Anand: Because Rajesh Khanna tells you that however wicked the googlies that life throws at you, you can look them right in the eye and hit them out of the stadium.
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron: Because it proves that no matter how bad the state of the country, how corrupt the government, how untrustworthy your colleagues, how fickle your profession, it’s still possible to swim against it all—if you have a healthy appetite for the absurd.
Khakee: Because those who protect and serve need to be enshrined, and because not every cop is characterised by bribes and a ballooning stomach. The most perverse act of this entirely honourable action film may be that it inflates, by the end, even the corrupt to the canonised. It’s a notion that a grateful nation, in light of recent events, will endorse.
Swades: Because the far reaches of outer space may be easier to conquer than the hearts of the homeland—but the path from darkness to light may lie in something as simple as the powering of a lightbulb, and the rediscovery of roots may be possible even when you’re thousands of miles away, and not necessarily in the physical sense.
Rang De Basanti: Because anger and violence aren’t always bad, especially as enablers of vicarious catharsis. The methods this film uses may not be ideal in a country that reveres Gandhi, but as we move towards a world defined primarily by himsa, only the movies may be able to give us a clear sense of closure anymore.