Dangal (2016)

I had a lot of time to kill last night, so I decided to watch a longer movie than usual. India's are quite reliable in that regard. This one runs 161 minutes, but the main reason I chose it over other options on my queue is its current placement on IMDb's top 100.

Retired wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan, who's also the producer) regrets his failure at an international championship and hopes to have a son finish what he started. After begetting four girls in a row, he becomes discouraged -- until the two oldest, Geeta (Zaira Wasim and later Fatima Sana Shaikh) and Babita (Suhani Bhatnagar and later Sanya Malhotra), beat up some offending boys. He then becomes their drill sergeant-like coach and forces them to pursue his dream, despite obstacles of poverty and any other dreams they had.

PK (2014)

Gosh, more than year has passed since my last Bollywood viewing. I attribute this mainly to my reluctance to watch longer movies. Indeed, I chose PK in part because it's "only" 153 minutes.

A space alien (A-lister Aamir Khan) who looks fully human, albeit with protruding ears and almost constantly wide eyes, takes a solo trip to India for peaceful research purposes. Before long, someone snatches his fancy necklace, which is really the remote to summon his spaceship. It's not clear how long he had planned to be away from the ship, but he soon grows desperate, partly because he has almost nothing else. He adopts the nickname "PK," because it sounds like the Hindi word for "tipsy," which he is frequently accused of being. The second main character, fledgling anchorwoman Jaggu (Anushka Sharma), notices PK when he passes out fliers saying, "Missing: God." Her boss is leery about covering stories that could provoke religious anger, but she's simply too interested in his unique perspective on the subject.

Rang De Basanti (2006)

This time I didn't wait so long since my last Bollywood viewing. It's also unusual for me to have seen two movies in a row that appear on IMDb's top 250, partly because I've seen most of them. I hadn't exactly planned that, but when something's been on my radar for a while, I start to give it priority.

Sue, a young Englishwoman, goes to India in order to make an indie film about five real historical young men who gave their lives for India's independence movement. Unable to find actors the conventional way, she hangs with her friend Sonia's rather irresponsible college buddies and decides they'd be great for the roles. Unfortunately, they have trouble relating to revolutionaries when they have almost no love for their backwater "free" country and can't see themselves dying for any cause — until a tragedy causes them to feel that they could use a new revolution.

Dil Chahta Hai/Do Your Thing (2001)

I didn't expect to see another Bollywood production so soon after the last, but it stops streaming on Netflix this Friday. Glad I discovered this deadline early in the evening, because it's another long 'un, just over 3 hours.

There seems to be a subgenre of comedy-drama in India, characterized by three young men who have fun together and seem close, but some unpleasant surprises put their friendship to the test -- sorta like the bromances of Judd Apatow, only more tasteful and somehow much better. DCH is the earliest example I know of, preceding 3 Idiots by 8 years and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara/You Don't Get Life a Second Time by 10. It is also probably the least fun of the three, but that's not saying much.