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Favorite Decade of Bollywood (2024)


zen

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The discussion is based on judging films from 2024's viewpoint (and not on what the films brought to the table at the time of their release).

 

From Bollywood's golden age, the 60s decade works the best for me. I can probably enjoy most films from this period. 
 

It was a decade when the trio of Dev-Dilip-Raj was still impactful, delivering good films from time to time. New superstars Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar were at the top of their game. Additionally, you had Raaj Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Manoj Kumar, Joy Mukherjee, Dharmendra, Biswajeet, Shashi Kapoor, and towards the end of the decade Jeetendra and Rajesh Khanna. Actors such as Pran, Jeevan, and Ajit usually played the bad guy. Mehmood made his mark as a comedian. 
 

The actresses were equally exciting - Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Vyjayanthimala, Parekh, Sadhna, Sharmila Tagore, Saira Banu, etc.

 

The music had variety with both traditional and nontraditional making the rounds. Filmmakers like Vijay Anand, Nasir Husain, Manmohan Desai, and Yash Chopra, along with others, churned out relatively well thought out films. 
 

Taking about dresses and hairstyles, 60s is known for its fashion. 

 

What keeps these films more or less timeless is their simplicity. The focus on drama, comedy, and romance makes a film appear relatively more current versus one that is focused on action, special effects, etc., which can date a film. 

 

Selected films from the 60s: M-e-A, Kala Bazar, Chaudhvin Ka Chand, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Junglee, Bluff Master, Professor, Half Ticket, Tere Ghar Ke Samne, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Sangam, Rajkumar, Arzoo, Waqt, Guide, Suraj, Teesri Manzil, Ram Aur Shyam, Jewel Thief, Milan, Brahmachari, Padosan, ..., ... 

 

 

If I had to make a decade, it would probably be the 1957-1966 period. In the 50s, Hollywood was technically at a different level. However, from the late 50s, Indian films began to show improvements though the use of color became relatively widespread only in the late 60s. 

 

The late 60s was a transition phase, where Rajesh Khanna’s craze began to take over. I think that this was the beginning of the downfall of the Golden Age of Bollywood. While Rajesh's films did well at-that-point-in-time, many of his films esp. from the 70s don't hold up too well. Talking about the 70s, Bollywood ventured into the action and multi-starrer genre where today these films in general (there will be exceptions) may appear monotonous with dated action sequences, scores, and drama. Amitabh Bachchan became the superstar.  However, his performances appear monotonous now. Sometime back, I watched his films back to back and could not believe that many of the sequences from his films could be used interchangeably. The rot continued into the 80s when good films became more and more rare. 

 

The less said about the later decades the better. 

 

 

So which is your favorite Bollywood decade and why?

 

Edited by zen
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The only decade where I watched most of my bollywood movies was the 90s. I don't have anything that could be compared with that. So I say 90s was the best. Once 2000 hit, I saw decreased storylines, gradually increasing sex and violent content that is the norm nowadays. Hero meets heroine, sing a romantic song, have funny scenes, fights, all ends well, it was so simple. Even the south indian movies are following the benchmark set by bollywood :sick: There was more fun in watching movies back then. After watching the movie, you actually felt entertained. It was a time pass for the week. Its not so anymore. Gosh I miss those days.

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10 minutes ago, Real McCoy said:

The only decade where I watched most of my bollywood movies was the 90s. I don't have anything that could be compared with that. So I say 90s was the best. Once 2000 hit, I saw decreased storylines, gradually increasing sex and violent content that is the norm nowadays. Hero meets heroine, sing a romantic song, have funny scenes, fights, all ends well, it was so simple. Even the south indian movies are following the benchmark set by bollywood :sick: There was more fun in watching movies back then. After watching the movie, you actually felt entertained. It was a time pass for the week. It’s not so anymore. Gosh I miss those days.


90s films that I recall now are the two Mukul Anand directed ones - Hum and Agneepath, along with SLB’s Hun Dil De Chuke Hai Sanam. 
 

There were time pass films (not sure if I can watch them now) from David Dhawan such as Ankheen (Govinda in double role), Abbas-Mastan such as Soilder, and RGV such as Rangeela. Mahesh Bhatt used to have good music in his films such as Ashiquee. 
 

Overall, a forgettable decade unless you are into SRK’s now :yawn2: worthy films such as - Yes Boss, Baazigar, Darr, DDLJ, …

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1 minute ago, zen said:


90s films that I recall now are the two Mukul Anand directed ones - Hum and Agneepath, along with SLB’s Hun Dil De Chuke Hai Sanam. 
 

