Immortal Bollywood Stories : Why Some Films Become Eternal?

- July 28, 2013 | 9:10 AM IST

Bollywood stories have immortalized themselves with their appeal over the last 100 years of cinema. There are films whose title we randomly quote, whose plots we are so familiar with that we can’t simply help but refer to them so easily like they are a part of our world. Koimoi brings to you the stories and the films that have become eternal!

Mother India

Plot: The story of a poverty-stricken village woman, Radha (Nargis Dutt), who brings up her two sons Birju (Sunil Dutt) and Ramu (Rajendra Kumar) with a lot of struggle. The worst part of her life is about surviving an evil money-lender. Despite all the hardships of life, she never loses her morals and, in the end, kills her son criminal son Birju with her own hands to safeguard her values.

Why it’s great: Mother India was about a mother’s resolve to face all odds just so that she can bring up her children. The story depicted the Radha’s struggle to be the real mother, the true mother no matter whatever it takes.

Sholay

Plot: Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) is an ex-police officer whose family is killed by a dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad khan). In order to take revenge from Gabbar, Thakur hires two convicts, Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra). Veeru and Jai fight the dacoits and bring Gabbar alive to the Thakur, but during the fight, Jai is killed.

Why it’s great: Sholay is a classic example of good triumphing over evil against all odds.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge

Plot: Raj (Shah Rukh khan) is carefree, rich boy and Simran (Kajol), belongs to a traditional Punjabi family. They both meet during a trip to Switzerland, Raj falls in love with Simran during the trip but Simran is already engaged to another boy, living in Punjab. Simran leaves for India to get married and realises there that she loves Raj. Raj leaves for India to get her back….

Why it’s great: Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge showed a boy’s resolve to not elope with a girl but to get the girl’s parents approval for their relationship. Raj had several occasions to run away with Simran but he decided to win them over instead. That importance given to the girl’s parents was too strong for the film to go wrong with the audiences.

Gadar – Ek Prem Katha

Plot: During the 1947 partitions riots, Tara Singh (Sunny Deol), a sikh truck driver saves a wealthy muslim girl, Sakina (Ameesha Patel). Both fall in love with each other and get married. Years later, Sakina goes to Pakistan to meet her family, and her family refuses to let her go back to India. Tara comes to know about this and travels to Pakistan with his young son to get his wife back at any cost.

Why it’s great: Gadar had a rare and deadly combination of action, emotions and patriotism.

Hum Aapke Hain Koun…!

Plot: Prem (Salman Khan) and Nisha (Madhuri Dixit) fall for each other during the marriage of their older siblings, Rajesh and Pooja respectively. Pooja gives birth to a son and, one day, accidently falls down the stairs and dies. Rajesh finds it difficult to raise his son after Pooja’s death and the families decide that he shall marry Pooja’s younger sister, Nisha. Nisha unknowingly accepts the proposal thinking she is getting married to Prem. When she and Prem find out the reality, they decide to sacrifice their love for the family and Pooja’s son. Ultimately Rajesh steps aside when he comes to know that his younger brother, Prem, and his wife, Nisha, love each other.

Why it’s great: Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! succeeded so wonderfully because it was a wholesome family entertainer, it depicted the institution of a Hindu marriage and because it portrayed that the biggest attribute of love should be sacrifice. When Nish sets out to marry her own widowed brother-in-law in the name of love, she gives up her own love for Prem, because she realises, it is more urgent and needed. The Indian-ness of the story is what made it great.

Beta

Plot: Raju (Anil Kapoor) is son of widowed rich man. He feels devoid of mother’s love and thus his father remarries Laxmi (Aruna Irani). Meanwhile, Raju grows up and gets married to Saraswati (Madhuri Dixit). Saraswati discovers that Laxmi’s love for Raju is fake and that she is only interested in Raju’s wealth. However, Raju is highly devoted to his step-mother and doesn’t pay heed to his wife Saraswati’s warning. He ultimately discovers the truth in the end.

Why it’s great: Beta showed what the bond between a mother and son should be. It depicted the undying faith of a son on his mother. The film’s story is great because it held that the mother can never be wrong. So much so, that Raju drinks milk mixed with poison because it’s been served by his mother!

Lagaan

Plot: During the British Raj in India, Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), a young village boy makes mockery of a cricket match being played by British officers and gets into a fight with one of them. The officer challenges him to put together a cricket team and win the match against them. If Bhuvan’s team wins the match, the taxes the Indian have to pay will be cancelled for three years. And if they lose the match, they will have to pay thrice the normal taxes. Bhuvan, who has never played cricket in his life, accepts the challenge and forms a ragtag team comprising of villagers. The villagers have no idea about the game but end up winning the match.

Why it’s great: The story of Lagaan depicted patriotism in an entertaining way. The game of cricket in the film was there for the entertainment value but the overarching love for one’s country made up the larger picture, something that appealed to the audience a lot. The story also stood for victory of the underdog.

3 Idiots

Plot: Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad a.k.a. Rancho (Aamir Khan) are engineering students at Imperial college. After completing their college education, Farhan and Raju re-unite and start looking for their friend, Rancho. While looking for Rancho, they remember him as a person who helped them realise their dreams. Both Farhan and Raju come to know during the journey that Rancho was not son of millionaire (what they believed earlier) and realise that his real motive behind joining college.

Why it’s great: The message of 3 Idiots was ‘follow your heart’ and it was conveyed very beautifully. The film asked people to not give up on their dreams and persist even if it required defying norms of the society.

Raja Hindustani

Plot: Raja (Aamir Khan) is a poor, semi-literate taxi driver in a village called Palenkhet. A rich girl, Aarti (Karisma Kapoor), visits Palenkhet and both fall in love with each other. Aarti marries Raja against her father’s and her step-mother’s wishes. The family accepts the marriage only to bring an end to their relations. Raja falls into their trap and starts hating Aarti. Ultimately, love triumphs and they re-unite.

Why it’s great: Raja Hindustani was a brilliant tale of faith in the institution of marriage. In spite of acrimony in their marriage, Karisma Kapoor refuses to give a divorce to Aamir Khan. But finally, it is because of her faith in the institution of marriage, that the marriage survives and the people who are creating problems for them are exposed.

Jai Santoshi Maa

Plot: A poor girl Santoshi (Kanan Kaushal) is a devotee of Hindu goddess Devi Santoshi Maa. By the goddesses’ grace, Santoshi falls in love with a Birju (Ashish Kumar) and marries him. After marriage Santoshi finds out that her husband is ill-treated by his step-mother. Birju leaves his home and allegedly drowns and dies. Santoshi doesn’t accept his death and rejects behaving as a widow and fasts for sixteen weeks to appease Santoshi Maa to get rid of all her misfortunes.

Why it’s great: Jai Santoshi Maa talked about the power of destiny. Although it is an unlikely story, it appealed because Indians believe in the dictum that faith can move mountains.