Back in the day, we could borrow cassettes for Rs. 10 or 20 from video cassette parlours and watch old classics. We then had to rewind the cassette (not compulsory, just good manners) and return it within a day. Sometimes people would borrow a VCR and several cassettes for 24 hours and entire families would binge-view movies one after another. Now OTT platforms such as Amazon Prime Video offer access to some timeless Hindi classics that you should watch now if you haven’t:
The dashing young Raj Kapoor and beauteous Nargis star in this timeless story of father and son separated early in life and then meeting later in life. The vagabond son Raj encounters his own father (Prithviraj Kapoor) as judge and has the woman he loves Rita (Nargis) defending him. This was a film that explored social equalities and privilege and features some of Hindi cinemas most abiding songs. This film was influential and popular even in other countries and listed as Time’s 100 all-time greatest films.
This is a timeless film about self-reliance and the triumph of the underdog over great odds. Starring Dilip Kumar (Shankar), Vyjayantimala (Rajni) and Ajit (Krishna) this is the movie that inspired Lagaan so many years later. This was a black & white film that was painstakingly colourised and rereleased in 2007; another reason to watch this classic.
Starring Guru Dutt (Vijay) with Waheeda Rehman (Gulabo) and Mala Sinha (Meena), this is a film about the idealistic poet against a cruel materialistic world. The love of his life Meena leaves Vijay to marry another man (Rehman) for money. Gulabo, the prostitute with the heart of gold on the other hand loves him and his poetry and gets his poems published. As for the music --- well Pyaasa has some of the most beautiful songs ever composed for Hindi films, such as this heart-wrenching rendition by the matchless Mohammed Rafi.
This madcap caper features the three real-life bothers Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar and Kishore Kumar as reel-life brothers in this romantic comedy featuring the stunning Madhubala (Renu). The oldest brother had his heart broken in love and so has decided that he and his two brothers will forever reject women and remain bachelors. However, one ‘bheegi bahaagi raat’ Renu comes bursting into their lives and they are all never the same again. Enjoy this whimsical and utterly delightful ‘dream sequence’ song from the film where the hero asks the heroine to pay for the work he did on her car.
This is a story about the terrible uncertainties of life and a family torn asunder by a terrible earthquake. A father (Balraj Sahani) and his three sons (Raj Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Shashi Kapoor) are separated because of the earthquake and go on to live very different lives. This was a very stylishly made movie for its time and has lots of marvellous looking actors; this and the interesting story makes for compelling viewing.
And if you're wondering why a classic epic such as Mughal-e-Azam is not mentioned here, the reason is that the movie is unavailable in India thought it is available in other regions on Amazon Prime video. Go figure.
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