As the world's leading authority on Indian cinema, having memorised every scene of every deserving film, here's my list of essentials- whether crowd-pleasing blockbusters or high art.

1935 Devdas (Barua)
Hunterwali (Wadia)
1936 Sant Tukaram (Damle, Fattelal)
1943 Kismet (G.Mukherjee)
1944 Udayer Pathey/ Towards the Light (Roy)
1948 Aag/Fire (Kapoor)
Chandralekha (Vasan)
1949 Andaaz (Mehbob Khan)
Barsaat (Kapoor)
1951 Awara (Kapoor)
1952 Aan (Mehbob Khan)
Baiju Bawra (Bhatt)
1953 Daera/ The Division (Amrohi)
Do Bigha Zamin/Two Acres of Land (Roy)
1954 Boot Polish (Arora)
Taxi Driver (Anand)
1955 Pather Panchali (Ray)
1956 Aparajito (Ray)
Cid (Khoshla)
Jagte Raho (Kapoor)
1957 Ajantrik (Ghatak)
Do Aankhen Barah Haath/Two Eyes Twelve Hands (Shantaram)
Mother India (Mehbob Khan)
Pyaasa (Dutt)
1958 Jalsaghar/The Music Room (Ray)
Madhumati (Roy)
1959 Apur Sansar/The World of Apu (Ray)
Dhool ka Phool/Blossom of Dust (Chopra)
Kaagaz ke Phool/Paper Flowers (Dutt)
1960 Devi/The Goddess (Ray)
Meghe Dhaka Tara/Cloud-Capped Star (Ghatak)
Mughal-e-Azam (Asif)
1961 Komal Gandhar (Ghatak)
Teen Kanya/Three Daughters (Ray)
1962 Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (Alvi)
Subarnarekha (Ghatak)
1964 Charulata (Ray)
Sangam (Kapoor)
1965 Guide (V.Anand)
1966 Teesri Kasan/The Third Oath (B.Bhatacharya)
Teesri Manzil (V.Anand)
1967 Jewel Thief (V.Anand)
1968 Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne/The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha (Ray)
Padosan (Swaroop)
1969 Aranyer Din Ratri/Days and Nights in the Forest (Ray)
Bhuvan Shome (Sen)
Uski Roti/Our Daily Bread (Kaul)
1970 Anand (H.Mukherjee)
Mera Naam Joker (Kapoor)
Samskara (Reddy)
1971 Anubhav/Experience (B.Bhatacharya)
Pakeezah (Amrohi)
1972 Calcutta 71 (Sen)
Maya Darpin/Mirror of Illusion (Shahani)
Titash Ekti Nadir Naam/A River Called Titash (Ghatak)
1973 Ankur/The seedling (Benegal)
Ashani Sanket/Distant Thunder (Ray)
Avishkar/Discovery (B.Bhatacharya)
Bobby (Kapoor)
Garam Hava/Hot Winds (Sathyu)
Kaadu/The Forest (Karnad)
1974 Jukti Takko Aar Gappo/Reason Debate and a Tale (Ghatak)
1975 Deewar (Chopra)
Sholay (Sippy)
1976 Lambhardani (Veerendra)
Manthan/ The Churning (Benegal)
Mrigaya (Sen)
1977 Amar Akbar Anthony (Desai)
Kodiyettam (Gopalakrishnan)
Shatranj Ke Khiladi/The Chess Players (Ray)
Swami (B.Chatterjee)
1978 Junoon (Benegal)
Muqaddar ka Sikandar (Mehra)
1979 Shankarabharanam (Vishwanath)
1980 Aakrosh / Cry of the Wounded (Nihalani)
Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai (Mirza)
Bhavni Bhavai (K.Mehta)
Oppol (Sethumdhavan)
Satah Se Uthata Admi/Arising from the Surface (Kaul)
Sparsh (Palanjape)
1981 36 Chowringhee Lane (A.Sen)
Umrao Jaan (Ali)
1982 Mangal Pandey (Malhotra)
Namkeen (Gulzar)
1983 Ardh Satya/ The Half-Truth (Nihalani)
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (Shah)
1984 Ghare Baire/Home and the World (Ray)
Tarang (Shahani)
1985 Anantyatra (Patwardhan)
Mirch Masala/ Spices (K.Mehta)
1987 Anantaram (Gopalakrishnan)
Ijaazat (Gulzar)
Nayakan (Rathnam)
1988 Khayal Gotha (Shahani)
Om Dar-B-Dar (Swaroop)
Pestonjee (V.Mehta)
Piravi (Karun)
Salaam Bombay (Nair)
1989 Kaal Abhirati/Time Addiction (Chakraborty)
Salim Lagde Pe Mat Ro (Mirza)
Siddheshwari (Kaul)
1990 Shiva (Varma)
Vastuhaara/The Dispossessed (Aravindan)
1991 Idiot (Kaul)
Talapathi (M.Ratnam)
1993 Charachar/Shelter of the Wings (Dasgupta)
Roja (Ratnam)
Suraj ka Satvan Ghoda/Seventh Horse of the Sun (Benegal)
1994 Andaz Apna Apna (Santoshi)
Bandit Queen (S.Kapur)
Hum Aapke Hian Koun (Barjatya)
1995 Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (A.Chopra)
Rangeela (Varma)
1998 Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Johar)
Pushpak (Singeetham)
Satya (Varma)
1999 Sarfarosh (Matthan)
The Terrorist (Sivan)
2000 Uttara (Dasgupta)
2001 Lagaan (Gowariker)
Monsoon Wedding (Nair)
2002 Devdas (Bhansali)
2003 Maqbool (Bahradwaj)
Raghu Romeo (Kapoor)
2004 Black Friday (Kashyap)
Swapner Din (Dasgupta)
2005 Black (Bhansali)
2006 Rang de Basanti (Mehra)