10 Bollywood Movies You Must Watch With Your Family While Social Distancing

I remember my childhood days when every weekend my entire joint family would gather to enjoy a Bollywood movie on Doordharshan. We would laugh, cry and make predictions about what would happen next. During fight scenes, we would pray that the hero should give nice punches to the villain and then we kids would celebrate his victory by dancing without music. Those memories are still very fresh in my mind.

Today when the entire world is shutting down and people are social distancing, self-quarantining themselves, this can also be seen as a time to come closer to our families and make each moment lighter and memorable

While many would prefer to watch web series or movies on Netflix or Amazon Prime during this quarantine period, individually on their mobiles, I would prefer to watch some light-hearted family movies along with my entire family, from 8 year old to 80 year old, while relishing tea and hot pakodas.

The ten films I’ve decided to re-watch with my family are:

         1) Parichay

What would you say if you are asked to stay with a bunch of four super-naughty kids, a hotheaded elder sister of those kids, their strict grandfather and one vamp aunt? Would you run away or face the challenge? Well, Ravi (Jeetendra) our hero, who is hired by the grandfather to teach his grandkids, faces the same dilemma.

Find out how Ravi would deal with the situation in this classic movie directed by Mr. Gulzar. In addition, the songs of the movie will touch the strings of your heart.

         2) Mili

It's not easy to brighten someone's day when you have your own struggles to pull you down each and every moment. Mili is about a girl (Jaya Bachchan) who is free-spirited and believes in sharing her positive vibes with everyone inspite of fighting a deadly disease. What would happen when she would cross paths with Shekhar (Amitabh Bachchan) who is struggling with his own past and does not believe in any good? Will she be able to paint Shekhar's life with rainbow colours?

Watch this Mr. Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic that would make you laugh as well as cry to your heart's content. And yes, two worth mentions from the movie... Mr. Ashok Kumar in the role of Mili's father and the song 'Badi suni suni hai' sung by Mr. Kishor Kumar.

 

3) Khubsoorat (1980)

Just like its name the movie is very beautiful. Manju (Rekha) is a rule-breaker, happy-go-lucky girl who is always bubbling with enthusiasm. Chaos ensues when she sets her foot in the house of Mrs. Nirmala Gupta (Dina Pathak) who is nothing but the set of rules. Where every member of Mrs. Nimala's family abides by her rules and takes her permission even before sneezing, Manju plans to make her own new rules. 

Will Mrs. Nimala find out about Manju's plan? If yes, what would she do about it? Watch Mr. Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Khubsoorat and be prepared for a riot of laughter.

         

4) Chupke Chupke (1975)

It's only normal to feel jealous when your wife thinks that her brother-in-law (jijaji) is the smartest man on earth. Well, our hero, Professor Parimal Tripathi (Dharmendra) is also a normal man who is slight jealous as his wife Sulekha Chaturvedi (Sharmila Tagore) constantly praises her Jijaji (Om Prakash). To prove her wrong, he bets that fooling her Jijaji would be a child's play for him.

Hilarity ensues when Parimal who is a botany professor turns into a driver for Jijaji to carry out his plan. Will he be able to win the bet or will Jijaji outsmart him.

This movie according to me is the best comedy classic by Mr. Hrishikesh Mukherjee. It will for sure take you on a roller-coaster ride of laughter. Wanna bet? 

5) Gol Maal (1979) 

'The boss is always right'. You would agree with me if you too have a job from 9 am - 6 pm. Well, even if you don't our hero, Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma (Amol Palekar) does. Ramprasad makes some changes in his looks and in his regular lifestyle to get a job. Actual fun starts when he creates a web of lies to impress his boss Bhavani Shankar (Utpal Dutt). As the movie progresses Ramprasad becomes helpless to lie at every turn of his life.

Will Bhavani Shankar be able to catch him red-handed or will Ramprasad be able to fool Bhavani till the end? To know that watch this messed up comedy classic by Mr. Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Make sure you watch from the beginning or else it will be Golmaal for you.

6) Satte Pe Satta

Imagine a house full of seven young men, all in their 20s with no parents or partners. If you have imagined a beautiful, tidy home, with every member living peacefully with each other, this movie will shatter your imagination into pieces. Ravi (Amitabh Bachchan) is living a happy life with his six younger brothers. When I say happy, it's their definition of happiness - a messy house, untidy clothes, not taking a bath for days, etc... etc... You got the picture. Right?

A comma comes in the way of their happiness in the form of Ravi's wife, Indu (Hema Malini) who is a nurse and who is tricked by Ravi into believing a different part of his life. 

Will Indu be able to make Ravi's house, a home or will Ravi's brothers mould her to become like one of them? Watch Mr. Sippy's Satte Pe Satta to know that.

7) Bawarchi

If you have ever lived in a joint family, you would know that a super happy joint family exists only in Sooraj Barjatya's Movies. So if you want to see how a normal (okay, slightly normal) joint family looks like, enter Sharma family's home 'Shanti Niwas'.  Irony is, there is never shanti (peace) at Shanti Niwas and the family members are constantly loggerheads with each other. No servant can tolerate their constant quarrelling and so doesn't last long in that house.

In the dire need of a servant, when Sharma family suddenly sees Raghu (Rajesh khanna) - servant, at their door they welcome him with open arms without cross-checking his background.

Is Raghu really a servant who has come to serve Sharma family or does he have some ulterior motives? Mr. Hrishikesh Mukherjee's another classic which will make you realise the importance of your family.

8) Naram Garam

Imagine if your boss, his younger brother and his manager all three of them would fall in head over heels in love with the girl of your dreams and try their best to win her heart. This can turn into the worst nightmare for a person and here that person is none other than Ramprasad (Amol Palekar- I wonder though why his name is Ramprasad in most of his movies). Well, for now let's focus on Ramprasad's problem. We will solve the mystery behind his name later. :)  

Would Ramprasad be able to marry his love life Kusum (Swaroop Sampat) and save his job as well? How would he tackle the situation? Who out of all four would be able to woo and marry Kusum in the end? Watch out Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Naram Garam comedy to tickle your funny bones.

9) Jhoota Hi Sahi

'Ek jhooth jo kisi ki jaan bachane ke liye kaha jaye wo sau sach ke barabar hota hai'. Do you also believe in this saying? Well, our hero, Siddharth aka Sid(John Abraham) thinks and acts so, to save Mishka's (Pakhi Tyrewala) life, which she is completely unaware of. But, we all know that one lie leads to another and the same happens with Sid. He is left confused and lost when he is entangled in his own web of lies.

How will Sid come out of the mess created by him? Will Mishka ever find out that Sid saved her life? Jhootha Hi Sahi by Mr. Abbas Tyrewala will answer these questions and will capture your heart with its simplicity and novelty.

10) Mitron

We instantly start liking the person (opposite sex) who thinks like us, has the same hobbies, same likes and dislikes. The moment we find that person we hear the violin playing in the background 'Made for Each Other'. At the same time 'Opposites Attract' theory has been proven right.

Looking at Jai (Jackky Bhagnani) who is lazy, aimless, irresponsible, and Avni (Kritika Kamra) who is hardworking, ambitious and smart, nobody in their right mind would say that they are 'made for each other'. But then what about the theory 'opposites attract'?

Watch Mr. Nitin Kakkar's Mitron to know the fate of Jai and Avni. A simple comedy/love story which has moments that will make you roll on the floor laughing.

So, this was the list of my favourite light-hearted Bollywood movies. Let me know your favourite movies that can be watched with family during the self-quarantine and social distancing time.

Author: Khushboo Kharat

Pics Courtesy: Google images