9 Interesting Bollywood Films That Should Really Get More Recognition

Being Cyrus (dir. Homi Adajania)

I am going to count this as a Bollywood film because of its cast - Saif Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Shah and Dimple Kapadia. Despite being one of the best crafted thrillers to have come out of the industry, Being Cyrus has been largely forgotten and rarely ever discussed. With a generous dose of murder plots and delectable chaos, Being Cyrus follows Cyrus Mistry (Saif Ali Khan) as he gets more and more involved in a bloody play - but the end is so damn unpredictable.

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (dir. Sudhir Mishra)

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi in special in many ways, and it's a film that deserves repeated watches and discussions. The themes in the film are relevant now and will be relevant for years to come. Mishra understands the complexities of activism and politics in the country very well, and attempts to look at these complexities from a distance, studying how they affect the only things more complex than them love and friendships.

Johnny Gaddaar (dir. Sriram Raghavan)

Not nearly enough people have seen this one, which, in my opinion, is one his finest ventures as a writer and a director. It had such finesse in terms of craft and such an intriguing rawness in the story. Very few other films can match up to this film's portrayal and treatment of crime and criminal characters. Just the way that it shows the city and flirts with a noir aesthetic is enough to visually engage you in the film. If you haven't watched it already, please, please do.

Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year (dir. Shimit Amin)

This film is a very good example of actors trying to do some really good work and experiment with their image. The film did not do well at the box office, but it gained a cult following and rightly so. It had such an engaging story, from Harpreet Singh venturing into work and finding a better functioning company that runs parallel to it, to the constant tussle between company ethics and power.

Titli (dir. Kanu Behl)

What makes Titli great isn't just its representation of a Delhi family from a low income neighbourhood, or how these dire circumstances drive them into a life of crime, but it's the film's thoughtful study of masculinity and the inheritance of violence that truly makes it stand out. The crime part of the film isn't just for the sake of showing violence on screen, but to create a storytelling opportunity to challenge the status quo within families.

Aankhon Dekhi (dir. Rajat Kapoor)

This film isn't as mainstream in terms of its cast or structure as a lot of the other films on this list. But it is a film that I grown to love immensely over the years, because of how gentle it is in its portrayal of a complicated philosophy. It is a film that haunts you afterwards, such that you are compelled to revisit it. Woven around a man who refuses to believe anything that he cannot see, Aankhon Dekhi is a wise but tender film.

Aśoka (dir. Santosh Sivan)

Biopics these days are so intent upon creating a larger-than- life portrait of their subjects that they forget to root them, to give their humane achievements and failings their due respect. Asoka traces the becoming of a king, his pain and the ways in which that pain changes him, how he self-reflects and finds a way back to himself. It isn't a perfect film, but it certainly is a better attempt than the ones we see now.

Ek Hasina Thi (dir. Sriram Raghavan)

This is the second Sriram Raghavan film on this list, and that is because some of his films haven't received the kind of recognition that they should have. Very few directors can drive their characters into darker and darker shades of grey the way he does, such that the shift seems logical and sinister and more intense all at once. Just the character arc of the protagonist in this film can glue you to your spot.

Manorama Six Feet Under (dir. Navdeep Singh)

The final reveal of this film shocked me at the time I saw it. And yes, I was much younger then, but I do think that it would have shocked me just as much today. It is the kind of film where the ordinariness of its visual structure is a deception, a curtain beneath which a monstrous darkness is lurking. The casting of the film, the slow-burn build up, the way the story weaves through tiny pieces of evidence everything about this film is a ride.