There were time pass films (not sure if I can watch them now) from David Dhawan such as Ankheen (Govinda in double role), Abbas-Mastan such as Soilder, and RGV such as Rangeela. Mahesh Bhatt used to have good music in his films such as Ashiquee. 
 

Overall, a forgettable decade unless you are into SRK’s now :yawn2: worthy films such as - Yes Boss, Baazigar, Darr, DDLJ, …

 

like i said, that was the only decade where i watched any bollywood movie. I'm from Chennai. So its a tall order that I watched any of hindi movies at all. hindi movies are not well known even now. its not due to anything political its due to not knowing the language. I understood hindi that's why I watched them. I watched most of those SRK movies. You missed KKHH. I used to wonder how an ugly guy like SRK gets a movie role :lol:

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Posted (edited)
44 minutes ago, Real McCoy said:

 

like i said, that was the only decade where i watched any bollywood movie. I'm from Chennai. So its a tall order that I watched any of hindi movies at all. hindi movies are not well known even now. its not due to anything political its due to not knowing the language. I understood hindi that's why I watched them. I watched most of those SRK movies. You missed KKHH. I used to wonder how an ugly guy like SRK gets a movie role :lol:


You had mention KKHH, didn’t you? :no: 

 

Anyways, Rani looked good in it! 
 

 

PS btw, I like Feroz Khan’s films so I watched Yalgaar (1992). Overall a time pass for its songs and FK, but I could not believe how bad Sanjay Dutt looks in that hair style now when I recalled liking that in the past and when that hairstyle was considered “refreshing” at that time. The film even had an actor called "Vicky" whose hair style was even worse :shock:

Edited by zen
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Looking at films directed by Manmohan Desai and Yash Chopra, I won't be surprised if their best work was in the 60s.

 

MMD

 

Now it is difficult to watch most of his "lost and found" and multi-starrer films. When I went through AB's movies some time back, those films did not click with me as much as I had hoped. On the other hand, Chhaliya (1960) & Bluff Master (1963) felt like fresh air. Chhaliya is a serious film where MMD resisted the temptation to insert unnecessary comedy, which he would in a masala film. Bluff Master was a terrific comedy. It is among the films that grabbed my attention from start to finish. Of his 70s work, I probably like Aa Gale Lag Ja (1973), which is again not a multi-starrer, the best. 

 

YC

 

Waqt (1965) remains a superb watch esp. for Raaj Kumar. He was awarded the best supporting actor Filmfare award when he carried the film on his back. Should have been seen as the main actor. Sunil Dutt was in it so maybe seen as the lead but he looked odd paired with a young Sadhna esp. in the swimming costume scene. His meaningful part is at the end where he fights Raaj Kumar's case. As I said, I did a run of AB's films some time back and was excited for Deewar (1975) but it has again not aged as well as I would have liked esp. the non-AB parts. 

 

 

 

 

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So I am going to take the liberty of defining a decade. Its going to be a rolling 10 year window and not necessarily for years starting with a 0.

 

I grew up on a combination of Bollywood and music.

My favouite decade is from 1994-2003.

 

Bollywood at its finest.

Great love sagas. Fantastic music, which is the soul of any love story.

Some well written slapstick comedies. Especially involving Govinda and Kadar Khan.

The opening up of Bollywood to outsiders.

 

I found the 80s cinema (which I obviously watched in the 2000s/2010s) to be arty for the sake of it. Very dreary and dull stuff.

70s was mainly an Amitabh decade where he did the same thing, rather impressively, I may add in over a 100 films. Enjoyable to a certain degree.

 

Couldn't stand movies from the Dev Anand + Raj Kapoor duopoly era. Thank heavens for Guru Dutt.

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13 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

I grew up on a combination of Bollywood and music.

My favouite decade is from 1994-2003.


What are your top 3-5 favorites from this period? 

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Most of my fav Hindi movies were from 2010s

 

Gangs of Wasseypur

Tumbbad

Kahaani

Masaan

Lunchbox

Newton

Andhadhun

Piku

ZNMD

DDD

Kapoor and Sons

Udaan

Queen

Shanghai

Mukti Bhawan

Paan Singh Tomar

Ugly

Barfi

Neerja

Byomkesh Bakshy

Raazi

Pink

Drishyam (I know it's a copy but still)

 

Many more missing I am sure. 

 

Even commercial ones like Band Baaja..., YJHD, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Dangal, Sultan, War etc. were pretty entertaining. 

 

If I had to pick my top 10 Hindi movies of all time, 7-8 would come from this decade. 

Edited by Gollum
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Anurag Kashyap, Zoya, Dibakar, Motwane, Sriram Raghavan, Shoojit Sircar are my favorite Bollywood directors and they delivered their best work in the previous decade. Then all timers like Masaan, Kahaani, Tumbbad, Kapoor and Sons.

