Timeout London : 100 best Bollywood Movies

Link to the complete list : https://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-100-best-bollywood-movies-the-list

The top 10 are:

10 Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)

Director: Manmohan Desai

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 clichs 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 respectable society' accept them? Fifteen years in the making (not helped by personal differences between the director and his leading lady, also his wife), this has an evocative soundtrack which is weaved seamlessly into the story, creating perhaps the most magical, lyrical portrayal of idealised erotic romance seen on the Indian screen. The title means Pure'.

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

8 Lagaan (2001)

Director: Ashutosh Gowariker

Cast: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh

Genre: adventure, drama, sport, historical

Set in the nineteenth century, Lagaan' sees a drought-struck village unite, learn to play cricket and take on their cruel imperial rulers. Although the combination of cricket and colonialism seems like a no-brainer in retrospect, at first 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 Foreign Language Film 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 Mary Kom' later followed in the trailblazing wake of Lagaan'.

7 Deewaar (1975)

Director: Yash Chopra

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)

Director: Vijay Anand

Cast: Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Leela Chitnis

Genre: romance, drama, musical

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)

Director: Guru Dutt

Cast: Guru Dutt, Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman

Genre: drama, romance, musical

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

Genre: drama

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

Genre: historical romance

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)

Director: Ramesh Sippy

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.