6 Most Dark Movies of all time

Bollywood has expanded to discrete genres amidst the usual stuff of Romance, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror and Action. Thanks to the experimental scripts by few very talented writers and blessed with intrifling directors who with their noir screenplay portray the drama in an adequate fashion.

Yes, few movies disturb us to the core and we quit the theatres with an exclamation over our face. We might not be very happy with the instances we have noticed, but they truly are face of the society we have our abode in.

We thus tried to pick up 6 most dark movies Bollywood has presented over the celluloid.

 

6# Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010)

The anthology film directed by Dibakar Banarjee was released with a U/UA certificate. The sub plots range from honor killing to sting operation and then to MMS Scandals which try to showcase caste-ism, media blackmail and sexual privacy in India. It’s a satire on how the News media has turned into cheap entertainment without making any ideological stance accompanied by dramatic music and flashing headlines which trivializes the seriousness of the issue.

 

5# Shaitaan (2011)

Strangely Shaitaan shares its plot with Anurag Kashyap’s unreleased movie Paanch and Kashyap produced the former. Bejoy Nambiar’s thriller shows the life of a mentally disturbed girl who is intensely affected by institutionalization of her mother and how she meets a gang of directionless folks who find themselves in a deep trouble with eventuality of events. The tight screenplay, excellent cinematography and the forceful content makes it a must watch.

 

4# Gulaal (2009)

The Indian political celluloid drama is survived by an apocryphal secessionist movement run by Rajput leaders & current day elite and university politics. Anurag Kashyap’s dark drama explores themes like legitimacy quest, perceived injustices, power pursuit and hypocrisy of powerful.

The movie is inspired by Zeenat (“Haye Re Duniya”) and Pyaasa (“Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kya Hai”) and is a loyalty to Sahir Kudhianvi.

 

3# B.A Pass (2012)

Inspired by Mohan Sikka’s short story “The Railway Aunty”, the dark neo noir film directed by Ajay Bahl finds its plot around a boy who little knows the way to survive in the city. How he falls for a lady on fatal promises and following the destiny falls into the tabloid of ‘Heinous act of crime’.

 

2# Ugly (2014)

The neo-noir psychological thriller directed by Anurag Kashyap narrates an adherent instance of corruption, alienation and intrinsic violence when the 10 year old daughter of a striving actor disappears. The amazing thriller is helped by some a brilliant script and deserves a standing ovation.

 

1# Miss Lovely (2014)

The lethargically layered narrative, production design and period costumes in Ashim Ahluwali’s Indian drama portray the contemporaneous modernity. The drama switches itself to part documentary, part melodrama and sometimes a part love story. The noir film is a hard-boiled genre is set in 1980s and showcases the Mumbai’s C-Grade industry.

5 most expensive movies in Bollywood

Few huge sets and an ensemble cast of famous actors – And the movie budget inflates. While Bollywood has many 100+ crore movies in its kitty, there are various where a massive sum was invested to amuse the audience. While some recovered the cost and went ahead to break many records, few were flops. Let’s look at the 5 most expensive Bollywood movies.

5# Blue (2009) – 126 Crores

With an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan and Lara Dutta, Anthony D’Souza’s Blue held the record for being the most expensive movie ever produced till that time.

With a good opening weekend, Into The Blue (2005) inspired movie saw negligible audience in upcoming weeks. Declared as Below Average in box office, the movie failed to recover its whooping budget of 126 crores.

4# Ra One (2011) – 135 Crores

The Indian Science Fiction Superhero movie won 4 International Indian Film Academy Awards, 1 Filmfare and 1 national Award. Shahrukh Khan Starrer Ra.One was directed by Anubhav Sinha and spent a huge sum in a marketing campaign of over 9 months including gaming, brand tie ups and merchandise. The big budget of 135 Crores was recovered due an extended weekend release and huge publicity. The India ‘hit’ was declared ‘super hit’ in overseas market.

3# Bang Bang (2014) – 140 Crores

The Semi Hit Bang Bang was made with a high budget of 140 Crores spending most of the amount in action sequences and visual effects. The Knight and Day official remake saw Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif reprising the role of Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz from the original.

While the effects were praised, the screenplay and direction of the movie was criticized. Thanks to the huge publicity and extended weekend of 2^nd October, the movie successfully managed to recover it cost in spite of Haider being the second release on the same date.

2# Robot (2010) – 150 Crores

The principal photography of the movie began after a decade halt in the development phase. Robot marked debut of Legacy Effects Studio, adding to animatronics and prosthetic make-up. Built with a slashing budget of 150 Crores, S.Shankar’s vision broke many box-office records to become the top grossing movie in India and highest grossing movie of South India up to that point.

Two Rajnikanths and one Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer movie was well received by critics. Performance by Rajnikanth was highly appreciated ad the visual effects had a massive appeal.

The movie won 2 national awards, 7 Vijay awards and 2 Screen awards.

1# Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) – 250 Crores

No doubt, Baahubali is the most expensive movie of the entire era. Built with a sky touching budget of INR 520 crores for both the parts – 250 for the beginning and 270 for the later (yet to be released in 2016), the movie managed to gross 600+ crores breaking all records.

S.S Rajamouli’s epic historical fiction stars Prabhas and Rana Daggubati in lead roles. Presented in numerous film festivals, the movie boasts of 600 VFX artists, pre-production work of more than a year, 15000 story board sketches, 10,000 weaponry range and much more.

5 Insane Hollywood remakes in India

Bollywood stands as the biggest producer in world cinema. Is Hollywood number two then? No, that’s not right. Saying that, Bollywood still buys the main plot from U.S movies and what they create is a rip-off. Yes, you read that right. And where do they lack? Originality is the first thing that comes to my mind and the resultant is utter insanity.

Don’t believe me? Go through the list below and decide yourself.

5# The Silence Of The Lambs and Sangharsh (1999)

What they stole?

A young female CBI agent is on a mission to catch a weird dressed serial killer with due help of a confined genius. And that’s ‘The Silence Of The Lambs’ Indian ishtyle.

What they created?

The Indian genius unlike Hannibal Lecter isn’t a cannibal perhaps because they don’t have a Hindi word for it. And “Lecter” who is a jerk initially slowly falls in love with the CBI Agent. And then in a song smells her arms too.

The thriller turned romantic turned nightmare ends with some sort of immortality attainment program from eclipse. “Lecter” here dies in the arms of CBI Agent with a tender kiss. And this is how Bollywood shows the CBI Agent remembering “Lecter”.

 

4# Leon: The Professional and Bichhoo (2000)

What they stole?

A ruthless hit man who saves his neighbor’s daughter when her entire family is killed due to a drug mashup. That’s 70 percent.

What they created?

The rest 30%. The rest with 22 year old daughter and lots of music like any other Bollywood flick. And the hit man moves his arms like Woooohoooooooo…

And the reason why our hero is cold blooded is covered in the dance number. And then the last scene. The real Leone kills some 3 policemen in 5 minutes sequence while our Indian superhero who even knows to fly kills 18 in double the fight time. Perhaps, more people died than the number which entered the building.

 

3# Tallageda Nights and Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007)

What they stole?

The basic theme of Will Ferrell is about a car driver who has a hot wife, kids and a big mansion and loses up everything after a big-big crash. In the end, he gets better.

What they created?

This ain’t the improvised comedy it seems. To add more drama to the ongoing drama, Champ eats from the garbage dump and infects himself with glass to end up in the hospital which apparently requires a huge sum to cure. And in between all this, they get a change to dance with CGI bears.

Ferrell in the original conquers his fear to win the race but our Indian hero actually kills him. So, it was all and all a remake with bear and murder.

 

2# Three Men and a baby and Hey Baby (2007)

What they stole?

The story of three men who find a baby at their door step and acknowledge that it originated from either of one’s mysterious crime. They find love in the little cutie but get bummed when the original mother comes to reclaim her.

What they created?

Originally taken from a Korean movie which itself is borrowed from a French movie, we are 3 steps behind the original idea. Our bachelors slap women in bars. And one of them dresses up like cartoon. Things are still fine. What goes crazy is when the big bear falls asleep… Zzzzzzzzz… The little boy smacks him and then all the little children fight like Spartans to teach him a lesson. Why was that required? I mean, actually!

 

1# Mrs Doubtfire and Chachi 420

 

What they stole?

Did the Indian filmmakers credit the U.S version? Heights of coincidence where both the movies have divorced husbands dressing up as old women and then caring their daughters as nannies.

What they made?

I do not remember Sally Field giving the bath scene as our Hindi remake has and not even a sad driver having a crush on the old lady. And on all, Chachi 420 is the remake of another Indian Mrs. Doubtfire released a year back in another language. The craziest part which no one shall forget is the way our Chachi reveals who she actually is.

 

5 Best Father-Son Movies of Bollywood

No one can beat Bollywood when it comes to emotions and drama in the form of celluloid portrayal. Hollywood in fact can take a few lessons from our desi relationships. In an era where father-mother, mother-son and a brother-sister relationship is more looked in to, we have picked up 5 such movies which have presented father-son chemistry in a charismatic manner.

1# Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005)

Waqt is a story about the careless and spoilt Aditya Thakur (Akshay Kumar) and his father Ishwarchand Thakur (Amitabh Bachchan) where the later aims a secure future for his son. The father son conflict which ends with an emotional climax is heart touching at places.

Directed by Vipul Shah, the movie was rated ‘Above Average’ at the box-office and amused the moolah.

 

2# Udaan (2010)

Loosely based on the life of Anurag Kashyap himself, Vikramaditya Motwani’s Udaan is regarded as a cult classic in Indian cinema. Selected for numerous International film festivals, Udaan needs to be experienced and not told.

