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Bollywood Movies


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Hello everyone,

As you might know i'm trying to learn Hindi and I always found that movies have really helped me in the past when I was learning Spanish. Could you suggest some good bollywood movies to help my Hindi and improve my vocabulary as well as a fun movie to watch? I would really appreciate it.

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Bollywood is my favorite subject  :laugh: I'm obsessed with Bollywood.

I'm not sure which type of movies you like, but I will give you some of the Bollywood films that newbies to it seem to like the most. Bollywood films usually have a lot of dancing and singing are quite different from Hollywood films. Here are some of my favorites:

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai - This is a 90's movie and was very popular in India. It has Shahrukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji in it.

Devdas also starring Shahrukh Khan, with Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. This film is amazing, it has tons of big dance numbers and beautiful color! It's based off of the Bengali novel of the same name.

Jab We Meet- A cute romantic comedy starring Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor. This is one of my personal favorites. It has really nice songs also.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham This is the same director as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. It also has some big song dance numbers, beautiful costumes and a cute story.

Band Bajaa Baraat This is a romantic comedy movie and it stars Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh. This is one of my favorites because it's very light and cute.

Kahaani Starring Vidya Balan, this movie is very different from traditional Bollywood and doesn't have any singing or dancing. It is about a pregnant woman looking for her husband in Calcutta.

Lootera A romance movie starring Sonakshi Sinha and Ranveer Singh. This movie is also quite different from traditional Hindi cinema, but it is made well and has great acting.

Udaan Another social drama film that focuses on child abuse. It's a heavy movie, but well directed and written.

Bunty aur Babli- A comedy about two robbers. A really cute light hearted movie.

Chennai Express A funny movie starring Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. It's about a North Indian falling in love with a  South Indian. It's very cute.

English Vinglish This stars Sridevi as a middle aged woman who goes to America to learn English. It's a wonderful film and even showed at the Toronto film festival. 

Omkara A film based on Shahkesphere's Othello starring Ajay Devgan and Kareena Kapoor.

Saathiya Starring Rani Mukerji and Vivek Oberoi, is another romance movie, but is also very cute.

Paheli Starring Rani Mukerji and Shahrukh Khan about a ghost who takes over a man's body. (It's not a horror movie though.)

If you like older movies, these are some good ones:

Mughaal E Azaam- A classic starring Madhubala, about a Mughal prince who falls in love with a court dancer.

Umrao Jaan- based of an Urdu novel it follows the life of a courtesan.

Silsila

Sholay

Don

Awaara

I tried to recommend a variety of different films. If you have Netflix you can stream many of them with English subtitles. If you would like anymore recommendations feel free to ask!  :laugh: I hope you enjoy them! 

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Learning languages through movies is fun and quite rewarding. I do not watch many bollywood movies. But I recommend English Vinglish. I have seen it and it tells a story of a woman who finds herself ashamed that she doesn't know English.

One other movie I liked was Taare Zameen Par. It tells a heart touching story about a kid with dyslexia. You will the movie for sure :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Few more bollywood movies that I'd like to add to the list mentioned by Meera above,

Singh is King

Namasty London

London Paris New York

Ghajini

Ishaqzaade

Issaq

Highway

Most of these are commercial films. I don't think it is good to watch these for the purpose of learning the language.

This article might be interesting for those interested in great Bollywood movies...

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?220089

This is worth checking out if you want to see quality films. I am not sure whether English subtitles will be available for these movies though.

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For some reason I really like the movie "Devdas" with Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai (she's from the South and from a traditionally Hindi-speaking family). The songs are very poetic and the range of vocabulary (inspired by Urdu ghazals) is quite refined.

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For some reason I really like the movie "Devdas" with Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai (she's from the South and from a traditionally Hindi-speaking family). The songs are very poetic and the range of vocabulary (inspired by Urdu ghazals) is quite refined.

Aishwarya does speak Hindi, but I believe her native tounge is Tulu. I think she speaks many languages though, I have heard her say she speaks Tamil and Kannada also.  :wink: Also Im not sure if you know but Devdas was inspired by a Bengali novel. I agree it's a great movie! :D

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Most of these are commercial films. I don't think it is good to watch these for the purpose of learning the language.

