A primer on the Bollywood oeuvre gives a taste of why South Asian films are increasingly influential

Curious about the pleasures produced by the world's largest film industry? Here, to get you started, is a list of ten great Bollywood flicks. All except one are available on DVD through nehaflix.com ($5-$22); Bandit Queen and some of the others can be rented from desicompany.com ($3 each). Bollywood Dreams, a coffee-table book by photographer Jonathan Torgovnik, shows many aspects of the industry, from the actors to the film crews to the moviegoers (Phaidon, $40).

The first Indian movie to be nominated for an Academy Award, Mother India (1957) is the wrenching tale of a woman—played by Nargis, in a mesmerizing performance—who struggles to hold her family together in a small rural village.

One of the most expensive films ever made in India, Mughal E-Azam (1960) took more than a decade to complete. The lavish costumes and sets, as well as the epic crowd and battle scenes that re-create Mogul India, upstage the story of a doomed affair between a prince and a court dancer.

In Pakeezah (1971), beloved star Meena Kumari plays two roles—a courtesan who dies of sorrow after being rejected by her husband and the courtesan's daughter, whose life follows a similar path. The film is all the more poignant because Kumari died shortly after it was completed.

Amjad Khan was revered in India as the archetypal bad guy; his role in Sholay (1975) reinforced his status as a ruthless on-screen villain. In this South Asian spaghetti western (replete with shots of arid canyons), a former police officer hires two former convicts to capture the gangster Khan. The film also stars Amitabh Bachchan, since the 1970s the most famous leading man in Bollywood.

Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) is the comic fable of three brothers separated as young boys. Although each grows up in a different household—one Hindu, one Muslim, and one Catholic (hence the three names in the title)—their lives eventually converge.

The oeuvre of movie star Rekha was recognized this year with a lifetime achievement award at the FilmFare Awards (India's Oscars). In Umrao Jaan (1981), regarded as her finest movie, she plays a commoner who catches the eye of a wealthy sultan.

The harrowing tale of a low-caste girl who is married young and subsequently gang-raped, Bandit Queen (1994) is hardly a typical Bollywood confection. The heroine goes on to lead a criminal gang and exact revenge. Director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) based this film on the true story of Phoolan Devi, who became a politician and was murdered two years ago.

A box office smash that perfectly captures the fun and color of an Indian wedding, Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994) pairs Salman Khan and screen legend Madhuri Dixit, who fall in love when their siblings marry each other. It has some catchy songs to boot.

Muslim-Hindu tension is the subject of Bombay (1995). An interfaith marriage is tested during the communal violence of the early 1990s, which followed the destruction of a mosque in Ayodhya by Hindu extremists. The riot scenes are brutally realistic and disturbing.

A beautifully shot movie that follows the downward spiral of a young lawyer whose love is unrequited, Devdas (2002) swept the FilmFare Awards, earning former Miss World Aishwarya Rai the award for best actress.

Requisite viewing, too, are any of legendary director Satyajit Ray's films, which were made on the other side of the country, in West Bengal.