Top Indian Films of All Time

A ‘Top/Best Indian Films of all time” list is a very tough order for me due to the sheer quantity of quality titles to choose from. This is because the selection of titles consist of a diverse set of criteria, ranging from multiple languages (such as Bengali, Hindi, Tamil to name a few) to production types (Bollywood, Parallel Cinema) to various regional industries. It is extremely hard to leave out many worthy films from directors I cherish.

Top 20 Indian titles ranked roughly in order of preference:

1. Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959, Satyajit Ray)
2. Uski Roti (Our Daily Bread, 1970, Mani Kaul)
3. Amma Ariyan (Report to Mother, 1986, John Abraham)
4. Pather Panchali (1955, Satyajit Ray)
5. Pyaasa (1957, Guru Dutt)
6. Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, 1960, Ritwik Ghatak)
7. Sholay (1975, Ramesh Sippy)
8. Ankur (1974, Shyam Benegal)
9. Mahanagar (The Big City, 1963, Satyajit Ray)
10. Om Dar-B-Dar (1988, Kamal Swaroop)
11. Black Friday (2004, Anurag Kashyap)
12. Ek Din Pratidin (And Quiet Rolls the Dawn, 1979, Mrinal Sen)
13. Awaara (The Vagabond, 1951, Raj Kapoor)
14. Titas Ekti Nodir Naam (A River Called Titas, 1973, Ritwik Ghatak)
15. Kaagaz ke Phool (Paper Flowers, 1959, Guru Dutt)
16. Garm Hava (Hot Winds, 1974, M.S. Sathyu)
17. Ek Ghar (Mane, 1991, Girish Kasaravalli)
18. Dharavi (1992, Sudhir Mishra)
19. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002, Aparna Sen)
20. Party (1984, Govind Nihalani)

It wasn't my intention to split the titles across the decades but this is what the top 20 looks as per the decades:

1950s: 5
1960s: 2
1970s: 6
1980s: 3
1990s: 2
2000s: 2

Seeing the most number of titles from the 1970s isn't a surprise as that decade marked the growth of Parallel Cinema in Hindi language films and ushered in many auteurs such as Mani Kaul. In addition, the 1970s marked the fictional film debut of Shyam Benegal.

10 Honourable mentions (in alphabetical order):

Many of these films were comfortably placed in the top 20 but after multiple iterations of making the list, they ended up getting knocked out.

Anand (1971, Hrishikesh Mukherjee)
Aparajito (1956, Satyajit Ray)
Charulata (1964, Satyajit Ray)
Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction, 2015, Gurvinder Singh)
Chhoti Se Baat (1976, Basu Chatterjee)
Elippathayam (Rat-Trap, 1982, Adoor Gopalakrishnan)
The Great Indian Kitchen (2021, Jeo Baby)
Maachis (Matchsticks, 1996, Gulzar)
Nayakan (1987, Mani Ratnam)
A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021, Payal Kapadia)

Update to Decades list after top 30:
1950s: 6
1960s: 3
1970s: 8
1980s: 5
1990s: 3
2000s: 2
2010s: 1
2020s: 2

The films of Anita Rocha da Silveira

Double bill of Anita Rocha da Silveira’s features:

Kill Me Please (2015, Brazil/Argentina)
Medusa (2021, Brazil)

In Kill Me Please, a series of mysterious murders in Barra da Tijuca, a neighbourhood in the West zone of Rio de Janeiro, grab the attention of a few young girls who are curious about the murders and victim’s identities. However, 15 year old Bia (Valentina Herszage) ends up being more than just curious and digs deeper into the victim’s lives, causing her perception of reality to be altered.

Anita Rocha da Silveira’s extremely sharp debut film is a commentary on the new spaces created in Rio especially in time for the 2016 Olympics, such as the high-rise towers and housing blocks. Even though the film is set in Rio, there isn’t a beach in sight. The absence of a beach coupled with the focus on Rio’s new concrete jungle allows the director a vibrant platform to neatly mesh two genres, coming of age plus a horror genre with a splash of red. The end result is a film that depicts a varied contemporary side of Brazil, one where alienation and isolation complicates emotions related to sex and death.

Anita Rocha da Silveira’s second feature Medusa expands the canvas of exploring contemporary Brazilian society with another colourful mix of genres. There are attackers and victims in Medusa but this time, a group of young girls are the attackers. In the film, a group of eight girls wear a mask and hunt at night to beat up young women that are committing sin. 