This is worth checking out if you want to see quality films. I am not sure whether English subtitles will be available for these movies though.

I have most of these films with English subs. Unless it is bootlegged most DVDs have english sub option :)

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  • 1 month later...

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Hera Pheri. It's a great comedy and will have you bursting with laughter from the beginning till the end (may vary depending on how much Hindi you understand).

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Meera gave an awesome list above. I've seen most of the movies she mentioned and they are really good.

I'm not sure what type of movies you like. IMO, bollywood can be broken up into two major groups:

1. big bollywood where everything is big (big money, big beauty, big houses, big life)

2. reality bollywood where you get to see the reality in India - everyday social, familial, and business dilemmas.

If you like blockbuster films, you'll probably like big bollywood films. If that's the case, start off by watching films with top actors like Aishwarya Rai, Sharukh Khan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor, Karishma Kapoor.

Some big bollywood movies I absolutely love: Umrao Jaan (with Aishwarya Rai) Devdas (with Sharukh Khan), Mohabbatein, Don 1 and 2, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kabhie Alvida Naa Kehna, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, My Name is Khan, Fanaa, Dostana, and Lagaan.

Like Meera said, Netflix is a great place to find them. But you can also find quite many on YouTube for free. It's a great way to start if you're just starting out.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
On 3/7/2014 at 0:54 AM, Meera said:

Bollywood is my favorite subject  :laugh: I'm obsessed with Bollywood.

 

I'm not sure which type of movies you like, but I will give you some of the Bollywood films that newbies to it seem to like the most. Bollywood films usually have a lot of dancing and singing are quite different from Hollywood films. Here are some of my favorites:

 

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai - This is a 90's movie and was very popular in India. It has Shahrukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji in it.

 

Devdas also starring Shahrukh Khan, with Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. This film is amazing, it has tons of big dance numbers and beautiful color! It's based off of the Bengali novel of the same name.

 

Jab We Meet- A cute romantic comedy starring Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor. This is one of my personal favorites. It has really nice songs also.

 

 

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham This is the same director as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. It also has some big song dance numbers, beautiful costumes and a cute story.

 

Band Bajaa Baraat This is a romantic comedy movie and it stars Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh. This is one of my favorites because it's very light and cute.

 

Kahaani Starring Vidya Balan, this movie is very different from traditional Bollywood and doesn't have any singing or dancing. It is about a pregnant woman looking for her husband in Calcutta.

 

Lootera A romance movie starring Sonakshi Sinha and Ranveer Singh. This movie is also quite different from traditional Hindi cinema, but it is made well and has great acting.

 

Udaan Another social drama film that focuses on child abuse. It's a heavy movie, but well directed and written.

 

Bunty aur Babli- A comedy about two robbers. A really cute light hearted movie.

 

Chennai Express A funny movie starring Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. It's about a North Indian falling in love with a  South Indian. It's very cute.

 

English Vinglish This stars Sridevi as a middle aged woman who goes to America to learn English. It's a wonderful film and even showed at the Toronto film festival. 

 

Omkara A film based on Shahkesphere's Othello starring Ajay Devgan and Kareena Kapoor.

 

Saathiya Starring Rani Mukerji and Vivek Oberoi, is another romance movie, but is also very cute.

 

Paheli Starring Rani Mukerji and Shahrukh Khan about a ghost who takes over a man's body. (It's not a horror movie though.)

 

If you like older movies, these are some good ones:

 

Mughaal E Azaam- A classic starring Madhubala, about a Mughal prince who falls in love with a court dancer.

 

Umrao Jaan- based of an Urdu novel it follows the life of a courtesan.

 

Silsila

 

Sholay

 

Don

 

Awaara

 

 

I tried to recommend a variety of different films. If you have Netflix you can stream many of them with English subtitles. If you would like anymore recommendations feel free to ask!  :laugh: I hope you enjoy them! 

om eno ylnO

On 3/7/2014 at 0:54 AM, Meera said:

Only one movie in the list is actually about learning language. English Vinglish, T^he movie features a life of a house wife who tried to lears English. You ca  try some contemporary Bollywood movies. You can learn Hindi from Bollyworrd, however, you must be aware that the Hindi Lanuage used in in Bollywood is not similar to standard Hind/

 

 

 

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