BOLLYWOOD BIZ: The Best Bollywood Films WITHOUT SONGS

Bollywood for most Indians is synonymous with musical numbers. In fact, when you ask foreigners about Bollywood, all they know is that our movies contain songs and dances. Which is why when a movie like ‘Dangal’ with minimal songs is released internationally, audiences are surprised at the high standard of Bollywood cinema and can’t get enough of it. This edition, Corporate Citizen takes a look at the best Bollywood films without songs that you must watch

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983)

Kundan Shah’s black comedy, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Shah and Satish Kaushik, was a satire on corruption in Indian politics, bureaucracy, business and media. Today, the film is considered a cult classic and is credited for introducing Indian audiences to a more nuanced humour as compared to the slapstick fare they were used to. It was also one of the first Bollywood movies, to contain no songs (the movie does not even have a traditional hero or heroine). Despite having no songs, the movie went on to be a hit and grossed over two crores at the box office, which is a huge amount for that time.

Fan (2016)

Shahrukh Khan is the ‘Baadshah’ of Bollywood, and the primary reason he achieved such success is due to his candy floss romantic roles in movies like ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ and ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, which are remembered more for their elaborate songs than the story. It is therefore refreshing to see SRK do a movie like Fan, which is a dark thriller about a superstar and his doppelganger, which contains no songs. The movie went on to earn Rs. 75 crores at the box office, which wasn’t a huge hit by SRK standards, but a hit nonetheless.

Black (2005)

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s drama on a blind and deaf girl and her relationship with her teacher was inspired by the life of American author Hellen Keller. The movie hinges entirely on the interactions between the deaf girl, played by Rani Mukherjee, and her teacher, played by the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is most renowned for his musical set pieces in films like ‘Devdas’ and ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, shot the movie with no songs, which was considered to be a huge risk at that time. Fortunately, it earned rave reviews and grossed more than Rs. 8 crore at the box office, which is a decent profit considering that the movie was made on a shoestring budget.

A Wednesday! (2008)

Neeraj Pandey’s directorial debut was a drama thriller starring Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah. The movie is about a common man who loses someone he loves in a terrorist attack and fights back against government inefficiency which makes such attacks possible in the first place. The sleeper hit made over Rs. 9 crore at the box office and was even remade in English as ‘A Common Man’, featuring Ben Kingsley. The movie contains no songs, and Neeraj Pandey has kept this approach towards his later films like ‘Special 26’ and ‘Baby’, which contain none or minimal songs.

By Neeraj Varty