Continuing the list..... Review on Five Best Bollywood Films of the 1970s

Before starting to list down the memorable movies of seventies, I would like to take the readers on a trip down memory’s lanes….

1970s was that decade, which witnessed the maximum change in Hindi Film and music scenario. The old guns of yester years were giving way to new generation. The success of Aaradhana towards the end of the previous decade had ensured the stronghold of RD Burman, Kishore Kumar and Rajesh Khanna in the filmdom. By the end of the decade, however, Rajesh Khanna was a phenomena of past and India was witnessing its biggest star ever: Amitabh Bachchan.

1970s saw both ends of a fil spectrum, from the highly commercial movies like Amar Akbar Anthony to highly qualitative movies like Aandhi, from high action oriented movies of Amitabh to melodramatic movies of Rajesh Khanna… 1970s had it all.

4 of these 5 movies I have already covered in my review on 10 best all time movies. These are,

Sholay

Mera Naam Joker

Aandhi

Anand

However, 1970s had several equally great movies. For the benefit of readers, I’ll leave out the above 4 and continue with my list. The above 4 are all time greats and hence they are definitely the best 4 of 1970s.

The following is the list of those great movies, which did not find a place in my “All time Great 10”. List arranged in alphabetical order.

Bobby (1973)

Director: Raj Kapoor

Casting: Rishi Kapoor, Dimple, Pran, Prem Nath

Raj Kapoor was never afraid to do things out of the box. After the debacle of Mera Naam Joker at the box office, he ventured into a brand new territory for him: teenage love story. This idea may not have been accepted at those times, but never the less, the movie made it big and is a real classic today. It inspired a series of other love stories, which brought in the power of youth as an important segment of cine going.

Deewar (1975)

Director: Yash Chopra

Casting: Amitabh, sashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy

This movie came in the same year as Aandhi and Sholay and still ensured its place in both box office success as well as crittics’ choice. This is sufficient evidence to prove that there is always enough demand for good movies. The Vijay from this movie established the angry young man image of Amitabh and initiated probably the greatest hero-side hero pair with Amitabh and Sashi Kapoor. The dialogues of this movie have been eternal and so has been the famous “Maa” in the form of Nirupa Roy.

Amar Prem (1973)

Director: Sakthi Samantha

Casting: Eajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore

How can be a list of 1970s be complete without “kaka”…. the man who ruled bollywood for the first half of 1970s. The superhit team of Aaradhana (Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagor and Sakthi Samantha) came in together again and recreated the magic. From a host lot of movies that projected the love-tragedy combination of Rajesh Khanna, this is probably the best and Sharmila Tagore also came up with a memorable performance. The love of a rich guy and a poor lady has never been better!!

Muqaddar ka Sikander (1978)

Director: Prakash Mehra

Casting: Amitabh, Vinod Khanna, rekha, Rakhi, Amjad

I have spoken about this movie in various posts of mine. The characters of this movie has been the strongest that I have seen. May it Sikander, Dilawar, Zohra Bai or even the cameo: The Baba at the graveyard. All the lead characters gave the performance of their life time and the direction was flawless. Backed up by great music, this movie has been one of my all time favourites.

Pakeezah (1971)

Director: Kamal Amrohi

Casting: Meena Kumari, Raj Kumar, Ashok Kumar

A true classic…Meena Kumari gave the greatest performance of her life (which, in my opinion is second only to Nargis in Mother India) and made the character memorable forever. The music was splendid and Lata gave some of her best performances through Chalte Chalte, Inhi Logon ne and Thaade Rahiyo.