Memorable Bollywood Films With A Rural Connect!

Bollywood has depicted stories set in small towns and villages innumerable times. The rural connect of Bollywood has given us many great and entertaining films. Here's a list of some impressive Bollywood films with a rural connect.

1) Mother India (1957)

An epic melodrama which tells the story a poverty-stricken woman who raises her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles, always sticks to her own moral code. Directed by Mehboob Khan, the film had Nargis in the role of the protagonist with Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar playing her sons. Raaj Kumar played Nargis's husband in the film. The film ranks as one of the classics of all-time in Hindi cinema. It was India's first submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1958, where it got the nomination and lost the award by just one vote. The film won the All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film, the Filmfare Best Film Award for 1957, and Nargis and Khan won the Best Actress and Best Director awards respectively.

2) Gunga Jumna (1961)

This one was a dacoit based drama set in the village of Haripur. It was written and produced by Dilip Kumar, and directed by Nitin Bose. Dilip Kumar, Nasir Khan and Vyjayanthimala essayed the leading roles in the film. Set in rural Northern India, the film tells the story of two impoverished brothers, Gunga and Jumna, and their poignancy and sibling rivalry on the opposite sides of the law. The film was loosely inspired by Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957).

3) Sholay (1975)

An action-adventure film written by Salim-Javed, directed by Ramesh Sippy, and produced by his father G. P. Sippy. The film tells the story of two criminals, Veeru and Jai (played by Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan, respectively), hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the ruthless dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star, as Veeru and Jai's love interests. Sholay is considered a classic and one of the best Indian films. It was ranked first in the British Film Institute's 2002 poll of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time. In 2005, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare Awards named it the Best Film of 50

Years. The film is set in the town of Ramgarh.

4) Lagaan (2001)

This one is an epic sports-drama film, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, produced by Aamir Khan and Mansoor Khan, and written by Gowariker and Abbas Tyrewala. Aamir Khan stars along with Gracy Singh, with British actors Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne playing supporting roles. The film was shot in an ancient village near Bhuj, India. The story is set in the small town of Champaner during the height of the British Empire in India in 1893. Lagaan received critical acclaim and awards at international film festivals, as well as many Indian film awards. It became the third Indian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film after Mother India (1957) and Salaam Bombay! (1988). It was one of the biggest box office hits of 2001. In 2010, the film was ranked No. 55 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema".In 2011, it was listed in Time magazine's special "The All-TIME 25 Best Sports Movies". The film was screened retrospective as the Closing Film on August 18, 2016 at the Independence Day Film Festival jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defense, commemorating 70th Indian Independence Day.

5) Swades (2004)

A homecoming film of sorts directed by the maverick filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker. It tells the story of a successful Indian scientist returns to an Indian village to take his nanny to America with him and in the process rediscovers his roots. The film is based in the town of Charanpur in Uttar Pradesh.The film received widespread critical acclaim and considered a cult classic among the Hindi speaking audience. Shah Rukh Khan delivered one of his most subdued and effective performances with this one.

6) Omkara (2006)

An adaption of Shakespeare’s Othello, co-written and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. It starred Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles, supported by Naseeruddin Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma and Bipasha Basu. The director Vishal Bhardwaj himself composed the entire music for the film, including the background score, with lyrics by Gulzar. The film is set in Meerut, a town in Western Uttar Pradesh.

7) Tanu Weds Manu (2011)

Set in Kanpur, this romcom featured Kangana Ranaut and R.Madhavan in the lead roles. It was directed by Aanand L.Rai. The film was a hit at the box-office.

8) Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012)

An Indian crime film, produced and directed by Anurag Kashyap, and written by Kashyap and Zeishan Quadri. It is the first installment of the Gangs of Wasseypur series, centered on the coal mafia of Dhanbad, Jharkhand, and the underlying power struggles, politics and vengeance between three crime families. Film featured an ensemble cast with Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Richa Chadda, Huma Qureshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Pankaj Tripathi in the major roles. Its story spans from the early 1940s to the mid-1990s. It is considered by many as a modern cult film.

9) Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017)

A satirical comedy in support of governmental campaigns to improve the sanitation conditions, with an emphasis on the eradication of open defecation, especially in rural areas, the film starred Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar in lead roles and was directed by Shree Narayan Singh. The film received criticial acclaim and was a huge success at the box-office.

10) Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017)

Set in the small-town of Bareilly, the film tells the tale of a free-spirited young girl who lives life on her own terms and refuses to be pressured into getting married. Her life takes a shift when she meets two young men. The story is based on the French novel The Ingredients of Love, written by Nicolas Barreau. The film turned out to be both a critical and a commercial success at the box office. It effectively managed to bring out the essence of small-town India.