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Best Bollywood Movies of 2023

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It’s time to bid adieu to 2023 with my Best Bollywood Movies of the year list!

First up is one of a few smaller family dramas that made my 2023 Top 10 Hindi films: Manoj Bajpayee’s Gulmohar. Filmmaker Rahul V. Chittella’s screenplay deftly introduces all of the story’s major points of conflict within the first five minutes, and the story treats LGBTQ issues with sensitivity.

Two big-budget, star-studded romances are next: Shraddha Kapoor & Ranbir Kapoor’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar and Alia Bhatt & Ranveer Singh’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. I love a good spectacle with lavish dance numbers, and both films delivered.

Given how many of my negative reviews include variations of the phrase, “This could have been shorter,” it’s no surprise that I enjoyed the anthology Lust Stories 2. Four short stories in 2 hours and 12 minutes? Sold! (Especially when Sujoy Ghosh and Konkona Sen Sharma are directing two of those stories.)

The biopic Tarla is another of the smaller family dramas that made the cut for its thoughtful portrayal of a couple navigating gender roles in 1970s India.

Though it looks like a war movie on the surface, Pippa is a family film of sorts as well. Ishaan Khattar, Mrunal Thakur, and Priyanshu Painyuli portray siblings who all play a role in their nation’s war efforts. The real tanks used in Pippa are very cool, as is the choreography in the song “Main Parwaana.”

I really enjoyed writer-director Arjun Varain Singh’s digital-age romance Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, which featured its own trio of standout young performers: Ananya Panday, Adarsh Gourav, and Siddhant Chaturvedi.

Of all of 2023’s blockbuster action flicks, Shak Rukh Khan’s Jawan was the wildest and most fun.

My favorite of the smaller relationship dramas is Three of Us — a gorgeously-shot gem about fading memories. Shefali Shah is pitch-perfect as a woman with early-onset dementia, and she’s supported with great performances from Swanand Kirkire and Jaideep Ahlawat.

2023 was Jaideep Ahlawat’s year, not just because of his role in Three of Us, but also for his performance in my favorite movie of the year: Jaane Jaan. Sujoy Ghosh directed my very favorite Hindi film, 2012’s Kahaani, so I was predisposed to like Jaane Jaan (and his Lust Stories 2 short “Sex with Ex”). But Jaane Jaan is Ghosh at his best. Like Kahaani, Jaane Jaan is another thriller about a woman with a problem that’s set in an evocative locale. This time, Kareena Kapoor Khan is the woman in trouble in a gloomy hill town, and Ahlawat plays her unlikely helper. The film is tense and exciting, and the performances totally sell it. Jaane Jaan is why I like movies.

Kathy’s Best Bollywood Movies of 2023

  1. Jaane Jaan — stream on Netflix
  2. Three of Us — stream on Netflix
  3. Jawan — stream on Netflix
  4. Kho Gaye Hum Kahan — stream on Netflix
  5. Pippa — stream on Amazon Prime
  6. Tarla — stream on Zee5
  7. Lust Stories 2 — stream on Netflix
  8. Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani — stream on Amazon Prime
  9. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar — stream on Netflix
  10. Gulmohar — stream on Hulu

Previous Best Movies Lists

[Disclaimer: my Amazon links include an affiliate tag, and I may earn a commission on purchases made via those links. Thanks for helping to support this website!]

Movie Review: Thank You for Coming (2023)

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2 Stars (out of 4)

Bhumi Pednekar showcases her ability to master any kind of material in the sex-positive comedy Thank You For Coming. Unfortunately, poor pacing and inconsistent world-building keep this progressive story from reaching its full potential.

Pednekar plays Kanika Kapoor, an energetic single woman in her early 30s with an unfulfilling sex life. The film opens with a recounting of all of the disappointing men she’s dated, from a selfish high school boyfriend to a much older professor (played by Anil Kapoor). After we receive all this background and are introduced to her gynecologist mom and conservative grandmother, we learn Kanika has decided to marry a well-to-do nerd named Jeevan (Pradhuman Singh). Better to be hitched and unsatisfied than alone and unsatisfied, she figures.

