesn’t make pizzas: Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) sees a few bucks to be earned, and somehow turns a Krabby Patty burger into a pizza, complete with box, then orders SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) and Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) to take it to its destination. Instead, SpongeBob’s usual difficulty with driving strands the odd couple far from Bikini Bottom, trying various bizarre methods to get home — all of them borrowed from the “pioneers,” like the idea of riding on giant rocks. In the end, we get one last, great punchline: The customer lives right next door to the Krusty Krab, and they could have just walked the pizza over to him. — A.S.

Roseanne, “War and Peace” (Season 5, Episode 14)

Both in its Nineties heyday and its modern reinvention as The Conners , Roseanne had a real knack for blending domestic comedy with candid material about poverty, addiction, sexuality, and more. In this terrific conclusion of a two-part story, Dan (John Goodman) gets hauled off to jail after beating up Fisher, the abusive boyfriend of Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), while Roseanne tends to her sister, and Darlene (Sara Gilbert) gets to briefly relish the sight of her disciplinarian father behind bars. “War and Peace” doesn’t hide from the horror of Jackie’s experience, but even its dark moments are flavored with sass, like when Roseanne warns Fisher, “If you ever come near her again, you’re gonna have to deal with me, and I am way more dangerous than Dan. I got a loose-meat restaurant. I know what to do with the body!” — A.S.

The Dick Van Dyke Show, “Never Bathe on Saturday” (Season 4, Episode 27)

LOS ANGELES - FEBRUARY 16: THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW episode: "Never Bathe on Saturday". Mary Tyler Moore (as Laura Petrie). Image dated February 16, 1965. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

Somehow, the best showcase for Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore as one of TV’s all-time couples is in an episode where Moore is frequently off-camera. A romantic getaway for Rob and Laura goes horribly awry when Laura’s big toe gets stuck in a hotel bathtub faucet, the bathroom door gets locked, and Rob makes the ill-timed decision to draw a fake mustache on his upper lip that he can’t wipe off — leading every hotel worker who arrives to help assuming he’s up to no good. Written by Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner, this installment keeps finding new and amusing ways to escalate the sticky situation, and to push the outer edge of the envelope of censorship circa 1965, with a story about the risk of other people seeing Laura naked. By this point in the series’ run, Reiner knew exactly how to use his leading man’s fluency with physical comedy, and how his leading lady’s voice on the other side of that locked door was all that was needed to sell Laura’s dismay at being trapped in such an embarrassing position. — A.S.

Black Mirror, “San Junipero” (Season 3, Episode 4)

What would your ideal afterlife look like? Black Mirror — the British dystopian anthology series with a nihilistic approach to rapidly-developing technology — is known for being a show that doesn’t only answer questions about the future but depicts the worst possible alternative you’ve never even considered. Maybe that’s why, when fans were introduced to the couple at the heart of “San Junipero,” and found the answer of the ideal afterlife to be an Eighties beach town party that never ends, they responded so fondly. Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) meet on a night out and quickly fall into a romantic entanglement. But what begins as a love story about two lesbians finding each other in a heaven on earth is quickly revealed to be a virtual reality — one where the elderly and those who have died can be uploaded and then live on forever as their younger selves. The two — both dying in real life — must deal with whether or not the love they’ve found in pixels is enough for both of their forevers. It’s a touching love story that embodies Black Mirror at its very best. — CT Jones

Sex and the City, “My Motherboard, My Self” (Season 4, Episode 8)

Family is, arguably, everywhere in Sex and the City — from those the core four start with their partners to the ones they marry into (have there ever been more terrifying mothers-in-law than Frances Sternhagen or Anne Meara?) and the one they build just among themselves. But when it comes to the blood relations of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Samantha (Kim Cattrall), the show is surprisingly thin, which is what makes “My Motherboard, My Self” stand out so much. It’s not that the other subplots aren’t memorable — the endless physical comedy of Samantha losing her orgasm; Carrie’s Macintosh meltdown and trip to Manhattan 1990s mainstay Tekserve (R.I.P.), where technician Dmitri (a brilliantly dry Aasif Mandvi) rags on her for not “backing up” — but Miranda’s turn here feels different. As she attends her mother’s funeral in Philadelphia (where she is, apparently, from, and where she has, apparently, multiple siblings), we see a more human side of a character who until this point has largely maintained her station as “the analytical one.” (Though it’s notable that the most intimate moment she has in the City of Brotherly Love isn’t with a direct relation, but the fitting room attendant trying to sell her a bra.) While the show has been criticized for celebrating solipsistic behavior, this episode is a prime example of the four women grappling with their ability to be vulnerable. — Elisabeth Garber-Paul

Broad City, “Knockoffs” (Season 2, Episode 4)

Both stories in the stoner comedy’s most laugh-out-loud installment involve imitation products. In one, Ilana (Ilana Glazer) and her mother Bobbi (Susie Essman) travel into the sewers of Manhattan to obtain counterfeit designer purses. In the other, Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) is shocked when her boyfriend Jeremy (Stephen Schneider) asks her to peg him with a strap-on — a development that so thrills Ilana, she does an upside-down twerk on her friend’s behalf — then has to scramble to find a reasonable facsimile after her dishwasher melts Jeremy’s custom-made dildo. In the end, the replacements prove shoddier than the real thing, but “Knockoffs” is so perfectly constructed, and so memorable, that when the friends met Hillary Clinton in a later episode later, among the first things a flustered Abbi can think to tell her is, “I pegged!” — A.S.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Excuse” (Season 4, Episode 24)

When The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air went on the air in 1990, Will Smith was such an inexperienced actor that he literally mouthed the lines of his co-stars while they spoke. But it didn’t take long for Smith to learn his craft and land roles in dramatic movies like Six Degrees of Separation . That’s why the creative team behind this series knew he was ready for a Season Four episode where Will reunites with his father (played by Ben Vereen) 14 years after he walked out on the family, only to see him leave once again after they reconciled. “I’ll be a better father than he ever was, and I sure as hell don’t need him for that, ’cause ain’t a damn thing he could ever teach me about how to love my kids!” Smith roars, before breaking down in the arms of Uncle Phil. “How come he don’t want me, man?” For anyone who grew up without a father, the moment cut deep. “I shed a tear til this day every time I see this episode,” LeBron James wrote on Instagram in 2015. “This hit home for me growing up and I couldn’t hold my tears in. Til this day they still coming out when this episode come on.” — Andy Greene

Doctor Who, “Blink” (Season 3, Episode 10)

The scariest, cleverest episode of the British sci-fi institution Doctor Who features monsters who are elegant in their simplicity: the Weeping Angels, predatory aliens who resemble stone statues of angels, and who can only move when you’re not looking at them. Writer Steven Moffat places these disturbing creatures in service of a story that barely features the Doctor (David Tennant) and his then-companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), instead focusing on a young Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow, a woman who keeps running afoul of the Weeping Angels. Her only hope of surviving the ordeal comes in the form of a DVD Easter Egg that creates the illusion of the Doctor having a conversation with her, and even the Time Lord himself struggles to adequately explain all the seeming paradoxes contained within Moffat’s tale. “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect,” he tells Sally, “but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.” Yet it all makes exciting sense by the end. — A.S.

