I would add Madhumati to the list for Hindi cinema; instead of Amar, Akbar, Anthony, which I can’t stand I would insert Naseeb. I also prefer Kagaz Ki Phool instead of Pyasaa for Guru Dutt’s work.

For Bengali Cinema I would add Bimal Roy’s Khamooshi, which has a fantastic soundtrack and Ray’s Charulata.

Dharamputra (1961)
Deewar (1975)
Veer Zara, is of course, highly debatable…

and
MS Sathyu’s
Garam Hawa(1973?)

and my favourite Masala Flick of all time
Main Hoon Naa (2003)

and some of the Ram Gopal Verma’s early stuff
Satya?

and

Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s
Parinda

and
Golmaal
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron… two very different comedies…

Meghe Dhaka Tara
and
Apu trilogy come to mind.

I’m not a buff, though–others might have more inspiration.

I would say Mammo and Zubaida.

ooohh and Anand! and Gol Maal

Consider, for instance, Ankur by Shyam Benegal. It is a singular film that began the art cinema movement which lasted over a decade and produced very influential films and gave us stellar performers.

Consider Zanjeer and Deewar, which gave us the angry young man who replaced the romantic hero-persona of Rajesh Khanna in much the same way that Guru Dutt (Sahir/Abrar Alvi) wanted to break away from the Dev-Dilip-Raj genre. They did it by exposing the flawed implementation of a (now failed) ideology in all its nakedness. I am very surprised that you did not list Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam (and Kaagaz Ke Phool) in that list. V.K. Murthy’s seminal camerawork in those films has influenced everyone from Nihalini/P.C.Sriram/Mani Ratnam/Ram Gopal Varma onwards.

Sikander (Sohrab Mody, Prithviraj Kapoor), the mother of movies like M-e-A, Anarkali and others. Pakeezah was a dud and if it influenced anything, it was the death of the period drama for a long time. How about Sujata? Anmol Ghadi? Godan? How could you forget Saigal’s ‘Devdas’? How about the films that were popular in Greece?

‘Bombay’ did not influence anything. Nor was it historical. If you wanted a film on religious riots, you could’ve chosen Bhisma Sahni’s ‘Tamas’ on the ‘47 partition. On the other hand, Roja spun was singular. It was the first film that named Pakistan directly and set out a cascade of (unfortunately badly-made) films in that genre, including a forgettable ‘Mission Kashmir’ which was, incidentally written by Suketu Mehta and Vikram Chandra.

Sholay actually killed a genre. It was the last of the dacoit-based films since no one dared take on that theme anymore. However, it was also the first film in which the villian became popular – so much so that he modelled in ads (for Glucose biscuits).

Gulzar’s ‘Mere Apne’ (1971) was s superb film that tackled student unrest and rebellion at the failure of govt. The songs had biting lyrics that struck home. [The film was sorta remade into 'Ankush' in the 80s.]

HDDCS should not be in any list. :-) I would replace that with ‘Tezaab’ since it was responsible for the rise of Madhuri. It is a terrible film, though.

Some timeless films that have not necessarily influenced films in general:
GolMaal
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron
Kaliyug
Ardh Satya
Chashm-E-Buddoor
Shree 420
Anand
Namak Haram
Ijaazat
Gaman
Salim Landge Pe Mat Ro
Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai?
and so on…more later.

So just on that, it deserves to be on some list…

Shatranj Kay Khilari? Umrao Jan Ada?

Morcy: which one? All are at Devon for 5-8 bucks…

I thought you said this list was of movies “influential in Indian film history, culturally or artistically”, yet I’d say that the influence of most of the films on your list was more in the commercial (and perhaps arguably some popular culture thereby) realm rather than artistic.

As a newcomer developing a Chapati habit in recent weeks due to the generally excellent content here, I’m rather disappointed… for this list seems to represent more the hegemony of Bollywood / mainstream Hindi movies than artistic influence. I’d say quizman is on the right track for such a list, but you are both still limiting yourselves to Hindi movies – so perhaps the list should be labeled as such!