If you enjoy watching Indian movies, or if you’ve gotten a taste for them after RRR and All We Imagine As Light but don’t know which ones to pick, this one is for you. There’s quite a heady selection of titles available on Netflix, from family entertainers like Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham to Oscar-winning documentaries like The Elephant Whisperers, which are must-watches.
So without further ado, here’s a quick list of some of the best Indian movies available on Netflix (other than RRR, because that one’s a given), ranked so you don’t have to waste too much time figuring out which one to check out first.
15. Laapataa Ladies (2024)
Laapataa Ladies or Lost Ladies is India’s official submission for the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards. This Hindi-language comedy drama directed by Kiran Rao and co-produced by Indian actor Aamir Khan has the quirkiest premise. In a fictional North Indian state, two brides (Nitanshi Goel and Pratibha Ranta) get swapped during a train journey due to bridal veils covering their faces. But as the cops investigate, this turns into a sweet yet empowering film with a feminist message.
14. Om Shanti Om (2007)
Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om is a quintessential massy Bollywood musical, set within the Hindi film industry in the ’70s, and headlined by one of the biggest movie stars ever, Shah Rukh Khan. He plays a background actor who falls in love with a top Bollywood actress—Deepika Padukone in her dazzling debut. But wait, there’s a twist; this is a reincarnation story, where they both die and are born again, years later, to fulfil their tragic, unfinished love story. OSO is replete with elaborate set pieces, memorable songs, nods to Indian movies, and lots of star power as a slew of Bollywood actors play themselves for a musical number in the film!
13. Guru (2007)
Who doesn’t love a good underdog story? And Mani Ratnam’s Guru is loosely inspired by the rags-to-riches story of Dhirubhai Ambani, father of one of the current richest men in the world, Mukesh Ambani. A brilliant Abhishek Bachchan plays Gurukant Desai, the son of a simple school teacher in Gujarat who starts as a polyester merchant in Mumbai and goes on to own India’s largest company. But not without adversity, and great personal cost, including problems with his wife, Sujata, played by Aishwarya Rai. The film’s courtroom climax will have you rooting for Guru, and its music is one of Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman’s (Slumdog Millionaire) best works.
12. Jodhaa Akbar (2008)
From director Ashutosh Gowariker of the Oscar-nominated Lagaan comes Jodhaa Akbar, another period epic inspired by Indian history and made richer by A.R. Rahman’s music. The film is a fictitious portrayal of a strategic marriage between the 16th-century Mughal emperor Akbar (Hrithik Roshan) and a Hindu princess, Jodhaa Bai (Aishwarya Rai). As larger-than-life and stunning as the spectacle is, the tender love story at the heart of the film and its message of secularity, tolerance, and good governance, powered by strong performance make Jodhaa Akbar an unmissable cinematic experience.
11. Darlings (2022)
RRR star Alia Bhatt made her debut as a producer with this dark comedy about a mother-daughter duo living in Mumbai slums who must deal with the daughter’s abusive husband. Darlings is also filmmaker Jasmeet K. Reen’s debut directorial, and she lends a fresh feminist perspective to this retelling of The Scorpion & The Frog fable, making her eccentric characters look almost surreal as if it were indeed a fable and not real life. Watch out by the sharp performances of the cast—Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, Vijay Verma, and Roshan Matthew.
10. Dil Se.. (1998)
If at any time you were to log onto Indian film Twitter, you’d find them dissecting the many layers of Mani Ratnam’s romantic thriller Dil Se.., even 26 years after its release. Set against the backdrop of separatist movements in Assam, the film has Shah Rukh Khan playing an All India Radio executive who is about to get married but becomes obsessed with a stranger he meets on a train. Unbeknownst to him, the woman, played by Manisha Koirala, is a suicide bomber on a mission. Dil Se.. won the NETPAC award for Best Cinematography at the Berlinale. And its song ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ (A.R. Rahman) is a default dance anthem in every Indian party!
9. Minnal Murali (2021)
India may still be far from establishing a successful superhero cinematic universe like the MCU, but it has dabbled in the genre and produced some fantastic films. Basil Joseph’s Malayalam-language superhero flick Minnal Murali has Tovino Thomas playing Jaison, a tailor, who is struck by lightning, which gives him superpowers. The film promises an entertaining time as Jaison gets a sidekick in his nephew (Vasisht Umesh), discovers his powers, and goes up against a worthy antagonist (Guru Somasundaram). There are some great action sequences, comedy, and VFX that easily make this one of the best Indian superhero origin stories.