Alias, “Truth Be Told” (Season 1, Episode 1)

64986_15_3 ALIAS - (Photo by via Getty Images) JENNIFER GARNER

Throughout his career, J.J. Abrams has struggled with endings, as anyone who sat through The Rise of Skywalker can tell you. Few, though, are better at beginnings, and the pilot episode of his spy drama Alias is so fantastic that it bought years of goodwill from viewers, no matter how nonsensical the plots grew as the show went along. While undercover agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is in Taiwan being interrogated by a torture expert, we flash back through the events that led her here, starting with her double life as a grad student by day, CIA agent by night. This turns out to be a triple life when Sydney discovers that she’s been tricked into working for a terrorist organization called SD-6, and that her father, Jack (Victor Garber), is secretly her co-worker. Oh, and Sydney’s fiancé gets murdered on the order of SD-6 boss Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), plus a half-dozen other characters have to be introduced, Sydney has to try on multiple hair colors and accents, and more. Between the fractured timeline and the multiple lies Sydney has to live at once, “Truth Be Told” should be absolute gibberish. But Abrams, in one of his earliest efforts as director as well as writer, keeps everything coherent and thrilling in an episode that made him into a star just as much as it did Jennifer Garner. — A.S.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Mac Bangs Dennis’ Mom” (Season 2, Episode 4)

Most of the time, the Paddy’s Pub gang aim to screw over other people but really just end up screwing themselves, and that’s just what happens in this crude, tangled adventure. When Frank (Danny DeVito) promotes Charlie (Charlie Day) from a sleazy janitor to manager of the bar, he sets in motion a dizzying sequence of events that puts each character’s Achilles’ heels on full display: Mac’s (Rob McElhenny) sensitivity, Frank’s lost youth, Dennis’ (Glenn Howerton) pride, Charlie’s unrequited love, and Dee’s (Kaitlin Olson) conniving impulses. In order to get out of the grunt work Charlie left behind, Dennis goes on a mission to sleep with the unnamed character the Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), but ends up setting his sights on Mac’s mom (and later Charlie’s) when he finds out Mac banged his mom (and Frank’s ex-wife). Meanwhile, Charlie draws up a plan to finally bang the Waitress; Dennis’ sister Dee isn’t looking for sex, just power, as she plays the henchman to Charlie’s mastermind; and Frank just wants to bang any “young broad” who will give him the time of day. “That doesn’t make any sense,” Mac says to Charlie after encouraging Mac to sleep with Dennis’ mom. Charlie’s response pretty much sums up the entire FX sitcom: “It doesn’t have to.” — Maya Georgi

Grey’s Anatomy, “It’s the End of the World/As We Know It” (Season 2, Episodes 16 & 17)

UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 13: GREY'S ANATOMY - "It's the End of the World (As We Know It)" (Photo by Peter "Hopper" Stone/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

Hearing main character Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) refuse to get out of bed for fear that she’ll die at work should have been a clue that it wouldn’t be a good week. But viewers were still terrified when the series seemingly tried its hardest to make every main character (plus guest stars Christina Ricci and Kyle Chandler) have near-death experiences in this two-parter, which began airing after Super Bowl XL. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is in labor at the hospital waiting for her husband, who won’t answer his phone. Derek (Patrick Dempsey) can’t concentrate on saving his patient’s life while the man’s cell keeps going off (put two and two together here). And when a newbie paramedic shoves her hands into the chest cavity of a patient who’s bleeding out, it’s Meredith who learns that what’s currently killing him is unexploded ammunition that could go off at any minute, taking her and the entire O.R. with it. The bomb squad evacuates the floor, but if Derek leaves, Bailey’s husband dies. Meredith steps in for the paramedic, who’s had a panic attack, so now, if Meredith moves, she and Derek and Bailey’s husband die. Richard (James Pickens, Jr.) has a heart attack from the stress of the evacuation. Izzy (Katherine Heigl) and Alex (Justin Chambers) are off hooking up in a closet, which is also life-threatening if you consider Alex’s numerous confirmed STDs. And if Bailey, who is refusing to push without her husband being present, doesn’t give birth, she and the baby will die. It’s an all-in, melodramatic pivot for a series that has since become known for putting its main characters in life-threatening situations. And yet, in the midst of these increasingly heightened stakes, the standout scene remains George’s (T.J. Knight) gentle cajoling that finally convinces Bailey to push — and to name her son after him. “You’re Doctor Bailey,” he says, in a scene that remains one of the most tender of the entire series. “You don’t hide from a fight.” — CTJ

Girls, “American Bitch” (Season 6, Episode 3)

If ever Hannah Horvath was a voice of a generation, this was it. Airing just a few months before the #MeToo movement exploded in 2017, this quiet cri de coeur — in which famous author Chuck Palmer (Matthew Rhys, nimble as ever) confronts Hannah (Lena Dunham) about a blog post she wrote slamming his alleged misconduct with several college girls — taps into every conversation we’re still having about power and consent. Chuck summons Hannah to his stately apartment, where she attempts to explain why taking advantage of his literary stature to hook up with young women is predatory, while he hurls every trick in the Bad Men Handbook at her: flattery (“You’re very bright”); faux honesty (“I’m a horny motherfucker with the impulse control of a toddler”); defensiveness (“These girls throw themselves at me!”); casual intimacy (“You’re more to me than just a pretty face”). With astonishing precision and economy, Dunham turns the tables such that by the end of the episode — that is, by the time Chuck and Hannah are lying clothed atop his bed, and he takes out his dick and flops it onto her thigh — Hannah has fallen prey to the very manipulations she was calling out. A hallmark moment in a show that will only age better with time. — M.F.

