This was a request from my new anonymous commentator, she was looking for an “underappreciated” list, but when I started to think about it, “underappreciated” is kind of hard to define. So I went with “not your standard massive hits that everyone knows”. Here are some little mini-reviews and suggestions, feel free to add your own in the comments.
Here’s the rules: No Khans, no blockbuster hits, no big critical acclaim films, and nothing that is over 25 years old. We are looking for semi-recent mainstream Hindi films that aren’t part of the usual “these are the films you MUST watch” list. They don’t have to be brilliant films, just enjoyable ones that you may never know to watch unless someone suggests them to you.
Oh, and for this list, nothing sad or deep, just happy silly romances.
Aiyyaa : Wonderful female focused strange movie. Rani Mukherjee is a dreamy girl with a crazy family who is torn between her very nice but dull fiancee and her sensitive artist dream man Prithviraj.
Befikre : A very recent film which somehow came and went without notice. Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor, set in Paris and very French-feeling, a couple who break up, become best friends, fall in love with other people…….but did they ever really stop loving each other? (SPOILERS: no, of course they didn’t)
Daawat-E-Ishq : One of the all time greatest “small overlooked rom-coms”. Parineeti Chopra is a smart middle class girl who pretends to be rich in order to entrap an evil rich family into demanding dowry so she can blackmail them. Only, the evil family’s son is quirky funky bright shirt wearing delicious food making Aditya Roy Kapoor….what if against all odds she falls in love with him? (SPOILERS: of course she does)
Dil Maange More : Not a great movie, but watchable and kind of endearing, like a stupid puppy. Shahid Kapoor is torn between his first girlfriend, the cool girl from work, and the difficult girl who lives upstairs. Who will he pick????
Happy Bhaag Jayegi : A sleeper hit that did get a some notice, enough that it is getting a sequel. Diana Penty is running away from her wedding but accidentally hides in the wrong truck and ends up across the border in Pakistan in Abhay Deol’s house, while her boyfriend is back in India trying to find her since the elopement went wrong.
Hulchul : Heavy on the “comedy” half of the rom-com, but still romantic! Akshaye Khanna and Kareena Kapoor are the youngest of two feuding families and going to the same college. As part of the feud, they each decide to pretend to be in love with the other and break their heart. But what if they fall in love…..FOR REAL???? (SPOILERS: of course they do)
Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na : Actually was a minor hit the year it came out, but it’s been forgotten since then as Imraan Khan’s career did not take off in the way it promised to. Imraan Khan and Genelia D’Souza are best friends who swear they are “just friends”, not in love, Genelia and the rest of their college gang decide to help born romantic Imraan find the perfect girl, but will Genelia turn out to actually be okay with this or not? (SPOILERS: Not, boys and girls are never really just friends)
Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai : An older one! Salman Khan and Twinkle Khanna in a surprisingly charming romance about a playboy who reforms for the woman he falls in love with, but then a surprise from his past threatens to derail their romance.
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom : One of my secret favorite films! A confident talkative lower class go-getter tries to talk up a trying-to-be-classier-than-she-is shop girl as they both wait for trains at some station in London. They fall in love, but what about their respective fiances? (SPOILERS: No spoilers, the plot is too surprising to ruin)
Khoobsurat : Princess Diaries remixed and almost completely changed, but still wonderful! Sonam Kapoor is a loud brash Punjabi physical therapist brought in to help a dignified traditionally royal family. But will she be able to get along with their dignified buttoned down son, Fawad Khan? Could she turn out to be exactly what they all needed to shake up their lives (SPOILERS: yes)
Kuch Na Kaho : A flashback romance! To Aish and Abhi long before they were married or even thinking about dating, but already had great chemistry. Aish is given the job by her boss (Abhi’s uncle) of finding the perfect girl for Abhi to FINALLY get married. Of course, Abhi realizes that Aish herself is the perfect girl, but then….TWIST! (SPOILERS: yeah, no spoilers here either, you really shouldn’t see it coming)
Mujhse Dosti Karoge : should have been a hit, but wasn’t, big star cast and everything, but still failed somehow and thus qualifies for this list! Hrithik thinks he has been emailing beautiful Kareena Kapoor since they were little kids, but in fact his penpal was Kareena’s best friend “plain” Rani Mukherjee. When he comes to visit for the first time, Rani convinces Kareena to pretend she wrote the letters. Will Hrithik see through the charade? Or will a whole series of other complications end up happening? (SPOILERS: the second)
Raabta : Second to Running Shaadi as my favorite forgotten rom-com of 2017! Totally ridiculous reincarnation and evil exes and Budapest location and all kinds of fun stuff. Plus awesome chemistry between the central love triangle, Kriti Sonam and Sushant Singh Rajput and Jim Sarbh.
