Top 25 best Bollywood movies of all time - Part 2
In continuation -
2. Do Bigha
Zamin (1953) 
Known for its socialist theme,
it is considered an important film in the early parallel cinema of India, and a
trend setter.
Inspired
by Italian neo-realistic cinema, Bimal Roy made Do Bigha
Zameen after watching Vittorio
De Sica's Bicycle
Thieves (1948).
Like most of Bimal Roy's movies, art and commercial cinema merge to create a
movie that is still viewed as a benchmark. It has paved the way for future
cinema makers in the Indian
neo-realist movement and
the Indian New Wave, which began in the 1950s.
A moderate commercial success,
it was awarded the All India Certificate of Merit for
Best Feature Film, it became the first film to win the Filmfare Best Movie
Award and the first Indian film to
win the International Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, after Neecha Nagar (1946),
which won the Palme
d'Or (Grand
Prize). It was also winner of the Social Progress Award at
the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In 2005, Indiatimes Movies ranked the movie amongst
the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films. The film was also released in China
and in USSR.
The film also marks Meena Kumari's
maiden guest appearance in her 33-year-long career. The lullaby, Aa Jaa Ri
Aa is picturised on her.
In
the hope of earning enough money to pay off his debts and save his land, a poor
farmer becomes a rickshaw puller in the Calcutta and faces many difficulties.
Director: Bimal Roy | Stars: Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy, Ratan Kumar, Murad.
3. Mother India (1957) 
Mother
India is a 1957 Indian epic drama film, directed by Mehboob Khan .
A remake of Khan's earlier film Aurat (1940),
it is the story of a poverty-stricken village woman named Radha , who in the
absence of her husband, struggles to raise her sons and survive against a
cunning money-lender amidst many troubles.
In this melodrama, a poverty-stricken woman raises
her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles,
always sticks to her own moral code.
The title of the film was chosen to counter
American author Katherine
Mayo's 1927 polemical book Mother India, which vilified Indian
culture. Mother
India metaphorically represents India as a nation in the aftermath of its independence in
1947, and alludes to a strong sense of Indian nationalism and
nation-building. Allusions to Hindu
mythology are abundant in the film, and
its lead character has been seen as a metonymic representation of an Indian woman who
reflects high moral values and the concept of what it means to be a mother to
society through self-sacrifice. While some authors treat Radha as the symbol of
women empowerment, others see her cast in female stereotypes. The film was shot
in Mumbai's Mehboob Studios and in the villages
of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Uttar
Pradesh. The music by Naushad introduced
global music, including Western classical music and
orchestra, to Hindi cinema.
The film was one of
the most expensive Indian (Bollywood) productions and earned the highest
revenue for any Indian film at that time. Adjusted for inflation, Mother
India still ranks among the all-time Indian box office hits.
It was released in India amid fanfare in October 1957 and had several
high-profile screenings, including one at the capital, New Delhi, attended by
the country's president and prime minister. Mother India became a
definitive cultural classic and is regarded as one of the best films in Indian
cinema. The film won the All India
Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film,
the Filmfare Best Film Award for 1957, and Nargis and Khan won the Best
Actress and Best Director awards respectively. It was also nominated for
the Academy
Award for Best International Feature Film,
becoming the first Indian film to be ever nominated.
Director: Mehboob
Khan | Stars: Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar
Tuli, Raaj Kumar
4.Do Ankhen
Barah Haath (1957)
Do Aankhen
Barah Haath (transl. Two Eyes,
Twelve Hands) is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by V. Shantaram, who also starred. It
is considered to be one of the classics of Hindi cinema and is based on humanistic psychology. It won a
Silver Bear at the 8th Berlin International Film
Festival and a Golden Globe Award in the
new category Samuel Goldwyn International Film Award for best film produced
outside of the United States. The film is also remembered for the song
"Aye Maalik Tere Bande Hum", sung by Lata Mangeshkar and
written by Bharat Vyas.
The
inspiration for this movie was a real experiment conducted by Maurice Frydman, who refused to have his name credited at the end of the
film. He went so far as to tell the movie maker, V Shantaram, that he would sue
him in court if his name were to appear anywhere in the credits. This incident
is related in an interview of David Godman, who talks about Maurice Frydman's
extraordinary life and connection to India.
The film was
inspired by the story of an "open prison" experiment: Swatantrapur in
the princely state of Aundh near Satara.
Now, Swatantrapur is part of Atpadi tehsil in Sangli district
of Maharashtra. It was recounted by screenwriter G. D. Madgulkar to V.
Shantaram. In 2005, Indiatimes Movies ranked the movie amongst
the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films. During filming, V. Shantaram fought
with a bull and injured an eye, but his eyesight survived. The film was
later remade in 1975 as the Tamil language film Pallandu Vazhga and
in 1976 as the Telugu language film Maa Daivam. The
core plot line is thematically similar to the 1952 movie My Six Convicts.
Progressive, reform-minded young warden gets
permission to take six surly murderers from prison to dilapidated country farm,
to rehabilitate it and themselves through hard work and kindly guidance.
Director: Shantaram
Rajaram Vankudre | Stars: Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre, Sandhya, Ulhas, B.M. Vyas
5. Kanoon (1960)
The film presents a case against capital punishment,
arguing that witnesses may be genuinely deceived, and their consequent
inadvertently tendered false testimony may lead someone wrongly to the gallows.
The film was a
courtroom drama of a murder case, where the judge's prospective son-in-law is the
defence lawyer in a case of murder, for which he suspects his would-be
father-in-law. The film was India's second songless talkie. The first one was Andha Naal, a Tamil
movie.
A lawyer holds the eyewitness s evidence to
catch a killer, but the identified criminal is the lawyer's own mentor,
prospective father-in-law, and also the judge who presides over the case
Director: B.R. Chopra | Stars: Rajendra Kumar
Tuli, Ashok Kumar, Nanda Karnataki, Nana Palsikar
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