Everybody Loves Raymond, “Baggage” (Season 7, Episode 22)

Like Carl Reiner once did with The Dick Van Dyke Show , Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal liked to come up with stories by asking his writers what they’d been up to with their families lately. More often than not, there was a conflict that mapped pretty easily onto the Barone family, like an argument that writer Tucker Cawley had with his wife about who would put away the last suitcase left over from a recent vacation. The fictionalized version of it becomes a cold war of sorts between Ray (Ray Romano) and Debra (Patricia Heaton), even as Marie (Doris Roberts) compares the stalemate to a fight that once almost wrecked her marriage to Frank (Peter Boyle). (This leads to one of the great sitcom lines that makes zero sense out of context and seems absolutely logical in context: “Don’t let a suitcase filled with cheese be your big fork and spoon.”) The whole thing culminates in a slapstick battle between the spouses, demonstrating the impressive physical-comedy chops that Romano and Heaton developed over the series’ run. — A.S.

King of the Hill, “Bobby Goes Nuts” (Season 6, Episode 1)

Some episodes made this list because they do innovative things with episodic structure, or because they have something deep to say about the human condition. This one’s here because Bobby Hill (Pamela Adlon) kicks a bunch of guys in the groin. Well, no. This one’s here because he learns to do this from taking a women’s self-defense class at the Y — at the unwitting urging of Hank (Mike Judge), who just wants his son to learn how to stand up to bullies — and incorporates not only the crotch attacks, but a high-pitched screech of, “THAT’S MY PURSE! I DON’T KNOW YOU!” every time he does it, just like he and his middle-aged, female classmates were taught. Sometimes, you just have to cherish the little things, you know? — A.S.

Insecure, “High-Like” (Season 3, Episode 5)

The struggling women of Insecure can’t even catch a break when they head to Coachella to see Beyoncé headline. Newly unemployed Issa (Rae) needs everything to go perfectly for the group’s last hurrah before Tiffany (Amanda Seales) gives birth, while Molly (Yvonne Orji) is preoccupied with work, and Keli (Natasha Rothwell) just wants to have a good time. The girls (minus Tiffany, or so we thought…) take edibles and pop so much MDMA they are forced to miss Bey, instead finding themselves in a drug-fueled frenzy that makes the chaos and humor feel like they’re seeping through the screen. Keli takes “Beyoncé or bust” too far and pisses herself after getting Tasered by festival security. Tiffany cries in a closet and tells her husband, “It’s our weed, baby” after admitting to “one bite” of a pot brownie. Molly bugs out and types nonsense on her work laptop, while Issa insists the mess of the night is all her fault. For an episode that starts with a silly Thug Yoda appearance and ends with the abrupt, emotionally-charged return of Issa’s ex-boyfriend, Lawrence (Jay Ellis), it packs in one hell of a trip. — M.G.

Game of Thrones, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (Season 8, Episode 2)

Because Game of Thrones presented spectacle on a scale never before seen on television, it’s easy to forget that the series first became beloved when its budget was much smaller and it couldn’t afford to depict massive battles, dragon attacks, or ice zombie hordes. That stuff, when it came with frequency, was icing on the cake that was the deep roster of memorable characters George R.R. Martin had created, who the GoT writers brought to such vivid life. Even in its later, more epic seasons, the show was still most potent when it placed people first and carnage second. “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” takes place the evening before a coalition of heroes from across Westeros will face the Night King and his undead army. It’s almost all talking, as the characters have the kinds of conversations you’d expect when they don’t believe they’ll survive the next day. The most powerful of these is the moment that provides the episode with its title, as Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) realizes that, by the laws of Westeros, he can fulfill the dreams of his old friend Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and grant her the knighthood she spent her whole life believing her gender disqualified her from achieving. The actual battle with the Night King winds up being the most visually underwhelming episode of the series, but writer Bryan Cogman’s love letter to these characters still resonates years later. — A.S.

The Good Place, “Michael’s Gambit” (Season 1, Episode 13)

THE GOOD PLACE -- "Michael's Gambit" Episode 113 -- Pictured: (l-r) Ted Danson as Michael, Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop -- (Photo by: Vivian Zink/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

TV has a mixed track record with twist endings. For every Twilight Zone , it seems there are a half-dozen disasters like the Dexter season where Edward James Olmos was a ghost, or the Westworld season where Ed Harris and Jimmi Simpson were playing the same character — both ideas that fans sniffed out long before those series’ producers expected them to. But then there is the marvelous conclusion to the first season of the metaphysical comedy The Good Place . For the previous 12 episodes, Eleanor (Kristen Bell) and her friends had struggled to figure out why the seemingly perfect afterlife in which they found themselves had so many obvious flaws. In the end, it’s dum-dum Eleanor who’s the only one smart enough to see through the genial exterior of their host, Michael (Ted Danson), and recognize that, for all their worry of ending up in the Bad Place, “ This is the Bad Place!” In hindsight, the idea was clearly seeded; some viewers did guess it in advance, but not so many that it ruined the surprise for everyone else. Rather than undercut everything that happened before, the twist is in keeping with the show’s basic premise about heaven being not all it’s cracked up to be. And it set the series off in new, increasingly wild directions, rather than repeating the same jokes about fro-yo for years on end. — A.S.

Star Trek, “City on the Edge of Forever” (Season 1, Episode 28)

LOS ANGELES - APRIL 6: Star Trek, The Original Series, episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" first broadcast on April 6, 1967. From left, Joan Collins (as Edith Keeler) and William Shatner (as Captain James T. Kirk) in year 1930. Image is a screen grab. (CBS via Getty Images)

This episode, written by author Harlan Ellison, offers one time-travel tragedy to rule them all. When a deliriously ill Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) staggers through a time portal on a mysterious planet, he somehow alters history enough that the Enterprise is no longer in orbit above the away team. It’s up to Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) to follow their friend, winding up in Depression-era New York, where interplanetary lothario Jim Kirk finds himself falling hard for do-gooder Edith Keeler (Joan Collins). Unfortunately, Spock figures out that Edith is a pivot point for the future of humanity, where her life will ironically lead to centuries of pain and misery, while her death will lead to the timeline our heroes know well. Torn between his duty to the galaxy and the desires of his own heart, Kirk allows Edith to be fatally struck by a car, in a tearjerker ending that wound up echoing throughout the future of TV science fiction. — A.S.

