Reshma Aur Shera (released in 1971) - starring Sunil Dutt, Amitabh Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Raakhee

Reshma Aur Shera was one of the earlier movies of Amitabh Bachchan, at a time when he was not the established superstar. The movie is an account of betrayal, love, murder, honour, set against the backdrop of the sands and harshness of Rajasthan. The movie was essentially the creation of Sunil Dutt, who also produced and directed the movie.
The movie was well liked by critics, and was nominated for some international (although it did not win too many). Some of the awards it was nominated for include:
- The Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival
- Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Oscars)
The movie was written by S. Ali Raza, with some beautiful music by Jaidev (for which he won the 1972 National Film Award for Best Music Direction (his first award for music)).



The movie is about the feud between 2 families, and in a story that has been seen many times, where the children of both families are in love. The eldest son of Sagat Singh, Shera (Sunil Dutt) is not the more violent and revenge seeking son, trying to make peace. He is very strongly attracted to the daughter Reshma (Waheeda Rehman) of his father's rival, and she also falls in love with him when she sees how he can be strong for peace rather than for more revenge.
And yet there is a third element, the younger son of Sagat Sing, the mute Chotu (Amitabh Bachchan, who plays the role of a skilled shooter, also heavily influenced by his father). Eventually Chotu goes against the wishes of his brother in terms of not having violence and going in for peace and influenced by his father who wants Chotu to shoot the rival and his son both. And they both die; this causes Shera to hunt for his own brother to kill him. What happens next ?

Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973) - A story of revenge, with some incredible songs, starring Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman

How many people are there who would not have heard of this movie ? Yaadon Ki Baarat is one incredible movie, full of masala, full of some great music, with a murder, and then the quest for revenge on somebody whom the children of the killed cannot even identify, and then you have the capers of a thief (who works with somebody who is actually the killer), and you have a very enjoyable movie. And when you add a delectable Zeenat Aman, you get a really incredible movie.
The movie was made by Nasir Hussain, who produced and directed the movie. The movie starred some of the bigger stars, and some of the not so large ones, with the cast comprising of Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Vijay Arora, Tariq, and Neetu Singh.
The movie had some great songs, with 'Chura Liya Hain Tumne' being a song that is remembered and played even now, and music was provided by RD Burman. The script for the movie was provided by the famous pair of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan. One lesser know fact about the movie was that it starred Aamir Khan as a cute young boy (the youngest of the 3 children shown in the movie).



The movie is a classic story about siblings separated early, when they are very young, and who meet later in life (and then realize much later that they are brothers). An artist, who defies a gang, is killed by them with the young children of the couple witnessing the murder. When running away, they get separated. They all have different life styles, with the eldest becoming a skilled burglar, the second one being a normal (not wealthy) person, and the youngest one becoming a singer. All they remember is a childhood song called 'Yaadon Ki Baarat'.
They do meet up several times but cannot associate any relationship between them; and go through various relationships (with the middle one played by Vijay Arora falling in love with Zeenat Aman after pretending to be a rich man, when his secret is out, Zeenat is shocked at the deception). The main story however is that of Shankar, the eldest one, played by Dharmendra, who is trying to find the murdered of his parents, and eventually realizes that the one whom he works for is the murderer.

Saat Hindustani (1969) - An early movie (debut movie) starring Amitabh Bachchan as a freedom fighter

The liberation of Goa from the Portuguese rule was a major event of the 1960's (with the liberation happening in 1961 through a combination of Portuguese losing the impulse to stay, the effort of local freedom fighters and the pressure of the Indian army). This was also captured in multiple movies, such as Pukar, and this movie Saat Hindustani. Saat Hindustani was also famous since it was the debut movie of the superstar, Amitabh Bachchan, who has gone on to stride the Indian film scene as its supreme leading star. The movie was not particularly exciting, even though it covered an incident such as a freedom struggle, but it was inspiring in terms of nationalism. The movie won an award for National Integration in 1970, and Amitabh Bachchan won the award for Best Newcomer for his portrayal of the shy Muslim poet who seems to be somewhat wrongly chosen for the role of a freedom fighter, with his portrayal of first shirking away when a Portuguese spy is killed.



The movie was directed by the famed poet KA Abbas (Khwaja Ahmad Abbas). The movie takes the life in flashback of seven Indians who are out to destroy some symbols of Portuguese rule in Goa, such that it will shake the occupiers, and also show the local inhabitants that the people of India are with them and will make efforts to help them in their fight against the Portuguese. The movie combines many elements of a patriotic movie, such as people from different religions and ethnicities coming together, inspired by the chance to prove their patriotism and nationalism.
However, the movie starts in a hospital. Maria is in a hospital, with the doctor prescribing an operation to overcome the dangerous ill-effects she suffered in a Portuguese prison in Goa, but she wants to delay the operation by a week in order to send out telegrams to her former 6 companions, who are located in different parts of the country, with many of them having current feelings that are not so nationalistic anymore.
These people are;
Subodh Sanyal, a football referee from Calcutta (played by Madhu)
From Punjab, the farmer, Joginder (Utpal Dutt along with Dina Pathak as his wife)
Mahadevan (Irshad Ali), a Dalit from Madras, who is now an anti-Hindi believer
Ram Bhagat Sharma (Anwar Ali) from Benaras
The Urdu Poet Anwar Ali ‘Anwar’ (Amitabh Bachchan, in his debut role), from Ranchi. A proponent of Urdu, and anti-Hindi.
And then one person who is not driven by these differences, Sakharam Shinde (Jalal Agha), from Maharastra. He is a member of a local dance group.
All of these people were inspired to go into Goa, where they met Maria. Their aim was to enter Goa and then take over some police stations, and put the Indian flag on top of them. The rest of the movie is not very interesting, but still worth as a watch for being the debut movie of Amitabh Bachchan.