Running Shaadi : I love love love this movie! The directing isn’t perfect, the camerawork is kind of dull and stuff like that, but the performances are great and the plot is delightful. And I am in love with Amit Sadh forever and ever and ever and ever. Oh, and bonus, thanks to the plot of Amit acting as a consultant/planner for runaway weddings, you get to learn all about the legalities of marriages in India.
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan : Another recent one! A minor hit which didn’t get as much critical acclaim or discussion as the other minor hit of the summer (Bareilly Ki Barfi, the critical acclaim is what disqualifies it for this list). Ayushmann Khurranna and Bhumi Pednaker meet each other and like each other and talk to their families and get engaged. And then there is a completely surprising and original problem that threatens to derail the wedding and their love story. (SPOILERS no really, very surprising. It was spoiled in the trailer, but if you didn’t see the trailer, you should go in fresh)
Socha Na Tha : A semi-classic and semi-critically acclaimed, but not really so it still makes this list. Imtiaz Ali, who went on to be artsy and impressive and so on, started with this nice little unassumingly sweet rom-com. Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia are immature and growing up and have an immediate connection despite her being a good girl who never rebels and him being an immature younger son who is planning to propose to his secret girlfriend. And then a whooooooooole bunch of stuff happens.
dontcallitbollywood 
but what is your standard list?
I’m going to be the lone voice in the wilderness jumping for Neil and Nikki, a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable rom-com that does an excellent job of correctly portraying first Gen Indian diaspora life in North America specifically in British Columbia. Her over died over highlighted yellow orange hair was standard in the late 2000s as was her bra and jacket summertime day where. And he looked and acted and dressed like pretty much every student in my Indian college Club. Maybe it didn’t work for people because it was really more of an American rom-com which borrowed heavily from Bollywood tropes, rather than the other way around.
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Oh yes, Neal and Nikki, I loved it! and you’re right, it’s more american rom-com with desis elements, than usual bollywood movie.
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Yay, another NnN’er!
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I also really like Neil n Nikki! It’s a cute romance, but it is also a spot on analysis of typical Hindi film tropes. And yes, has some very stupid moments.
Thanks for bringing it up!
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 3:56 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh, and standard list would be Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, DDLJ, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, K3G, Hum-Tum, Kal Ho Na Ho, Chalte Chalte, Saathiya, Jab We Met, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Band Baaja Baarat, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Bunty Aur Babli, Chennai Express, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Wake Up Sid, like that. Critical acclaim, big DVD release, big stars, if you are a white lady walking into a DVD store, these are the ones they will hand you.
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 3:56 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Salaam Namaste & Love Aaj Kaal –
white-lady list or today’s list?
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I think just barely white lady list. Partly because they got really wide DVD releases followed up by being easily available streaming. They were biggish hits in theater too. But the content of the movie would fit, happy silly light rom-coms. Although I am still mad at Saif’s character in Salaam-Nameste.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 10:47 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think I’m the only one that liked Pyaar Impossible just a little bit, too. Uday Chopra tried really hard back in his early days and I also have a soft spot for his role in Mujhse Dosti Karoge.
