Can a blog about arts and culture from the East really skip a post about Bollywood? Few, if any, film industries make movies quite like India’s. After the last film-related blog post I put together about Lebanese cinema, I just had to pay homage to Bollywood’s cinematic spectacles.

Bollywood may not need much introduction — it’s the largest film industry in the world by output, producing over a thousand films a year and selling billions of tickets across the globe. Rooted in Mumbai and dating back to 1913, the industry has spent over a century building a language that’s entirely its own — full of music and melodrama. The way it communicates the Indian experience is loud and tender, larger-than-life and deeply intimate, sometimes in the very same scene.

So, if you’re looking to dip into Bollywood, or you already know your way around these streets, allow me to share 4 of my favorites with you. These movies offer a full range of satire, grit, comedy, and subtle rebellion — and they’ll all stay with you long after you’re done.

PK (2014, dir. Rajkumar Hirani)

The brilliant Aamir Khan plays an alien stranded on Earth who, in trying to find his way home, ends up questioning everything humans take for granted, especially organized religion. It may sound like a controversial premise, but PK pulls it off beautifully with humor, heart, and clever social commentary.

Watching an outsider ask painfully simple questions about blind faith and hypocrisy makes PK one of the most quietly radical mainstream films to come out of Bollywood. And the best part is that it never feels preachy. Instead, it’s genuinely satirical, and Aamir Khan’s fully committed, almost childlike performance makes this movie truly entertaining from start to finish.

Funny, romantic, existential, and imaginative. I couldn’t get enough of PK! 

Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022, dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali)

Gangubai Kathiawadi is both an inspiring and heartbreaking film that left a mark on me for a long time. In this empowering piece, Alia Bhatt delivers a career-defining performance as Gangubai, a woman sold into sex work who rises to become a powerful activist and respected figure in Mumbai’s red-light district. The cinematography is outstanding; the director brought forth a visual masterpiece, while making sure the film never loses sight of the real, painful history it’s drawing from.

This is less a story about victimhood, and more a story about power, dignity, and the fight to be seen as human in systems built to erase you. Gangubai is fierce and flawed, compassionate and calculating, all at once — and she commands your attention all the way through.

3 Idiots (2009, dir. Rajkumar Hirani)

No Bollywood watchlist is complete without 3 Idiots… This classic hit follows three engineering students navigating a brutally competitive education system that pushes students to the brink — and it somehow manages to be hilariously funny and quietly devastating within the same 5 minutes. 

Aamir Khan (again, because the actor is everywhere for good reason) plays Rancho, a free-thinking student who challenges the high-pressure “learn to succeed, not to understand” culture around him.

Beyond the jokes and the friendship plot is a real critique of how success gets defined among India’s education system. It’s one of those rare films that’s totally rewatchable: you’ll laugh just as hard the fifth time, and it’ll still catch you off guard emotionally.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011, dir. Zoya Akhtar)

This one’s an adventurous journey! Another Bollywood trio of childhood friends takes a bachelor road trip through Spain with a list of adrenaline-fueled activities each of them secretly dreads. Think skydiving, scuba diving, running with the bulls…

On the surface, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (loosely translates to “you won’t get this life again”) is a gorgeous travel film, with sunny coastlines and nostalgic friendships. But more than that, it’s a film about three very different men confronting the fears, regrets, and unspoken tensions they’ve been avoiding for years.

Each of the three men gets their own emotional arc, and the film doesn’t rush them — it trusts long, unhurried scenes of conversation and scenery to do the emotional work instead of forcing drama onto the screen. It’s the rare Bollywood film that makes stillness and self-reflection as compelling as any big, emotional plot twist.

These 4 films cover a lot of emotional ground. Watch them in any order, but don’t skip any of them — each one says something a little different about identity, freedom, and refusing to be told who you’re supposed to be.

Enjoy!

— Ghina F.

(We do not own any of the photos used, all photo credit goes to respective owners)