Gambling has served as an inspiration to many moviemakers due to its controversy and intrigue. Being a synonym for glamour, casinos have been ever-popular sceneries for many worldwide-known movies. They involve intense psychological moments, advanced strategies, and professional casino games players silently winning incredible amounts of money. Bollywood also features casino-themed films, which are very popular and which are the main topic of our today’s story.
The Casino-related Movies in Bollywood
Bollywood has been producing numerous movies, and it’s not strange that a number of those have casino games as the primary inspiration. However, unlike Hollywood-produced films which focus on players and strategies, the Bollywood ones cover other dimensions that are not strictly related to gambling. Those movies are enriched with another level of entertainment and intertwined with love, social challenges, and much more. Therefore, they provide another level of thrill that will certainly charm you. Sometimes they even excite the viewer to try some live casino games in practice, and we’ll help you with this list of the best live casinos in India. If you still haven’t watched any of those movies, we bring you the five most popular casino-themed ones.
Teen Patti
We will start this list with Teen Patti, a movie that brings an excellent mix of gambling skills and entertainment. This film premiered in 2010, with Venkat as the main character. Winning a huge jackpot is his biggest dream, which motivated him to learn more about gambling. Venkat teas up with Percy, the famous mathematician, who becomes his mentor. With collaborative skills, they manage to beat London casinos and land a big amount of money. While Percy works on developing his probability theory, Venkat tests it in practice, which brings them a lot of success. After trying the idea with three students in the Teen Patti game, this duo brings it to another, higher level against professional casino players. Amitabh Bachhan, Ben Kingsley, and Shraddha Kapoor are the main protagonists of this film.
Despite many critics, this film enjoys great success and is among the most popular Bollywood casino-themed movies. The viewers can experience a lot of thrill and excitement, putting themselves in Venkat’s position.
The Great Gambler
The Great Gambler movie is next on our list of the most famous Bollywood casino-themed films. It’s a pure classic, premiered in 1979 with Amitabh Bachhan starring. The storyline is based around Jai, the main character, who has a perfect gaming record as a professional gambler. Unfortunately for him, a group of gangsters notice that and pull him into a dirty business. Jai didn’t see that coming and, completely unaware of what would happen next, started tricking people for money. Besides his gambling-related challenges, Jai deals with other real-life problems, and many viewers can relate to this character.
Another perk of this film is the unexpected entries of new characters. This thriller movie also brings some stunning sceneries since it was filmed in Rome, Venice, Lisbon, and Cairo. It also involves some of the biggest Bollywood stars ever, and its production was expensive then. Newbie gamblers should not miss this movie before heading to the best live casinos in India.
The Striker
The next film on our list is based on a real-life story, immensely impacting its popularity. Surya, the main protagonist, is a young boy fighting for survival in ruthless Indian suburbs. However, at the age of 12, one event will drive his life in another direction. Surya has a passion for the Carrom game and wins the tournament, which also helps him discover his hidden talent. Unfortunately, his passion quickly turns into greed, and the boy gets involved in a money-making scheme driven by the mafia. He loses control and wastes his talent by ending up in a lousy company. Since this movie describes a true-life story, it quickly found a special place in Indian people’s hearts. The Striker film premiered in 2010, and it’s also well-known as the first Indian movie released on YouTube.
Jannat
Starring Emraan Hashmi and being premiered in 2008, Jannat is another very popular Bollywood casino-themed film. Although its main theme focuses on casinos and gambling, it also involves romantic drama elements. The storyline is based around Arjun Dixit, a young and successful cricket betting expert. He was committed to gambling all day and made a great fortune. Arjun’s main goal was to get rich and enjoy a good life with his beloved Zoya. However, his gambling activities were a double-blade sword. Their love started to suffer due to his betting devotion, and the couple was spending less and less time together. Eventually, Arjun got involved in the cricket match-fixing business, which sealed the fate of his relationship with Zoya. This movie earned positive critics and was a commercial success, and music is also one of its highlights.
The Gambler
We will complete the list with another classic, released in 1971. It involves a lazy police officer, inspector Dayashankar Pandey, who is the movie’s main character. One assignment will break his regular daily routine and turn his life upside down. Dayashankar’s life becomes hell after he intricates a gambling racket and uncovers drug smuggling. Bad guys wanted him to regret ruining their business, and they made the police officer leave his job. At that point, inspector Pandey became a professional gambler and started earning piles of money that eventually made him rich. Nevertheless, on the flip coin of this story, he paid a high price despite being successful in his new role.
Conclusion
Gambling-related themes and casinos will always be inspirational for moviemakers. Therefore, we expect more Bollywood releases covering this intriguing theme that might be very successful. Until then, we can enjoy the movies listed above and visit Indian live casinos to try hitting huge jackpots in live casino games. Who knows, maybe your real-life happy-ending story might become an inspiration for another blockbuster and becomes as popular as the five movies above.