8. The Elephant Whisperers (2022)
Kartiki Gonsalves’ documentary short on the bond between an orphaned baby elephant, Raghu, and a couple—Bomman and Bellie—entrusted to take care of him is easily one of the most heartwarming watches on this list. You’ll see just how much man and animal are alike, and a beautiful message about the dignity of life, elevated by beautifully captured visuals of South India’s forests. The film won India’s first Oscar in the Best Documentary Shorts category.
7. Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001)
There’s a reason even Bridgerton chose to use a Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham song to for the Sharmas’ wedding rituals in season 2. The film is just that iconic, having spawned countless memes, pop culture references, and immortal characters like Poo since it came out in 2001. Director Karan Johar is known for his lavish sets, vibrant song-and-dance numbers, trendsetting costumes, and portraying relationships to resonate with the Indian audience. K3G, as the tagline suggests, is about loving one’s parents. The family drama boasts of a stacked cast of Bollywood superstars—Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan, and Kareena Kapoor!
6. Swades (2004)
If JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” quote were a movie, it would be Swades. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Shah Rukh Khan, Swades follows the homecoming of an orphaned Indian American NASA scientist to his hometown village in Uttar Pradesh, where the nanny who raised him as a kid lives in her old age. Once a believer that his country is beyond help, the spirit of his people despite their plight moves him to work towards uplifting them by using his knowledge. Swades, meaning ‘Homeland’, is one of the best movies in Shah Rukh Khan’s filmography.
5. Three of Us (2023)
If you loved Past Lives, you’ll like this one too. A woman (Shefali Shah) struggling with dementia takes a trip to a village she lived in for a few years as a child. She’s accompanied by her husband (Swanand Kirkire) who is surprised that she never told him about this part of her life, nor about the boy she loved (Jaideep Ahlawat), now a teacher at the local school. As the woman revisits her childhood in this serene beach town with her old lover and current husband, she reconciles with secrets from her past, forgiving herself before she forgets it all. Avinash Arun’s Three of Us is an intimate and beautifully written, shot, and acted film that stays with you long after the credits roll, evoking bittersweet nostalgia for a past life that feels like a slowly fading dream.
4. Dil Chahta Hai (2001)
Dil Chahta Hai altered the brain chemistry of the industry when it came to a realistic portrayal of the urban Indian youth on screen and made Goa the ultimate destination for summer trips for friend groups. Directed by Farhan Akhtar, DCH is the coming-of-age story of the friendship between three college graduate friends played by Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, and Aamir Khan. It shifts between the present, where the estranged friends are reunited at a hospital, and the past, which tells the story of their bond, their respective love stories, falling out, and how their lives change in the aftermath. The music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is all bangers, all the time!
3. Kantara (2022)
Rishab Shetty writes, directs, and stars in Kantara (meaning ‘mystical forest’), a Kannada-language action thriller that masterfully blends folklore, myths, superstition, and art forms like Kambala (buffalo racing) and Bhoota Kola (a shamanistic dance performance) with themes like human greed. The film spans three timelines, where a vow made by a king to a wrathful deity gets broken by future generations and the consequences that haunt them. Shetty’s multi-pronged efforts in the film, especially as a Kambala athlete and Bhoota Kola performer, are commendable and the climax scene is one for the books!
2. Haider (2014)
Nobody does Shakespeare adaptations for screen better than multi-hyphenate Indian filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj. After Macbeth (Maqbool) and Othello (Omkara), he adapts Hamlet into Haider and sets it agains the backdrop of civil unrest in India’s Kashmir. The film looks and sounds hauntingly and heartbreakingly beautiful (Bhardwaj does the music too), and boasts of a powerful, career-defining performance by Shahid Kapoor as the titular Haider (Hamlet), supplemented by masterful performances from Tabu (Dune: Prophecy), who plays his mother Ghazala (Gertrude), Kay Kay Menon as his uncle Khurram (Claudius), and the late Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, The Lunchbox) as Roohdar (Ghost).
1. Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022)
There were many who thought filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali made a mistake casting Alia Bhatt to play a sex worker who goes on to become an influential brothel madam in Mumbai’s red light district, loosely inspired by a real story. But when Gangubai Kathiawadi released, Bhatt, much like her character, shut down the naysayers with a career-best performance. The film became a critical and commercial success in a year where the biggest male actors’ films were flailing at the box office. The film offers an empowering portrayal of a complex female character, embellished with the quintessential Bhansali grandeur (also seen in his Netflix series Heeramandi) and his lens that looks at courtesans with a fascination.
Published: Dec 26, 2024 02:41 pm