The “Bollywood” section includes a list of titles in Hindi, English, and Hindi-dubbed, followed by titles in other languages, documentaries, TV shows, and kid-friendly cartoons. This is a list of all Indian and Desi movies and TV shows that are streamable in the US on Netflix (as well as some Hollywood movies featuring notable Indian actors). The top of the list highlights recently added, soon-to-expire, and upcoming movies. The links in the titles take users directly to each movie’s Netflix website. To read my movie review, click on the star rating.
“Once you break the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more fantastic films,” South Korean director Bong Joon Ho remarked. There is abundant proof that audiences around the world are prepared to cross that divide and explore new entertainment horizons, including his own Parasite, Squid Game, Money Heist, and many more.
India produces more movies each year than any other nation in the world, and Netflix has increased access to many of them. We stuck on Hindi because it is widely spoken in North India and is the language of many popular Bollywood musicals as well as many other genres.
Here are the top 16 Hindi movies now available on Netflix.
- Sir (2021) (2021)
Rohena Gera, a first-time feature film director, succeeds with 2018’s Sir, which didn’t visit theaters until November 2020 and debuted on Netflix in early 2021. The Indian film Sir is fundamental. As the live-in housemaid for Ashwin, a member of the upper middle class, Tillotama Shome plays Ratna. In the country where the movie is set, housemaids are common, yet Ratna and Ashwin grow closer over the course of time despite this.
The writing and directing of Gera keep this improbable story from ever feeling forced. As Ashwin heals from a broken engagement and Ratna opens up to him about her late spouse, their love blossoms organically, in sly glances and resolute silence. The ultimate effect is a movie that is so tender and moving that it will linger with you for a long time.
- Andaz Apna Apna (1994)
Prem (Salman Khan) and Amar (Aamir Khan) are two incredibly slothful con artists who want to become wealthy without working a day in their lives. They both desire the affluent heiress Raveena’s (Raveena Tandon) hand and all the benefits that come with it when they learn that she is traveling from London in search of a spouse.
Throughout this journey, which also involves Raveena’s assistant (Karisma Kapoor), dubious manager (Shehzad Khan), and malevolent uncle (Paresh Rawal) plotting her assassination, the two are occasionally the best of friends and the worst of enemies. One of Bollywood’s best comedies—and perhaps the best in the entire world—is this cult classic.
- Om Shanti Om (2007)
Om (Shah Rukh Khan), a struggling movie extra, aspires to be a celebrity deserving of his beloved Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone). They come together by coincidence, but Shanti’s secret endangers both their relationship and their lives. Om Shanti Om is a cheeky love letter to the business that made it and the ageless cinematic fantasy that everything works out in the end. Without giving away any of its many twists, Om Shanti Om is an emotional rollercoaster brimming with Bollywood flair from the 1970s to the present.
- Billu (2009)
The late brilliant actor Irrfan Khan’s range is beautifully displayed in this endearing film. Khan portrays Billu, a country barber who believes that Bollywood superstar Sahir Khan was his boyhood best friend (Shah Rukh Khan in perfect self-parody). When Sahir arrives in town to perform a movie shoot, he challenges Billu’s claims and causes the locals to have second thoughts. The pleasant comedy from director Priyadarshan creates intrigue over whether or not Billu and Sahir are acquainted while also making you care less about the truth and fall in love with the oddball locals and Billu himself.
- Stree (2018)
The setting for this peculiar dark comedy, which is based on a myth from South India, is Chanderi. The ghost of a courtesan named Stree is said to visit the villagers during annual religious celebrations and kidnap local men, according to local legend. Vicky, a tailor played by Rajkummar Rao, tells Shraddha Kapoor, his new client, all of this after falling in love with her during the festival. Vicky’s pals begin to suspect that his enigmatic obsession might be Stree herself, and they decide to set up traps for both spirits and living beings in an effort to find the truth and preserve the town.
- Bombay Talkies (2013)
This collection of short films features work by renowned feature directors Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, and Karan Johar; each offers a lively glimpse at life in the nation’s largest city. This framework encourages the kind of inventiveness that mainstream Bollywood rarely rewards, leading to new originality from both commercial darling Johar and independent staples like Kashyap. Because of how well it did, Netflix decided to work with the same four directors again for Lust Stories and Ghost Stories.
- Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)
When it debuted in theaters in 1998, Karan Johar’s directorial debut quickly established itself as a Bollywood classic. Prior to Rahul falling in love with Tina (Rani Mukherji) and Anjali realizing her true feelings for him, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) and Anjali (Kajol) were college best friends. Before Tina passes away and leaves behind a kid who is also called Anjali in honor of their former friend, the friends become distant. Little Anjali reads letters from her deceased mother as she grows up and learns about his old friend and first love. Tina assigns her daughter the duty of finding Anjali and bringing the friends back together as lovers once and for all through her letters.
From their Gap-clad days of college teasing to the unfathomable sexual tension of the gazebo scene, Khan and Kajol’s connection captivates the audience from beginning to end. Despite being known for its love triangle, the film never sets Anjali and Tina against one another; instead, it shows their lovely friendship and their individual connections with Rahul. Early on, Rahul proclaims, “Pyar dosti hai” (love is friendship). In addition, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is nothing if not a classic tale of friendship.
- Badhaai Do (2022)
Both Suman (Bhumi Pednekar) and Shardul (Rajkumar Rao) are of an age where they cannot resist family pressure to get married, but neither is ready to come out to their families. Shardul advises they be married to please their parents and carry on living their separate lives after a chance encounter puts them together. With the myriad familial responsibilities that come with marriage in India and Shardul’s residence in a police colony, where his fellow officers cannot know the real name of the woman his wife repeatedly brings home, it is easier said than done. While both characters go on a journey of tremendous growth, Badhaai Do doesn’t heavily rely on its comedy-of-errors premise. Instead, it has a strong emotional impact.
