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Ba***ds of Bollywood, with its entertaining take on the movie industry, made me wonder why there aren't more films about movie-making. We do have some classics, and some delightful capers. Here are my top picks

- Poonam Saxena

s I came to the end of Aryan Khan’s entertaining The Ba***ds of Bollywood, I found myself thinking back to all the movies set in the Hindi film industry.

Films about films haven't been as popular with directors as one would expect, which is puzzling, given the immense possibilities. I imagine that audiences, always fascinated by how movies are made, would also be keen for an inside view.

Perhaps such tales cut too close for comfort. Or filmmakers prefer safer, tried-and-true themes. Still, there have been Hindi films about the making of movies that have made it to many critics’ top favourites lists.

Among the most recent and probably best-known (also the best of the lot) are Farah Khan’s rollicking Om Shanti Om (2007) and Zoya Akhtar’s candid and perceptive Luck by Chance (2009).

I really liked Milan Luthria’s The Dirty Picture (2011) and Maneesh Sharma's Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Fan (2016) too.

But how about before all this? Well, the trail begins with no less outstanding a work than Guru Dutt’s classic Kaagaz ke Phool (1959), a dark tale, told in black and white, of a life unravelling amid immense fame.