Charukesh Venkatraman
The Pursuit Of Happyness doesn’t need any introduction. This movie even makes the hearts made of the hardest stone found on this planet crumble to pieces and cry like a baby. There’s a particular scene in the movie: Chris Gardner and his son are taking shelter for the night in a public train station restroom rather than at a ‘homeless shelter.’ His son is fast asleep on his lap, and he thinks what he can do the next day. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door, and the person tries to unlock the door, which is locked from the inside. Chris Gardner starts crying hard, lamenting about his situation and how he cannot even provide a single night’s shelter for his son. If tears don’t start rolling down your eyes watching this scene, then I don’t know what can.
This film is a heartfelt, deterministic and inspiring tale of an entrepreneur’s struggle of being homeless for about a year and breaking all odds in cracking his success mantra at the end. Nothing is as ever as easy as it looks. The struggle everyone endures to achieve what they have in mind is unimaginable and can only be seen if we stand in their shoes.
Was it as easy as it looked? No, sir. No, it wasn’t. Here is a list of films like ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ that I would recommend to never stop chasing their dreams and never lose hold of what you want to achieve.
10. Rush
James Hunt and Niki Lauda battle it out to beat each other in every championship race they participate not knowing that they are discovering the best versions of themselves in that journey. The James Hunt vs Niki Lauda rivalry is one of the most glorious and celebrated rivalries in sports history, still spoken about even today. This film will teach you what it means to be competitive on the track and in life and how to make others jealous of yourself by outperforming yourselves every time you get a chance to prove yourself. This film is one of the apexes of inspirational stories you might have ever heard.
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9. Into The Wild
Christopher McCandless’s lonely journey into the deep, dark night will give us innumerable questions on how he will be able to survive in the wilderness without experience and supplies. His blood might have been full of guts to embark on such a journey, which will eventually lead him to places he hadn’t even heard of. But, unfortunately, no more today, his cut-throat tale of a courageous survival story taught us a lesson on what it takes to do anything you love freely. That’s what Freedom is for.
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8. Gladiator
Russell Crowe has lived as Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when Commodus , the ambitious son of the Emperor, murders his father and seizes his throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family. This film is a perfect portrayal of ambition, loyalty, courage, and, above all, patriotism. Joaquin Phoenix was snubbed of an Oscar for his striking performance as the ambitious, vengeful emperor Commodus. The production of the film is flawless as it transports you back to the gladiatorial Roman times and leaves a mark in your heart forever.
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7. The Imitation Game
Enigma was vicious to solve. But, it seemed ‘It’s okay, I can solve it’ to Alan Turing, the man to whom nearly 2 million Jews have their thanks to say. Alan Turing’s solving of the Enigma shortened the Second World War by 2 years. Benedict Cumberbatch’s captivating portrayal of Alan Turing distinguishes from his other performances easily that he goes into the skin of the character so effortlessly. His geeky look, even in reality, had helped him a lot to portray Turing in the film. The screenplay is studded with intellectual scene placements and dialogues, which makes us wander throughout the film’s journey.
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6. Good Will Hunting
Matt Damon wrote and starred in this film as Will Hunting, a 20-year-old Boston laborer, a recognized genius who, as part of a deferred prosecution agreement after assaulting a police officer after engaging in a local fight, becomes a client of a therapist and studies advanced mathematics with an MIT professor. Throughout his therapy sessions, Will re-evaluates his relationships with his best friend (Ben Affleck, who co-wrote the film with Damon) and his personal life, facing the uphill task of confronting his past and his future. Robin Williams delivers an Oscar-winning performance for the ages as Damon’s therapist who completely transforms his life and makes him more humane. The monologue that Robin Williams delivers is considered one of the best dialogues and monologues ever written in cinema history.
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5. Brooklyn
Saoirse Ronan is going to be a legend of which we can all be absolutely sure of. Set in 1950’s Brooklyn, Eilis Lacey is a young Irish woman who immigrates to Brooklyn where she gets a job and falls in love with a man. When her past catches up with her, she must choose between the countries and settle with what she thinks will be good for her. Struggling to cope with the American culture, she becomes its repertoire before learning to live with what she has been offered. Brooklyn offers us an inspirational tale on how to adapt to different cultures and conditions and how life’s choices can be cruel sometimes, but we should be able to fight it out.
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4. Dead Poets Society
“ O’Captain, My Captain”. The captain of this ship, Robin Williams, the dear departed who was loved by every human being on this planet instils in us the very purpose of living our life. Medicine, law, business, engineering: these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, romance, beauty, love…these are what we stay alive for. Robin Williams taught us what it means to be compassionate, loving, caring and how to love what you do every day in all aspects of your life.
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3. Cast Away
The fact that this film’s screenplay was written by a man who volunteered to be stranded on an island for a week without any resources to be left out for in order to gain experience to write this script is something which leaves us thunderstruck. Tom Hanks is stranded on an island after a plane in which he travels crashes into the sea. He is left only with Wilson, a soccer ball he names when being lonely on the island. He is left with no resources and relies only on Mother Nature to survive. Does he survive? Does he become delusional? Watch this inspiring marvel.
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2. The Shawshank Redemption
“Some birds are never meant to be caged”. Andy Dufresne perfectly captures the agony of a man who is wrongly convicted for a murder he didn’t commit and his slow and steady plan to get himself evicted from the hell he is holed up into. Watching Morgan Freeman is a visual treat for very Hollywood fan. He supplies inspiration whenever Andy is disappointed of his life and wise words are all we need when we are devoid of all hope. The reason this film is glorified among all cinephiles is learnt only when we experience this film individually. It can only be felt, cannot be explained to the whole.
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1. Forrest Gump
“My name is Forrest, Forrest Gump”. Trip down the memory lane, when I first saw this movie the name lingered on my mind for about 2 days and I couldn’t think of anything else. Such was the impact of this movie on me. Tom Hanks’s surrealistic acting, his childishness, and the innovative screenplay that makes Forrest to be a part of certain historic events and Bubba, the ambitious want-to-be shrimp boat captain, are all what makes this a masterpiece, a film for the ages. A man with an IQ less than that of an average human makes all his luck in life by being true to his heart and everyone, which gives a tight slap to some selfish and misogynistic people.
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