- Andhadhun (2018)
Ayushmann Khurrana plays Aakash, a blind pianist, in the serpentine adventure Andhadhun, which is loosely based on the French short “L’Accordeur.” Aakash and Sophie’s (Radhika Apte) romance takes several turns before coming to an undoubtedly deflating conclusion, but the journey is definitely worth it. Andhadhun will keep you on the edge of your seat with every turn of the plot, never leading where you anticipate it to. It’s similar to Netflix’s own I Care A Lot.
- Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)
For his bachelor party in Spain, Kabir (Abhay Deol) only wants his two closest friends, Imran (Farhan Akhtar) and Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), to get along. Arjun, though, is as fixated on his job as ever, and Imran covers his genuine intentions beneath a never-ending stream of jokes. Old conflicts and fresh secrets can’t help but rise to the surface, along with years of history.
Despite its specificity, ZNMD can be related to by any friend group, regardless of nationality or gender, thanks to the formidable sibling writing team of Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, who also collaborated on the script with Reema Kagti. Farhan also worked on the dialogue while Zoya was in the director’s chair. It is also quite similar to Farhan’s 2001 film Dil Chahta Hai, which is also available on Netflix.
- Udaan (2010)
Netflix’s 16 top Hindi films to watch this weekend
Rajat Barmecha plays Rohan in Vikramaditya Motwane’s debut film as a filmmaker. Rohan was expelled from boarding school and sent home to live with his violent father Bhairav (Ronit Roy). He finds out that Bhairav has a second son, Arjun, who is six years old (Aayan Boradia), and tries to stop Arjun from being beaten by Bhairav by lying to him whenever he can. Because of the performances of these three actors, Udaan stays with you long after you’ve seen it: Barmecha as the unusual teen lead in an Indian film, Roy as a unique film villain, and Boradia as a tragic victim who never gives up hope.
- Dangal (2018)
Dangal retraces the sisters’ early years and their training with their father, retired wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat, based on the true story of Indian female wrestlers Geeta and Babita Phogat (played by Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra, respectively) (Aamir Khan). The girls object to his harsh training (which includes making them shave their hair and start eating meat to build protein), but as they progress as professional wrestlers, they come to accept his techniques. Dangal exposes sexism in Indian families and sports. It’s also the first of two projects that Aamir Khan Productions will work on with the talented young actor Zaira Wasim (Secret Superstar is also on Netflix).
- The movie Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania (2014)
This 2014 love story pays homage to the 1995 classic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and correctly updates it. While Kavya (Alia Bhatt) is visiting Delhi, Rakesh, called Humpty (Varun Dhawan), falls hard and fast for her. They first meet, become friends, sleep together, and then fall in love. Unfortunately, Kavya must leave the city to return home for her wedding. Humpty, who has fallen in love and is determined not to give up, travels to Kavya’s village with his buddies in order to halt the wedding at all costs—even the love of his life.
- Article 15 (2019)
Police officer Ayan Ranjan (Ayushmann Khurrana) discovers gang rape and caste violence in the village of Laalgaon while searching for missing girls. Although Anubhav Sinha’s Article 15 isn’t ideal (its perspective is predominately male and many of the officers are glorified), it raises important issues without trying to offer a solution, unlike many films of a similar nature.
The scope of Constitutional Article 15 is vast; it forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, caste, ethnicity, or religion, all of which are still pervasive in India. This movie won’t be the last to address these issues, and hopefully it will pave the way for more ambitious projects in the future.
- Kapoor & Sons (2016)
The 2016 family drama by Shakun Batra (co-written with Ayesha Devitre Dhillon) straddles the line between subdued indie reflection and Bollywood drama. As estranged brothers trying to maintain their composure while visiting their estranged parents (Ratna Pathak Shah and Rajat Kapoor) and ailing grandfather, Fawad Khan and Siddharth Malhotra, two actors who appear to have been raised in a Bollywood hero factory, play Ratna Pathak Shah and Rajat Kapoor (Rishi Kapoor, in deliberately distracting old-age makeup).
The portrayal of Rahul (Khan), who is hiding a serious relationship in London, is really admirable in the movie. Kapoor & Sons, which debuted in theatres to a good box office and widespread acclaim in 2016, paved the stage for Shelly Chopra Dhar’s 2019 lesbian romance film Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (also available on Netflix). Rahul may come across as assured and at ease, but a trip home tears apart the identity he has worked so hard to create. That elevates Kapoor & Sons as a whole as he brings it up in every conversation with his mother, brother, and new friend Tia (Alia Bhatt). The movie is a shining example of how narrative, cast, and location can work together to create an immersive story whose nuances and dynamics linger with you.
- The Blue Umbrella (2005)
Priyanka Chopra plays a sophisticated murderer in Vishal Bhardwaj’s darkly comedic film 7 Khoon Maaf, also available on Netflix (Hamlet-inspired Haider is streaming on Netflix too). The Blue Umbrella is an adaptation of Ruskin Bond’s 1980 novella of the same name. It centers on young Biniya (Shreya Sharma), who finds a stunning Japanese umbrella and uses it to charm the people of her village, particularly shopkeeper Nandu (Pankaj Kapur), who likens the umbrella to his soul mate. Instead of going after his own, he tries to persuade Biniya to give it to him. Set against the breathtaking North Indian mountain scenery, Sharma and Kapur charmingly bring to life this oddball dynamic.
Leave feedback about this