 

Big fall in quality post pandemic. 

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13 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Most of my fav Hindi movies were from 2010s


From the top of the mind recall, films that I liked from this period in no particular order: 

 

Dangal, Haidar, & Drishyam … Have some memory of liking Kanani & Yyomkesh Bakshi 

 

I am not sure if I can rewatch films like Chennai Express, Bajranji Bhaijaan, Sultan, War, Don 2, etc :no: 

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5 minutes ago, zen said:


From the top of the mind recall, films that I liked from this period in no particular order: 

 

Dangal, Haidar, & Drishyam … Have some memory of liking Kanani & Yyomkesh Bakshi 

 

I am not sure if I can rewatch films like Chennai Express, Bajranji Bhaijaan, Sultan, War, Don 2, etc :no: 

Chennai Express was garbage. Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Sultan were peak Salman Khan. War was Hrithik at his best, SRK had a poor decade. Have you checked out some of the other movies in my post, cinephiles like yourself might enjoy many of them, sure might be too artsy for some. What say you @Mariyam

Edited by Gollum
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6 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Chennai Express was garbage. Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Sultan were peak Salman Khan. War was Hrithik at his best, SRK had a poor decade. Have you checked out some of the other movies in my post, cinephiles like yourself might enjoy many of them, sure might be too artsy for some. What say you @Mariyam


I haven’t but will do so when I find time. This was the period when I moved away from Bollywood to explore foreign (Japanese, French, Italian, etc) cinema. 
 

 

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Posted (edited)

Currently, I am in India where I have reconnected with Bollywood (the golden age one). I try to watch films with my mom (In the past, I have made her watch Ozu, Kurosawa, and other such directors’ films, which she enjoys too). 
 

Today we watched Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai (1960)

 

The print on ZEE5 was in the original aspect ratio, a big plus. B&W works well for this film.
 

What a beautiful film! I liked the locations and sets. It has got that western film feel. Raj Kapoor is good as the simpleton, a role that he can probably play in his sleep. What I also liked is that Pran gets to sing as well! 


This is a unique or different type of  Bollywood film. If I recall correctly, it has won tons of awards as well. 
 

PS the song below shows its locations/sets nicely: 

 

 

Edited by zen
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7 hours ago, Mariyam said:

So I am going to take the liberty of defining a decade. Its going to be a rolling 10 year window and not necessarily for years starting with a 0.

 

I grew up on a combination of Bollywood and music.

My favouite decade is from 1994-2003.

 

Bollywood at its finest.

Great love sagas. Fantastic music, which is the soul of any love story.

Some well written slapstick comedies. Especially involving Govinda and Kadar Khan.

The opening up of Bollywood to outsiders.

 

I found the 80s cinema (which I obviously watched in the 2000s/2010s) to be arty for the sake of it. Very dreary and dull stuff.

70s was mainly an Amitabh decade where he did the same thing, rather impressively, I may add in over a 100 films. Enjoyable to a certain degree.

 

Couldn't stand movies from the Dev Anand + Raj Kapoor duopoly era. Thank heavens for Guru Dutt.

 

How can I forget Govinda. Classic! My favorite decade matches with yours. Things were simple back then. A little bit of romance, some comedy, some dishum dishum, voila you are entertained. Your time spent with friends at the movies was worth it.

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On 6/19/2024 at 2:57 AM, Gollum said:

Chennai Express was garbage. Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Sultan were peak Salman Khan. War was Hrithik at his best, SRK had a poor decade. Have you checked out some of the other movies in my post, cinephiles like yourself might enjoy many of them, sure might be too artsy for some. What say you @Mariyam

I have seen *all* the movies in your list. :embaressed_smile:

 

Hrithik's best is between Lakhsya and Guzarish.

War was terrible, from a movie/acting viewpoint. Commercially of course it was super successful.

 

Salman has acted well in HAHK, Khamoshi, KKHH, Sanam Bewafa, MPK, Tere Naam. 

 

Posted Wanted, Salman is unbearable.

 

Edited by Mariyam
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13 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

I have seen *all* the movies in your list. :embaressed_smile:

 

Hrithik's best is between Lakhsya and Guzarish.

War was terrible, from a movie/acting viewpoint. Commercially of course it was super successful.

 

Salman has acted well in HAHK, Khamoshi, KKHH, Sanam Bewafa, MPK, Tere Naam. 

 

Posted Wanted, Salman is unbearable bad.

 

 

KKHH stars Shahrukh :giggle:

 

PS: you're right. Maybe need to watch it again. its been over 25 years that I forgot salman was there :((

Edited by Real McCoy
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