Great thread. I've developed quite an interest in Indian films in the last couple of years. I find them fascinating. Extremely different from American films, that's for sure. The song and dance featured in nearly all Indian films are both pro and con of these movies. In many films the song and dance numbers break the rhythm of the film and interrupt far too often. In other cases, they are well placed and add greatly to the film. Sometimes the films are so bad, the songs are the only portion worth watching.
One other note about these songs. On many DVDs, the songs are not subtitled. So if you don't speak Hindi (or Tamil or whatever language the film is in), you miss a good bit. Extremely frustrating!
As noted previously, the quality of many Indian DVDs is absolutely abysmal. Many of them make even the worst Hollywood DVDs look stellar in comparison.
Of the Indian films that I've seen, I think ones like Dil Chahta Hai and Monsoon Wedding would appeal most to western audiences. Lagaan (the first Hindi film I ever saw) was also extremely appealing in a sort of Disney-like, root-for-the-underdog way.
Besides Silsila, I'd also recommend Kabhi Kabhie; Anand; Alaap; Bawarchi; Koshish and Kora Kagaaz from the 70s and 80s. Among more recent films, I'd recommend Astitva and Chandni Bar (both with the excellent actress Tabu - look for her also in Kandukondain Kandukondain, which is Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility in Tamil); Satya; Salaam Bombay!; Hey Ram; Devdas and Mr. & Mrs. Iyer. I have a web site with some rather crude rankings of those and the other Indian films that I've seen.
I am eager to check out Lakshya. With each film he does, I hope against hope that Hrithik proves himself a worthy actor and not just a pretty face and fantastic body. He was praised for his work in Koi... Mil Gaya but I was not particularly impressed.
Ellen,interesting website you have and very useful too!!
I was of your view regarding Hrithik's acting abilities too but Lakshya got me hooked check it out, youll definetly be impressed. Among others you might want to check out Damini, one of the best performances by Sunny Deol in that and among comedies 'Angoor'(Sanjeev Kumar) and 'Jaane bhi do yaaron'-which is the best sarcastic comdey of all time in bollywood ever. Im sure youll love these movies, so do check em out.