10 recent Indian movies to watch after RRR

With its recent encore release and streaming premiere, S.S. Rajamouli’s Telugu-language blockbuster RRRAmerican moviegoers are increasingly looking to India as a source of entertainment. That category may be broad — India has dozens of different film industries, each with their own languages and sensibilities — but there are plenty of classic and contemporary entry points available to stream. The Criterion Channel has several works by legendary directors like Satyajit Ray and Guru Dutt, while Netflix features multiple versions of Rajamouli’s Baahubali movies, a pair of sword-and-sandal epics on a mythological scale, for anyone interested in additional servings of his specific cuisine.

Crafting a list of recommendations that feels remotely complete or all-encompassing is a Herculean task, given India’s sheer volume of cinematic output (around two thousand films a year), so any such rundown is likely to be influenced by whims, preferences, and even gaps in your knowledge. It feels like it’s in tune with the joyful spirit of RRR to share a list of personal favorites from recent years, whether they conform to Rajamouli’s over-the-top, maximalist aesthetic or swing in the opposite direction entirely.

These 10 films belong to various industries — none of which are Bollywood, the mainstream Hindi-language industry, which takes up enough conversational oxygen as it is — but they run the stylistic gamut, and paint a more complete picture of the many avenues of Indian cinema still left to explore.

Eega (2012)

Image: Reliance Entertainment, PVP Cinema and 14 Reels Entertainment

Rajamouli’s hilariously entertaining insect action thriller is the film to recommend. Eega. Indian cinema has a lot of reincarnation stories (they have been around since at least 1940s). EegaThe concept is taken to an absurd level when the murdered protagonist returns to exact revenge, not as a human being but rather as a woman with the brazen cadence and skills of a professional wrestler. It may unfold on a smaller scale than Rajamouli’s other works, but its action feels just as enormous and unabashed.

You can watch it here:Telugu and Tamil originals keep switching between streaming platforms, so the Telugu version is currently only available on Aha Indian platform, while its Malayalam counterpart can be viewed online. EechaIt is also available to rent and purchase digitally via YouTube or Google Play

Kaala (2018)

Image: Prime Video

While its action is suitably stylized and over-the-top (at least compared to most Hollywood movies), Pa. Ranjith’s KaalaThis film is grounded in current caste, contemporary economic politics, and is about a Tamil leader fighting for his people in an overcrowded Mumbai slum. However, its biggest selling point is its leading man, the then 68-year-old Rajinikanth — aka “Super Star Rajini,” one of India’s most revered performers — who still carries himself with the self-assured swagger of a 20-something newcomer. His blazing screen presence is also matched by a raucous hip-hop dance number in the film’s opening, which paves the way for an exciting experience that explores the life and energy in some of Mumbai’s forlorn, forgotten corners.

You can watch it here: KaalaAmazon Prime allows you to watch it online.

Anhey Ghorey Da Daan/Alms For a Blind Horse (2011)

Image: Prime Video

It would also be the stylistic swing. Although Indian cinema is often perceived as a rich source of action music, the arthouse scene in India is equally vibrant. Case in point: Gurvinder Singh’s Punjabi-language Anhey Ghorey Da DaanA ghostly tale about hardship experienced by Dalit farmers under oppression, and a story which moves between shadows and empty spaces. It’s a poetic work that evokes Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami, but it feels entirely Indian in its conception of community struggle.

You can watch it here: Anhey Ghorey Da DaanMUBI allows you to stream it.

Gamak Ghar/The Village House 2019

Image: Deaf Crocodile Films, Gratitude Films

Another work of contemporary minimalism, Achal Mishra’s Maithili-language slow burn follows a family through several generations as they gather at their village home in eastern India, whether to celebrate the birth of a child or to mourn the death of an elder. Through shifting aspect ratios, quiet nighttime conversations, and lingering wide shots that capture the passage of time, Mishra’s film — a close thematic cousin to David Lowery’s Ghost Story, but with Yasujirō Ozu’s restraint — explores the dynamic between places and the memories they hold.

You can watch it here: Gamak Ghar Projectr makes it possible to purchase or rent digitally.

Jallikattu (2019)

Image: Prime Video

If minimalism isn’t your cup of tea, then India’s chaotic 2021 Oscar entry Jallikattu It might suit your needs. Lijo Jose Pellissery is one of contemporary Indian cinema’s finest satirists. The Malayalam film about a bull that escapes and runs through a village, as the residents try to stop it, has a lot of beautiful, holy, and hellish imagery. As much a tale about the natural environment as it is about human nature and the way it unravels, Pellissery’s 90-minute saga of sound and fury is a complete spellbinder.