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I agree, I have always liked him… Not love, but definitely like. He’s what makes the Dhoom movies so charming.
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Yes for Neal & Nikki. I thought it was a movie ahead of its time. With a better cast(Ranveer, Aalia) & released now, it may do very well. Plus the songs were just great. The English song in it makes me go all moony eyed!
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I agree, I love the English song, and I love all the costume changes during the English song, highlighting key eras of Indian film history. 🙂
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That’s a good song. But I had meant the below song. It doesn’t play out as a video song in the movie,but used as a bgm or something. Now I’m seeing that YRF put it out along with the making video:
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I have to confess, I bought the soundtrack for the film partly just for this song.
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Ahh yes, you are right. It’s such a wonderful fan service kind of montage video.
It’s basically the slowed down version of the Capistrano Suspension Bridge portion of this song, which starts around the 1:11 minute mark.
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I love that song, and the whole sequence. And it’s really the thesis statement for the film which is repeated over and over again, these big old fashioned filmi style romances are merely a way of expressing real emotions, and even in the modern day those real emotions remain underneath the modern gloss. I also love the lyrics of Tanisha’s intro song for how it digs into that, she is no longer the bangle wearing village girl, but she is still waiting for love. Unless I am misremembering/interpreting the lyrics? But I don’t think so.
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Well, I think I now have permission to write a review! I’ve been holding off because I thought no one but me would be interested.
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`
I confess — I have to take rom-coms in small servings. Just reading through this list is giving me a glucose overdose.
Maybe I could slip a couple Dhooms in between to clear my palate?
–
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Thinking about doing an unnoticed action films list to compliment. Byomkesh Bakshy!, Dus, like that.
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 4:01 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thank you for writing this post.
I think you should add warnings alongside the synopsis, like Ayyiaa – wonderful movie, with sexy Prithviraj, but attention, contains some very stupid and bad comedy scenes.
Mujhse dosti Karoge – cute rom-com, but attention has Kareena in her worst overacting period 😉
I would add:
Kismat Konnection
Qarib Qarib Singlle – very good acting, beautiful photography (some scenes look like postcards), but not very good chemistry.
And can we add Dum Laga ke Haisha on this list? Or was it too popular?
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I don’t think Dum Laga Ke Haisha was too popular exactly, but it was a bit critically acclaimed. Hmmm. Yes, I think you can add it! This list, by the way, was based strictly on what I have already reviewed along with the other critieria. So there’s lots I left off for no reason besides not having a review of them available.
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 5:00 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I had the same question about Dum Laga ke Haisha. It dealt with big issues (nyuk nyuk) but with a fairly light hand, and for me was bit off the beaten track.
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Yeah, I think we can allow it. Mostly because it came out a few years ago. Bareilly Ki Barfi right now is everywhere and would be one of those DVDs handed to you. But give it a few years, and it will sink back and be a little forgotten (maybe). Dum Laga was a big deal (rimshot) when it first came out, but it’s gotten buried under other stuff by now.
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 7:57 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I liked this movie very much…and it has the same leading pair as the nice Shubh Mangal Saavdhan you listed (but so differently).
I also would opt for Aziz Mirza’s Kismat Konnection on the list…not a grat movie but nice with good performances by Shahid and Vidya Balan (and ShahRukh as a narrator as bonus 😉 ).
And what about Madhavan’s Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein? Do you think it would fit on the list?
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RHTDM would be tricky because it was a big deal when it came out, but then it’s been so many years since then it might have been forgotten. Sure! Let’s add it to the list!
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 6:38 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I also liked Chup Chup Ke, the movie Kareena and Shahid made just before Jab We Met.
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Love this description of the standard list of Hindi rom-coms, Margaret!…” if you are a white lady walking into a DVD store, these are the ones they will hand you.”
