The Best Hindi Movies on Amazon Prime Video

Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna star in this remake of the 1970 Bengali film Nishi Padma, about a woman (Tagore) who is sold into prostitution in then-Calcutta after she’s abandoned by her husband and finds a new family of sorts in a lonely businessman (Khanna) and the neighbour’s son. Noted for its music — by R.D. Burman — its indictment of middle-class hypocrisy, and the humane albeit tear-jerking handling of female suffering and prostitution.

Nearly a decade and a half after the first attempt — in 1968’s Do Dooni Char — tanked at the box office, Gulzar also took on directorial duties for this remake, that’s ultimately based on Shakespeare’s play, The Comedy of Errors. With both Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma in dual roles, it’s the story of two pairs of twins who were separated in childhood at sea and then are reunited in adulthood, causing panic and a lot more.

This remake of the 1966 Bengali film Galpa Holeo Satyi reunited the Anand trio of Rajesh Khanna, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and Amitabh Bachchan, though the latter has a voice-only role. It’s about a cook (Khanna) who offers to work in a household known for its ill-treatment of domestic help, only to become the apple of everyone’s eye before disappearing with the family jewels.

The Kumar brothers — Kishore, Ashok, and Anoop — star in director Satyen Bose’s well-known rom-com, which follows three men (the Kumars) with an aversion for women, whose life changes after two of them fall in love. Madhubala co-stars. Naturally, Kishore sang on the soundtrack as well, which gave us gems such as “Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si” and “Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab Ka”. Runs close to three hours.

Writer-director Sai Paranjpye followed up her National Award-winning debut feature with this buddy rom-com, in which two friends try to break up a third’s budding relationship with a new girl in college after failing to woo her themselves. Praised for its spin on Bollywood conventions, by either upending them or sending them up.

In what is considered one of the best Hindi-language films of all time, a wealthy Bengali landowner’s son (Dilip Kumar) turns into a depressed alcoholic after his family snubs their nose at marriage with his childhood sweetheart (Suchitra Sen), which drives him towards a courtesan (Chandramukhi). Bimal Roy directs what is an adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1917 eponymous novel.

A harmonica player with a physical disability and a smart street singer who’s visually impaired strike up a friendship and support each other through life in this black-and-white drama from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi director Satyen Bose. Critics called it a tribute to the triumph of human spirit, one that holds up five decades later.

Naseeruddin Shah, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Inaamulhaq, Paresh Rawal, and Deepti Naval are part of an ensemble cast for writer-director Nandita Das’ directorial debut, which looks at the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom across the socio-economic strata. Won two National Film Awards and several others on the festival circuit.

A chartered accountant (Amol Palekar), with a knack for singing and acting, falls deep down the rabbit hole after lying to his boss that he has a twin, in this Hrishikesh Mukherjee comedy. Gave us the song “Aane Wala Pal Jaane Wala Hai”. Mukherjee turns a slapstick trope into something more meaningful, using Bollywood’s love for twin characters to showcase the desperation of the middle-class in the 1970s.

Unemployed and struggling with money, a landlord and his two tenants (Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, and Sunil Shetty) chance on a ransom phone call and plan to collect the ransom for themselves in this remake of the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking.

Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan, and Arshad Warsi star in this rural Uttar Pradesh-set black comedy that follows two goons (Shah and Warsi) who decide to seek refuge with a local gangster after botching up a job, but encounter his widow (Balan) instead, who seduces them for her own machinations. Abhishek Chaubey (Udta Punjab) writes and directs.

In director-producer B.R. Chopra’s best known and most commercially successful film, a tonga — a type of horse-carriage — driver (Dilip Kumar) becomes a poster boy for the plight of a village that’s undergoing industrialisation, as he’s challenged to an impossible race against the very thing that threatens their livelihood: a bus. Gave us the song “Yeh Desh Hai Veer”. Runs close to three hours.

Set in a fictionalised northwest Indian village, the story of a female quartet: a struggling widow for half her life, her close friend (Radhika Apte) mocked for her infertility and abused by her alcoholic husband, a dancer (Surveen Chawla) who performs for men at night, and a child bride. Writer-director Leena Yadav brings nuance to their institutionalised problems, and realism to their private talk.

In this follow-up from Newton director Amit Masurkar, Vidya Balan plays a by-the-books forest officer who struggles to keep a tigress in the wild safe from her uncaring superiors and the powers they answer to. At once an incisive commentary on bureaucracy and politics in India, and the problems with environmental conservation and lack of indigenous voices.

Not many films have a level of prominence in popular Indian culture — thanks to dialogues, characters, and scenes — that is enjoyed by this fine example of “Curry Western”, which blends real-life elements with the works of Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone. It’s also a classic example of a “masala film”, one that crisscrosses various genres, though its slapstick attempts are least successful. Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, and Jaya Bhaduri (now Bachchan) star.

A housewife’s (Taapsee Pannu) seemingly perfect married life ends up in pieces after her husband slaps her during a party at their home, which makes her question and re-evaluate her life. Anubhav Sinha directs. Praised for addressing domestic violence, a topic routinely brushed under the carpet in patriarchal India, though some objected to the “easy solutions” it offered.

Set in the badlands of Delhi’s underbelly, the youngest member of a violent car-jacking brotherhood tries to escape his family business, and finds an unexpected confidant in his new wife, chosen for him by his unruly brothers. Ranvir Shorey co-stars. Feature debut for writer-director Kanu Behl, whose work was immensely praised, for its character-driven nature and infusing it with hope despite the dark backdrop. Parallels were drawn to Asghar Farhadi’s films.

While looking for a secret treasure in a village in 20th-century Maharashtra, a man and his son (Sohum Shah and Mohammad Samad) face the consequences of building a temple for a legendary demon who’s not supposed to be worshipped in this psychological horror film. Rahi Anil Barve directs, with Adesh Prasad and Anand Gandhi part of a creative team that shepherded it through development hell.