While mainstream Hindi cinema was busy sashaying away with some pretty brainless potboilers during the post-golden-age of Hindi cinema, there were some filmmakers who took inspiration from the neo-realism of world cinema, and reflected an image of the society of their times.
Even as the masses continued to flock outside the ticket counters for the ‘jumping jacks’ of Bollywood, these filmmakers – with the bare minimum of resources, continued to produce and create cinema that presented an unfiltered portrait of our rural and urban class.
Secluded from masses as ‘Parallel Wave’, the cinema represented everything that wasn’t mainstream during the time they came out.
Not only that – the filmmakers who spearheaded the ‘genre’ of sorts, also introduced the world with talents like Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Aazmi, Smita Patil, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Om Puri, Amrish Puri – to name a few.
Looking back at some of the best films that this, now obscure, genre had to offer, here are the top 10 films from India’s golden era of parallel wave:
10) Paar
Starring Shabana Aazmi and Naseeruddini Shah, the film featured a rural couple’s struggle to find refuge away from a mishap that happened at their village and then attempt to survive in the harsh and brutal life of a city, to make ends meet. A poetic display of poverty and classism in our society.
9) Uski Roti
With the bare minimum of dialogues, the film elaborates the relationship between a husband and a wife, in rural India – where much is said through eyes and expressions. A story of yearning and unspoken desires.
8) Ardh Satya
Often termed one of the best cop films ever made in Hindi cinema, this Om Puri starrer was packed with some hard-hitting moments and stellar performances from it’s lead cast, which also included the late and great – Smita Patil. A man’s rage, accumulating from all the bad things happening around him, turning him in the path of his own search for righteousness. A must watch directed by Govind Nihalani.
7) Chakra
Chakra – denoting the cycle of unemployment and poverty, which grabs hold of the film’s lead – Smita Patil and her scattered little family, in an ignored slum of a big city. Chakra is about evils of being born and living poor, and the struggles of everyday life to make ends meet.
6) Manthan
Inspired from the story of India’s white revolution that birthed Amul in India, employing countless rural women in the production of dairy products in remote areas. Manthan is the story of the struggles involved during the creation of this self-reliant organization, exemplified by the manner in which the movie itself was crowdfunded by hundreds of farmers and rural workers.
5) Nishant
A movie concentrating on the brutalities of rural India. The divide between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the meek – Nishant was told through the eyes of a Zameendar family, which inflicts pain on those from the lower sections of their village, by often violating their women. Powerful and hard-hitting.
4) Ankur
Said to be inspired from a true story, which reportedly took place in the 1950’s, Ankur is about a forbidden affair between a rich and young Zameendar – still budding-up with the ways of the trade, and a women from a ‘lower-caste’ working at his property along with her husband. Shabana Azmi’s debut performance that earned her several accolades.
3) Mandi
A few pages from the life of Gangubai Kothewali, who famously ran one of the most popular brothels in the heart of Mumbai. A satirical take on the politics and society of that time, told with such ease and natural charm, that the storytelling would get better with each viewing.
2) Bhumika
Loosely based on the life of iconic Maratha stage-actress Hansa Wadkar, and starring Smita Patil in the lead, the film is beautifully shot and filmed, and can easily be deemed one of the best biopics of Indian cinema. Stunning realism showcased in the ‘throwback scenes’ from Wadkar’s childhood, shot in black-and-white, build up to portray the woman she eventually becomes in this Shyam Benegal masterpiece.
1) Pather Pancheli
One of Indian cinema’s gems, by the legendary, Oscar-honouree – Satyajit Ray. Forming first part of the widely celebrated trilogy by the filmmaker, the film tells the subtle tale of the little nothings of everyday rural life, from the eyes of it’s two adolescent protagonists.
Stunning cinematography, and an exemplary display of neo-realism in Indian cinema – without missing out on the heart and soul, this Bengali-language film deserves every bit of accolade it has received in time.
While there are several other countless great films that were made during this period, that may very well serve as a study-worthy document to reflect their respective times – as opposed to the larger-than-life depiction that mainstream cinema opted for, these 10 flicks pretty-much sum up what the genre had to offer.
The best in Parallel wave – is essentially one of the best in Indian cinema, in general.