I like all of your choices standard and non-standard, especially Daawat-E-Ishq, Mujhse Dosti Karoge, Hulchul, and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.
Reflects on Life, I also love Chup Chup Ke and recently the DVD…it’s overlong and more comedy at times like most of Priyardarshan films, but it has one of my favorite dance sequences of all time (the one where the guys are in white and the girls in pastels…can’t think of the name right now). That and Hulchul (same director) have a lot of charm if you’re willing to sit through an extra long setup.
I might be the only person who loves Break Ka Baad and I Hate Luv Storys despite their many flaws.
It might be too old for the list but I always recommend Ajay and Rani’s Chori Chori.
Also mentioned yet but worth watching when you really need a hit of rom-com are Hasee toh Phasee and Ladies Vs. Ricky Bhal.
And maybe it’s too much of a hit but I feel like Mere Brother Ki Dulhan is one of the best ever!
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I am that rare person who loves I Hate Luv Storys and hates Break Ki Baad. Somehow I find the I Hate Luv Storys leads charmingly immature and struggling to be better, while I find the Break Ka Baad leads just plain irritating.
I guess I should expand my “if you are a white person, you will be handed these DVDs” description to match the present world, “if you are on a forum and ask for recommendations, this is what you will be told to stream” instead. But it’s the same idea, the big name stuff that everyone likes instead of the slightly funkier stuff you have to hunt a little for.
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 6:49 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Filmilibrarian, I think this is the song
Shahid at his full-bangs boy-band cutest 😀
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That’s the one! It really makes me so happy…this was one of the first few movies I saw when I started watching Hindi films (I basically just looked at Hrithik and Shahid’s backlists early on!). And this features two of my favorite underused actors/actresses, Sunil Shetty and Neha Dhupia. The staging of this song is so fun!
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I mega love this list, thank you! Question: why did Imraan’s career tank? I thought he was great in Delhi Belly. Haven’t seen him in anything else but he seemed to have the chops and looks (and certainly the connections) to make it.
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Laziness? He had a series of flops, and instead of rebounding with hard work and doing whatever role was offered him, he took a 2 year paternity leave. Maybe there is something else going on, but that’s what it looked like. Other actors have had similar bad streaks and managed to keep working.
He had a hit with his first movie, Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na and qualified hits with rom-coms Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu, I Hate Luv Storys. And Delhi Belly was a targeted cult hit. But they were always mixed in with flops, especially when he tried to break out of his comfort zone and do something more action or drama oriented. He was doing one or two films a year, and then after his latest flop in 2015, his daughter was born and he announced a “paternity leave” which has lasted to today. Nothing against paternity leave, but 2 years while your wife isn’t working either and smack in the middle of the prime period of your career is pretty ridiculous.
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 8:04 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think you’re right that Imran may have lacked the fire/passion he needed to make it happen for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets into politics someday, especially if his comeback in Aamir’s epic doesn’t go well. He’s never struck me as somene that had a “need” to act or that was really taken in by all of the star glamour stuff.
I also think his looks hurt him a bit. He just doesn’t look like a typical hero of the Khan era or the current era and that made it hard for casting directors to cast him, maybe? I obviously can’t speak at all to the cultural nuances here, but I have my suspicions.
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I don’t know if these fit, or are too big. But to me they felt very rom-com, in a good way, when I watched them. Funny moments, love triangles or other complications, just enough tension and serious themes to keep one interested. Barfi, Bunty aur Babli, Luck by Chance, and Shuddh Desi Romance. I remember feeling like most of Shuddh Desi Romance didn’t really hold up to the promising beginning, but the others I liked all the way through. Barfi is the only time I’ve seen Priyanka act, as I recall.
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Following my completely arbitrary and made up rules, I think maybe only Shuddh Desi Romance would be included, the others being a mix of too big and too critically acclaimed. Or, with Lucky By Chance, too not-happy!
