Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Kaun Banega Crorepati?" (2000) (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?) But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost.

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Kaun Banega Crorepati?" (2000) (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?) But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Each chapter of Jamal's increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show's seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out. At the heart of its storytelling lies the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love.

Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)

A hilarious underworld gangster known as Munna Bhai falls comically in love with a radio host by the name of Jahnvi, who runs an elders' home, which is taken over by an unscrupulous builder, who gets the residents kicked out ironically with the help of Munna's sidekick, Circuit, while Munna is busy romancing Jahnvi elsewhere.

A hilarious underworld gangster known as Munna Bhai falls comically in love with a radio host by the name of Jahnvi, who runs an elders' home, which is taken over by an unscrupulous builder, who gets the residents kicked out ironically with the help of Munna's sidekick, Circuit, while Munna is busy romancing Jahnvi elsewhere. Munna, who is now masquerading as a Professor specializing in the life of Mahatma Gandhi, must now battle his very own forces and the builder - but he has one ally on his side - none other than the great man - Mahatma Gandhi himself. Only trouble is that Munna may have problems convincing everyone about this presence - as he is apparently is the only one who can see and hear him.

Hey Ram (2000)

The film starts with Saketh Ram as a very old man and almost immediately goes into flashback. As a young man he is among his friends, in conviviality. He has taken a Bengali wife, Aparna, and everything is wonderful in his life. But the year is 1946, and the imminent independence of India from British suzerainty is complicated by religious antagonism between the Hindu majority and the large Muslim minority, who demand their own independent state.

The film starts with Saketh Ram as a very old man and almost immediately goes into flashback. As a young man he is among his friends, in conviviality. He has taken a Bengali wife, Aparna, and everything is wonderful in his life. But the year is 1946, and the imminent independence of India from British suzerainty is complicated by religious antagonism between the Hindu majority and the large Muslim minority, who demand their own independent state. Saketh and Aparna visit Calcutta; rioting is reported, but Saketh goes out to get some food, and he soon encounters a Hindu woman being chased by Muslim rioters. He rescues her, but the rioters later come to his house, and brutally rape and then kill his wife. Saketh is devastated and takes to the streets, determined personally to kill as many Muslims as he can find. He meets up with Sriram Abhiyankar, who is leading a group of Hindu extremists, and Saketh becomes temporarily taken with the cause himself. At the same time, he is persuaded to take a new wife, Mythili, and life begins to stabilise for Saketh after all. However he then falls in with an eminent Maharajah who is leading an underground group with the intention of assassination. Travelling with the Maharajah, Saketh meets one of his old friends from younger days, who has fallen on hard times. Reminiscing, and getting his old friend back on his feet deflect the process of recruiting Saketh, but only temporarily, and soon he is manipulated into committing himself to renouncing his family and his new wife, in the interests of the cause which now is disclosed as the assassination of Gandhi. Although a fellow Hindu, Gandhi was felt by some to be too conciliatory to Muslims and in the logic of extremists, Gandhi became the prime target. Soon Saketh is informed that Gandhi will be in Delhi for some weeks, and that Saketh is to take the opportunity to do "his duty". However, hiding from a snap search by the police, he has to hide his pistol on a delivery lorry, and it is driven away to a factory owned by Muslims. Going there hoping to retrieve the gun, he becomes engulfed in a shoot-out between some Hindu attackers and the Muslims, and finds that his loyalties are not so clear cut as he had imagined. Finally he escapes after the death of another of his old friends in the crossfire. The next day, January 30th 1948, he contrives to be near Gandhi in a public prayer ground, his appointment with destiny. But the film still has 20 minutes to run, and the ending is not what you expect.

Yeh Saali Zindagi (2011)

After Bade falls out of favor of Member of Parliament, Verma, he is arrested, held in a cell without any trial, and is humiliated and beaten everyday. His brother Chhotte and others conspire to secure his release by kidnapping Verma's to-be son-in-law, Shyam Singhania. Things do not go exactly as planned and Priti, Shyam's girlfriend, also gets abducted.

After Bade falls out of favor of Member of Parliament, Verma, he is arrested, held in a cell without any trial, and is humiliated and beaten everyday. His brother Chhotte and others conspire to secure his release by kidnapping Verma's to-be son-in-law, Shyam Singhania. Things do not go exactly as planned and Priti, Shyam's girlfriend, also gets abducted. In order to ensure Shyam's safety, she agrees to liaise between Verma and the gangsters - not knowing that she has an admirer who will do anything for her. She meets with Shyam's father as well as Verma but may end up endangering everyone's lives especially after Verma makes it clear that he will not negotiate Bade's release under any circumstance.