Fantasy Films and the Indian Imagination: Recommendations and Ranting

There are a lot of fantasy movies coming up for release in the Indian market. This got me thinking about the several Indian fantasy films I watched growing up that left an indelible imprint on my mind. They had great-ish visuals, well-told stories and hey, the female characters in them were way more than interior decoration! No one talks about these movies when the topic of fantasy comes up. No one mentions that some of them were pretty big hits in their time. No one talks about fantasy as a genre with several time-tested, respectable tropes and a language of its own.

And that realization annoyed me enough to write this article as a sort of Hina’s list of Top 5 Indian Fantasy Films. Read on for some 90's vibes and pop culture filmology to find out if the Indian imagination has what it takes to tell fantastical stories.