Old Hindi Comedy Movies To Watch Anytime

• Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

In this movie, three woman-hating brothers face changes in their respective lifestyles when two of them actually fall in love with their love-lady.

Director: Satyen Bose

Stars: Ashok Kumar, Madhubala, Anoop Kumar, Kishore Kumar

• Half Ticket (1962)

In this movie, a diamond thief hides his loot on an innocent child. But the child turns out to be an adult posing as a youngster to purchase a half-priced train ticket. The thief then experiences a series of wacky misadventures, throughout the movie.

Director: Kalidas

Stars: Kishore Kumar, Madhubala, Pran, Shammi

• Bhoot Bungla

Throughout the movie, the mystery surrounds a house that is reportedly haunted by singing and dancing ghosts and ghouls.

Director: Mehmood

Stars: Mehmood, Tanuja, Nasir Hussain, Nana Palsikar

• Padosan (1968)

In this movie, a simple man from a village falls in love with his new neighbor. He enlists the help of his musical-theater friends to woo the lovely girl next door, away from her music teacher.

Director: Jyoti Swaroop

Stars: Sunil Dutt, Saira Banu, Mehmood, Kishore Kumar

• Bawarchi (1972)

In this movie, a dysfunctional middle-class family is transformed due to the influence of their new multi-talented household servant - however, he seems to be too good to be true.

Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Stars: Rajesh Khanna, Jaya Bachchan, Usha Kiran, Harindranath Chattopadhyay

• Bombay to Goa (1972)

This movie is about an adventurous bus journey from Bombay to Goa. The bus is filled with a fun bunch of passengers, all from different religions, cultures, and faiths. The movie is known particularly for its catchy tunes.

Directors: Mehmood, S. Ramanathan

Stars: Mehmood, Aruna Irani, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha

• Seeta Aur Geeta (1972)

In this movie, long-suffering heiress Seeta is treated worse than a servant by her abusive money-grubbing aunt. Meanwhile, her long-lost twin sister Geeta grows up to be a gutsy street performer. One day, the girls unintentionally swap places.

Director: Ramesh Sippy

Stars: Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Manorama

• Kunwara Baap (1974)

This movie is about a poor rickshaw-puller who adopts an abandoned child. He eventually brings up the child like his own son. However, tragedy strikes when the boy becomes crippled as a result of polio infection.

Director: Mehmood

Stars: Mehmood, Bharathi, Aachi Manorama, Bhushan Tiwari

• Chupke Chupke (1975)

In this movie, a newly wedded husband plays a practical joke on his wife's family with full support from his wife and friends.

Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Stars: Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan

• Amar, Akbar and Anthony (1977)

This movie is about three brothers who are separated and united after many years. One is brought up as a Hindu, another as a Muslim, and the last and most memorable a Christian. Hilarious and adventurous – this movie is a roller-coaster ride.

Director: Manmohan Desai

Stars: Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Neetu Singh, Parveen Babi

• Heeralal Pannalal (1978)

In this movie, two boys grow up together in an orphanage and become best friends, swearing their undying brotherly devotion to each other. Unknown to them, a dark secret related to their past hampers this bond.

Director: Ashok Roy

Stars: Shashi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Zeenat Aman, Neetu Singh

• Angoor (1982)

Based on Shakespeare's 'A Comedy of Errors', this is a story of identical twins (2 pairs) and mistaken identities.

Director: Gulzar

Stars: Sanjeev Kumar, Moushumi Chatterjee, Deven Verma, Aruna Irani

• Satte Pe Satta (1982)

Satte Pe Satta is the story of seven brothers living in a large farmhouse. Being orphans and uneducated, all seven brothers are unsophisticated bumpkins and lack social etiquette and hygiene. A sequence of events make them gentle and honest human beings.

Director: Raj N. Sippy

Stars: Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Amjad Khan, Ranjeeta Kaur, Sachin, Shakti Kapoor, Paintal, Sudhir, Inderjeet, Sarika, Kanwaljit Singh, Prema Narayan, Mac Mohan, and Kalpana Iyer amongst others.

• Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983)

This movie is about two friends, attempting to start up their own photo studio who later come across shady dealings, corruption, and murder. The friends later fight to bring the guilty to light.

Director: Kundan Shah

Stars: Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Bhakti Barve, Satish Shah

As we revisit these comedies, we can’t help but marvel over what a sheer stroke of genius (and a special turn of the brain) it must have gone into the making of many of these classics.

All the above movies are entertaining and enjoyable. It will let you unwind from your long hectic day. Chances are, you have seen most of these films before – but that’s the joy of a feel-good movie. It doesn’t matter how many times you have watched Kishore Kumar or Mehmood cracking the joke – returning to them feels like sinking into a warm bathtub or getting a hug from an old friend.