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 8:33 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I cosign on Shuddh Desi Romance 🙂
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I also like Shuddh Desi Romance almost completely because Rishi Kapoor’s charming role framing the narrative. Also, why isn’t Vaani Kapoor getting more work?! I know she has the Tiger/Hrithik thing (I assume as her final 3film contract with YRF), but she should be everywhere!
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I’m doing my best! I put Befikre on this list! She really is delightful in that film, as good or better than Ranveer. If it had been any kind of a hit, enough for people to see and notice her, her career would be set.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 8:40 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Is Cheeni Kum too critically acclaimed or have too much Amitabh? If not I would like to nominate it please. It doesn ‘t seem to get a lot of attention any more but it’s so delightful.
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That “doesn’t get much attention but is delightful” is exactly what I was going for! The stuff that is super enjoyable but you would never know to watch it unless it is listed in a list like this.
On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 10:34 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I like Cheeni Kum too. It gets criticized for the age gap between the lead pair, but to me it’s an age gap that makes sense & might happen irl – divorced single mom, eccentric coworker.
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You don’t have reviews for these two films, but I think they belong on the list: Salaam-E-Ishq (heck, the title itself says “Let’s Bow Down to Love”) and Lucky – No Time for Love (I don’t see how you can get a more — literal– fairy tale romance than this one!).
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Oh, I do have a review of Lucky! I don’t know why I didn’t add it to this list, you are right, it fits perfectly.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 12:06 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Salaam-E-Ishq is another early favorite of mine. I do so love the John Abraham/Vidya Balan story and still hope that they will be romantically paired again.
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Me too.Love the John-Vidya and Akshay-Ayesha stories.Just the way Vidya threatens the tubelight or John’s romantic diaglogues (and Akshay lifting the last one for ‘his’ proposal) makes it delightful.
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That’s quite a list! I have to confess I haven’t seen half of these movies cos of the exact criteria for this list- Not much critical acclaim! But I’ll make it a point and watch the remaining ones! 😀
Btw, No ‘Doli Saja Ke Rakhna’? 😦 I don’t know why it doesn’t get much credit and even more surprisingly, people seem to not like it at all! When I looked it up online, I found that the movies it is based on, Aniyathipraavu (Malayalam) and Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (Tamil) received unanimously positive reactions. I watched them both last year (with subtitles) in an attempt to understand this anomaly but came away even more perplexed for I find “Doli..” far more refined than the former and very close to the latter. Your thoughts?
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I just watched Aniyathipraavu recently, and I was neutral on it. Still haven’t seen Doli, but wouldn’t be surprised if I have the same reaction of “this is so much better! What went wrong?”
Only thing I can think of is that the plot was the kind of light and sweet in a way that plays better in Malayalam and Tamil than in Hindi, where we want more drama. Kind of the same problem with the other movies on this list, they are all too pleasant and light and happy to get critical or audience notice from the Hindi people.
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It worked better in Malayalam/Tamil because the boy is Hindu and girl is Christian, so there was a conflict there. In DSKR, both are Hindus so I didn’t understand why they were all so upset. Also , Jyothika was sorta bland…
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We should do similar post about non-hindi rom-coms. There are so many hidden gems in the south, or in marathi, bengali.
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But I don’t know if I am qualified! I could do non-hidden and popular in those industries but not known to Hindi watching people, but I don’t think I know the legitimately hidden ones.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 6:37 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes, I would like a post on the non-Hindi ones, too! I would put the following in the list: Mr. Perfect, 100 Days of Love, Ohm Shanthi Oshana, Premam, OK Kanmani, and some others I can’t think of now.
Do the non-hidden ones and the comments can fill in!