My So-Called Life, ”Pilot” (Episode 1)

UNITED STATES - AUGUST 25: MY SO-CALLED LIFE - pilot - 8/25/94, Claire Danes (pictured) played Angela Chase, a 15-year-old who wanted to break out of the mold as a strait-laced teen-ager and straight-A student. , (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

Meet Angela Chase, a high school sophomore who offers us a look into her life in a mundane suburb of Pittsburgh. She has a major crush on Jordan Catalano (“I just like how he’s always leaning. Against stuff. He leans great”) and is quite possibly the only person in history to be jealous of Anne Frank (“She was stuck in an attic for three years with this guy she really liked”). My So-Called Life premiered 30 years ago, giving teens a much more realistic portrayal of what it’s like to endure the “battlefield” that is high school over primetime soap operas like 90210. And the pilot lays that groundwork perfectly, with Angela (Claire Danes) narrating as she navigates her strained relationship with her mom, outgrows her best friend and abandons her for two cool, kindred spirits, and, yes, watches Jordan (Jared Leto) excel at leaning. A battlefield indeed. — Angie Martoccio

Master of None, “Thanksgiving” (Season 2, Episode 8)

Though Aziz Ansari was star, frequent writer, and occasional director of his series about an actor named Dev trying to find meaning in his life, he periodically turned over episodes from the first two seasons to other characters, demonstrating that their stories had just as much richness as Dev’s, if not more. “Thanksgiving” tracks many years of the holiday, as Dev’s best friend Denise (Lena Waithe, who co-wrote the episode with Ansari) gradually comes out to her family, slowly but surely wearing down the resistance of her mother (Angela Bassett), aunt (Kym Whitley), and grandmother (Venida Evans). Partly inspired by Waithe’s own coming-out story, the warm and knowing episode was such a creative success that when the series finally returned for a third season four years later, it was built entirely around Denise’s marriage, with Dev now a minor figure in what was once his own show. — A.S.

For All Mankind, “The Grey” (Season 2, Episode 10)

The second season of this sci-fi drama, set in an alternate timeline where the Soviets beat America to the moon, triggering a never-ending space race, is the platonic ideal of the intensely serialized, “10-hour Movie” approach so much of dramatic television has taken in the years since The Wire , and that so few shows actually do well. Everything that happens throughout Season Two, even the parts that seem slow and pointless when you first watch them, have thrilling payoffs in the finale , where Earth seems on the verge of nuclear Armageddon, while American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts wage war on and around the moon. All the earlier subplots matter, like Gordo (Michael Dorman) putting his new devotion to jogging to good use when he and ex-wife Tracy (Sarah Jones) have to run across the lunar surface, clad only in spacesuits jury-rigged out of duct tape, to prevent a nuclear meltdown. — A.S.

St. Elsewhere, “Time Heals” (Season 4, Episodes 17 & 18)

ST. ELSEWHERE -- "Time Heals: Part 1" Episode 17 -- Pictured: (l-r) Christina Pickles as Nurse Helen Rosenthal, Ed Flanders as Dr. Donald Westphall, Norman Lloyd as Dr. Daniel Auschlander -- Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank

This innovative hospital drama pushed the boundaries of its format throughout its run. One episode was set largely in the afterlife. Another told a quartet of stories about the stages of life from birth through death. The most audacious, and satisfying, of these, is the two-part “Time Heals,” which aired over consecutive nights. As St. Eligius prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary, we get glimpses of the hospital across the decades, and see how Dr. Westphall (Ed Flanders), Dr. Craig (William Daniels), and the other senior members of the staff each came to work there. Beyond all the backstory — including a great guest turn by Edward Hermann as Father McCabe, the priest who founded the hospital and helped raise the orphaned Westphall — “Time Heals” impresses because each vignette from the past is presented in the style of movies (or, in some cases, television) of that period: Scenes in the 1930s are in black and white, ones in the Sixties are much more brightly lit, and so on. — A.S.

Larry Sanders, “Flip” (Season 6, Episode 12)

“You could sense there would never be another show like that again,” The Larry Sanders Show actress Ileana Douglas said of the show’s final scene. “And there hasn’t been.” As Rip Torn, Jeffrey Tambor, and show creator Garry Shandling group-hug in an empty studio, a poignant sadness infuses the acerbic wit that Shandling’s revolutionary series displayed for six seasons. Set around Larry’s final show, the Peabody Award-winning episode features gags that remain timeless: Jim Carrey serenading Larry on-air while excoriating him off-air, Tom Petty telling Clint Black to “quiet down, cowpoke” before getting into a fistfight with Greg Kinnear, and Carol Burnett and Ellen DeGeneres catching Larry in a lie that destroys both the show-within-the-show itself and Larry’s glass-fragile ego. It’s a brilliant ending that balances pathos (“I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do without you,” Larry says to his audience before choking up. “God bless you. You may now flip”) with the series’ trademark send-up of Hollywood phoniness (Torn instinctively telling a bumped Bruno Kirby on the last show that “we’ll have you on another time.”) The show that invented the modern sitcom and stuck the landing perfectly. — Jason Newman

Orange Is the New Black, “Toast Can’t Never Be Bread Again” (Season 4, Episode 13)

The Netflix prison series is the only show in Emmy history to be reclassified from the comedy categories to the drama ones, in part because its tone was so elusive, even to the people making it. But when Orange wanted to get totally serious, it was incredible, like in this episode set in the aftermath of the shocking death of beloved inmate Poussey at the hands of a guard. As Taystee (Danielle Brooks) and the other women grieve the loss of Poussey, then fume at the realization that the guard will go unpunished while most of them are stuck behind bars for much lesser crimes, their pain and rage boils over into a prison riot that will take up the entire following season. — A.S.