The girl attackers are violent evangelists who demand that their female victim give up their sinful ways and come over to Jesus. The girls belong to a church group and inspired by their minister’s words use fear and violence to spread the message of love and peace. The ironic nature of their ways is fully intended as is evident by the film’s usage of satire to depict the girl’s lives. The main character Mari (Mari Oliveira, acted in Kill me Please) slowly starts to question her evangelist mission and struggles to keep her awakened feelings and desires in check.

The girl attackers are just one arm of the church while the other arm is led by a group of men (referred to as ‘The Watchmen’) who train military style and beat up sinners. The Watchmen are like a fascist group (think Elite Squad) without weapons and use their fists to enforce the word of God.

Like her previous feature, Anita Rocha da Silveira meshes up different genres with touches of horror, satire and a commentary on right-wing politics and religious fanaticism. The title of Medusa clearly touches upon the Greek myth but as per her Cannes interview, Silveira mentions that the film narrows in on Medusa’s scream:

“For me, it represents releasing this anger that women have been putting aside for years, for generations. We can release this anger that we have to keep inside because you’re told you can’t speak out loud, you can’t be crazy, you have to be this controlled woman that speaks in a low voice and doesn’t lose control,”…Variety

Screams are indeed heard in the film on many occasions, notably in the ending. The screams coupled with usage of a synthwave music soundtrack reminds of John Carpenter’s films. There were many sequences in the film where the soundtrack felt like straight out of Carpenter’s Christine. 

The film’s splashy colour evokes Dario Argento while the neon-lit evangelist church scenes reminded me of Gabriel Mascaro’s Divine Love (2019) but the underlying message in the film is dark and points to a radicalization of society and individuals. In the same Cannes interview, Silveira mentions the real life incidents that led to the film’s creation:

"Then I was also struck by reading news articles about girls ganging up to beat up another girl. There were a lot of these episodes happening in Brazil, and also in Argentina and Chile."

Anita Rocha da Silveira may only have two feature films to her name but both films ooze with creativity in depicting Brazilian society. I cannot wait her for next feature.

Top Scandinavian Films of All Time

Wonders in the Dark is having a top 20 Scandinavian films poll. The list of countries also includes Iceland, so in essence, it is a Nordic countries poll. That means the film output will primarily be from 5 countries - Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. One day, I hope to see films from Faroe Islands and Greenland.

As Sam Juliano pointed out, the challenge is restricting the number of Ingmar Bergman films for this list. I could have slotted half of this list with Bergman films. Instead, I restricted that number to 5 Bergman films or 25% of this list. In addition, I also managed to keep Lars von Trier entries to just 3 films.

Top 20 Scandinavian films of all time list:

1. The Seventh Seal (1957, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
2. The Emigrants / The New Land (1971/1972, Sweden, Jan Troell)
3. Babette’s Feast (1987, Denmark, Gabriel Axel)
4. Ordet (1955, Denmark, Carl Theodor Dryer)
5. The Phantom Carriage (1921, Sweden, Victor Sjöström)
6. Wild Strawberries (1957, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
7. The Celebration (1998, Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg)
8. Songs from the Second Floor (2000, Sweden, Roy Andersson)
9. A Winter Light (1963, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
10. Dancer in the Dark (2000, Denmark, Lars von Trier)
11. The Man Without a Past (2002, Finland co-production, Aki Kaurismäki)
12. Shame (1968, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
13. Scenes from a Marriage (1973, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
14. Breaking the Waves (1996, Denmark, Lars von Trier)
15. Pusher (1996, Denmark, Nicolas Winding Refn)
16. Children / Parents (2006/2007, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason)
17. Show Me Love (1998, Sweden, Lukas Moodysson)
18. Force Majeure (2014, Sweden, Ruben Östlund)
19. Pelle the Conqueror (1987, Denmark/Sweden, Bille August)
20. Steam of Life (2010, Finland, Joonas Berghäll/Mika Hotakainen)

Films from different countries:

There are 22 films for the 20 spots.

Sweden (11): The Emigrants and The New Land count as one entry
Denmark (7)
Finland (2)
Iceland (2): Children and Parents count as one spot

Unfortunately, no film from Norway made the cut.