Both are movies from Bollywood. And both movies have broken the golden rule of Indian movies i.e. no songs, no dancing around trees, no romance. These are excellent pieces of film-making from a young cast of actors, directors and crew.
Traffic Signal
This movie is based on the life of street beggars and likes that you would see every day on the streets of Bombay [Mumbai]. The movie exposes the multi-million dollar [rupee] business that begging has become, with organised crime as its back-bone. Filmed extensively in Mumbai, you would fall in love with the characters [there are dozen or so]. Subtitles are available. Make sure you watch it on DVD in case the censors in Kuwait slash off scenes. Don’t worry there is no porn [hard/soft] here.
Rated: 
Black Friday
To actually enjoy this movie, you need to get a bit of background on its story. This movie is based on true facts of Bombay Bomb Blasts of 1993. The blasts were orchestrated by fundamentalist a business family based in Bombay. Apparently this family has also been involved been organised crimes from decades and still continues to be so. The strange thing about this movie is that it was completed in 2005. But the release of this movie was held back by court orders as the people shown in this movie had their cases being heard. This all took place last year and so finally the movie has seen the day in cinemas across India. The movie has excellent storyline [true story], good dramatisation, very nice camera work and lot of real footage shot during the blasts and its aftermath.
Rated:
It isn’t commonplace to get someone to openly say they enjoyed watching a Bollywood film much less say they thought it was good cinema if they are not themselves Indian.
Clearly, “Traffic Signal” and “Black Friday” look to be promising and worth a look for anyone that knows his cinema well. Another must-see film from Bollywood this season has got to be “Eklavya - the Royal Guard”. It is a period film schooled in method acting and most atmospheric of a bygone era of the Indian Maharajah. It certainly was an education of sorts for me learning about the craft of this Indian producer - Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Can’t remember when I last had as much fun watching a Bollywood film as I did this one! It probably was when I saw Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s” Black”.
Other smashing Bollywood films in recent times that come to mind include,’Corporate’, ‘Bluff Master’, ‘The Rain Coat’ and ‘Jogger’s Park’.
But if it’s truly avant gard Indian cinema you hanker after you are wasting your time on Bollywood : my money’s bang on Marathi cinema. Go grab a DVD today and tell me what you think of the foll. Marathi films (available with English subtitles):
1) Chitra Palekar’s ” Dhyasparva”
2) Ms. Sumitra Bhave’s ” Nital”
3) “Devrai” ( Sacred Grove)
4) Dr Jabbar Patel’s “Mukta”
5) Maati Maay starring the irresistible Nandita Das
6) Oscar nomination ” Shwaas”
If you think they are a waste of time, I’ll eat my hat.