The sibling bond in our films is highlighted by much weeping and hysterics. Mainstream Hindi cinema has made a whole industry out of the brother-sister bonding.

As the nation celebrates the Raksha Bandhan festival Friday, here's looking at the best of the theme in Hindi films:

The Sacrificial Siblings

"Rakhi", "Bhai Bahen" -- Two of the most successful tearjerkers of the 1960s, both directed by the eminently saleable A. Bhim Singh -- were about brother and sister outdoing each other for the martyr's cup.

In "Rakhi", Waheeda Rehman and Ashok Kumar played siblings who just could not be without each other. Six years later, Bhim Singh made "Bhai Bahen", a straight-off saga of sibling suffering with Sunil Dutt and Nutan in the lead.

The Over-Possessive Brother

Manoj Bajpai's passionate possessiveness for sister Antara Mali in Ram Gopal Varma's Telugu flop "Prem Gatha" verged on the incestuous. Shah Rukh Khan went completely ballistic trying to keep sister Aishwarya Rai from Chandrachur Singh's arms in Mansoor Khan's "Josh". Interestingly, they played lovers in "Mohabbatein" just a year later...

Mahesh Manjrekar wouldn't let little sister Bhoomika anywhere near Abhishek Bachchan in Jeeva's "Run", and in Bapu's "Pyari Behna", hyper-protective brother Mithun Chakraborty smothers poor Tanvi Azmi in brotherly affection while the love-interest Padmini Kolhapure fumes and frets.

In "Bandhan", sister Ashwini Bhawe takes kid-brother Salman Khan to her in-laws' as dowry. Understandably, brother-in-law Jackie Shroff feels sidelined and spends his nights at the nautch girl Shweta Reddy's place.

Sister as A Vendetta Catalyst

This is a favourite cliché where the sister is tortured, raped or murdered before Big Brother goes on a vendetta binge. In Suneel Darshan's "Talaash" the entire drama depended on the brother's search for his sister. Blessedly, the sister was not played by leading lady Kareena Kapoor. Imagine how Akshay and Kareena would have looked playing lovers in "Bewafaa" after doing the brother-sister act!

In Deepak Shivdasani's "Pehchan", Suneil Shetty goes in search of sister Madhoo in the red-light area. Er...does anyone remember the leading lady in "Pehchan"?

Sister As A Sacrificial Lamb

Bollywood's resident screen-sister Nazima played the central role in Rajshri productions' "Mere Bhaiyya". The actress' sisterly image was seldom showcased with such splendid sibling sentimentality.

Shabana Azmi in "Anokha Bandhan" and "Yeh Kaisa Insaaf" played a sister willing to sacrifice marital happiness for the sake of her kid brother. In "Tapasya", Raakhee was the long-suffering 'didi' (elder sister) who tells her lover to take a walk when his mom says she must let her siblings fend for themselves.

In K. Balachander's "Aaina", Mumtaz becomes a prostitute to support her impoverished siblings. And in "Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam", Madhuri Dixit is willing to suffer her husband Shah Rukh Khan's taunts to look after brother Atul Agnihotri in her marital home.

In Nitin Sethi's "Angaaray", sister Smita Patil becomes a nautch girl for her kid brother Alankar's financial security. Tapan Sinha's "Didi" portrayed the best Sacrificial Sister of the lot -- Deepti Naval was a prostitute trying desperately to hide her profession from her kid brother.

If You Sing Sister

In Manmohan Desai's "Sachcha Jhootha", Rajesh Khanna takes off for the city to raise dowry for sister Naaz...but only after singing 'Meri pyari behaniya banegi dulhaniya'.

Sister Nanda sang 'Bhaiyya mere rakhi ke bandhan ko nibhana' to elder brother Balraj Sahni in L.V. Prasad's "Chhoti Bahen"...and what about sister Nazima singing 'Hum baheno ke liye mere bhaiyya aata hai ek din saal mein' for Rajendra Kumar in "Anjana"?

But the best sis song? The unidentified actress in a prison singing 'Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko babul' in "Bandini".

Incidentally, sisters have always had it tough switching to romantic roles. Nanda could never get out of the sisterly image although she tried so hard to do so by playing a killer in "Ittefaq". Inversely, Ash as Shah Rukh's sister in "Josh"??? You've got be kidding!