100 best films (1977-1988) | Filmfare.com

Shatranj Ke Khilari

Year: 1977
Director: Satyajit Ray
Producer: Suresh Jindal
Cast: Amjad Khan, Richard Attenborough, Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi
Music: Satyajit Ray

It takes a master to produce a masterstroke like Shatranj Ke Khilari. Satyajit Ray’s small but poignant film on North Indian royalty is as close as Hindi cinema can ever get to the dramatic brilliance of Shakespeare. The two leads in the film Mirza (Sanjeev Kumar) and Mir (Saeed Jaffery) are jovial and air-headed nawabs who spend all their time playing chess, discussing politics and ignoring their domestic life. This play becomes a metaphor for the larger story where Wajid Ali (Amjad Khan) is facing a coup d'état by the British because like Mirza and Mir, he’s neglected immediate state matters for the fanciful dance and art culture of his kingdom. Added in the mix are some wonderfully charming performances by Shabana Azmi, Farida Jalal and Sir Richard Attenborough. Amitabh Bachchan is the narrator of the film. Shatranj Ke Khilari is time and again praised for its visuals and authentic depiction of North Indian royalty. Satyajit Ray achieved that with a budget of less than 20 lakhs, when 20 years earlier Mughal-E-Azam had cost crores. Ray won the Filmfare Best Director Award for his effort.

DID YOU KNOW?

1. It was invited to Chicago Film Festival and was awarded the Golden Plaque 1978.
 
2. This was Satyajit Ray’s first and only Hindi film and was based on a story of the same name by Munshi Premchand.

Bhumika

Year: 1977
Director: Shyam Benegal
Producer: Lalit M Bijlani
Cast: Smita Patil, Amol Palekar, Anant Nag Music: Vanraj Bhatia

Bhumika is a dark and brooding tale of an actress desperately trying to search for happiness in the big bad world of entertainment. Shyam Benegal’s film based on Marathi actress Hansa Wadkar, is a fine example of how good direction and great acting can make a classic. The film deals with a lot of stereotypes in the film world, like chauvinism, greed, lust etc. But the movie excels in the way it captures the spirit of its characters. Benegal took a brave decision of shooting all the flashback sequences of the movie in black and white and the rest in colour. But bigger than the filmmaker’s craft is the contribution of the actors. With Bhumika, Smita Patil proved that she was one of the best anyone had ever seen. And an equal if not better performer is Amol Palekar, whose creepy character add is the quintessential punch to the film.

Don

Year: 1978
Director: Chandra Barot
Producer: Nariman A Irani
Music: Kalyanji-Anandji
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Helen, Iftekhar

This is what you call a real shot in the dark. Don got made only because its principal cast Amitabh Bachchan, Pran and Zeenat Aman wanted to help out producer Nariman Irani with his debts. They took a Salim-Javed script that everyone else in the industry had rejected and turned it into a modest production so that some money could be made out of it. The character of Don is inspired by Shammi Kapoor’s role in China Town (1962). Irani lost his life during the three years that it took to can Don. It was Manoj Kumar’s idea to shoot the song Khaike paan Banaraswala to add some zing to the movie. And it is the popularity of the song that made the audiences flock to watch Don. Everyone knows today Don is considered one of Amitabh Bachchan’s most iconic films, having inspired its own remake franchise with Shah Rukh Khan and Farhan Akhtar. Bachchan won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his behemoth double role performance.

DID YOU KNOW?

1. The profits from the film were given to Irani's widow to settle her husband's debts.
2. Zeenat Aman did not take any fee for her work.

Gol Maal

Year: 1979
Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Producer: NC Sippy
Cast: Amol Palekar, Utpal Dutt, Bindiya Goswami
Music: RD Burman

There are a lot of comedies Indian audiences are proud of but none more than Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Gol Maal. This simple yet delightful film is Mukherjee’s attempt at telling a funny tale with the quintessential Indian middle-class in mind. Amol Palekar as the hero with twin identities was a revelation on screen. The actor won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his awesome-twosome act. And of course Utpal Dutt’s “mooch nahin toh kooch nahin” dialogue is now part of movie legends. A relatively smaller film like Gol Maal managed to be 1979’s biggest hit and that wave of popularity hasn’t dwindled in the past 34 years. The film, its characters and the scenes have been referenced time and again in films like Hera Pheri, Main Hoon Na and 3Idiots. It’s spurred Rohit Shetty’s successful franchise with the same name as well as inspired his latest hit Bol Bachchan. Gol Maal remains one of the most watched films in Indian history and it’s testimony to the fact that content is king.

DID YOU KNOW?

