The "junta" movie

Definitions:
junta: noun, alt. meaning: urban Indian slang to indicate a group of people (as in "all the junta is at the audi"); derived from the Hindi word for "people" (and not to be confused with cliques of nasty ruling militiamen)

junta movie: proposed neologism, to indicate an ensemble movie of a genre featuring the most number of actors and crewmen usually associated with that genre, i.e. a dream team of sorts.

Examples

* Mandi, a Shyam Benegal movie, is easily the "junta movie" in the "parallel" arts cinema movement of the 70s and 80s. Featuring a complete cast of actors, actresses, "supporting" regulars such as Amrish Puri and Neena Gupta, writing by Satyadev Dubey and music (partly) by Vanraj Bhatia. (Of course, the vast project of "Bharat Ek Khoj" would feature the entire Benegal pantheon later.) Perhaps "junta movies" can be best described by those who are missing. In this case, a prominent absentee would be Govind Nihalani behind the camera, but his place was taken by a notable name in Ashok Mehta and recall that Nihalani's "Ardh Satya" released that same year.

* Love Actually even had Rowan Atkinson returning to do a small but hilarious cameo. Richard Curtis, the man who wrote all the great British romantic comedies of the last decade, turned director for the first time and pulled in an appropriate tableau of comic actors (mind you, the average British actor is usually good at all kinds of acting). There's Colin Firth who's again having wives ditch him for others, wonderful all-round actors such as Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman and even Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley takes on the mantle of the pretty romantic heroine and there's Laura Linney instead of Bridget Jones. (A fleeting thought passed by noting the absence of someone big, but I can't put my finger on it.) And of course, there's Hugh Grant - a man whom Curtis's screenplays have been keeping in business for a long while - playing Prime Minister, no less. There's high concept for you.

* By now, everyone's seen Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro in excess of at least 50 times, so it's pretty clear why this is a "junta movie". Almost all the members of the FTII/NSD generation to make it big in the late 70s and early 80s are here (exception: Shabana Azmi) either in front of or behind the screen.

* My last pick for the day is another "British" movie, but by that master of the "ensemble movie as an art form", Robert Altman. Gosford Park complements "Love Actually" by packing a vast range of the finest British dramatic talent. If you have Helen Mirren, Kristin Scott Thomas, Dame Maggie Smith on one side, you have Derek Jacobi, Michael Gambon, Alan Bates on the other. A bunch of the younger generation such as Emily Watson and Ryan Phillippe later, and well, this is one of the best ensembles ever put together. Notable absentees are several, but that's more owing to the sheer size of acting talent in the UK than anything else.