TOP 10 BOLLYWOOD REINCARNATION MOVIES

My all time favourite reincarnation movie. I watch this one once a year at least. This movie has it all: reincarnation theme, a love story, not one but 2 love triangles, a murder mystery, court room drama and a soundtrack by RD Burman on which each and every song is a gem.
Hema Malini ( in a double role), Rajesh Khanna (in a double role), Raajkumar, Priya Rajvansh, Devan Varma, Pinchoo Kapoor, Shammi, Aruna Irani, keshto Mukherjee and Tom Alter all are splendid in the movie. But for me this movie belongs to Vinod Khanna. I have always been a Bachchan fan and still am so Vinod Khanna for me was the guy he made Bachchan suffer in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar or who beat Bachchan up in Amar Akbar Anthony... but in this movie he is the best!
I won't say anything about the story at all... you just have to watch thos one.

Sometimes during the making of a film something happens and a classic is made. You can't pinpoint what that something is. Just look at the fact that this movie was remade with Himesh Reshammiya as Rishi Kapoor (goog God!)...
This film was not that a big hit when released but is seen as an all time classic today. All the songs (except for one group song) are gems which we enjoy till date. The cast -each and everyone- did a splendid job be it Raj Kiran, Simmi Garewal, Pran, Prem Nath, Tina Munim, Mukhri,Jalal Agha or Pinchoo "Who Is The Maker" Kapoor. But the one actor who steals the entire movie is Rishi Kapoor. Just watch his facial expressions... there is nobody who can do that. And thisnk about this... How many times can you say that the hindi remake of an Hollywood film is actually 10x better then the original film ? Well Karz is!!

Shah Rukh Khan made another movie based on reincarnation which is something a court can sentence people to watch- it's that bad. Salman Khan also had another reincarnation movie "Suryavanshi" in which he was a blonde warrior (that kinda says it all)...
But Rakesh Roshan -who used to make masala entertainers in the '90s- (in the PRE-Hrithik era) - had a masterstroke. In the 90's you still had some films with that most famous story from the '70s and '80s. Meaning that 2 brothers seperated at birth and got together 20-25 years later (at the end of the movie) to bring the villains down (God how I miss those movies!). So Rakesh had two brothers murdered (instead of seperating at the mela) and getting them reincarnated. Masterstroke! And the cast of the film did a wonderful job. Thios is actually the film which started the Ajay Devgun - Shah Rukh Khan war. But if you want to know more about that I suggest you listen to "YAADEIN- A Walk Through Memory Lane" every Sunday at 22.00 on SunriseFM (Netherlands) OR join us on facebook in our group GEET SANGEET.

Read Milan (at no. 8) for a short synopsys of this movie. This is a movie that has inspired a ton of movies. Out of 10 movies based on reincarnation 7 or 8 are remakes of this one. And even if the entire movie is not remade the ending is lifted. An example of this is one of the worst (reincarnation) movies EVER made in India ( Om Shanti Om).
The film hasn't aged very well and doesn't hold up today for a new generation but it's worth a look just for the songs... "Dil Tadap Tadap Ke" remains my favourite...

Now the real good movies start showing up... Neel Kamal is a gem of a movie. It is a film about reincarnation and also is a family drama.
In short Manoj Kumar weds Waheeda Rehman who is a sleepwalker. In her sleep she hears a voice calling her... singing to her. It is shown that in aprevious life Waheeda Rehmaan was in love with Rajjkumar but she was a princes and he was poor so they could not unite. Worse, her father the king was so angry that he had raajkumar walled up alive. While that happened he sang a song for her (only in India... BUT WHAT A SONG so we forgive that) . Now that is the song and voice that Waheeda hears. In her sleep she walks towrds that voice. Now in this life Manoj Kumar has a mother and a sister played by lalita Pawar and Shashikala... need I say more...?
A damn good movie which holds up well today...

Okay so this is not an original "Bollywood" (God how I hate that term) movie. But there is a dubbed hindi version of the movie (if you don't want to watch with subtitles).Ram Charan also made a movie in hindi (the awful awful awful Zanjeer remake) and well Kaajal Agarwal is a beauty who does not make enough hindi movies (she is a damn good actress besides looking fantastic) are the leads in this good old fashioned masala entertainer. This film is on the lines of "Abe Ke Baras" ( Arya Babbar and Amrita rao's debut filck which also had reincarnation as it's theme) and a movie of which I don't even remember the title with Kaajol, Aditya Pancholi and Saif Ali Khan in the lead roles. But the execution of the film, the writing and the performances makes this one a must watch!

This is the movie that started it all. Reincarnation was first "handled" in this movie. This movie - a Bombay Talkies production (Ashok Kumar's company) also gave India Lata Mangeshkar and Madhubala. Madhubala and Kishore Kumar met here for the first time (as adults that is. They used to meet as kids on the studiolot). Songs like "Aayega Aanewala" and "Mushkil Hai Bahut Mushkil" are remembered even today. And a little fun trivia : The PRE-CLIMAX of this film was the original ending for the Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer film Fatal Attraction. That ending was even filmed but not used as the makers thought that the audience would not appreciate it (in 1987!). To be honest the film hasn't aged well. But just for the songs and to see how well it was filmed it still is worth a watch...

There are many many reincarnation films from Bollywood (there you have that word again!) which used the template which originated with "Madhumati". Meaning a man/couple get to a location that seems familiar. They are told/they remeber their past lives in which they were lovers but could not end up together and die... and at the end it is shown that they are together in this life. Janam Janam (Rishi Kapoor), Mehbooba ( Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini) , Banjaran ( Rishi Kapoor, Sridevi) , Radha ke Sangam ( Govinda, Juhi Chawla) are some of these movies. Milan (1967) follows the same template but is the best imitation of them all. Actors like Sunil Dutt and Nutan and an evergreen soundtrack help make this movie what it is. A fun one time watch...

SunnyLeone is the main attraction of this movie what kind of warns you. But to be honest the movie itself is a good romantic thriller which deals with Sunny and her lover being reincarnated. The story is quite different from the usual reincarnation movies. 7 out of 10 movies on reincarnation are beased on " MADHUMATI " but this one is not with gives it a brownie point. The big twist at the end of the movie about the identity is * SPOILER ALERT * taken from the Hollywood reincarnation drama Dead Again which had Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia, Robin Williams and Kenneth Branagh in the cast. Worth seeing one time for sure...

This movie follows -the then real life couple- Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapoor. During the entire movie they do not realise that they are reinvarnated. The movie follows them in their 3 lives. While 2 of the segments are not notewortgy at all and almost want you to leave the cinema 1 segment in which Shahid is a shaayar is a fun watch.
Worth seeing (with the remote in hand) on a rainy afternoon