Bollywood* Beginner Movies 4-6 — Romance, Action, and Myth

Last week we began by looking at romantic comedies. We continue with different genres and stars — action, romance, and over-the-top mythical tales. You'll get a sample of a distinctive director, S.S. Rajamouli, whose films Telugu language movies which are called "Tollywood."

ACTION

4. Bang Bang 

Frothy cotton candy action-romance when an ordinary woman encounters an charming thief. Full of diamond heists, car chases, and (of course) lots of singing and dancing. You'll see why Hrithik Roshan is considered one of India's best dancers. (My review, Hannah and Rose discuss it here.)

• Tashan (Style)
  Ridiculously entertaining action film combining Tarantino style action (without the gore because it is Bollywood not Hollywood) with big song and dance numbers (Bollywood not Hollywood). (My review here. Hannah and Rose discuss it here.)
  

 ROMANCE

5. Lootera

In a village, a young archaeologist falls in love with a landlord’s daughter. Their union seems doomed. But destiny brings them together a year later. A straight-up romance that's full of twists, turns, and reversals. With redemption in the end. No singing and dancing but a fantastic movie. (My review here)

 ACTION
(From Tollywood)

6. RRR
(Rise Roar Revolt)

The director's dream about two Indian revolutionaries who never met but might have been besties if they had. An over-the-top bro-mance with great choreography for singing and action, exciting dances, and a lot of heart. American critics loved this one. (My review here. Scott and I discuss it here.)  

More from director S.S. Rajamouli:

• Baahubali 1 & 2
  Epic. Myth. Battles. Good. Evil. Singing. Dancing. And war elephants. About a royal family in a mythical India that's more like The Lord of the Rings or 300 than you are probably imagining. CGI in the first one isn't great, but just ignore it. (My review. Scott and I discuss them here. Hannah and Rose talk about them here.)
  
• Eega
  Totally amazing movie about a guy murdered by his rival in love ... who is reincarnated as a fly. And is still determined to take vengeance on his murderer and protect his love. By the director of Baahubali and RRR. (My review here. Hannah and Rose discuss it here.)
  

NEXT

Part 3 will feature Shakespeare, thrillers, and modern life.

For my complete list of recommended films, go here. The list begins with what I've seen most recently.

* "Bollywood" as I'm using it is shorthand for Indian movies in general. The Indian movie industry has a lot of different centers that are based on regional languages and storytelling styles. There will be a few recommendations from others as we go, however, generally speaking, Bollywood (Bombay/Mumbai) offers the easiest entry points for Western viewers.

RRR (Rise Roar Revolt)

It is a fictional story about two Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Rama Rao), and their fight against the British Raj.

Rajamouli came across stories about the lives of Rama Raju and Bheem and connected the coincidences between them, imagining what would have happened had they met, and been friends. Set in 1920, the plot explores the undocumented period in their lives when both the revolutionaries chose to go into oblivion before they began the fight for their country.

Wikipedia

This is the director's dream about two revolutionaries who never met but might have been besties if they had. As we'd expect from the director of Eega and Baahubali, it has great choreography for singing and action, exciting dances, and a lot of heart. It delivers an over-the-top bromance the likes of which would be hard to top. It also embodies personal sacrifice and love of country, naturally, since these are celebrated revolutionaries who fought for India's independence. 

The over-the-top aspect also applies to the depictions of the British Raj which, to be fair, we've seen matches in some other South Indian films. The Raj are usually like the Nazis in our own movies — big, bad, and making you long for their demise. 

We could tell that Ram and Bheem were destined to be best friends from the moment they used sign language to set up a complicated plan to save a little boy. They were already reading each other's minds. From there it's an action packed movie that didn't quit entertaining for three hours.

I liked the way the director's imagination put these two together in a completely imagined story that still kept the essence of who they are and why they are admired. In that way it made me think of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter which took an absurd premise and delivered a fun movie which was still respectful treatment of the American legend.

