'Diwali Movies' of Bollywood

My most favorite festival - Diwali. Festival of lights, crackers, sweets, meets, rangolis and shopping shopping and more shopping. I just love the spirit all around the city. Everyone gets geared up for the biggest festival of India. Everything has its own charm - from cleaning and get house painted to shop for decorative things for it. What attracts me most is the colors of Rangoli. So many beautiful designs attracts you everywhere. And how can I miss crackers & fireworks? Though I am against the noisy crackers, I enjoy playing with small ones which are lesser at noise. Yes, I am still a kid when it comes to crackers. I enjoy the simple ones. Which creates colorful lights and lights up the sky with fabulous colors.

And for a film buff like me, Diwali doubles up the joy and excitement as all big big movies get released around Diwali. Since childhood most of the times I get lucky enough to catch the movie on the same day it got released. And it feels great watching movies with Festive spirit. Halls run packed, tickets sold in black [10 ka 30], instant audience reactions.... ahh, gone were the days of Single screens. Here are movies released during Diwali of past 15 years and how I much enjoyed them.


2009 :

Of course I went for BLUE this year. Cause it has none other than Rahman. Here is my take on the movie. A huge disappointment. :( Other two movies don't interest me . While Main aur Mrs Khanna 's promos and songs doesn't look much interesting to me, All the Best is not my piece of cake. I would like to stay away from it unless anyone recommends me after watching it.

2008:

This Diwali saw 3 big releases. Fashion, Roadside Romeo and Golmaal Returns. And as expected Golmaal... won the battle. But I found it strictly average with R rated theme, a strict no-no on festivals when we go watch movies with family. Fashion had already given that warning through promos, cause the subject itself dealt with such bold theme. Madhur did nice job and I liked it, but this certainly was not my kinda 'diwali flick'. So I chose Roadside Romeo, first.. Cause I did not want to miss one of a few Hindi Mainstream Animation movies, and it was quite enjoyable one. I know most people didn't liked it much though. But it was a welcome change.

2007 :

This was my one of the favorite Diwali. Competition was really really big. Om Shanti Om and Saawariya were fighting to get their own share. Both had fabulous soundtracks. Heard everywhere. No doubt, I opted for OSO's tickets cause I knew, after Main Hoon Naa, Farah will never go wrong. And on the day of Diwali itself, Morning show ran really packed house and obviously movie was worth it. Pure Masala entertainer, which one needs in festivals. While I saw Saawariya later [2 times], I fell in love with the movie, and sighed why I did not watch it first. :) Now if you ask me to choose any one from the two, my vote would be for Saawariya.

2006 :

SRK no doubt is a king when it comes to count movies during Diwali. 2006 saw another war between two giants, SRK in DON and his beloved friend Farah's hubby who made Jaan-E-Mann. Again, I chose SRK to watch first, and then Jaan-E-Mann. Both were good movies on their own. Though Jaan E Mann failed while competing with sleek Don, I liked it. The musical format [and songs too] was good, and also both Sallu and Akki did very well. But yes, DON scored over just because of its oh-so-great Technical details.

2005 :

Another Diwali with not so big movies. Garam Masala, Kyun Ki and Shaadi No.1. Priyadarshan and David Dhawan battled to prove who's funniest of all. And of course, with help of Akki and John, Priyan won with Garam Masala. Music was also one of Pritam's first hits. Never mind the plagiarism. I loved the movie and music. And till date, I haven't seen Shaadi No.1 at all :) While Salman and Kareena is a pair, I din't look anything forward to watch out for in Kyun Ki..., so I haven't seen it yet either.

2004 :

Two big, really big movies this year. One with magnificent soundtrack - Veer Zaara and one Magnum Opus of all time - Mughal E Aazam [colored version]. Both I looked forward to. But was disappointed how dismal Veer ZZZZZara was. The only movie when I left hall during a song to get fresh air !! I regret of not seeing Mughl E Azam in theatre. Missed it due to some circumstances. :(

Corrected by @raulsail ; there were two movies which I forgot to mention. RGV's Naach and Aitraaz. But I did not watch both of them. Cause Akshay Kumar is the one whose movies I least prefer to watch in halls. And Naach, had no promises. But surprisingly Aitraaz did really well on B.O. and kick started a superstar's career [after a glitch in Andaaz] - Priyanka Chopra.

2003 :

This year saw 5 movies : Pinjar, Sssshhh, Inteha, Kagaar and Raja Bhaiya. Only one of them was credible. Based on Indo-Pak partition, Pinjar was really good. Urmila's one of the best till date. Other movies came and sank without a trace. But certainly, this Diwali was quite cold with no Masala, no big banner, no SRK....

2002:

Another 'Thanda' Diwali. With movies like Jeena Sirf Merre Liye,Anarth, Waah Tera Kya Kehna and Leela. I chose to stay at home and not to watch just any of them. Jeena Sirf...wanted to cash in the sucess of Mujhe kuchh kehna hai but failed miserably. Later I caught 'Leela' starring gorgeous Dimple Kapadia, on DVD. Its quite a good watch. Especially it has superb soundtrack featuring Jagjit Singh.

