Netflix makes its bollywood: 10 films to revise your Hindi<

While waiting to introduce your own productions in 2019, Netflix offers a catalog of at least 150 Indian films.Massala, author films or historical saga, here are our recommendations, in chronological order.

“Dil se”, by Man Ratnam (1998)

Dil is the third part of a trilogy devoted to terrorism.This film met with immense success abroad, notably thanks to the music of Allah Rakha Rahman and the songs mixing Hindi every day and vocabulary sought and poetic borrowed from the Ourdou.History relates an impossible love: that of Amar, a radio journalist, and Meghna, a terrorist from cashmere.More than twenty years after its release in theaters, when India and Pakistan clashed militarily (after a terrorist attack having killed 46 Indian paramilitary in Cashmere on February 14, 2019), Dil is still topical.Note that the song Shaiya Shaiya, turned on the roof of a walking train and inspired by Sufi poetry, is one of the most appreciated film songs in India.

“Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai”, by Rakesh Roshan (2000)

This big Bollywood production, which met with huge success at the box office, is a "real" film Massala, that is to say a family romantic comedy with action scenes and comic.In short, there's something for everyone !Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai is the very first film by Hrithik Roshan, who was going to become a superstar.To see, if we like this actor ... or to discover a typical bollywood.Like many films for twenty-five years, Kaho Naa ... Pyaar Hai is also addressed to the Indian diaspora, which frequents obscure rooms assiduous and considerably swells the income from Bombay studios.One of the characters lives in New Zealand, where about 200,000 Indians and people of Indian origin live.

"Lagaan", by Ashutosh Gowariker (2001)

You don't know the cricket or just don't understand anything about it?Never mind !Lagaan may reconcile you with this particularly popular sport throughout South Asia.The film takes place in a small village in the province of Champaner at the time of British colonization.Crushed by unjust taxes (the "Lagaan") and suffering under the yoke of antipathetic Captain Russell, the villagers led by Bhuvan, played by actor Aamir Khan, accept a market with the colonists: if they win a matchof cricket, the tax will not be taken.The Indians, who do not know this sport from abroad, are introduced to it with the means at hand ... The film was a very big success abroad, but beware, it lasts almost four hours (3h44)!

“ASOKA”, by Santosh Sivan (2001)

Asoka (or Ashoka) was the third emperor of the Maurya dynasty.He reigned thirty-seven years in the third century BCE.Converted to Buddhism, he is the first to have unified a large part of today's India.His empire went from current Afghanistan to the west, to Bengal, to the east, and covered from northern southern an extensive territory of Himalayas to Karnataka.Part of its seal, more precisely the wheel of the Dharma, is today on the Indian flag.This big production is a (very) romanticized version of the life of this historical figure, embodied on the screen by the superstar shahrukh khan.

"PAHELI", by Amol Palekar (2005)

PAHELI is both a romantic comedy in traditional costume and a fable.The intrigue takes place in a large and rich remains of Rajasthan, within a family of traders, at a distant and indeterminate time.PAHELI is the name of a ghost - nice, no worries, and very in love - who takes on the appearance of the husband of Lachchi, left for five years after her wedding, in order to seduce the lonely young woman.The ploy works wonderfully ... until the husband's inevitable return.Fortunately, everything ends well.Women wear magnificent saris, men are buried and the action takes place against a background of rajput desert and traditional wells.

“Row of Basanti”, by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra (2006)

Rank of Basanti tells the adventures of a bunch of students who play a historical reconstruction of the independence struggle during the day and party the rest of the time.Row of Basanti is very popular among "millennials".This generation, arriving at adulthood at the turn of the 21st century, is both fiercely nationalist and completely disillusioned by the corruption of the Indian political class.How to believe in the ideals that presided over the birth of the Indian Republic in this context?This is the question that the rank of Basanti tries to answer.

"Taare Zameen by", by Aamir Khan (Like Stars on Earth, 2007)

Hailed by criticism, Taare Zameen by was selected to represent India at the Oscars.This film produced and directed by the star Aamir Khan is an author's film, without songs choreographed.He evokes the suffering of Ishaan, dyslexic boy of 8 years misunderstood by his family.Sent in boarding, cut off from his loved ones, he suffers terribly until "Nikumbh Sir", a drawing teacher, enters his life.Very good interpretations in the service of a cause still very little known and poorly understood in India.On March 2, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for example, made fun of dyslexics.Too busy by politics, maybe he hadn't seen Taare Zameen by?

“Raajneeti”, by Prakash Jha (2010)

A casting of hell for a film devoted to Indian policy and corruption.The characters want to be completely fictitious but we easily recognize Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress Party.When it was released, it had earned the film Les Foudres du Government at the time led by Congress.A film that rhymes political with corruption, populism, murders and intrigue ... To see, when the greatest democracy in the world is about to go to the polls in April and May 2019 to elect its next government.

“Manto”, by Nandita Das (2018)

Biopic devoted to the great Indo-Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto, this film is written and directed by the actress committed Nandita Das.The action, interspersed with stories written by Manto himself, takes place in Bombay in 1946, a year before the independence of India, and in Lahore, on the other side of the border, in 1948, a yearAfter the creation of Pakistan.Manto was selected in the Un Certain Regard category at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 and was a notable critical success.

"Firebrand", by Aruna Raje (2019)

Firebrand is an independent regional film shot mainly in the marathi language (maharashtra state language, of which Bombay is the capital).Broadcast only on Netflix, he addresses, through the character of the lawyer Sunanda Raut, the women-men's relationships, the question of divorce, rape, domestic violence.Product and produced by two women, respectively Priyanka Chopra and Aruna Raje, this film wants to be a feminist.Men still have the (too) beautiful role, but the performance of Usha Jadhav in the role of Sunday is to be greeted.Firebrand illustrates both the wave of Indian films devoted to women for a few years and Netflix's desire to conquer the Indian market in 2019 with its own productions.