The Andy Griffith Show, “Opie the Birdman” (Season 4, Episode 1)

LOS ANGELES - AUGUST 19: The Andy Griffith Show, episode 'Opie The Birdman'. (From left) Andy Griffith (as Andy Taylor)' and Ron Howard (as Opie) appear on the "Opie the Birdman" episode of The Andy Griffith Show on August 19, 1963. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

The Andy Griffith Show set the template for broad, light, homespun small-town humor, but the best episode of the long-running 1960s show is as raw as a modern prestige TV feelings-fest. Gifted a slingshot by Don Knots’ iconically bumbling deputy Barney Fife, a young Opie Taylor (played by a nine-year-old Ron Howard) accidentally kills a bird, orphaning its three young offspring. “You gonna give me a whippin’?” Opie asks his father, Sheriff Andy Taylor, played by the show’s star, Andy Griffith. Not this time. Instead, TV’s all-time cool-headed dad simply opens Opie’s window so his boy can listen to the newly motherless baby birds in the tree outside, filling the Mayberry night with their desolate emo chirps. Howard later said the tears he cried in the scene where he kills the bird were real, because he was thinking of his recently deceased dog. The episode doesn’t have any big laughs, a bold move considering it was a season-opener. But by breaking with formula, they made a heartbreaking classic. — Jon Dolan

Good Times, “The I.Q. Test” (Season 2, Episode 7)

As the Seventies sitcom’s iconic gospel theme song noted, there was a lot of scratchin’ and survivin’ to do for the Evans family in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects. And the Maude spinoff was so smart in illustrating the many ways the deck was stacked against Florida (Esther Rolle), James (John Amos), and their kids. In “The I.Q. Test,” everyone is shocked when gifted youngest son Michael (Ralph Carter) flunks a school standardized test, until Michael explains that he refused to finish after recognizing that the test is racially biased, with questions geared towards the experience of reasonably well-off white children. The episode nimbly addresses systemic problems in a way that few shows were even thinking about at the time, much less willing to incorporate into their scripts. And it does it while still having some fun with the situation, through the obliviousness of the white test proctor. — A.S.

Moonlighting, “Atomic Shakespeare” (Season 3, Episode 7)

UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 25: MOONLIGHTING - "Atomic Shakespeare" -Season Three - 11/25/86, A schoolboy hoping to watch "Moonlighting" but forced to study Shakespeare, daydreams about the cast performing their own version of "The Taming of the Shrew" with Dave (Bruce Willis) as Petruchio and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) as Kate., (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

At the point “Atomic Shakespeare” rolled around in the third season of Moonlighting , the private detective comedy had already established two things: 1) that the onscreen chemistry of co-stars Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd was as scorching as any couple — even an unconsummated one like this — ever put on television; and 2) that the show’s writers didn’t feel in any way bound by the conventions of genre or era, as they had already done a black-and-white film noir tribute, as well as put Willis’ David into a musical number helmed by Singin’ in the Rain director Stanley Donen. So it felt wholly natural to translate the familiar David and Maddie dynamic back to Shakespearean times, with a postmodern retelling of The Taming of the Shrew , with Willis and Shepherd playing David and Maddie-flavored versions of Petrucchio and Kate, and that at various points features ninjas, a horse wearing sunglasses, and wannabe blues singer Willis wailing on the classic rock hit “Good Lovin’.” The episode even gets away with rewriting the Bard: Instead of Kate submitting to Petrucchio’s insistence that the sun is in fact the moon, as a way of humoring her new husband, she instead stands her ground and gets him to admit that, “My wife hath called it: ’Tis the sun, and not the moon at all!” — A.S.

Severance, “The We We Are” (Season 1, Episode 9)

By the time we reach the Season One finale of the satirical workplace thriller Severance , the employees of the macrodata refinement department of Lumon Industries have reached their boiling point. Part of a cohort who volunteered for a surgical procedure that separates their work selves, called “Innies,” from their personal selves, called “Outies,” they all live bifurcated lives, where one half has no clue what the other half does. But now, the Innies, sure they’re getting the short end of the deal, are fed up. With the help of Dylan (Zach Cherry), who hacks into a control room, Helly (Britt Lower), Mark (Adam Scott), and Irving (John Turturro) find a way to inhabit their Outie personas — and, as a result, learn all kinds of things about themselves that they aren’t fully prepared to know. Mark faces his wife’s death in a car accident. Irving tries to reignite his workplace romance with Burt (Christopher Walken), who retired his Innie self. And Helly is shocked to discover she’s descended from the family that championed Lumon’s severance procedure. A master class in building and maintaining tension, the episode reaches a heart-racing crescendo before an abrupt, cliffhanger ending. Premiering two years after the pandemic, as many employees returned to the office with shifted priorities and revamped notions of “work-life balance,” the Dan Erickson-created, Ben Stiller -directed series captures something essential about our modern malaise. But as the mirror maze of this episode shows, completely severing work and home may not be the fix we think it would. — Kalia Richardson

Review With Forrest MacNeil, “Pancakes, Divorce, Pancakes” (Season 1, Episode 3)

In this cult comedy, Andy Daly plays Forrest MacNeil, a pompous fool who has committed himself to the self-destructive task of undergoing and reviewing whatever life experiences his viewers ask him to. Installments prior to this one saw Forrest becoming addicted to cocaine, acting racist, and trying to make a sex tape. But the true folly of the exercise doesn’t hit until the third episode, where two different binge-eating assignments are wrapped around Forrest having to divorce his wife, without even being allowed to explain to her why he’s doing it. It’s a classic case of a joke building and building, until we get a traumatized Forrest declaring to his awful audience, “Perhaps I simply understood, from the darkest corner of my soul, that these pancakes couldn’t kill me, because I was already dead.” — A.S.

Homeland, “Q&A” (Season 2, Episode 5)

Damian Lewis as Nicholas "Nick" Brody and Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland (Season 2, Episode 9). - Photo: Kent Smith/SHOWTIME - Photo ID: Homeland_ 209_0616

When this spy thriller about domestic terrorism ended its first season without brainwashed double agent Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) going through with a planned suicide bombing, it felt like a failure of nerve from the creators of a show that would have been best served as a one-and-done. But the first half of Season Two, featuring an ongoing cat-and-mouse game between Brody and CIA analyst Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), was excellent, and led to the series’ single-best episode, where Brody gets arrested and Carrie is given a limited window to interrogate him in the hopes of turning him into an asset. Danes and Lewis put on a mesmerizing acting duet, so potent it’s easy to ignore a silly subplot about Brody’s daughter Dana (Morgan Saylor) and her boyfriend Finn (a young Timothée Chalamet) getting into a hit-and-run incident. It was largely downhill for Homeland from here, at least until the producers were finally willing to kill off Brody for real, but that takes nothing from “Q&A.” — A.S.

China Beach, “Hello Goodbye” (Season 4, Episode 16)

CHINA BEACH - "Hello-Goodbye" - Airdate: July 22, 1991. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
DANA DELANY

Long before cable and streaming dramas began to experiment with fractured timelines, there was the final season of this wildly underrated series about the staff of a U.S. Army hospital base during the Vietnam War. Episodes bounced back and forth between events at various points in the war and in the lives of nurse Colleen McMurphy (Dana Delany) and her surviving colleagues throughout the Seventies and Eighties. Much of the series finale takes place in 1988, as recovering alcoholic McMurphy warily attends a China Beach reunion event, then joins her pals in an impromptu (and incredibly poignant) visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. But “Hello Goodbye” also takes us back to China Beach one last time, to show us McMurphy caring for a dying soldier she knows she can’t save, as a closing reminder of the costs of war, whether or not you fight in them. — A.S.

