The best Bollywood fights of the decade

The best Bollywood fights of the decade

Last updated on: January 13, 2011 12:29 IST

It hasn't been a decade of too much action, 2000-2010. It's been a decade Bollywood rediscovered the male-bonding film, started making sports films, tried out chick-flicks, and erstwhile action icons embarked on an unending string of comedies.

And yet there's been some action to remember. Action scenes aren't always memorable for flawless choreography, even though several on this list are blessed with that.

It's not always how gory the action is, or how realistic. Yet when an action scene works perfectly, when all the elements fall into place just right, then it's the most basic kind of movie magic. A knockout punch right between the eyes.

Here, then, are ten that do work. And are decidedly worth remembering. And celebrating.

Ek Hasina Thi

One of the best hand-to-and fight scenes ever in Hindi cinema came when director Sriram Raghavan took his antagonist Saif Ali Khan into a hotel hallway and made him go at it real hard.

Coordinated by action man Yusuf Khan, the fight looks both disturbingly real as well as edited with high drama. If you haven't seen this one, go hunt it up and watch it. Pure class.

Robot climax

Shankar's Rajnikanth-starrer released a few months ago has already become the stuff of legend, and the film's high point comes with a stupendous climax, one where hundreds of evil Rajni clones magnetically link together to fight the good Rajni.

They take turns turning into a fist, a drill, and even a snake, complete with a few Robot-Rajnis as a gunfire-happy tongue. Super.

Omkara

Vishal Bhardwaj's films are never quite about the fights, and yet the fight is inevitably a part of the poetry. This is never better expressed than when Omi (Ajay Devgn) and his men take on a bunch of local hoods in Omkara.

Minutes before the dusty, highly dramatised, often slow-motion fight breaks out, the title song -- a warrior song -- breaks out, setting the mood.

The tension is palpable as you wait for the first fist to be thrown. When it is thrown, accompanied as it is by a killer punchline, it's a Gulzar-endorsed knockout.

Asoka

Say what you will about Santosh Sivan's Asoka, but applause must be given to a film that takes its swordfighting seriously.

Weilding a mammoth He-Man inspired blade, Shah Rukh Khan's emperor gracefully takes on his foes in a green, freshly-rained-upon jungle, vanquishing them with style, spirit and the right kind of flourish.

Johnny Gaddaar

A moving train always makes a great backdrop for an action setpiece, and this Sriram Raghavan film featured Neil Mukesh first getting his plan in place -- while the lock on the bathroom door danced from side to side -- and then taking on a man much bigger than himself.

He turned out to be too big for chloroform, and the way this fight gets ugly -- and its unplanned consequences -- smacks of both reality and pulp.

Robot

I know it's already here on the list, but SUPERSTAR can surely come back for seconds?

There is a train fight sequence in Robot as well, one that easily redefines the Indian cinema action bar.

Looking every bit as impressive as the iconic (and evidently influential) train fight in Spider-Man 2, this one features Rajni's robot first outrunning the train and then running aboard to kick some serious behind. Striking stuff.

Om Shanti Om

It isn't a film known for its action, but this Farah Khan film has its moments, one of the best with a spoofed fictional movie trailer shot with Akshay Kumar.

Called Return Of Khiladi -- and inspired by a Youtube clip that went viral a while before -- this stunning, supercop take on Kumar's Khiladi image was both hilarious and perfectly cast. And it looked real good.

Dabangg

We're not quite talking subtlety when we talk about memorable movie fights, and there is just something to be said about the audacity of turning your hero superhuman.

While pummelling the bad guy, Salman Khan comes to know he's the man who's killed his mother. He roars with anger, his muscles swell to thrice their size, and his shirt Hulkisly gives way, ripping itself off him.

It's hard to imagine any other hero carrying off this shot; Salman made it a phenomenon.

Jodhaa Akbar

Nope, none of the war sequences. The most engaging action scene in Ashutosh Gowariker's period epic showed Hrithik Roshan's Mughal emperor smilingly take on his queen, played by Aishwarya Rai.

The indulgent smile is soon wiped off Roshan's face and Rai shows herself to be an equal, and the scene turns fierce.

The fatality of the parries and thrusts matched in intensity by heavy sexual tension, the scene is hard to forget -- not least for the way Rai channels her internal Monica Seles and grunts.

https://www.rediff.com/movies/slide-show/slide-show-1-best-bollywood-fights-of-the-decade/20110113.htm

I liked the Jodhaa Akbar fight 😃 between Hrithik and Aishwarya!

I love the off-screen fight's than the on-screen ones. Nonetheless, the Robot fight is touchy. B'town beauties should get inspired from it .. Accha hoga 🤔

I thought the title meant real fights 😆

funy, I was just watching Ek Hasina thi today.. my fav, agree with JA too

I guess JA is the leader of the fights, but I should think Dhoom and Dhoom 2 should be on these lists (especially the one between Abhishek and John Abraham)

And that Return of Khiladi scene was hilarious when I first saw it in OSO😆

Dhoom definitely I can't remember the film now been ages watching the film

Originally posted by: ruky786

Dhoom definitely I can't remember the film now been ages watching the film

Yeah it was a long time ago but there was that part when Abhi and John were beating each other on top of a truck....it was pretty hardcore😎

As much as I hated the film, I thought the fight scene in Raavan (on the bridge) was phenomenally shot. That should have been on the list.

the JA fight scene was guilty pleasure...it was balant TV serial style manipulative romance...but i somehow liked it....i guess i turn into a 13 year old when hrithik is all cocky and sexy on screen....☺️