Netflix has a fairly large library of Hindi movies. However, most Hindi movies on Netflix belong to this decade, and it’ll be hard for you to come across classic titles from the golden era. That said, the streaming platform has done an excellent job of accumulating some lesser-known but brilliant independent Hindi films. You will also find several Hindi box-office hits and timeless titles that never get too old to revisit. So here’s a list of the best Hindi movies on Netflix; ones that you might have missed but ought to watch, and those that could do with a rewatch.
Best Hindi movies on Netflix:
Editor’s note: We’ll be updating this list of the best Hindi movies on Netflix regularly as new ones are announced or added.
1. Garbage (2018)
A product of Director Qaushiq Mukherjee’s (more popularly known as Q) imagination, Garbage is a dark and twisted, yet important narrative about how the Indian society treats women. The story revolves around two main characters — a young woman who finds herself in a precarious position after her sex tape leaks on the internet and a taxi driver who secretly imprisons a tribal woman. The two characters cross paths in the beach city of Goa and the film juxtapositions their respective lives, leading viewers into a place of uncomfortable realizations.
2. Game Over
Game Over was originally shot in Tamil and Telugu but was also dubbed in Hindi by Netflix. The psychological thriller casts Taapsee Pannu in the lead. Pannu plays a wheelchair-bound woman who has Nyctophobia (fear of darkness). She’s also dealing with post-traumatic stress and keeps reliving a violent incident from her past. Her worst fears are realized when a gang of intruders invades her home. However, something sinister is brewing as she keeps waking up in the same spot after being murdered multiple by her home invaders.
3. Chopsticks
Chopsticks is a feel-good Hindi movie on Netflix starring Abhay Deol and Mithila Palkar. Deol plays a con man named Artist who is well versed with the underbelly of Mumbai. Palkar dons the role of Nirma, an introverted and under-confident girl. Their worlds clash when Nirma’s car gets stolen and someone refers her to Artist for help in retrieving it back. As the duo begin their hunt for the vehicle, they start admiring each other’s contrasting personalities.
4. Rajma Chawal
Named after the most popular North Indian meal, Rajma Chawal is a comedy film starring Rishi Kapoor, Anirudh Tanwar, and Amyra Dastur. The Netflix movie explores a father-son relationship after the death of the matriarch in the family. Raj Mathur (Kapoor) and his son Kabir (Tanwar) move to their old family home after the death of Kabir’s mother. The youngster resents his father for the move and denies his friend request on Facebook. To keep in communicating with his son, Raj decided to pose as Tara (Dastur) and starts speaking to his son through the fake account. What follows is a series of hilarious and heartwarming events.
5. Tottaa Pataaka Item Maal
What happens when feminism turns into a deadly force? Four exasperated Delhi women decide to take matters into their own hands and make a man feel what they’ve been feeling for years — unsafe and disrespected. This Netflix Hindi movie is directed and written by Aditya Kripalani (Tikli and Laxmi Bomb) and has won favor from critics for its uneasy yet powerful message.
6. Lust Stories
Lust Stories is a Netflix original Hindi movie that features four different stories directed by Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, and Karan Johar. It also has a stellar cast with the likes of Radhika Apte, Manisha Koirala, Vicky Kaushal, Neha Dhupia, and Sanjay Kapoor appearing in separate stories. The movie explores the themes of love, lust, loss, and taboo relationships.
7. Haraamkhor
This Hindi movie on Netflix tells the story of a forbidden relationship between a school teacher (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and his teenage student (Shweta Tripathi). Siddiqui plays Shyam, a teacher in a village who takes advantage of his student Sandhya’s (Tripathi) circumstances. Since Sandhya comes from a broken family with a drunk for a father, she is instantly taken by Shyam’s mature advances. She tries to look for stability in the relationship, but things go very wrong when two of her classmates discover the secret affair.
8. Masaan
Masaan is probably one of the most well-made, offbeat Hindi movies of this decade. It features brilliant performances from Vicky Kaushal, Richa Chadda, Shweta Tripathi, and Sanjay Mishra. The film won two awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The plot of Masaan is set in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, where moral prejudice and cast differences reign supreme. The first narrative is that of a college teacher (Chadda) who is ridiculed by her orthodox peers for getting caught in the act of sex in a hotel room. The second narrative is that of a young man (Kaushal) who cremates dead bodies for a living and falls in love with an upper-caste Hindu girl (Tripathi). The film, in its entirety, follows the predicament of these central characters and how their lives are disrupted by inherently damaged societal values.