Internet angry at 'ignorance' as Letterboxd top 500 films includes only 9 Indian titles: 'No Guru Dutt film, no Nayakan'

Only nine Indian films made the cut in Letterboxd's exhaustive list of top 500 films of all time, drawing some sharp reactions from desi fans.

Earlier this week, Letterboxd, the film cataloguing social platform, unveiled its list of 500 top films. The exhaustive list, curated by one of its patrons, features the highest-rated films on the platform, ranked by user ratings and popularity. However, as Indian users noted that only 9 films from the country made the cut, many felt disappointed that the world’s largest film industry was underrepresented.

Letterboxd's Top 500 films

Jr NTR and Ram Charan-starrer RRR is one of the Indian films in the list.

The Letterboxd’s Top 500 Films list is included on the site’s official lists section. Curated by patron Dave Vis, the list “ranks narrative feature films by average member rating,” the platform states. Masaki Kobayashi’s acclaimed Japanese film Harakiri tops the list, followed by the same director’s The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer. Hollywood courtroom drama 12 Angry Men rounds off the top 3. The top 10 also includes iconic films such as Seven Samurai, The Godfather Part 2, Shawshank Redemption, and City of God.

Only 9 Indian films make the cut

However, the first Indian film on the list only reaches the 93rd spot. It is Satyajit Ray’s Apur Sansar, the final chapter of the legendary filmmaker’s Apu trilogy. The other two films of the series - Pather Panchali and Aparajito - follow at 139 and 211. These are the only Indian films in the top 300. Six other titles follow between 301 and 500 - Meiyazhagan (310), RRR (324), Gangs of Wasseypur 2 (339), Kumbalangi Nights (357), 3 Idiots (479), and 12th Fail (496).

Others argued that it is the methodology that has hurt classic Indian films such as Mother India, Pyaasa, and Nayakan. “The ratings are highly skewed by a global audience who rated RRR higher, especially the Western audience,” argued one. Another reasoned that some films were missing because “they upped the minimum no of ratings required to consider the film in the top 500 list.”

How the list was chosen

Letterboxd listed the criteria required for a film to be in the top 500. It states that films must be feature-length (over 40 minutes) and have a festival premiere, theatrical distribution, or a professional streaming release. All documentaries, TV shows, recuts, or plays are excluded, but TV movies are included. But most importantly, a film must have received at least 25,000 ratings on Letterboxd to be eligible. This ruled out many Indian classic films.