You can watch it here: JalikattuAmazon Prime allows you to watch it online.

Sairat (2016)

Image by Zee Studios

Nagraj Manjule, undoubtedly the greatest Indian director currently working. His second film, Sairat, Plays like a spiritual sequel of his successful debut. Fandry, about a young Dalit boy pining for his “upper-caste” classmate. Sairat This film is about a teenage couple that elopes despite obstacles. However, while the film has bustling romantic energy at first (especially during the diegetic musical number “Zingaat”), it also depicts the sobering reality of life on the run from persecution, and the way it can turn even the most starry-eyed lovers spiritually inside out.

You can watch it here: SairatIt is also available to rent and digitally purchase via Apple TV, YouTube and Google Play.

Let me know from your far-off country (2020).

Image: Criterion Channel

The only short film on this list, Suneil Sanzgiri’s A Letter from a Faraway Country may be abstract, esoteric, and filled with archival footage, but it’s a precise encapsulation of what it feels like to exist in this moment of contemporary Indian politics. Shot on expired 16mm film stock and using the narrative device of English letters and poems written to fallen revolutionaries, this volatile avant-garde work — which belongs to India’s wave of “parallel” experimental cinema — combines digital renderings with hazy images from various eras of Indian protest, connecting the dots between historical revolution and ongoing political struggles.

You can watch it here: A Letter from a Faraway CountryIt is also available for streaming on The Criterion Channel.

Bulbul can sing (2018)

Image courtesy of Netflix

Cinema from the oft-ignored state of Assam on India’s eastern border has seen a resurgence in recent years, thanks in part to director Rima Das and her Assamese-language debut feature, Village Rockstars (India’s submission to the Oscars in 2019), about a small-town girl with big musical dreams. Das’ follow-up, Bulbul Bulbul SingsIt is tender, touching and subverts the original premise. The film tells the story of a young girl’s relationship to music. This is due to deep patriarchal roots embedded in all aspects of cultural life. This film depicts three friends struggling to accept their sexual identity in rural Assam. It is a tale about culture clash. Das uses a grounded, observational naturalism to portray the story, but occasionally allows for formal flourishes to express beauty, longing, or desire.

You can watch it here: Bulbul Bulbul SingsNetflix has it available for streaming.

To Let (2017)

Image: Prime Video

Chezhiyan makes his directorial debut with this film. To LetAn intimate Tamil drama about a family of three from the lower middle class. The movie explores the ways they’re either granted or denied humanity based on the spaces around them, as they’re suddenly evicted and forced to rent a new apartment. Set against the predatory real-estate industry in Chennai — a result of its recent IT boom — the film is about what “home” even means when physical space is so fragile, impermanent, and dictated by the cruel whims of moody landlords, whose decisions can come down to prejudiced technicalities. Chezhiyan, however, isn’t as concerned with sermonizing as he is with exploring how being denied basic dignity can unravel your sense of being, invoking the working-class spirit of Ken Loach while telling its story through walls, household objects, and minor changes in human behavior.

You can watch it here: To Let Amazon Prime is the best place to stream it.

Sudani, Nigeria (2018)

Image courtesy of Netflix

Indian cinema may be rife with anti-colonial themes, but it doesn’t often reckon with its own racism — especially its anti-Blackness — which makes Zakariya Mohammed’s Malayalam-language sports comedy such a breath of fresh air. If neither RRR’s tale of male friendship or its language-barrier romance struck a chord, then the hilarious and touching Sudani from Nigeria It is an appropriate follow-up. The story follows Samuel Abiola Robinson, a Nigerian soccer player and refugee who moves to Kerala. Majeed (Soubin Shahhir) manages the local team. Majeed is a poor man whose passion for the game often prevents him from seeing his family. When Samuel breaks his leg, he’s placed under Majeed’s care, as red tape and a harrowing immigration system prevent him from traveling home. With no verbal dialect in common, the two frustrated sportsmen are forced to break down barriers through their mutual love of the game (and eventually, their mutual hardships) in a film that understands that some languages — like cinema — connect people beyond words.

You can watch it here: Sudani from NigeriaNetflix has it available for streaming.