Pillars of Parallel Cinema: 50 Path-Breaking Hindi Films

“Pillars of Parallel Cinema is well written and gives a very good background story of each of the films and how they were made. A very good addition to the books written of an important phase of new cinema of the time.”

– Shyam Benegal, Renowned Filmmaker

Parallel cinema sought to be different from the mainstream, possibly as a means of re-inventing what cinema might be. The audience from the developing middle class welcomed these films as a reflection of their life, finding that the films closely mimicked their reality.

So, here is a retrospective of 50 path-breaking Hindi films made between the late 60s and mid-90s, when parallel cinema reigned in India. There is no single reason for selecting these 50 films – the primary criterion was that they were all made without the trappings of mainstream cinema and were driven more by passion than the power of money.

I hope this retrospective induces readers to rediscover these pearls of an unparalleled phase of Indian cinema.