I was raised on Bollywood rom-coms from the late Nineties and early Noughties. They’re the first kinds of films I remember watching, in the pitch-black, cavernous theatres inside the sprawling multiplexes of south Kolkata, where I was born. Then, at the age of seven, I moved to London with my mum, and somehow, these joyous, overblown technicolour musicals took on even more importance: like the Bengali food we cooked and the Indian classical music that was played in our living room on slow Sunday mornings, they formed a bridge to a distant home.
More than that, though – and like all good rom-coms, regardless of their country of origin – they were infinitely comforting. In the depths of our first British winter, my mum and I would retreat to local cinemas to watch three-hour-long epics like Aditya Chopra’s Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan vehicle Mohabbatein. When I got chicken pox at my new school, I spent a week curled up in a blanket watching a VCD of the dance world drama Dil To Pagal Hai on repeat. I still associate its high-octane opening number with the sickly smell of Calamine lotion.
Rewatching them now, I’m struck by how formulaic they feel in comparison to contemporary Indian fare, stuffed full of predictable marriage plots, stern elders, and the same bevy of actors from Mumbai’s A-list. But, the music is sweeping, the costuming lavish and the performances masterful in how they balance broad comedy and overwhelming emotion. It’s also difficult to overstate the impact they had on me as a child, allowing me to watch actors who, though paler and airbrushed, looked more like me than those in British rom-coms of the early 2000s, play the leads in their own lives.
Below, browse a shortlist of seven ’90s and ’00s Bollywood rom-coms that offer an introduction to the genre – and are well worth streaming again if you’re already an aficionado.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
Aditya Chopra’s era-defining romance is the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema (staggeringly, almost 30 years on from its release, it’s still being shown in Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir cinema). The key to its appeal? Rousing musical numbers and a fresh-faced Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan as two Londoners who fall for each other while interrailing across Europe, even though the former’s father has already arranged her marriage to another.
Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)
It’s impossible to take your eyes off Karisma Kapoor from the opening sequence of Yash Chopra’s toe-tapping melodrama, in which she stuns an audience with a heart-pumping dance routine. We soon discover that she’s secretly in love with a fellow performer in her troupe (Shah Rukh Khan), who, in turn, becomes infatuated with a classically trained dancer (Madhuri Dixit) whom he casts as the lead in their next show. Cue explosive dance battles.
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)
College best friends Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) and Anjali (Kajol) grow apart when the former begins dating Tina (Rani Mukerji) in Karan Johar’s emotionally-charged saga. Years later, we learn that Tina died giving birth to Rahul’s daughter, also named Anjali, and that the latter, as a precocious eight-year-old, has set out to find her namesake. Realising that the older Anjali still pines for her father, she then enacts a The Parent Trap-esque scheme to reunite them.
Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999)
Helmed by Sooraj Barjatya, this star-studded drama following an entrepreneurial extended family is a tale of two halves: in the exuberant first act, three brothers (Mohnish Bahl, Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan) find their three brides (Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Karisma Kapoor) amid much singing and dancing; and in the heart-wrenching second, a dispute over their family business ignited by their mother (Reema Lagoo) threatens to tear them apart.
Dil Chahta Hai (2001)
More than two decades on from its release, Farhan Akhtar’s coming-of-age comedy still feels distinctly modern thanks to its slick editing, side-splitting script and nuanced turns from Aamir Khan, Akshaye Khanna and Saif Ali Khan. They play three friends who find love: one in Sydney with another expat (Preity Zinta); one with a troubled neighbour (Dimple Kapadia); and the other with the girl (Sonali Kulkarni) his parents had been trying to set him up with.
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001)
Its most memorable scenes have inspired countless memes and its songs are a staple of Indian wedding dances – Karan Johar’s decades-spanning family drama is nothing short of iconic. It centres on Shah Rukh Khan as the son of a tycoon (Amitabh Bachchan) who is disinherited for marrying without his father’s permission. While trying to bring their family back together, the former’s brother (Hrithik Roshan) then falls for the vivacious sister (Kareena Kapoor) of his new sister-in-law (Kajol).
Hum Tum (2004)
A Hindi When Harry Met Sally set between Amsterdam, New York, Paris and Mumbai, Kunal Kohli’s heart warmer tracks cartoonist Karan (Saif Ali Khan) and boutique owner Rhea (Rani Mukerji) as they meet on a long haul flight and instantly butt heads. Over the next few years – as they move across the world for work, and find and lose partners – their paths continue to cross unexpectedly, and mutual animosity eventually gives way to friendship and then love.
