From ‘Pather Panchali’ to ‘Devdas’: Films that won awards, audiences and critics worldwide

Ashutosh Gowariker’s 2001 epic ‘Lagaan’ remains one of India’s most iconic films. It became the third Indian movie to be nominated for an Academy Award and boasts a 95% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2010, Empire magazine ranked it No. 55 in ‘The 100 Best Films of World Cinema’. A year later, Time magazine listed it among ‘The All-Time 25 Best Sports Movies’. Needless to say, the film was universally adored.

Deepa Mehta represented the Partition of India through 'Earth'; upon its release in 1998, it garnered excellent critical reception. Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars and hailed it as a film of great importance with a universal message. Other publications have hailed the film for carrying a universal message; hence, "Earth" has received critical acclaim from the New York Times and the New Yorker for being well directed and packed with an emotional depth that resonates with the audience.

Preity Zinta made her Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Mani Ratnam’s 'Dil Se' which completed Ratnam’s terror trilogy. Released in India in 1998, the movie was awarded the Netpac Award for Best Film at the 1999 Berlinale. The movie has received acclaim for its cinematography and screenplay at several film festivals, including Era New Horizons and Helsinki. The film has been a commercial success, grossing millions in box office sales both in the US and the UK. Today, many people consider 'Dil Se' to be one of Mani Ratnam’s most visually beautiful films.

Film critics praised Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2002 adaptation of 'Devdas' after it premiered. The film received India's official submission for the Academy Awards together with its nomination for the Best Foreign Film category at the BAFTA awards. The film received recognition from Time Magazine as the Best Global Film of 2002 while being included in their Top 10 list for the Millennium. The film achieved the 74th position on Empire's 100 Greatest Films of World Cinema list while it remains a standard for luxurious Indian film production.

Anurag Kashyap directed 'Black Friday' in 2004 to show the real consequences of the Mumbai bomb attacks which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and screened at the Locarno International Film Festival. Numerous international critics from The New York Times to LA Weekly, and The Hollywood Reporter, praised the film because of its unpolished and naturalistic style. "Black Friday" has established itself as one of the most daring works in director Anurag Kashyap's career.

In 1951, Raj Kapoor released his movie 'Awaara' as a film, producer, and actor. The film was released worldwide and was very successful with audiences in different countries, including the Soviet Union, East Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Its theme of class conflict spoke strongly to audiences globally and earned it a spot on TIME's All-Time 100 Greatest Films list. Therefore, the movie keeps being a timeless masterpiece.

Satyajit Ray's movie Pather Panchali is one of the best films made anywhere around the globe, being released in 1955 and receiving much critical acclaim from many international sources becoming the first Indian film to achieve such a level of recognition and was awarded at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival as the Best Human Document. 'Pather Panchali' was also incredibly successful in the United States and influenced many future filmmakers worldwide.

'Gangs of Wasseypur' was a huge success all over the globe, with a massive cultural impact in India and other countries. The Hollywood Reporter compared Gangs of Wasseypur to Quentin Tarantino's films stylistically. Variety notes that The Godfather was a clear inspiration for the visual and narrative elements of Gangs of Wasseypur, with Anurag Kashyap emerging as a filmmaker of modern times through his directing of this film which depicts a criminal family across generations without any filter.

'The Lunchbox' has been produced jointly by countries such as India, Germany, France and America it has received much acclaim. It was originally displayed in 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the International Critics' Week and was later shown again at the Toronto International Film Festival where 'The Lunchbox' won the Critics Week People's Choice Award in addition to its BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 2015. The film continues to be an internationally recognized movie among all films produced in India.