The Jeffersons, “Sorry, Wrong Meeting” (Season 7, Episode 14)

All in the Family , the parent show of The Jeffersons , had already done a story about the Ku Klux Klan four years prior to the KKK-themed “Sorry, Wrong Meeting.” But the very nature of the spinoff and its leading man made the latter episode feel anything like a rehash. A racist neighbor decides that he can’t tolerate the presence of Black tenants like George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) and hosts a Klan rally to drive this undesirable element out of the building. But he invites the supremely WASPy Tom Willis (Franklin Cover), not realizing that Tom is best friends with George. Tom mistakenly assumes that the meeting will be about a recent spate of break-ins, and later suggests George attend with him. It’s a perfect set-up for both comedy and drama, as an oblivious George enters and cheers on what he thinks is rhetoric aimed solely at low-class criminals, rather than an upstanding businessman like himself, while the meeting’s vile host is shocked by his presence. But then some earlier business about CPR training leads to a great, dramatic climax: This spectacle agitates the Klan leader into a heart attack, and George turns out to be the only one in the room capable of saving the life of someone who thinks of him as less than human. — A.S.

What We Do in the Shadows, “On the Run” (Season 2, Episode 6)

For a show that specializes in absurdist, nonsensical humor, creator Jemaine Clement and company take it next-level with “On the Run.” The episode plucks pompous vampire Laszlo ( Matt Berry , who in July finally got an Emmy nomination for his work on this show) out of Staten Island, where he lives with four roommates — his undead wife Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Prosch), 760-year-old Nandor (Kayvan Novak), and Nandor’s familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) — and relocates him to small-town Pennsylvania, where he’s hoping to escape an old friend (Mark Hamill) who’s come to collect on a nearly two-century-old debt of unpaid rent. A stranger in a strange land, Laszlo goes undercover as a “regular human bartender” named Jackie Daytona and, naturally, becomes an avid supporter of the local girls’ volleyball team. His disguise of dark-wash jeans and a toothpick is enough to fool his pursuer… until a mirror (and the removal of the toothpick from his mouth) exposes his true identity. Fully withdrawn from the show’s usual despondent setting, “On the Run” humorously plays Laszlo’s macabre nature against his desire to help 14-year-old girls make it to their state championship. What more could you want from a small-town, salt-of-the-earth bloodsucker? — CTJ

Friday Night Lights, “Mud Bowl” (Season 1, Episode 20)

When a train derailment near the school forces the relocation of a crucial playoff game, Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler), seeking a neutral battleground, opts for the most retro possible site: a cow pasture that turns into a swampy mess after a downpour starts during the contest. While everyone else thinks the coach has lost his mind by eschewing a modern facility, he sees it as a back-to-basics location that will allow himself, his players, and the Dillon High School fans to reconnect with the pure essence of the sport, rather than all of the usual cynical distractions. In the same way, “Mud Bowl” provides the most concentrated blast of emotions that this most heart-tugging of all dramas ever provided: the joy of seeing the Panthers have fun and play well despite the weather conditions, and the horror of Tyra (Adrianne Palicki) barely fighting off a rapist while skipping the game to study. — A.S.

Better Things, “Batceañera” (Season 4, Episode 9)

BETTER THINGS "Batceñera” Episode 9 (Airs Thursday, April 23) -- Pictured: Hannah Alligood as Frankie. CR: Suzanne Tenner/FX

Pamela Adlon’s stunning, semi-autobiographical comedy-drama about Sam Fox, a single mom-slash-actress raising three daughters, is packed with installments that feel worthy of being called the best, but “Batceñera” brilliantly captures what makes this underrated gem of a show so special. It opens with a surprise: Frankie (Hannah Alligood), Sam’s headstrong middle daughter, perfectly reenacting a Jerry Lewis bit from Who’s Minding the Store? set to composer Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter.” The heart of the episode is the blending of a bat mitzvah and a quinceañera for 15-year-old Frankie and her friend Reinita, respectively. The episode has everything: carnitas and knishes, a replica of Frida Kahlo’s suit, an all-female mariachi band, great needle-drops, poignant mother-daughter exchanges with each girl, Sam’s ex finally feeling a bit of proper shame for not being there for his kids, and much, much more. It’s a batceañera you never want to end. — Lisa Tozzi

The Honeymooners, “The Man From Space” (Episode 14)

For fans of The Honeymooners , it’s impossible to choose an all-time favorite episode, but like Jackie Gleason himself, “The Man From Space” is one of the greats. Originally airing on New Year’s Eve 1955, it pit Gleason’s blustering Ralph Kramden against his dimwitted pal o’ mine Ed Norton (Art Carney) in the Raccoon Lodge costume contest. Norton rents his outfit — a foppish French getup that’s supposed to evoke the engineer who built the sewers of Paris — while Ralph aims to prove he can do better by making a costume out of everyday items: a flashlight, the ice-box door, a kitchen pot as a helmet. His vision is “the man from space,” but neither his long-suffering wife Alice (Audrey Meadows) nor Norton take it that way. When the live audience finally sees Ralph emerge in all his resplendent glory, their reaction is unhinged, even as pieces of his spacesuit unexpectedly fall to the floor, teeing up a classic Gleason ad lib: “Let me have that,” he barks at Alice, “that’s my denaturizer.” The final scene at the costume party, with Norton barging in from his shift in the sewer in a gas mask, is one for the ages. — Joseph Hudak

Six Feet Under, “Everyone’s Waiting” (Season 5, Episode 12)

Alan Ball’s HBO drama usually kicked off its episodes with a grisly and/or highly ironic death. For the series finale, however, the showrunner opted for something a little different: He’d begin the last chapter of the Fisher family and their associates not with a life being snuffed out, but with a birth — and then he’d end the show not with one death, but a dozen. Having spent the bulk of its swan song tying up all of its loose narrative ends, Six Feet Under then shows us how every one of its surviving main characters would eventually shuffle off this mortal coil: Matriarch Ruth Fisher will die of old age with her family around her; Federico has a heart attack on a cruise ship; David’s security-guard husband Keith is murdered during a robbery, etc. Set to the Sia song “Breathe,” this justly praised montage doubles as a full-frontal assault on your tear ducts. It saves Claire’s passing for last, and before she takes her last breath at age 102, we see evidence of friends, loved ones, professional accolades, and personal memories all around her. For a series so devoted to sudden death, it goes out with a tribute to a long life well-lived. — David Fear

