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75 Landmark Films of the Decade
In the first part of this special series, Raja Sen listed his 10 of the 75 best films of the decade. Here's a look at his next batch of movies to cherish.
Feel free to send in your list as well!
Om Shanti Om
The edgy current cinema pretends to be nothing like the classic entertainers that birthed the formula film -- all the while sneaking in cliches -- while Farah Khan not just acknowledges our debt to old Bollywood, she celebrates it.
An awesome romp.
Seher
All those who consider Arshad Warsi capable only of street slang and gangster sidekickery should see the man in Kabeer Kaushik's gritty cop drama.
A very smartly plotted film, this one stays solid to the end and deserves a much wider audience.
Dev D
Indian cinema's enfant terrible Anurag Kashyap had promised the revolution for quite a while, and he opened the floodgates with this trippy musical ride, composer Amit Trivedi making sure we were hooked each step of the way.
Devdas will never be the same again, no sir.
Naach
Ram Gopal Varma's take on Ayn Rand's Fountainhead features a struggling choreographer and a wannabe actor find and lose themselves through impressively improvised naturalism.
Great performances, bonafide heart and RGV's quirkiest frames.
Socha Na Tha
Imtiaz Ali's directorial debut shrugged off Bollywood convention and created -- surprise, surprise -- characters who spoke and behaved so much like us that we were charmed.
Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia are cast perfectly in this simple tale of young, confused love.
Iqbal
Nagesh Kukunoor introduced us to Shreyas Talpade as his titular Iqbal, a deaf and dumb fast bowler with enough pluck to make up for his physical handicap.
Touching and intelligent in equal measure, it cast buffaloes as fielders. Classic stuff.
Dil Chahta Hai
Farhan Akhtar's first film revolutionised the 'look' of Hindi cinema, bringing in a wave of breezy urbanity and a current trendiness.
A heavily influential film, this smartly written male-bonding story remains one of the most rewatchable modern films.
Gajagamini
MF Hussain's obsession with Hum Aapke Hain Koun led him to craft this heady theatrical treatise about the ultimate woman featuring his ideal lady.
Madhuri Dixit stuns from start to finish, showing exactly why she is the iconic Hindi film heroine. A fascinatingly unique dramatic experiment.
99
Now this'd make it onto a top 50 even if yours truly hadn't written the dialogues.
Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK made their Bollywood debut with this crisp script about cricket, controversies and compulsive gamblers.
Oh, and girls named Neha or Pooja.
Aamir
This credited reworking of Filipino film Cavite deserves plaudits because it's better than the original.
And because director Rajkumar Gupta, composer Amit Trivedi and leading man Rajeev Khandelwal all shone so spectacularly on their debut.