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I’m not big o rom coms, but one Telugu one I can recommend (besides the ones recommended by Filmilibrarian) is Malliswari, with Venkatesh and Katrina Kaif. It’s something I enjoy rewatching whenever I get a chance. Venkatesh does an excellent job as usual, and Katrina is very pretty. And, Margaret, you resist watching Darling (with Prabhas and Kajal Agarwal), but it’s a really goofy and fun romance. Another couple I just remembered, both starring Ravi Teja, are Avunu Valliddaru Ishtpaddaru, and Itlu Sravani Subramaniam. Heck, I saw the last one because it was recommended by someone here earlier, and found it to be very good.
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Might be worth putting up just discussion posts for people to make recommendations! Because I can maybe dredge up one rom-com in each language and that’s it.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 9:16 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think you are qualified because you have seen so many movies Margaret, and as Filmilibrarian said- do non-hidden gems and what you don’t know, the commentators will add.
There are so many super romantic movies in telugu, like Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju (which I saw thanks to your reccomendation), Bommarillu (which I love), Pelli choopulu and gazillion of others.
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Pyar Ke Side Effects, Aisha(more of a chick flick). Former is truly hilarious with such an unusual pair.
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I still haven’t seen Aisha, I can’t decide if it is worth it or not.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 7:55 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I didn’t love Aisha as much as I wanted to…the moments that were definitely lifted from Clueless were good but overall it was a little all over the place. And Sonam’s makeup and fashion is some of her worst ever on-screen, ironic because of the heavy-handed product placement in it, too.
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I’ve been wondering if I should seek out Pyar Ke Side Effects. Thanks for the recommendation!
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I think I might be the only person in the world who likes What’s your rashee. I like most of the songs, Harman Baweja though not a great actor is easy on the eyes, Priyanka fab in all the 12 roles. I even enjoyed the ridiculous subplot of his uncle having an affair with a Yoga Instructor. The humor is pretty subtle and nice. Yes, I can watch it even though it is three and a half hours long.
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Yes, I agree, I think you are the only person who liked What’s Your Raashee 🙂 Although, they did film on location in Chicago for the opening! That was exciting.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 10:58 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yeah, he’s an NRI from Chicago in the movie 🙂
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You are definitely the only person on earth who likes this film! But every movie lover is allowed at least one film that no one else ‘gets’.
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I have seen What’s your rashee many years ago so I don’t remember it well, but one thing for sure, it wasn’t as bad as people say. The idea of 12 girls who look the same was very good. Priyanka wasn’t bad, the guy was handsome. There were some problems, but I don’t remember suffering when I watched it , like I suffered durning Taal, or Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
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HDDCS is another one that the location shooting saves for me! My sister did a study abroad in Budapest, so I could recognize all of the landmarks, which was exciting. Of course now we have Raabta, the far superior Budapest romance. Which actually calls Budapest “Budapest” instead of pretending it is Italy.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 11:56 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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HDDCS was pretty terrible even without “italian” thing. I’ll never understand why negate the obvious nad pretend it’s Italy if they made it in Hungary. I think nobody in India cares if it’s one european country or another so why insist? Salman was a forigner, and Ash went outiside India to find him. That’s all people care.
And I can understand the excitment of recognizing the places. The only good memory I have from Jab Tak Hai Jaan is that London’s O2 Arena is shown in the background when Kat and SRK dance (btw it was one of the most boring dance scenes ever). I have visited the place, and met there one of my biggest crushes – Chris Young, just year ealier so when I saw it in the movie I was super excited. I was like: Thanks God, finally something interesting in this movie.
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I love most of these RomComs. Befikre was decent but there was no chemistry between Ranveer and Vani I felt. The movie would’ve worked if there was some mad chemistry between them, and all those kissing scenes were pointless. Just added to shock people. And Khoobsurat, I hated Sonam in it. She just went overboard with the Disney thing. Even Fawad, who is always so good wasn’t as amazing as he usually is.
I would add Aisha and Hasee To Phasee too. Always come back to these for rewatches!
