Bollywood, as the Hindi Cinema is lovingly called, is the largest film producer in India and is amongst the league of the largest in the world. Often, the term is misconstrued as the aggregation of Indian Cinema, whereas it is the Hindi Film Industry located in Mumbai.

Bollywood has crossed its boundaries and reaches out to the hearts of millions across the globe! The beginning of Bollywood was marked by a silent movie 'Raja HarishChandra' in 1913 following which it created a good market for the Hindi movies, wherein Bollywood witnessed its first ever sound film 'Alam Ara', in 1931.

Bollywood has produced some of the greatest movies of all times in its journey and to witness the richness of its culture and drama, one must not miss out on the following ten best movies of ALL TIME :

SHOLAY (1975) – One of the greatest movies that has been ever made by one of the most talented directors of Hindi Cinema, where everything was drawn to the “just-perfect” level. Such was the craze of this Gabbar – Thakur rivalry that this movie had run for 5 years in a row in the cinema halls with most of them being house full! It also had the two very famous real life couples on the reel, Amitabh-Jaya & Dharmendra-Hema. Each character was sketched so beautifully, that even the silence could be heard & the loving character of Basanti is still as fresh as it was then. Amjad Khan did complete justice to his Gabbar character with his distinct villainous laughter. Sholay is definitely a must watch film!

PAKEEZAH (1972) – This movie is one of the shining stars of the Indian saga of movies with perhaps the best-ever performance by Meena Kumari who was the 'tragedy queen' of the Indian film industry. The movie showcased the lavish grandeurs in sync with the tastes of 'nawaabs' then, and the grey side of their lifestyles full of hypocrisy. Meena Kumari plays a double role in the movie opposite Ashok Kumar formerly and then Raj Kumar after the death of her prior character. The sets of the movie were outlandish and the costumes charmed people in every scene. Beautiful music, sensuous 'mujra' songs and stellar performances by seasoned actors had set a perfect mood for the audiences. This movie took over a decade to make as there were some major tiffs between the actress-director couple and soon after its release, Meena Kumari passed away. But a marvellous script, an awesome dialogue delivery and other key factors were successful in casting its spell over the audiences.

ANAND (1970) – This Hrishikesh Mukherjee's flick happens to be a masterpiece with the then superstar, Rajesh Khanna, who swayed the hearts of the masses copying his panache from head to toe. This movie revolves around the protagonist Anand (Rajesh Khanna) who knows that he is suffering from Cancer but still lives very happily, spreading joviality to all others around, who have forgotten to smile in the seriousness of their professional lives or otherwise. Amitabh Bacchan plays his doctor and is lovingly called “Baabu Mushai” in this movie. A beautiful movie that would teach you the true lessons of life!

Guide (1965) – This high-end classic drama was based on R.K. Narayan's work “The Guide”. This movie being set in 1965 and was way ahead of its time, with an audacious subject where a married lady, Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), falls in love with a tourist guide Raju (Dev Anand), and as time passes by they start to live-in. But after a time, things don't remain to smooth between them and Raju gets imprisoned for a cheating case. Years later, when he comes out of jail, he is mistaken as a saint by the villagers where he narrates them a story of a man who fasts for 12 days. Unfortunately, a few days later, the same village is struck with a bad drought. In order to bring rainfall, villagers ask him to fast for 12 days, which brings about his death at the end. Watching this drama unfold is no less than a treat.

SAAHIB BIWI AUR GHULAM (1962) – Set in the feudal background of Kolkata, Meena Kumari has looked her charming best clad in those big Bengali sarees with a big sindoor and ever-awaiting watery eyes. Her character happens to bear a remarkable resemblance to her real life. Choti bahu (Meena Kumari) wants to win her brutal, womaniser and an always-drunk husband's attention and love anyhow, but her attempts always meet up with failure. Therefore, she starts to sink into depression and confines in BhootNath (Guru Dutt), who is floored by her beauty and loving nature. As the story proceeds, one also sees her transforming into an alcoholic, while harbouring the hope of improving the relationship with her husband and therefore, the story takes many rich twists and turns, The movie gets its style quotient from the peppy Waheeda Rehman. This is one story whose excellence is not enough to be scripted on the canvas. A 'must – must – must' watch for anyone across all age groups!!

MUGHAL-E-AZAM (1960) – Each and every scene in the movie is blessed with richness of culture and the right impact of drama. The magnum opus happens to be with the smashingly best adaayein by Madhubala, who plays the dancer Anaarkali who floors Prince Salim (Dilip Kumar) with her magnetic charms. Both of them fall in love with each other and that is opposed by the great Indian emperor Akbar ( PrithviRaj Kapoor). Hence, the murky vibes of anger sweep in between the son and the father. It is a grand indulgence, that can't be abstained from. The movie directed by K. Asif and took almost 15 years to get released because of a perfect assembly of all the articles like, props, costumes, sets, dancers, dates and agreements from the stars along with a special agreement from a classical singer, which led to the shooting period getting stretched. The Sheesh Mahal shots of Anaarkali dancing are something that till date can't be matched. A must watch movie again and one that captivates the high voltage drama with the perfectly drawn expressions of the characters and music being an unfailing asset!

AWARA (1951) – It was an absolute raptus of an entertaining endeavour to watch the enigmatic couple of Raj and Nargis. The vivacious Nargis exhibits the perfect attitude with an ultimate poise and a grace & Raj Kapoor portrays a Charlie Chaplin like character with a charming persona. More than their on-screen chemistry, they were famous for their off-screen pairing. In the movie, Nargis plays a well educated lawyer who loves this aimless youth, living in the slums and eventually ending up being a criminal. The story unfolds beautifully and this happens to be the first movie wherein the dream sequence was shot and is famously recalled for its evergreen music, that's lisped till date by many.

PADOSAN (1968) – Unarguably happens to be one of the best comedy movies made by the Hindi Cinema. The movie revolves around “Bhola” (Sunil Dutt), who falls in love with his well educated padosan Bindu (Saira Banu), who's passionate about music and takes her lessons from her south Indian Master Ji (Mehmood). Bhola, being a small towner, pretends to be a legendary singer taking help from his maha guru Kishore Kumar. And then there's a turn to the story with the entry of Bhola's mama, it's real fun to see this comedy drama unfold with a definitely not to miss the innocent avtaar of Sunil Dutt, who was famous for serious roles only.

ROCK ON (2008) – The first Rock movie with a perfect blend of leg shaking music that can remind you of all the goody days you spent in your college; This movie has marked the transformation from the high drama bollywood cinema to a much sense appealing youthful flick. The movie revolves around the idea of the compromises you make in your life to gain something. While some may be happy with the decisions they make, others may repent it. Much real with a perfect direction from Farhan Akhtar who acts, sings and directs the movie, quite a multitasker! Definitely not to be missed !!

ZUBEIDAA (2000) – This movie is based on the true story of the muslim film actress named Zubeidaa, who acted in the first ever sound film 'Alam Ara'. Riyaz (Rajit Kapoor) knows nothing about his mother and so began his quest for the same. Her mother used to act in films secretly and one day when her father, filmmaker Suleiman Seth (Amrish Puri), discovers the same he forces her to marry the match selected by him. She then gets married to Mehboob Alam and later got divorced due to a misunderstanding. Later, a maried Nawaab of Fatehpur (Manoj Bajpai) falls in love with her and they get married. However, the journey couldn't have been easy when Zubeidaa had a competition with her hubby's first wife Mandira (Rekha). The journey is ironic but beautifully portrayed.