For some reason, all of Kanika’s exes are invited to the couple’s engagement party. After a drunken night, Kanika wakes up in her hotel room alone. The only thing she remembers is that she finally had her first orgasm, but she doesn’t know who was with her when it happened. She and her pals set out to find the mystery lover before the wedding takes place.

Kanika’s hotel room revelation marks the halfway point in the story, which is way too late in the proceedings, especially since the material that proceeds it is only okay. Besides a few funny moments from Kanika — made all the more entertaining by Pednekar’s committed delivery — there’s a lot of dialogue that isn’t particularly humorous or informative. Critical information that will be relevant later is said in passing rather than shown, so it hardly even registers as something that might be important to the story.

One strange choice by director Karan Boolani and writers Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh is that they hardly feature Kanika’s cool and very movie-friendly job. A new acquaintance Rushi (Shehnaaz Gill, who is bubbly and fun in her role) says that she is a super fan of Kanika’s work as a food blogger. The only time we see Kanika actually working is in a single, brief scene where her friend’s teenage daughter Rabeya helps her take some food photos. That’s it.

Incorporating food into films would’ve been an easy way to provide visual interest in a movie prone to telling, not showing. Plus, one of the film’s themes is about Kanika accepting herself as she is, and being a popular food blogger would seem to be a pretty big endorsement of one’s self-worth. Instead, the movie reduces Kanika’s whole being down to her floundering sex life.

Thank You for Coming makes compelling points about the double standards held against women who pursue sexual satisfaction. It’s particularly effective in a subplot featuring Rabeya that calls back to Kanika’s own troubled high school romance and its effects on her reputation.

Still, there’s too much dull, inessential fluff in Thank You for Coming, keeping it from being the snappy comedy it should be. Pednekar is a delightful lead, but the story lets her down.

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Worst Bollywood Movies of 2022

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While plenty of the Hindi films that I reviewed in 2022 could be described as bland but inoffensive, there were still enough stinkers to warrant making a list of the biggest duds. Without further ado, here are my eight Worst Bollywood Movies of 2022.

Ram Setu makes the cut as an example of what happens to a potentially good film when you target it for the lowest common denominator. There’s lots of evidence that writer-director Abhishek Sharma knows what a better version of his Akshay Kumar adventure flick would have looked like, but Sharma takes the easy way out to avoid hassle.

Plan A Plan B and Cobalt Blue both suffer from awkward dialogue delivered poorly. The juvenile sex jokes of Plan A Plan B sound like they were from the screenplay’s first draft, while Cobalt Blue‘s characters speak as though they are reading lines from the novel from which the film was adapted.

I’m a little conflicted about putting Heropanti 2 on this list because it is 100% the most fun Hindi film of last year, but it’s also a complete mess. The plot makes no sense and neither do the characters, yet it’s a raucous and silly good time. I’ve re-watched the scene where Tara Sutaria shatters a mostly full bottle of Champagne by tossing it onto the ground rather than setting it on a table like a normal person god knows how many times.

Govinda Naam Mera is what happens when twists and attempts at audience misdirection go out of control, resulting in a muddled story populated by inscrutable characters.

The dingy thriller Cuttputlli winds up on the list for fetishizing violence against women and for being hypocritical about police brutality, which is only bad until the hero of the story wants revenge on a suspect. Then it’s okay. Also, 54-year-old Akshay Kumar plays a character who’s supposed to be 36.

Double XL is easily the biggest disappointment on the list (no pun intended). I had high hopes for this comedy starring Huma Qureshi and Sonakshi Sinha as a pair of women who overcome weight prejudice to pursue their dreams, but the screenplay feels like a rough draft that offers little insight about an important subject.

