An everlasting Bond

Anand (1971)

There are times when crucial incidents in life help us meet an individual, who can change our life forever. The relationship between Anand, played by Rajesh Khanna and Dr. Bhaskar, essayed by Amitabh Bachchan, starts off as that of a regular patient and doctor. But Anand, who suffers from intestinal cancer, spreads sunshine in Bhaskar’s life with his jovial behaviour and zestful spirit with which he looks at death. It’s an unusual form of friendship, with no bromance or unnecessary frills, but the kind that changes Bhaskar’s perspective towards life for good.

Sholay (1975)

Some friendships last forever. How can anyone forget the iconic visual of Amitabh Bachchan as Jai and Dharmendra as Veeru, crooning Yeh dosti hum nahi todenge in the countryside, while riding a black Royal Enfield Bullet with a sidecar. In Sholay, their friendship goes through a series of roller-coaster rides, with the ultimate hiccup occurring in the form of Jai’s death during the battle against Gabbar in Ramgad. Till date, any two thick friends of the same sex are jokingly referred to as the Jai-Veeru jodi. A recent survey conducted by matrimonial website Shaadi.com, stated that the Jai-Veeru pair is the best ever on-screen friendship, leading the poll with 39.1 per cent votes.

Yaarana (1981)

One of the few, early films where Amjad Khan is seen playing a positive role, the story of Yaarana revolves around an orphan, Kishan (Amitabh Bachchan) and his best friend Bishan (Amjad Khan), who comes from an affluent background. Not minding the treacherous ways of the villains in the film, Bishan helps promote Kishan’s talent and makes him a singing sensation. Despite losing all his property, Bishan does not allow the circumstances to affect Kishan’s career, thus creating the perfect example of a bond that sails through thick and thin.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hain (1998)

Director Karan Johar’s debut venture taught us that pyaar dosti hain. No true love is complete without friendship and Shah Rukh Khan as Rahul learns it the hard way during the course of this film, as he ultimately realises his love for college bestie and the tom-boy-turned-girly girl Anjali, played by Kajol. Almost every movie-goer and fan of the film remembers the colourful, striped elastic friendship bands that Khan is seen distributing to every passing girl in college, that became a huge rage.

Dil Chahta Hain (2000)

Undoubtedly one of the best Bollywood buddy films of modern times, Farhan Akhtar’s directorial debut explores the life of three childhood friends, Aakash (Aamir Khan), Samir (Saif Ali Khan) and Siddharth (Akshaye Khanna), whose lives change after they discover love. Friendships turn sour and eventually the lead characters, after realising their folly, apologise to each other. They return back to celebrate their friendship again in the end, but this time, with their respective partners.

Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munnabhai (2003, 2006)

The hilarious chronicles of Munnabhai (Sanjay Dutt) and Circuit (Arshad Warsi) in the two films, Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, had everyone in splits. Right from their bhaigiri in the bylanes of Mumbai to the madness behind setting up a fake dispensary and finally, helping Munna become a doctor; Circuit stood by his friend at every step and continued to do so even in the sequel. Jadoo ki jhappi, anyone?

Rang De Basanti (2006)

Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti, starring Aamir Khan, weaved friendship into the backdrop of politics and history. A group of carefree youngsters realise the importance of India’s freedom struggle and the sacrifices made by the martyrs as they lose their own friend in an MIG aircrash and then go on to fight against the corrupt system in own their way.

Rock On (2008)

When Abhishek Kapoor’s Rock On hit the screens, several youngsters could relate to the characters— Joe (Arjun Rampal), Aditya (Farhan Akhtar), Rob (Luke Kenny) and Kedar (Purab Kohli)— and their journey, as they overcome one hurdle after another to re-unite and start their famous college rock band once again. It’s the kind of friendship that helped each character, who had otherwise strayed away from their love for music, bounce back to their passion.

Dostana (2008)

This is where the bromance began! Friends Sameer Kapoor and Kunal Chopra, played by Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham respectively, fake their sexual preferences to spend time with a girl that they love. A range of disguises, lies and crazy encounters later, the girl walks away with another man, but Sameer and Kunal remain good friends, despite the fact that Sameer’s mother clearly disapproves of their ‘close friendship’, thinking Maa ka laadla bigad gaya.

3 idiots (2009)

A film that ranks high on almost every college goers list, 3 Idiots became a huge rage among youngsters, especially those in engineering colleges and IIT institutes who could relate to the journey that Rancho/Phunsuk Wangdu (Aamir Khan), Farhan Qureshi (R.Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) go through during the course of the film. Be it Raju’s accident or Farhan’s career dilemma, the trio stick through the worst of times, only to lead a successful life at a later stage of their lives. Moreover, who can forget the definition of an induction motor? Brr brr, remember?

Paa (2009)

Few films deal with friendships between a father and son. R.Balki’s Paa was one of them, where the adorable student Auro (Amitabh Bachchan) and estranged father, politician Amol Arte’s relationship starts off as friends, as the two are unaware of their real relationship. They embark upon an unusual friendship, where they visit Delhi and have a great time. By the time, Amol realises that Auro is own his son, it’s too late and the boy, who is suffering from progeria, passes away, however, not before uttering the word, ‘Paa‘.

Ishqiya, Dedh Ishqiya ( 2010, 2014)

The small-time criminal duo, Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi) share a rather strange yet interesting relationship. In both the films of the Ishqiya franchise, the two con-men unknowingly end up becoming pawns, who are used by the smart female protagonists to get their own missions achieved. They stumble upon love and fall out of it, all this while coming out of one troublesome incident after another and yet, it is their endearing chemistry that won hearts.

Gunday (2014)

Bikram (Ranveer Singh) and Bala’s (Arjun Kapoor) friendship, or better their chemistry, in this 70s inspired drama became a talking point this year. The young street-side smarties grow up to become Kolkata’s well-known coal mafia leaders. Their unbreakable friendship comes under the radar and is eventually weakened by their love for the same girl. But just as all happy friendship films, this one too ends with the duo coming back to celebrate their bond, without worrying about the fact that their end is fast approaching.

Queen (2014)

One of the recent films that showcased how friendship can help change an individual’s perspective of life, Queen raised a toast to Rani’s (Kangana Ranaut) and Vijaylakshmi (Lisa Haydon) BFF status. Post her break-up, the rather shy Rani picks up quite a few important lessons of life from single mother Vijaylakshmi, who believes in living life to the fullest. It may not be the typical ‘janam janam ka saath‘ story, but it definitely had an impact.

The unusual BFFs

They say, a dog is a man’s best friend. It’s true, because not all friendships necessarily involve a human being. Bollywood too had some really fine and distinctive examples, where animals, aliens and even robots have turned out to be a friend in need. One of the earliest films to explore the human-animal bond was Haathi Mere Saathi (1971), a huge hit, where an orphan Raju (Rajesh Khanna) is raised in the company of elephants and grows closer to this particular one named Ramu. Another film was Teri Meherbaniyan, where the dog named Brownie played the lead role and tried to save his saviour Ram (Jackie Shroff) from every possible obstacle. Such films are mostly high on emotions, but have been successful in creating a connect with the audience. More recently, Akshay Kumar too is seen leading a dog’s life in the promos of Entertainment, where the title role is played by a golden retriever named Junior. Another classic example is of Jadoo, the alien who changes Rohit and later Krrish‘s (both played by Hrithik Roshan) life forever. Endhiran (Robot, 2010) saw a unique friendship between the robot and its creator (both played by Rajinikanth), that faces several hurdles in the film, with the robot eventually sacrificing his life.