International Federation of Film Critics- India Chapter (FIPRESCI-India) created a list of 10 best Indian films of all time. Bangla films directed by Bengali directors dominate over others as they occupy top spots. Movies from Bollywood and other national film industries too made the list of all time bests.
1. Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road, 1955)
Director- Satyajit Ray
Cast- Subir Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta, Karuna Banerjee ,Chunibala Devi, Kanu Banerjee
Pather Panchali revolves around the character Apu, a small boy living with his family in a pauperized village. In course of events, Apu's father Harihar Roy immigrates to a larger city with a hope of better income. Apu and his elder sister Durga continue to live their strugglesome village life with their mother. Satyajit Ray with his legendary direction vividly portrays the actual struggle of poverty-stricken families of that time.
2. Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, 1960)
Director- Ritwik Ghatak
Cast- Supriya Devi, Anil Chatterjee, Gyanesh Mukherjee, Bijon Bhattacharya, Gita Dey
Ritwik Ghatak paints the picture of a refugee family from East Pakistan, living in the suburbs of Calcutta. Nita is the daughter of the family and she shows her selflessness throughout the whole movie. She does everything in order to pull her family out of the adverse circumstance but never gets proper recognition for her contribution.
3. Bhuvan Shome (1969)
Director- Mrinal Sen
Cast- Utpal Dutt, Suhasini Mulay, Shadhu Meher, Amitabh Bacchan (Narrator)
This film is about its protagonist, a dedicated employee of Indian Railway, Bhuvan Shome. He is a very strict person, uncompromised by nature and he values discipline over anything. But his perspective toward life changes after spending a meaningful vacation in a remote area. Mrinal Sen in this film brilliantly depicts the shift in human nature due to the change in atmosphere.
4. Elippathayam (The Rat Trap, 1981)
Director- Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Cast- Karamana Janardanan Nair, Sarada, Jalaja, Rajam K. Nair.
This Malayalam film is about a middle aged man Unni, who cannot confront the changing world. This man is heavily dependent on his sisters for everything. He is even incapable of dealing with mildest problems thrown at him. As the story goes on to increase adversities in his life, Unni completely isolates himself from the real world and traps himself in his self made cage.
5. Ghatashraddha (The Ritual, 1977)
Director- Girish Kasaravalli
Cast- Narayan Bhatt, Ramaswamy Iyengar, Ajith Kumar, Shanta Kumari, Meena Kuttappa, Ramakrishna.
This film builds around two characters, Nani and Yamuna. Nani is a quiet kid at a vedic school in India. He gets bullied and teased by other students. Even his teachers disregard him as he had difficulties learning the rituals. Yamuna is the daughter of the headmaster, who looks after Nani. Even Yamuna has to face her own difficulties and the film is based on these completely different people trying to solve each other's problems.
6. Garm Hava (Scorching Winds, 1973)
Director- MS Sathyu
Cast- Balraj Sahni, A.K. Hangal, Geeta Kak, Jamal Hashmi, Jalal Agha, Yunus Parvez, Shaukat Azmi, Vikas Anand
Garm Hava tells the struggle of a muslim family in post-partition India. Highlighting the existing violence, MS Sathyu explicitly represents contemporary dystopian situation throughout the film. During the partition, when almost every Indian muslim family was moving to Pakistan, the protagonist, Salim Mirza's family goes through a deep course of ambivalence. They fall victim to different communal violence and discrimination.
7. Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964)
Director- Satyajit Ray
Cast- Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee, Shyamal Ghoshal, Trapada Basu, Gitali Roy
Charulata is a lonely housewife, whose husband is always busy with his struggling newspaper business. Charu has nothing to do but read novels and poems all day. Her husband acknowledges the problem and asks his brother to spend time with Charu. In the course of time, Charu grows affection for her brother in law.
8. Ankur (The Seedling, 1974)
Director- Shyam Benegal
Cast- Shabana Azmi, Sadhu Meher, Anant Nag, Priya Tendulkar, Aga Mohaed Hussain, Mirza Qadirali Baig
This movie represents a lower caste family consisting a couple, Lakshmi and Kishtayya. They both serve their wealthy landlord. Kishtayya is mute and deaf. Lakshmi was not happy about their marriage and incidentally gets left behind by her husband. The higher caste landlord finds Lakshmi very attractive and starts to live with her, which makes his family upset.
9. Pyaasa (Thirsty, 1957)
Director- Guru Dutt
Cast- Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Mala Sinha, Rehman Khan, Johny Walker, Kum Kum, Leela Mishra
The film Pyaasa is about an unemployed adult, Vijay. He is passionate about poetry but always discouraged by his family as they want him to pursue a more stable career. Vijay puts effort to get his writings published but could not succeed.
10. Sholay (Embers,1975)
Director- Ramesh Sippi
Cast- Amitabh Bacchan, Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Jaya Bacchan, Mac Mohan, A.K. Hangal, Satyendra Kapoor
Sholay bases on the story of a team combining a police officer and two captives. Avenging the murder of the officers family, this trio makes an attempt to catch a tearing depredator.