By the time the credits rolled on the final film on this list, I knew it was going to be my worst movie of the year. I had trouble imagining any other film that could come from such a morally corrupt place, and thankfully I was correct. My Worst Bollywood Movie of 2022 is Hurdang.

Hurdang stars Sunny Kaushal as a violent, privileged cheater whom the film positions as a poster-child victim of an affirmative action policy that seeks to redress caste discrimination. The movie contends that because some students might have to alter their paths to stable, desirable middle-class government jobs, it’s better to perpetuate a discriminatory system. In Hurdang, there’s no contradiction between the meritocracy that the film contends exists and a hero who steals exam answers. It’s a garbage movie that’s truly the worst of the worst of 2022.

Kathy’s Worst Bollywood Movies of 2022

  1. Hurdang – stream on Netflix
  2. Double XL – stream on Netflix
  3. Cuttputlli – stream on Hulu
  4. Govinda Naam Mera – stream on Hulu
  5. Heropanti 2 – stream on Amazon Prime
  6. Cobalt Blue – stream on Netflix
  7. Plan A Plan B – stream on Netflix
  8. Ram Setu – stream on Amazon Prime

Previous Worst Movies Lists

[Disclaimer: my Amazon links include an affiliate tag, and I may earn a commission on purchases made via those links. Thanks for helping to support this website!]

Best Bollywood Movies of 2022

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While I didn’t give any of the Hindi films from 2022 a perfect 4-star rating, there were a lot of great titles to choose from. (I did rate RRR 4-stars, but I’ve decided to limit this year’s Best list to just Hindi movies. I know, I named Baahubali 2: The Conclusion my best film of 2017. Chalk it up to website owner’s prerogative.) So, here are my ten Best Bollywood Movies of 2022!

Let’s start with a possibly controversial pick. I liked the growth of the socially deviant main characters in Ek Villain Returns, which is much more morally consistent than the original Ek Villain. There’s some interesting stuff happening with Disha Patani’s character that I enjoyed, though I don’t want to spoil it by going into detail. Ek Villain Returns knows what kind of movie it wants to be and executes its vision.

Qala and Brahmāstra Part One – Shiva both earn their spots for being visually stunning — Qala via its lush period sets and costumes and Brahmāstra via its thrilling special effects.

The family drama Maja Ma treats a very complicated subject with the care it deserves and considers it from all angles, reminding the audience that it’s not possible to distill a person down to a single adjective.

Thar shook things up as the rare Hindi neo-noir western, shot in an evocative landscape and with nuanced performances that suit the harsh environment.

2022 has two very fun comedies about characters who’ve gotten by as the big fish in their small ponds who painfully realize just how much they have to learn about the world. Dasvi takes a family-friendly approach to a clever story about a disgraced politician whose position is usurped by his wife. Tamannaah Bhatia plays my favorite character of the year in Babli Bouncer, a delightful fish-out-of-water tale about lovable tomboy who needs to grow up.

I’ve been anticipating director Vasan Bala’s feature followup to Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (which topped my Best of 2019 list), and Monica, O My Darling did not disappoint. Bala builds an eye-catching, offbeat world for his characters, and the dynamite cast takes advantage of the opportunities he gives them

Alia Bhatt gives the standout performance of the year as Gangubai Kathiawadi. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali brings his trademark flair and visual style to the picture (resulting in the year’s best song picturizations), but Bhatt carries the film, playing a character who is complicated and conflicted but always self-possessed.

Like Ek Villain Returns, my top film of the year is another sequel that improves upon its predecessor. My Best Bollywood Movie of 2022 is the action drama Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 — Agni Pariksha.

Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 isn’t just better than the original Khuda Haafiz. It builds on the first story, providing its characters with growth arcs that span two films. Shivaleeka Oberoi didn’t have much to do in the original picture, but she carries the first part of the sequel as a rape survivor trying to reintegrate into society and her marriage. Martial arts master Vidyut Jammwal changes his fighting style throughout the film as blind rage transforms into targeted revenge. And Sheeba Chaddha plays my favorite villain of the year. Filmmaker Faruk Kabir takes his characters and their struggles seriously, resulting in an action movie with real substance. Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 is a winner.