The film was first remade in Tamil as Thillu Mullu in 1981, starring Rajinikanth.

Aakrosh

Year: 1980
Director: Govind Nihalani
Producer: NFDC/ Devi Dutt
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri, Om Puri
Music: Ajit Verman

Some films are like a sickening blow to the gut. A stark reminder that reality is grimmer than we choose to acknowledge. Govind Nihalani’s Aakrosh is a social drama with such aggravated emotions that at times you feel you’re watching a horror film. Om Puri plays a dowmtrodden man framed for the rape of his wife. Of course, a good willed Naseeruddin Shah tries to reaffirm his own faith in judiciary as he desperately tries to defend Om’s cause. And right at the end, as if triumph of corruption and greed over righteousness isn’t enough, the movie serves a graphic and bloody climax. Aakrosh has a terrific supporting performance by Smita Patil and Amrish Puri. But this deeply disturbing film is also one of the most profound works of art you’d ever watch in Hindi cinema. Govind Nihalani won the Filmfare Best Director while Naseeruddin Shah won the Best Actor Award for his gritty act.

DID YOU KNOW?

The aggressive act of Lahanya Biku {literal trans.: beggar of the Lahanya caste} mirrors the climax of Telugu short story Yagnam by Kalipatnam Ramarao.

Khubsoorat

Year: 1980
Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Producer: Hrishikesh Mukherjee, NC Sippy
Music: RD Burman
Cast: Ashok Kumar, Rekha, Rakesh Roshan, Dina Pathak

Some films are an absolute delight to sit through. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Khubsoorat is one such simple film that captured the imagination of a whole generation. Reportedly, Hrishida made the film with the single and simple agenda of working with Rekha. Gulzar’s dialogue, Rekha’s bubbly and boisterous performance and RD Burman’s light-hearted music make Khubsoorat the ultimate family drama / comedy of its time. The story of a young and spirited girl who changes the dominant and nasty disposition of a family matriarch (Dina Pathak) charmed one and all. It remains one of Rekha’s most real and well-rounded performance till date and won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award.

DID YOU KNOW?

Rekha was supposed to play the heroine’s role in Gol Maal but Hrishikesh Mukherjee felt she should be given a heroine-oriented role and hence reserved her for Khubsoorat.

Chashme Buddoor

Year: 1981
Director: Sai Paranjpye
Producer: Gul Anand, Jayshree Anand-Makhija
Cast: Farooque Shaikh, Deepti Naval, Saeed Jaffrey, Rakesh Bedi, Ravi Baswani
Music: Raj Kamal

Thirty two years later, David Dhawan attempts remaking a small film that managed a big impact at the box office. Going by its original cast, Farooque Shaikh, Deepti Naval, Ravi Baswani and Rakesh Bedi, you could have labelled Chashme Buddoor an art-house film. But it was the opposite. It was a funny and quirky take of young romance. This charming little film by Sai Paranjpye was the real surprise package back in 1981. Not just because it was funny and equally insightful about young men at the time. But it was a truly innovative film. Scenes where Ravi Baswani and Rakesh Bedi take turns in explaining their fake romantic overtures with Deepti Naval are classic examples of parody. And that’s a genre of filmmaking that has only recently found full steam.

DID YOU KNOW?

Sai Paranjpye played a cameo, appearing as a client to Saeed Jaffrey’s boisterous paanwala.

Silsila

Year: 1981
Director: Yash Chopra
Producer: Yash Chopra
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha and Sanjeev Kumar
Music: Shiv-Hari

Silsila is the biggest casting coup in a 100 years of cinema. Never had anyone thought of the possibility of casting Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha together and that too in an onscreen love triangle. But Yash Chopra’s tour de force conviction ensured Smita Patil and Parveen Babi (his original choices) exited the Silsila set in Kashmir just as Jaya and Rekha walked in. This was the last time Rekha and Amitabh worked together in a film. And that fact itself makes this mature love story an all-time classic. Apart from its principal cast, Silsila also features supporting roles by Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. The movie has excellent dialogue and its depiction of subtext in man-woman relationships is brilliant. The music of Silsila is another high point wherein Amitabh Bachchan contributes greatly to the songs Rang barse and Yeh kahan aa gaye hum. Though it had a lukewarm box-office run then, it’s a satellite super hit to date.

DID YOU KNOW?

1. The song Neela Aasmanw is based on a tune that Shammi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan composed together while shooting for Zameer. During the making of Silsila, Amitabh called Shammi to ask permission to use the tune.

2.This is the only movie in which Shashi Kapoor played Amitabh Bachchan’s elder brother. All their other movies had Amitabh playing the older one.

