Let’s take one last look at the Worst Bollywood Movies of 2023. Good riddance.
Vidyut Jammwal starred in my favorite Hindi film of 2022 — Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 — but he wound up on my Worst of 2023 list with his dull historical spy drama IB71 (his first film as producer, unfortunately).
Two films earned their spots because of messy story construction: the continuity disaster/murder mystery Gumraah and the disjointed romantic comedy Tiku Weds Sheru.
Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ka Jaan was made for hardcore Salman Khan fans, but even they might want to skip it due to some offensive jokes and needless violence.
It’s always disappointing when filmmakers botch their attempts to make movies centered around strong women characters. Apurva and Mrs Undercover are two prime examples of movies that don’t help the cause of women’s empowerment as much as they’d hoped.
The next two movies on the list tried to use excessive, gory violence to be edgy but just wound up mean and depressing: Animal and Kuttey.
The crime drama Operation Fryday (aka “Shooter“) sat on the shelf for more than a decade before its release on Zee5. It should have stayed on the shelf forever, because it was by far the most ineptly made movie of the year.
The worst film on the list is more technically competent than Operation Fryday, but it’s completely morally indefensible. Bawaal equates marital problems to the Holocaust, complete with the characters imagining themselves in black & white recreations of gas chambers. Filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari frames the story’s main character (played by Varun Dhawan) as simply a guy who needs to grow up and not as an abuser who physically assaults children and refuses to let his disabled wife (played by Janhvi Kapoor) leave the house. The moral compass behind Bawaal is way, way off. It’s easily the worst Hindi film of 2023.
Kathy’s Worst Bollywood Movies of 2023
- Bawaal — stream on Amazon Prime
- Operation Fryday — stream on Zee5
- Kuttey — stream on Netflix
- Animal — stream on Netflix
- Mrs Undercover — stream on Zee5
- Apurva — stream on Hulu
- Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan — stream on Zee5
- Tiku Weds Sheru — stream on Amazon Prime
- Gumraah — stream on Netflix
- IB71 — stream on Hulu
Previous Worst Movies Lists
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2022
- Best and Worst Bollywood Movies of 2021
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2020
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2019
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2018
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2017
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2016
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2015
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2014
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2013
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2012
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2011
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2010
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2009
- Worst Bollywood Movies of 2008
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