Kathy’s Best Bollywood Movies of 2022

  1. Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 – buy at Amazon/stream on Zee5
  2. Gangubai Kathiawadi – stream on Netflix
  3. Monica, O My Darling – stream on Netflix
  4. Babli Bouncer – stream on Hulu
  5. Dasvi – stream on Netflix
  6. Thar – stream on Netflix
  7. Maja Ma – stream on Amazon Prime
  8. Brahmāstra Part One – Shiva – stream on Hulu
  9. Qala – stream on Netflix
  10. Ek Villain Returns – stream on Netflix

Previous Best Movies Lists

[Disclaimer: my Amazon links include an affiliate tag, and I may earn a commission on purchases made via those links. Thanks for helping to support this website!]

Best and Worst Bollywood Movies of 2021

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2021 was a rough year, and one of the things that had to take a backseat for me was movie reviews. After a few months of catching up on some of last year’s releases, I feel like I’ve finally seen enough to pick some titles for my annual Best of and Worst of lists.

Here are my best and worst Bollywood movies of 2021, starting with the best:

Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar is one of director Dibakar Banerjee’s finest films — which is saying a lot, considering his sterling body of work! Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor play a banker and her kidnapper on the run from assassins out to kill both of them. It’s a beautifully-paced thriller that allows enough time for substantial character development as well as an examination of the expectations and limitations placed on women by patriarchy and capitalism. It’s for sure my favorite film of 2021.

Bollywood has produced several successful horror comedies in recent years, and Bhoot Police is right on trend. Saif Ali Khan and Arjun Kapoor (again!) play brothers who conduct sham exorcisms, only to find out that ghosts might be real after all. Themes about sibling bonds and the unique relationship each child has with their parents are expertly woven into the story. I’m jealous of the terrific screenplay, written by the trio of director Pavan Kirpalani, editor Pooja Ladha Surti, and co-writer Sumit Batheja.

Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui is Bollywood’s first mainstream romantic comedy with a transgender lead. Though it might have benefited from more transgender representation in front of and behind the camera, it does demonstrate the commercial viability of stories about transgender people. Plus, it’s a very enjoyable movie with likeable, complex leading characters.

2021 also had a lot of good but not great titles that fell somewhere in between — movies like The White Tiger, Haseen Dillruba, Tribhanga: Tedhi Medhi Crazy, and The Girl on the Train. (Just gonna note here that all four of these titles are Netflix Original Films.)

Of course, 2021 also had its share of duds as well. Here are my worst movies of the year:

Dybbuk is a ghost story with nothing to say about anything. It’s not even fun in a stupid way.

Bhuj: The Pride of India chronicles an interesting part of India’s 1971 war with Pakistan, but the story as it’s told is truncated to fit into a single movie. This would have been better as a series.

The title of Worst Bollywood Movie of 2021 belongs to the dreadful Akshay Kumar action flick Sooryavanshi. Part of director Rohit Shetty’s “cop universe,” Sooryavanshi the character is annoying. Sooryavanshi the movie is lazily written and hateful toward Muslims. I’m not sure why Shetty felt like he had to expand his “universe” (just kidding, of course I know: $$$), but he’d have been better off just making Singham sequels until the end of time.

Kathy’s Best Bollywood Movies of 2021

  1. Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar — stream on Amazon Prime
  2. Bhoot Police — stream on Hulu
  3. Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui — stream on Netflix

Kathy’s Worst Bollywood Movies of 2021

  1. Sooryavanshi — stream on Netflix
  2. Bhuj: The Pride of India — stream on Hulu
  3. Dybbuk — stream on Amazon Prime

Previous Best Movies Lists

Previous Worst Movies Lists

[Disclaimer: my Amazon links include an affiliate tag, and I may earn a commission on purchases made via those links. Thanks for helping to support this website!]