Shakti

Year: 1982
Director: Ramesh Sippy
Producer: Mushir Alam and Mohammad Riaz
Cast: Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee, Smita Patil and Anil Kapoor
Music: RD Burman

A lot of people remember Ramesh Sippy as the man who made Sholay. But fact is, he’s also the man who made Shakti. It is a film of epic proportions because for the first time Indian audiences got to see two gods of acting in the same arena. Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan feed off each other’s brilliance to give performances that are now considered benchmarks in
acting lore. The story of Shakti is no less epic. It pits a father and a son on opposite sides of the law with the father choosing his duties as a police officer over the well-being of his own son. The high drama between Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan made the critics stand up and applaud. Kumar won his last Filmfare
Best Actor trophy for the film. It remains one of the best offerings in Hindi cinema.

DID YOU KNOW?

Amitabh Bachchan had finished the dubbing of Shakti just before he met with a near fatal accident while shooting for Coolie. Shakti was the first film he watched, after his return from the hospital. He saw it on a 35mm projector, in his house.

Arth

Year: 1982
Director: Mahesh Bhatt
Producer: Kuljit Pal
Cast: Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi and Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Music: Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh

This complex film on unfaithful love is based on director Mahesh Bhatt’s own relationship with Parveen Babi and the effect it had on Bhatt’s domestic life. But Arth is more than just a sensational chapter from the tabloid archives. It’s a film about women empowerment. It blurs lines into grey for its female leads Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil. Legend has it that the two were competing against each other both on and off screen and Arth gave them a metaphorical ring to battle it out. So while Smita shows what method acting and theatrics can do for a performance, Shabana displays that even underplay can score big. Shabana won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her powerhouse performance. Many consider Arth to be Mahesh Bhatt’s best work to date. Fact is, it’s one of Indian cinema’s best films. Period.

DID YOU KNOW?

It’s said that Arth was stuck in limbo for a long time because no distributor was willing to buy such a controversial film.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro

Year: 1983
Director: Kundan Shah
Producer: National Film Development Corporation
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Shah, Bhakti Barve, Neena Gupta
Music: Vanraj Bhatia

This is the satirical story of Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra. Don’t mistake them for popular filmmakers, these are characters played by Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani in Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. FYI both Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra were assistant directors on the film. JBDY is epic because it has the best parody of Mahabhartha to date. This modest NFDC production was the learning  ground for future actors like Pankaj Kapur, Satish Kaushik, Satish Shah, Neena Gupta, Deepak Qazir and Rajesh Puri. This is one of the best comedies made in India because it mixed a preposterously funny script with prevalent themes of corruption and unemployment. Social ridicule was never this fun.

DID YOU KNOW?

It was made on such a shoestring budget that Nasseruddin Shah, the most well known actor was paid only Rs 15,000. Naseer also had to bring his own Nikon camera to the shootings to use as a prop for his character, who was a photographer. Towards the end of the shooting, this camera got stolen. 

Angoor

Year: 1982
Director: Gulzar
Producer: Jai Singh
Cast: Sanjeev Kumar, Deven Verma and Moushumi Chatterjee
Music: RD Burman

Shah Rukh Khan is reportedly itching to feature in a remake of Angoor and we don’t blame him. Gulzar’s comedy of errors is based on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, which has had a following for more than 400 years. Gulzar’s take with two Sanjeev Kumars and two Deven Varmas is as farcical and fun as its original inspiration. The style of comedy in Angoor could have been easily overdone and the performances over-the-top but in Gulzar’s movie they’re point perfect. Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Varma are the soul of this film. And to date you have modern Hindi filmmakers aping the comedy that originated in Angoor. Full marks to the otherwise mature and reserved Gulzar saab for including marijuana as a key ingredient to comedy. And us imdb-informed half-baked fellows thought Pineapple Express was an original.

DID YOU KNOW?

Gulzar was the writer for the Debu Sen directed and Bimal Roy produced Do Dooni Char (1968), starring Kishore Kumar and Asit Sen in double roles and was itching to make his own version as he wasn't satisfied with the original's treatment of the Shakespearean play. One normally doesn't remake flop films but Gulzar took the risk and created a benchmark comedy film.

