Bollywood loves number games. And not just the rat race kind.

There’s a slew of movies with numbers in their title.

It’s easy to see why.

Be it to embody a chronological accuracy, catchphrase or calculation, there’s something super catchy about these names.

With Vidya Balan and Pratik Gandhi’s lovey-dovey equation in Do Aur Do Pyaar all set to hit the screens, Sukanya Verma takes a long look at Bollywood’s number love.

 

Do Aur Do Paanch

Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan flaunt their trickster ways in Do Aur Do Paanch‘s shenanigans and sly mischief.

 

Shree 420

Raj Kapoor’s ambitions get the better of him as he goes street guy to suave scamster until his conscience feels its pinch in Shree 420.

 

Do Aankhen Barah Haath

V Shantaram’s empathy holds him in good stead when the six hard-boiled convicts he puts his faith in turn new leaf in his social drama, Do Aankhen Barah Haath.

 

Do Dooni Chaar

Rishi and Neetu Kapoor play a middle-class couple coping with the growing needs of their two kids on a middle-class budget in the bittersweet realisations of Do Dooni Chaar.

 

Inaam Dus Hazaar

In this North by Northwest rip-off, Sanjay Dutt and Meenakshi Seshadri play a couple on the road caught in a tangle of false accusations, muddled identity and bounty on one’s name.

 

Bees Saal Baad

A curse haunts a family as its youngest successor returns to his ancestral home 20 years later in Bees Saal Baad‘s The Hound of the Baskervilles-inspired mystery.

 

Solva Saawan

Best remembered as teenager Sridevi’s leading lady debut in Hindi films, Bharathiraja’s remake of his Tamil hit, 16 Vayathinile failed to set the box office on fire.

 

Ab Tak Chhappan

Nana Patekar’s encounter specialist gives Shimit Amin’s directorial debut its force and formidable title.

 

Chachi 420

Kamal Haasan puts on the prosthetics to play nanny to his estranged daughter following a bitter divorce from his wife in the desi Mrs Doubtfire.

 

Victoria 203

Back when Mumbai’s Victoria transport trend was still alive, Ashok Kumar and Pran played a duo discovering the mystery behind a pouch of secretly stashed diamonds in a carriage numbered 203.

 

Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor

The popular Arabian Nights adventure comes to life in Dharmendra’s Indo-Soviet collaboration recounting a hero taking on an army of 40 thieves as they hide their loot in a secret cave.

 

Tees Maar Khan

A droll expression forms the catchy title of Farah Khan’s sloppy After The Fox remake featuring Akshay Kumar’s con artist in the titular avatar.

 

Baap Numbri Beta Dus Numbri

Kader Khan and Shakti Kapoor pair up as swindling father-son duo in a comedy centred around their comedic skills.

 

Dedh Ishqiya

Unrequited love experiences a touch of queer under Abhishek Chaubey’s whimsical direction in the poetry and flirtations of Dedh Ishqiya.

 

Nau Do Gyarah

Dev Anand and Kalpana Karthik hit the road and find love in Vijay Anand’s breezy rom-com whilst justifying its zingy title, Nau Do Gyarah.

 

Ra-One

A video game software acquiring the shape of a human in Shah Rukh Khan’s sci-fi enthusiasm and Arjun Rampal’s vile antagonist, Ra.One‘s clever word play makes for a cool title if not satisfying drama.

 

100 Days

Madhuri Dixit’s psychic gifts hit sleuth mode as she tries to find the culprit behind her sister’s murder. Of the many clues in her vision, the key one is a video cassette called, what else, 100 Days.

 

Ek Chalis Ki Local

A series of fascinating events in Mumbai unfold after a guy misses the last ‘1:40am’ local train and runs into a woman in need of intervention.

 

Satte Pe Satta

The bromance between seven brothers and the seven girls that capture their hearts results in much mirth and madness in the Amitabh Bachchan led musical.

 

Ek Aur Ek Gyarah

Sanjay Dutt and Govinda tom-tom their one-of-a-kind camaraderie in the larger-than-life horseplay of Ek Aur Ek Gyarah.

 

One 2 Ka 4

Shah Rukh Khan plays a cop forced to raise his deceased partner’s four kids with a little help from Juhi Chawla in the One 2 Ka 4‘s part-fun, part-flimsy masala.

 

3 Idiots

Aamir Khan, R Madhavan and Sharma Joshi live up to the self-styled ideologies of their engineering students in and as 3 Idiots based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel Five Point Someone.

 

Khiladi 786

786 is a holy number among Muslims. Khiladi 786 acknowledges that along with naming its characters Sattar, Bahattar, Tehattar, Ikhattar, you get the drift.

 

Special 26

Another Akshay Kumar vehicle where a special force of 26 con artists rob a jewellery store posing as CBI officials conducting a raid.

 

7 Khoon Maaf

Seven failed marriages, seven cruel husbands — Priyanka Chopra’s volatile marital journey forms the focus of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Susanna’s Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond adaptation.

 

Mera Number Kab Aayega?

There are movies centred around legal and Constitutional codes like Section 375 and Article 370.

Stories concerning a specific year in sports, history or fiction ’83, 1942: A Love Story, 1947: Earth, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, 1920, 1921, Mr and Mrs 55, Love 86, Love Story 2050, 99.

Or dates like 23 March Shaheed, 16 December.

Addresses and locations too — 13B, 88 Antop Hill, 36 Chowringhee Lane, 36 China Town, 15 Park Avenue, NH 10.

Not to forget David Dhawan’s No 1 fetish resulting in super hits like Coolie No 1, Hero No 1, Biwi No 1, the list goes on.