It is the story of Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) and his abusive father (Ronit Roy). While Rohan wishes to become a poet, his father wants him to work in his factory. How emotions and inner conflict effects the outer struggle is what Udaan is all about.

 

3# Gandhi My Father (2007)

Who doesn’t know Mahatama Gandhi, but very few of us have heard of Harilal Gandhi, his elder son. Gandhi, My Father directed by Feroz Abbas Khan portrays the love and hate relationship of the father and son. How Harilal ruins himself under the shadow of his father with different mindsets has been brilliantly enacted by Akshaye Khanna and Darshan Jariwala.

 

4# Paa (2009)

Directed by R.Balki, Paa demonstrates the father-son relationship in an unusual manner. Auro (Amitabh Bachchan) suffers from a genetic disorder Progeria and lives with his mother Vidya (Vidya Balan). His politician father Amol Atre (Abhishek Bachchan) tries to cope up with the rare condition of his son.

Loosely based on ‘The curious case of Benjamin Button’, the movie won numerous awards.

 

5# Apne (2007)

A retired boxer Baldev Singh Chowdhary (Dharmendra) finds his dreams in his 2 sons Angad (Sunny Deol) and Karan (Bobby Deol). While one agrees to his father’s dreams, the other doesn’t.

Anil Sharma’s portrayal of the father-son relation through this multi starrer drama portrays emotions to its core. It was well appreciated by critics and amusingly cheered by the audience.

8 movies that redefined action in Bollywood

Bollywood comes with various genres and the list is vast. While drama movies amuse us, few action flicks give us Goosebumps. Some over the top action thrillers seem logical while others fail the test. We picked up 8 such movies which changed the meaning of action and gave us few action stars.

 

8# Don (1978)

Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don was directed by Chandra Barot. In the plethora of action crime thrillers, the double reprise of Angry-Young Man stood as a milestone for action drama. The first week flop reversed its fortune to become a block buster by word of mouth spread.

 

7# James (2005)

Rohit Jugraj’s directed high action drama gave us two stars – Mohit Ahlawat and Nisha Kothari (Now Priyanka Kothari) but neither of them could sustain the high competition from fellow colleagues. However, the forgettable movie has its action moments where James (Mohit Ahlawat) single handedly takes on the goons. It gave us a new action hero indeed but Ahlawat was seen lesser later.

 

6# Ghayal (1990)

The Indian Rambo has been famous for high action scenes he gives simply. Amongst the list, Ghayal stands at the top. Winning 7 Filmfare awards and being the second highest grosser of the year speaks of the quality action Rajkumar Santoshi’s directional flick would have entertained the public with.

The sequel Ghayal – Once Again is to soon hit the theaters.

 

5# Heropanti (2014)

Heropanti might have not hit the right nodes when combined with action and drama but when former is spoken about, who can forget Tiger Shroff’s amazing stunts and fighting sequences.

The remake of Telugu film Parugu (2008) gave us a new action star Jai Hemant Shroff (Well, that’s Tiger Shroff’s real name). Sajid Nadiadwala’s Heropanti was a box office super hit in spite of receiving mixed reviews.

 

4# Awaara Paagal Dewaana (2002)

Directed by Vikram Bhatt, Awaara Paagal Dewaana has some high octane action scenes. The sequence where Guru Gulaab Khatri (Akshay Kumar) fights the antagonists in the building parking is breath taking. Even though it defies the laws of physics, but The Matrix borrowed portions were well shot and presented. Also, Yeda Anna’s (Sunil Shetty) fight with the boxer in the beginning of the drama adds to the action flick.

 

3# Ghajini (2008)

Loosely based on The Memento and remake of Tamil movie of same name, the romantic psychological thriller presented Aamir Khan is a super action avatar. It was the first Bollywood film to cross the 100 crore mark and was the highest grosser for the particular year. Aamir’s avatar as Sanjay Singhania who later loses his memory was very much appreciated.

 

2# Commando (2013)

The antagonist of John Abraham’s Force would have hardly noticed in front of the bulky hero but Commando-A One Man Army showed what skills Vidyut Jamwal possesses. ‘The new age action hero of Bollywood’ is a martial artist and has learned Kalaripayattu since he was 3. Carrying the entire movie on his shoulders, the action sequences are highly engaging and redefine the action era.

 

1# Sholay (1975)

And yes, you guessed it right. Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay redefined action in the era of 70s where romantic dramas were the major release. The high octane sequence between Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), Veeru (Dharmendra) and Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) are seat edge thrilling. Running for over 25 weeks, Sholay is also as one of the best Bollywood movies ever released.

The action was reprised when it was rereleased in 2014 in 3D format.

 

The list just doesn’t end here. Satya, Company, Kaminey, Parinda, Shootout at Lokhandwaala, The Burning Train, Singham, Wanted, Dhoom 2 and many more action dramas have hit the big screen and have been applauded by the audience too.

We hope to see much more khatarnaak action in near future as well.