Ardh Satya

Year: 1983
Director: Govind Nihalani
Producer: Manmohan Shetty, Pradeep Uppoor
Cast: Om Puri, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri and Naseerudin Shah
Music: Ajit Verman

Though Hindi cinema has very little history of genre specific movies, Ardh Satya is one of those rare cop dramas that stand out. Govind Nihalani’s gritty film is based on a young police inspector and his battles with corruption, morals, romance and brute action. Ardh Satya is written in the same mould as an angry young man story. Amitabh Bachchan was offered the role but he couldn’t accept. In hindsight one can hardly imagine anyone other than Om Puri playing the lead. What Ardh Satya essentially did is capture the angst of common people through the experiences of an honest cop. It’s a formula that would be followed in countless commercial spin offs all through the ’80s and ’90s. Nihalani’s pathbreaking film had two endings. One was true to the original script by veteran writer Vijay Tendulkar and the other was Nihalani’s own interpretation of an apt cinematic end. It was the director’s version that made it to the final cut. He won the Filmfare Best Director Award for the hard-hitting drama.

DID YOU KNOW?

The film was based on a short story by Marathi writer Shri Da Panwalkar from his short story collection Surya. Another Marathi litterateur, Dilip Chitre, added to the film. His Hindi poem Ardh Satya becomes a catalyst towards the moal awakening of Om Puri’s character, whose recitation of the poem remains one of the high points of the film.

Masoom

Year: 1983
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Producer: Chanda Dutt, Devi Dutt
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Saeed Jaffrey
Music: RD Burman

Back in the ’80s when love in commercial cinema was being depicted with colourful songs and loud music, newer filmmakers like Shekhar Kapur were lending a more believable tone to celluloid love. One such example is Masoom where the story wonderfully incorporates themes of unfaithfulness and reconciliation in a modern Indian relationship. The story deals with a wife finding out that her husband has a son from a past extramarital affair. The man has to bring the son home to his wife and two daughters, naturally upsetting the order of things. It’s the innocence of the kids that makes Masoom a sensitive family film. It has the perfect amount of tragedy, heartbreak, romance, euphoria and happiness. Naseeruddin Shah won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his bravura act.

DID YOU KNOW?

Singer Anup Ghoshal debuted in Hindi films with the superb Tujse naarzaz nahi zndag but soon disappeared from the Hindi film arena.

Saraansh

Year: 1984
Director: Mahesh Bhatt
Producer: Tarachand Barjatya
Cast: Anupam Kher, Rohini Hattangadi, Soni Razdan, Madan Jain
Music: Ajit Verma

Saaransh is the dream role that put Anupam Kher on the global map and won him the Filmfare Best Actor Award on debut. At 29, Kher played the role of a senior citizen who loses his only son in a mugging incident in New York. With the only breadwinner of the house gone, Kher and his better half, played by Rohini Hattangdi, are left to fend for themselves against changing times and corrupt politicians. Like Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth, Saaransh is an exploration of relationships. Only this time they are more compassionate. Despite being in unfavourable circumstances, Kher’s character Pradhan, takes the fight for a pregnant woman and helps her survive her political stalkers. Saaransh made news for being India’s official entry to the Oscars. It didn’t make it to the nominations but it did become an emotional hit.

DID YOU KNOW?

Anupam Kher held a special 'premiere' of Saaransh in 2009, 25 years after it released, to mark his silver jubilee in the film industry.

Sparsh

Year: 1984
Director: Sai Paranjpye 
Producer: Basu Bhattacharya 
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Sudha Chopra and Om Puri
Music: Kanu Roy  

Some stories need a woman’s touch. Sparsh is the sensitive love story of a widow and a blind teacher and it excels under the direction of Sai Paranjpye, who won the Filmfare Best Director Award for it. The core of this film is the romance between a person who can see and one who cannot. Through the encounters and experiences of Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah you come to realise how difficult or how beautiful love can be. And yet Sai’s creativity comes to the fore in a scene where Shabana visits a child who’s not blind. When she tells him a story, the movie cuts to a dream sequence where the boy can imagine himself as the prince in the story. The scene highlights the irony that blind children could not have experienced the same story in such a vivid manner. Sparsh is quite simply one of the most sublime movies you’ll ever watch.

DID YOU KNOW?

1. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, the sarod maestro, in his 20's at that time, made a guest appearance and is seen, playing at a concert in this movie.

2. Producer Basu Bhattacharya didn't want to release the movie, and it was lying in the cans for three years. Finally, when Shabana Azmi and Sai Paranjpye publicly raised the issue, the movie was released.