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I felt like Ranveer and Vaani had better chemistry in the talking scenes than the kissing. They really should have let them talk more instead of hitting the “sexy” button so much.
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 2:58 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Can u do a post on over hyped movies for example Judwaa 2(such a stupid movie!) that dont deserve to be box office hits
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Maybe! This post is the “not on the standard list” post, I suppose I could do a partner post for “on the standard list but shouldn’t be” films.
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I know it’s not exactly Hindi or Bollywood, but what do you think of Love Ni Bhavai?
Watched it and love it. One of the best romcoms I’ve ever seen.
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I just had to google it to find out what it was. It looks cute! And Gujurati, which is interesting, I don’t remember hearing about them as an up and coming language industry. I knew they existed, but not the same kind of buzz around them that there is around Punjabi, for instance, right now.
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Judging by the reviews written by locals, I guess they hope for it to be a new start for the genre in Gujarati cinema.
I actually went on a Netflix binge of Indian rom-coms:
Love Per Square Foot
Piku (well I’ve watched this before so it’s a re-watch)
Tu Hai Mera Sunday
Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai
YZ
Premachi Goshta
Jab We Met
Running Shaadi
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
…and that’s how I chanced upon Love Ni Bhavai.
Have to say I liked Love Ni Bhavai the most, okay maybe not better than Piku, equal I guess, imho. Maybe it’s because of the nature of the characters, the acting was natural and believable, and they’re mostly young actors if I’m not mistaken. The cinematography and music was very good too. I can’t reveal more about why I like it since it might spoil the plot.
I’ve been trying to find rom-coms as good as Love Ni Bhavai, but it’s hard. I’m enjoying the process of the search anyway. Which is why I ended up here, I already watched one from this list (Happy Bhag Jayegi), and enjoyed it. Thanks for making the list! (you made it, right?)
I really like the non-standard Indian romcoms, which focuses more on dialogue and story. I’m not Indian myself, but I’m a fan of Indian cinema.
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I am so glad you found me!!!! Yes, I made the list, and all the other content on this site, and I am also a non-Indian fan of Indian cinema.
I limited this list to Hindi, because it’s what I know best, but if you are on a rom-com quest there are a few others I can suggest in case you missed them. Ohm Shanthi Oshaana from the Malayalam industry is an absolute MUST. OK Kanmani from Tamil is good too. Premam, also Malayalam, is also good. And Bangalore Days which is a little more than just a rom-com, more on the coming of age side of things. Fidaa from Telugu. Oh, and Godha from Malayalam too (Malayalam has some really nice movies). I still haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard the Pakistani film on Netflix Balu Mahi is great too.
It sounds like you’ve been much more adventurous than me, so you might already know all these films, but just in case here they are.
On Mon, Jun 18, 2018 at 8:32 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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very happy to find this site! Gonna follow all your socials now. I’m not that adventurous, I just have a lot of time lol. I haven’t watched any of those, wow, thank you very much for the recommendations. I have a long flight tomorrow, so I’m gonna save some and binge.
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Oh yay!!!! Here’s another post for you if you want another list of movies to browse through:
On Tue, Jun 19, 2018 at 7:06 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Finally somebody who watched YZ too! Seems we have similar taste in movies, I too watch random movies in different languages in search of perfect rom-com.
Please watch Ohm Shanti Oshana, and Bommarillu (telugu). I think you will like it.
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Really liked YZ, especially the student guy acted by Akshay Tanksale. All the recommendations I’ve seen in this comment thread have been extremely interesting, I couldn’t have found them on my own tbh, need some experienced heads. Glad I have you guys to help me with my quest, I thought I would be alone since I am not part of the usual rom-com demographic lol.
I’ve bookmarked all the recommendations and coincidentally am downloading Ohm Shanti Oshana as we speak. Will download Bommarillu too! No choice but to download because I’m going on a plane. Usually I would just watch on Netflix / Amazon / Einthusan.
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