Columbo, “Etude in Black” (Season 2, Episode 1)

As rumpled homicide detective Lt. Columbo, Peter Falk was so superhumanly charming that he could have onscreen chemistry with a doorknob. But the iconic mystery series was at its best whenever Falk had a strong foil. This episode, with the dogged cop trying to prove a famous orchestra conductor murdered his mistress, has a home-field advantage in this regard, as the bad guy is played by Falk’s close friend and frequent collaborator John Cassavetes. Beyond the actors’ ease around one another, the dynamic crackles because the Columbo formula depends on the killers being too arrogant to assume this mumbling schnook could possibly outsmart them — and Cassavetes had a gift for playing smug and irritated. — A.S.

Friends, “The One Where Everybody Finds Out” (Season 5, Episode 14)

FRIENDS -- "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" Episode 14 -- Air Date 02/11/1999 -- Pictured: (l-r) Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay (Photo by NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

The best Friends moments come from full-ensemble episodes (Season Three’s “ The One Where No One’s Ready ,” Season Seven’s “ The One With Monica’s Thunder ”) where all six buds join forces and create a killing floor of comedy. The result is always a propulsive 22 minutes that doesn’t have a single dull moment, and “ The One Where Everybody Finds Out ” is this dynamic at its best. Secret’s out: Everyone has found out about Monica and Chandler’s relationship (OK, maybe Ross is a little late), and the gang play a game of chicken, one-upping each other to see who cracks first. Phoebe’s line, “They don’t know that we know they know we know!” embodies everything great about this episode, and the wit and wordplay that make the series a classic. No surprise it was nominated for three Emmys. — A.M.

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10 best movies to watch if you miss shogun.

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This $100M Sci-Fi Thriller That's Streaming On Netflix Is Perfect To Watch If You Miss Shogun

Shogun already faces the 1 problem that killed game of thrones, but i'm not worried, how shogun's story can continue in seasons 2 & 3 (based on real life history).

Shōgun was one of the best new series of 2024, so good that Disney and FX extended its original run as a limited series and currently has at least two more seasons in development. Released back in February 2024, Shōgun follows the improbable story of one man's cunning and tactful rise to become shōgun, the supreme military ruler in feudal Japan. The series is based on the real-life establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate , established by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the year 1600. Many Shōgun characters, such as Cosmo Jarvis's John Blackthorne , were inspired by real-life historical figures and timelines.

Shōgun was previously adapted into a limited series back in 1980. Like the 2024 critically acclaimed series, 1980's Shōgun received outstanding reviews and was widely considered one of the best series of the year in which it was released. 1980's Shōgun went on to win a total of 3 Emmys in 1981 after receiving an impressive 14 nominations, including Outstanding Costume Design for a Series, Outstanding Graphic Design and Title Sequences, and Outstanding Limited Series. More than four decades later, Shōgun leads the 2024 Emmy Awards with a remarkable 25 nominations for its first season .

With Shōgun season 2 still many months away, fans still have quite a while until they get to see how Lord Toranaga's rise to power continues to play out. While some characters will certainly not be returning due to their deaths in season 1, both Toranaga and Blackthorne will likely continue their unlikely alliance as Toranaga faces opposition from the Mother of the Heir, Ochiba-no-kata. No official timeline has been confirmed for Shōgun season 2, Toranaga actor Hiroyuki Sanada has publicly said " there will be new characters coming in, and we’re going to basically follow the real history in seasons two and three ." Until that day comes, there are several movies with similar themes and settings as Shōgun to check out.

10 Seven Samurai (1954)

Directed by akira kurosawa.

Seven Samurai is often considered one of the greatest movies ever made and a visual & narrative masterpiece. Not only should it be seen by all movie lovers, but it is a great and classic option for fans of the 2024 Shōgun series as well. Both Shōgun and Seven Samurai share a similar scale and degree of immersion that makes them both exceptional in their own right. Seven Samurai takes place in the sixteenth century in Japan, not far from the events of the Shōgun series. The film follows a group of farmers from a small village who hire veteran samurai to protect them from bandits. Seven Samurai is currently available to stream on Max .

9 Dune: Part Two (2024)

Directed by denis villeneuve.

Dune: Part Two may be set in a completely different genre as Shōgun but both celebrated 2024 projects share themes of power struggles, betrayal, and cunning strategy. They also are both made with a sense of epic scale, making them two of the most immersive and largest fictional worlds brought to the screen in 2024. The core narrative of how Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atrides rises to the rank of Emperor in Dune: Part Two is similar to Lord Toranaga's chesslike strategy to become shōgun by the first season's end. Both Dune: Part Two and Shōgun follow the steep ascension process of their protagonists and leave audiences somewhat questioning their motives despite being the heroes in their respective stories.

8 Silence (2016)

Directed by martin scorsese.

Silence is an excellent and underrated film by legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Silence takes place during the 17th century in Japan and follows two Portuguese Jesuit priests, played by Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield, who go on a religious crusade to rescue their Catholic mentor who has gone missing. The film is seen through the eyes of the Portuguese Christian priests who are similar to the Father Martin Alvito and Father Dell'Aqua characters portrayed in Shōgun. Silence takes a more gruesome look at the extreme levels of religious persecution and sacrifice of the era and is one of the great modern examples of feudal Japan as depicted in a film. The 2016 film received a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 83%.

Hiroyuki-Sanada-as-Yoshii-Toranaga-from-Shogun

Fans of Shogun will enjoy seeing Hiroyuki Sanada in an underrated space sci-fi horror movie from 2017 along with three other A-list talents.

7 Mortal Kombat (2021)

Directed by simon mcquoid.

Before appearing onscreen together in Shōgun as Lord Toranaga and his disloyal daimyo Yabushige, Hiroyuki Sanada and Tadanobu Asano previously worked together on the 2021 film adaptation of Mortal Kombat . Both Sanada and Asano will reprise their roles as Scorpion and Lord Raiden in Mortal Kombat 2 , which does not currently have an established release date but could arrive sometime in 2025. For fans of Shōgun who specifically miss the hot and cold connection between Yabushige and Toranaga, Mortal Kombat may be worth checking out for the fact that they appear onscreen together in the same film. Mortal Kombat is based on the popular fighting video game of the same name and received a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 86%.