Mirch Masala

Year: 1985
Director: Ketan Mehta
Producer:  NFDC
Banner: Eagle Entertainment
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Om Puri, Deepti Naval
Music: Rajat Dholakia

For some Ketan Mehta will remain the man who made Mirch Masala. A riveting film on the great gender divide in society. Mirch Masala is the story of Sonabai (Smita Patil) and her struggle to protect her sanctity from the evil Subedar (Naseeruddin Shah) and a village full of sexist men. Amongst other things Mirch Masala has gone down in history as one Smita Patil’s finest performances. As the feisty and independent Sonabai, she tapped into her real-life personality. And complementing her performance is Ketan Mehta’s direction and dipiction of folk culture and the rural milieu. These dusty and parched surroundings in Kutch seems like a metaphor for the values of a male and class-dominated Indian society. Like an art film Mirch Masala is slow and poignant. Watch this and you understand why the recent Nirbhaya rape case has roused dormant Indian sentiments.

DID YOU KNOW?

The original story, on which the movie is based, was written by famous Gujarati author Chunnilal Madia which was adapted into a screenplay by Mehta and Shafi Hakim.

Pushpak

Year: 1987
Director & Producer: Singeetham Srinivasa Rao
Cast:  Kamal Haasan, Amala Tinu Anand, Farida Jalal
Music: Vaidhyanathan

Long before The Artist created silent ripples in Hollywood, Indian cinema had its own run of stoic silence in Pushpak. Kamal Haasan’s silent comedy has shades of satire and of course the timeless romance. What makes Pushpak path-breaking is that in an age when glamour, costumes and loud music rule the roost, this quiet little film makes an impact. It was well-received by the critics and a super hit at the box-office too. You have to give director Singeetham Srinivasa Rao full marks for creativity. Tinnu Anand who plays a killer in the film tries to bludgeon Haasan’s character with spikes made out of ice.
They melt away leaving no evidence behind. And the romance between Haasan and Amala feels a little more special because there is nothing other than expressions conveying moments of ecstasy and despair.

DID YOU KNOW?

Tinnu Anand played a cunning killer who used a frozen dagger to kill his victims. Every night, an ice mould in the shape of a dagger was kept in the freezer but the dagger used to melt soon in the morning because of the strong density lights being used in the shooting. Director Rao hit upon the idea of using an acrylic dagger, which looked quite realistic.

Mr India

Year: 1987
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Producer: Boney Kapoor
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Amrish Puri
Music: Laxmikant-Pyarelal

If you thought Shekhar Kapur’s Mr India was inspired by HG Wells’ The Invisible Man think again. It is inspired more by a 1957 film called Mr X where Ashok Kumar plays an invisible man. Rajesh Khanna refused the script and Amitabh Bachchan, who was also a prospect, was concentrating only on politics at the time. So Kapur did some last minute changes and cast Anil Kapoor. Amrish Puri’s phenomenal popularity after doing Steven Spielberg’s Indian Jones and The Temple Of Doom made him replace Anupam Kher as Mogambo. In the process of that serendipity Indian cinema got its most iconic sci-fi film yet. Not just that, Mr India managed more than flattering box-office numbers beating all those big-ticket potboilers with Dharmendra and Mithun Chakraborty.vinda.

DID YOU KNOW?

1. When Prof. Sinha is first talking to his students in the class, Boney's Law of Time-Space Continuum is visible in the blackboard behind him. Boney Kapoor is the producer of the movie.

2. The film had originally been written for Rajesh Khanna in the lead role. Kishore Kumar sang the songs thinking it would be picturised on Rajesh Khanna and even Laxmikant Pyarelal were under the same impression.

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak

Year: 1988
Director: Mansoor Khan
Producer: Nasir Hussain
Cast: Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Dalip Tahil, Alok Nath
Music: Anand Milind

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was like India’s Grease meets Romeo And Juliet. QSQT sparked off the trend for using acronyms for film names. Its music was a rage and slightly unconventional in the age of disco. Film world found two superstars with QSQT as Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla made dream debuts. Not just that, the film was also one of the first movies to employ out-of-the-box marketing techniques. Aamir himself donned poster boards of the movie and stood at traffic signals, while the poster asked the question, ‘Who’s Aamir Khan?... Ask the girl next door.’ QSQT really captured the attention of an Indian generation moving into the MTV era. And it was the young, defiant romance that did the trick. Mansoor Khan, who won the Filmfare Best Director Award, had even shot two endings for the film, one happy and the other tragic. Of course, it was the tragic one that got his film cult status.

DID YOU KNOW?

1. The music for Akele hain to kya gham hai is copied from the instrumental number Return to the Alamo by the band The Shadows.
2.In the song Papa kehte hain, Raj approaches a girl and sings, ‘aankhon mein jaadu, hothon mein pyaar’. That girl is Reena Dutta, who was then Aamir Khan's wife.
3. QSQT triggered a fad of Hindi movies with long titles promoted by acronym substitutes: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge as DDLJ and Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! as HAHK.

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