We saw this at a local AMC where it was showing in the original Telugu or dubbed Hindi, both with English subtitles. Of course we picked Telugu so we could hear the actors' own delivery. There was a small Indian audience with us and that made it more fun. Later we went for Indian food (of course) where our waitress said she'd seen it and proudly proclaimed, "That movie is in my language! Telugu!" It was a wonderful theme evening.  

Rating — Introduction to Tollywood (come on in, the water's fine!) This one is more like a WWII Nazi movie in some ways than a purely Indian movie. If you like those, then give this one a try. Technically this is "Tollywood" not "Bollywood" since it is from South Indian cinema using the Telugu language.

Eega (Fly)

Totally amazing movie about a guy murdered by his rival in love ... who is reincarnated as a fly. And is still determined to take vengeance on his murderer and protect his love. No wonder this director got funding for the first Baahubali. Everyone had seen this heartwarming, thrilling story of the little fly that could.

We were particularly impressed (as was everyone else who saw this, from the reviews we read) by Sudeep's performance as the deadly villain. It is not everyone who can essentially carry a movie while acting with a fly, and a CGI fly at that. He was completely convincing.

This really must be seen to be believed. Originating in a joke between the director and his main screenwriter (his hardworking father), this movie delivers in a way that continually surprised us, bouncing between humor, danger, thrills, and just a little horror. It is delivered in an efficient two hours, including two dance numbers and a musical training montage.

This is available on Netflix. You may wind up finding it as Makkhi (Hindi for fly) since this southern Indian film has been translated from the original Telugu-Tamil language film into Hindi (with English captions, thank goodness).

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

An American's Guide to Bollywood discusses Eega.

Baahubali

We are always interested in Indian/Bollywood movies, especially after liking Lagaan so much. However, when we've tried the real thing we've often had a really hard time understanding them.

So we were interested but wary when we got a recommendation from a computer guy in India that my husband's been working with. He first mentioned Slumdog Millionaire which was interesting because we like it but never really knew how accurately that conveyed a feel for India. Then he recommended Baahubali. Amazingly enough, the Dallas library had copies of parts 1 & 2, making for 5 hours of movie goodness.

BAAHUBALI: THE BEGINNING

(2015)

The young Shivudu is left as a foundling in a small village by his mother. By the time he’s grown up, it has become apparent that he possesses exceptional gifts. He meets the beautiful warrior/princess Avanthika and learns that her queen has been held captive for the last 25 years. Shividu sets off to rescue her, discovering his own origins in the process.

We had absolutely no idea what to expect but was an exciting movie. It had many familiar story elements: the young man seeking his place in the world (and romance), finding a new path (and romance), and learning about his unexpected history (and romance). Along with epic battle scenes. And some singing. (That much of the culture we knew to expect.)

Interestingly, this echoed the main themes of The Last Jedi, which we had seen at the theater that day. Some themes are common to us all, despite the cultural differences.

Note: The CGI in this is painfully obvious. We weren't sure if that was due to the quality of the original or the transfer to DVD. Whatever. Just ignore it and keep watching. It's worth it.

BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION

(2017)

It's as if they cut a long movie in half and this is literally the second part. 'Nuff said. If you watched the first, you're good to go on this one. Here was my husband's reaction.

Epic. And he tied all 5 hours together. Myth. Battles. Good. Evil. Singing. Dancing. And war elephants.

I loved this beyond all reason ... it was Shakespearean in the family complications by the end. And it had enough crazy amazing action for anyone who is a fan of superhero movies.

Also, you could tell the budget was bigger. The CGI was much improved.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!) This one depends more on whether you can handle long-ago historical/fantasy movies than Indian films. Are you a Lord of the Rings fan? Did you like 300? You'll probably do just fine.

Scott and I discuss Baahubali 1 & 2 at A Good Story is Hard to Find.
An American's Guide to Bollywood discuss Baahubali 1 & 2 here.