Bollywood has been known to produce some  iconic films in the late 70’s. We pick six films which have completed 40 years in the industry but yet continue to entertain the audience.

If these films were given a re-run once again we are sure they will continue to set the box office registers clanging at the theaters.

Julie: Produced by B. Nagi Reddi-Chakrapani and directed by K.S. Sethumadhavan  this film was based around an Anglo Indian family and was a remake of Malayalam hit film Chattakri. The film starred south actress Laxmi and Vikram Makandar who made his debut with this film. The film also starred Nadira and Sridevi. Music by Rajesh Roshan was a huge rage in those times and it was the first film to have an English song “My Heart is Beating sung by Preeti Sagar. It was a huge hit at the box office.

Deewar: Written by Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar this was a huge hit in the late 70′s  who went on to be iconic writers of those times. The film was directed by Yash Chopra, who later became famous as the ‘king of romance. The film starred Amitabh Bachchan,  Shashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi and Neetu Kapoor in the lead. Salim Javed’s dialogues from the film are even popular today. The film is known for its memorable dialogues like,”Mere pass maa hai”, “Uff tumhare usool, umhare adarsh” among others.

Chupke Chupke: Again a romantic comedy by  Hrishikesh Mukherjee based on Upendranath Ganguly’s Bengali story Chhadobeshi. The film starred Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Om Prakash, Usha Kiran, David Abraham Cheulkar, Asrani and Keshto Mukherjee. Had music by  composer S.D. Burman.  An unusual film and quirky take on comedy it went on to become a huge box office hit.

Mausam:  Mausam starring Sanjeev Kumar and Sharmila Tagore in the lead and  directed by Gulzar  was a dramatic love story  loosely based on the novel, The Judas Tree, by A.J. Cronin. Sharmila Tagore received The Silver Lotus Award at the 23rd National Film Festival  and also won her the National Award for her performance in the role of Kajri. The movie received two of eight nominations at the 24th Filmfare Awards. National Award Best Actress. The music of the film by Madan Mohan and background score by Salil Chowhdury was a huge  hit.

Aandhi: An Indian political drama film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen, and directed by Gulzar. At the time it was alleged that the film was based on the life of the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her relationship with her estranged husband, but in reality, only the look was inspired by the politician Tarkeshwari Sinha and Indira Gandhi. The story is based on a chance meeting of an estranged couple after several years, when wife Aarti Devi, now a leading politician happens to stay in the hotel run by her husband during an election campaign. The movie is noted for its songs composed by Rahul Dev Burman, written by Gulzar and sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar.

Chhoti Si Baat:  A romantic comedy film directed by Basu Chatterjee is considered to be one of the best comedies of the 1970s. It was a quirky take on  a normal middle class boy and girl who are in love but unable to express themselves. The film was a huge hit and established Amol Palekar as having an uncommon comic talent. This movie was based on “School for Scoundrels”, a 1960 British Comedy which itself was based on the “Gamesmanship” series of books by Stephen Potter. The music Salil Chaudhury was a hit in it’s times.