2001:

While Asoka released a week before Diwali, it was a clear disaster on box office. But I loved it for sheer beautiful locations [and Bebo of course]. On Diwali, four movies were released. Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar, Abhay, Deewanapan and Tera Mera Saath Rahen. Amongst them I caught up Abhay cause it had Kamal Hassan. Movie was kinda weird, say uneasy feel. But with unique experiments like in-line animations, fabulous action sequences and Kamal's double role - it was definitely a firecracker for me. [oh, and did I forgot to mention gorgeous ladies Raveena and Kitu Gidwani??]

2000 :

Two firecrackers battled out in this year. Fresh from success of Kaho Naa Pyar Hai - Hrithik and [so called] challenged by his stardom- SRK got together again after KNPH v/s PBDHH. Mohabbatein and Mission Kashmir. Both different films. No prize for guessing which movie I chose. Of course SRK. And in Mohabbatein - what bowled me over was not him, but new and improved BIG B. Though today, if I have to select to re-watch from both, it would be Mission Kashmir. Its my most fav movie of Hrithik.

1999 :

This was the most exciting Diwali in terms of Bollywood Marketing. After 5 long years, and legendary success of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Rajshri Prod. was coming with a multi Starrer. Hum Saath Saath Hai. It was marketed to death. Even Coke came up with special dedicated pet bottles too.. Though the high expectations did work against it. Everyone was comparing it with HAHK. But movie worked as perfect Family Drama on Diwali. I watched it on Black market tickets [25 bucks!!!!]. the gorgeous ladies- Tabu, Sonali and Karisma made it a dazzling Diwali. [and oh, a big banner movie WITHOUT SRK!!!]

1998 :

and SRK is back. One of my all time favorite movie. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I watched it 4 times in theater. And can utter dialogues even now. and ahh...Kajol Kajol Kajol. Need I say more?? the movie owes to her. Another one released with KKHH was Bade Miyan Chhote Miyaan. with the over hyped special appearance of Madhuri [first one after marriage]. Not my kinda movie with all 'shouting comedy'.

1997 :

Sheer musical delight. No one have heard name of Uttam Singh untill 2007. This was the last time when I saw such craze to buy Audio of a movie. [cause later, internet, CDs and piracy took over the industry]. Dil To Pagal Hai is still one of the highest selling soundtracks ever. And the movie complemented to its music too. SRK+Madhuri and Karisma.. What Chemistry!!! What a movie!! What Dances!!

1996 :

Kiss Kiss Kiss !! I was a kid then, and even today the first thing comes to my mind is 'the hottest kiss' in Bollywood. Raja Hindustani has this sizzling chemistry between [my fav] Aamir and Karisma. Music was damn good too. One can hear 'Pardesi' everywhere. From train compartments to shops and hotels. Biggest success ever for Aamir Khan [before Ghajini of course].

1995 :

Inspired by 'clean' movie of last year, Yashraj too 'inspired' his son to do something inline with what Suraj Barjatya was doing. There came Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge. A movie, which is still running in theater. [has anyone counted occupancy though??] I liked the movie. But don't think its really 'that' great. [I know I'm taking a risk saying that] What I really loved about the movie is one and the only Kajol Kajol. Who made the Diwali special.

1994 :

Ok, for this year I can't recall which movie was released on Diwali. But I remember watching Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, which was released two months before Diwali. After long hours of standing in queue for tickets. I gotta see the greatest movie of Bollywood. Just can't forget the experience. It was the time when Bollywood was changing. It was getting new colors. The clean, family entertainment was back. And so is fantastic music. The best Diwali gift by Rajshri.

Phew....there ends my longest post ever. I churned my brain cells a lot for this. Also some help of Google, this post is possible. Tell me HAVE YOU READ IT COMPLETELY?? :-D

And OH, how can I conclude this post without some music, related to the festival?? Surprisingly, for the biggest festival of India, there are very less songs made by Bollywood. Makers are rather interested in making Holi songs, cause it has potential of cleavage show off :P. Well, here are two of my most favorite songs. One is from legendary Guide : Piya toh se naina laage re....which has many different colors, one of them is of Diwali. And who can deny magnetic presence of Waheeda ji?!!!
Check out 1:14 to 2:38

And here is one from the movie, which I think is THE ONLY one, that is completely based on the festival. I am always intrigued why we don't have such story lines based on Diwali, when Hollywood always come up with fantastic Christmas movies. Here is a song from Sujoy Ghosh's Home Delivery. Which didn't fare well at box office because of the flaws, but it had fantastic soundtrack by Vishal Shekhar. Check out the song 'Happy Diwali'. So cute, I always play it on Diwali.

p.s.: Yay!! This is my 100th post in a single year - 2009 !!