6 The Northman (2022)

Directed by robert eggers.

The Northman is one of the most gruesome and visceral action movies in recent years, one area which Disney/FX's Shōgun did not dive too deeply into. The Northman shares many similar narrative themes to Shōgun as Alexander Skarsgård's protagonist goes on a full-throttle decade-spanning path for vengeance after his father, a king, is betrayed and murdered for his crown. Once Skarsgård's Amleth grows up, he comes up with a vicious and violent scheme to avenge his father's death and take back the throne that was taken from him, which is not too far from Lord Toranaga's motivations and character trajectory in Shōgun. Directed by one of the best horror directors of our time, Robert Eggers, The Northman is an epic tale on the same level of prestige as Shōgun.

5 The Last Samurai (2003)

Directed by edward zwick.

The Last Samurai has been coming up in Google searches for "best samurai movies" since its 2003 release, with good reason. Starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai isn't just a great movie about samurai culture but one of the best films to come out of the early 2000s, earning four Oscar nominations including Best Supporting Actor for Watanabe. The Last Samurai takes place in 19th century Japan as Nathan Algren, a U.S. army captain, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in modern warfare techniques. Algren finds himself split between two different eras and worlds in this action-packed movie full of battle scenes. Fans of Shōgun who were waiting for Crimson Sky and the Battle of Sekigahara can get their action fix from The Last Samurai .

Lord-Toranaga-from-Shogun-and-Daenerys-Targaryen-from-Game-Of-Thrones-

Shogun season 2 faces some stark challenges without any source material to back it up, but it does have one major advantage over Game of Thrones.

4 The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Directed by joel cohen.

The Tragedy of Macbeth also chronicles the strategic and tragic rise to power of one of Shakespeare's most iconic figures. Joel Coen of the iconic Coen Brothers directing duo ( The Big Lebowski , No Country for Old Men , Fargo ) directed 2021's The Tragedy of Macbeth , a visually stunning interpretation of Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth . While there have been many renditions of Macbeth over the years, the directorial mastery of Joel Coen makes his The Tragedy of Macbeth one of the very best especially in the area of cinematography. With Shōgun being one of, if not the, most visually stunning series of 2024, fans who appreciated the aesthetics and compositions of the series will certainly find substance in the visual style of The Tragedy of Macbeth.

3 The Twilight Samurai (2002)

Directed by yōji yamada.

For fans of Hiroyuki Sanada specifically, don't miss his performance in 2002's The Twilight Samurai in what is arguably his best role before appearing in Shōgun . While the tone of The Twilight Samurai is very different from Shōgun since it is considered a romantic drama, there are still enough action and suspenseful elements to make it entertaining throughout for fans of the acclaimed 2024 series.

A younger Sanada is featured in The Twilight Samurai as Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai at the end of the feudal era of Japan . It's incredibly ironic that The Twilight Samurai takes place at the end of feudal Japan with Sanada playing a low-ranking samurai, while Shōgun takes place at the start of the longest shogunate in Japan's history and Sanada plays the most powerful person of that time.

2 13 Assassins (2010)

Directed by takashi miike.

13 Assassins is one of the highest-rated and critically acclaimed samurai movies of the 21st century. The film takes place in feudal Japan in 1844, which is still in the thick of the real-life Tokugawa shogunate. 13 Assassins features a fictional feudal lord named Naritsugu Matsudaira, who is an evil half-brother of the Japanese shogun. In order to prevent his rise to power, a group of thirteen samurai band together to set a trap and end the tyrannical reign of the feudal lord. The film is directed by renowned Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike and is widely considered to be his masterpiece. 13 Assassins is currently streaming on Hulu .

1 Yojimbo (1961)

Apart from Seven Samura i, Yojimbo is arguably Akiro Kurosawa's greatest film. The film stars Toshirō Mifune, who notably starred as Lord Toranaga in the 1980s version of Shōgun . Yojimbo is a one-person army action epic that follows Mifune's crafty ronin character Sanjuro Kuwabatake who decides to take down both sides of a rival gang in a small Japanese town. Sanjuro has a similar degree of strategy and cunning antics as Toranaga, which makes Yojimbo a thought-provoking and thoroughly compelling watch. Yojimbo is also streaming on Max and is one of the best possible movies to watch while waiting for Shōgun season 2.

Shōgun is guaranteed to have at least 2 more seasons and should continue to chronicle the legendary historical conflicts of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

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Shogun is an FX original mini-series set in 17th Century Japan. Shogun follows John Blackthorne, who becomes a samurai warrior but is unknowingly a pawn in Yoshii Toranaga's plan to become Shogun. The series stars Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne and Hiroyuki Sanada as Yoshii Toranaga, along with Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, and Yûki Kedôin.

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20 Highly Rated Hindi Movies

1. Mother India (1957)

2. Mughal-E-Azam (1960)

3. Sholay (1975)

4. Anand (1971)

5. Pyaasa (1957)

6. Guide (1965)

7. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

8. Andaz Apna Apna (1994)

9. Udaan (2010)

10. Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)

11. Rang De Basanti (2006)

12. Kahaani (2012)

13. Talvar (2015)

14. Kapoor & Sons (2016)

15. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)

16. Guru (2007)

17. Haider (2014)

18. Piku (2015)

19. Queen (2013)

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99. Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! (1994)

98. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013)

97. Veer-Zaara (2004)

96. Umrao Jaan (1981)

95. Swades (2004)

94. Salaam Bombay! (1998)

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92. Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)

91. Ardh Satya (1983)

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89. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

88. Dhobi Ghat (2011)

87. Kati Patang (1970)

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83. Dhoom (2004)

82. Kahaani (2012)

81. Dabangg (2010)

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79. Thappad (2020)

78. Bandit Queen (1994)

77. Kabhie Kabhie (1976)

76. Udaan (2010)

75. Zubeidaa (2001)

74. Teesri Kasam (1966)

73. Naseeb (1981)

72. Zanjeer (1973)

71. Omkara (2006)

The 100 best Bollywood movies: 70-61

69. Jewel Thief (1967)

68. Devdas (2002)

67. Gunga Jumna (1961)

66. Madhumati (1958)

65. Chandni (1989)

64. Jagte Raho (1956)

63. Secret Superstar (2017)

62. Sharmeelee (1971)

61. Parineeta (1953)

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59. Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993)

58. Garam Hawa (1973)