Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa is a true gem as a director. The set-up and build-up of Seven Samurai take hours and we all are hooked. It is only towards the end that one realises who is the real hero of the film.
Sholay (1975)
Director: Ramesh Sippy
Even though Sholay copied brutally from Once Upon a Time in the West, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and even the songs were fully copied, but this film will still live on forever. The additions they did to this copy were gigantic. Its cinematography and sound design are fully classic and timeless.
Yojimbo (1961)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Yojimbo is Sholay actually. One can easily see that it is the style of this film that gave birth to Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns.
The 400 Blows (1959)
Director: François Truffaut
The 400 Blows is my Salaam Bombay!. I was not aware of Truffaut’s work but after seeing this film, I saw a man who could get kids to act as if they all were Marlon Brandos.
Pather Panchali (1955)
Director: Satyajit Ray
Pather Panchali made me come back to Pakistan. In it, I saw my fields, my land at a Santa Monica Beach screening of his work. I left everything and ran for Pakistan to make films.
The Godfather, The Godfather Part II (1972, 1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stanley Kubrick said these are perfect films. What else can I say?
The Dark Knight (2008)
Director: Christopher Nolan
The Dark Knight is the best modern classic to come out of Hollywood. Nothing comes close to this madness.
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Sholay copied from this film’s style and edit. The Wild Bunch is supreme in terms of perfection.
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Director: Terrence Malick
In The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick shows what war is really like. The UN should see this film before they pass any new war bill.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Director: Orson Welles
It is a film school that teaches you how to become a great, insane film-maker. Always pushing boundaries and resistance is the key to flight. These films are important for desi film-makers as we must know that true cinema is beyond Bollywood or Hollywood clichés.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 11th, 2016.
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