Bollywood Box Office: August 19-22, 2021

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Akshay Kumar’s period drama BellBottom released into theaters in India and abroad on August 19, 2021, heralding what could be the resumption of regular Hindi theatrical releases (fingers crossed). While cinema restrictions still in place in India limited the film’s earnings potential there, BellBottom‘s North American collections provide some insight into conditions here as well.

According to Bollywood Hungama, BellBottom earned a total of $274,753 from 100 theaters ($2,748 average) in North America in its opening four days. Here’s how those numbers break down by country:

USA – $148,074 from 74 screens = $2,001 average per screen
Canada – $126,679 from 26 screens = $4,872 average per screen

What immediately jumps out is Canada’s contribution of 46% of the total earnings. That’s a really high percentage. But what should we expect from a typical Akshay Kumar movie in North America?

Looking back at Kumar’s four 2019 releases — Kesari, Mission Mangal, Housefull 4, and Good Newwz — here’s what an average opening weekend looked like:

  • 240 theaters — 30 theaters in Canada and 210 in the US
  • $1.1 million total earnings
  • 24% of the earnings from Canada

The amazing thing to me is that the number of theaters showing BellBottom in Canada is about what you’d expect it to be in non-COVID times. (Mission Mangal also opened in 26 theaters.) Compare that to BellBottom opening in about 1/3 of the theaters it would have in the United States, and you can see two very different theatrical landscapes at present.

So what does this mean for other Bollywood movies on the release calendar? Temper your expectations for what you can earn in North America. While earnings in Canada are well below what one would expect under pre-COVID conditions, the country’s theater landscape is downright robust compared to the anemic earnings and small footprint available to Hindi films in the US. BellBottom‘s $2,748 per-screen average is respectable compared to Hollywood theatrical releases right now, but that’s for a highly anticipated film from a marquee star. A smaller movie like Chehre will earn much, much less. I suspect it’s going to be a while before the US is again a big contributor to a Hindi film’s box office haul.

Opening March 11, 2021: Roohi

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With the Bollywood theatrical release calendar filling up, the Janhvi Kapoor-Rajkummar Rao horror comedy Roohi is first out of the gate, opening in Chicago area theaters on March 11, 2021.

Roohi opens on Thursday at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago, AMC South Barrington 24 in South Barrington, and AMC Naperville 16 in Naperville. (Streaming partner: Netflix) It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 15 min. All three theaters offer Roohi as a Private Rental option, priced at $249 at the River East 21 and South Barrington 24 and $199 at the Naperville 16.

I am avoiding movie theaters until I get the COVID-19 vaccine, which likely won’t be until this summer. I look forward to reviewing Roohi and other upcoming Hindi theatrical releases when they become available for streaming in the US.

Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this weekend:

In Theaters: January 29, 2021

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Movie theaters across the Chicago area are once again allowed to reopen with restricted capacity. Some theaters have chosen to remain closed for the time being, but plenty are back in business. That said, opportunities to watch Indian movies in Chicago area theaters are few and far between the weekend beginning January 29, 2021.

The Tamil film Master — which became available for streaming on Amazon Prime today — opens Friday at the ShowPlace ICON at Roosevelt Collection in Chicago, AMC South Barrington 24 in South Barrington, and Cinemark at Seven Bridges in Woodridge. The ShowPlace ICON offers Master as one of the options in its “Private Showing” theater rental program for a price of $166.88. The cost of private rental — which accommodates a group of up to 20 people — is less than the cost of 12 regular priced adult tickets ($14.50).

Also starting Friday, the Seven Bridges theater carries the Telugu movie 30 Rojullo Preminchadam Ela, which is available in the theater’s “Private Watch Party” program for $149. Cinemark’s private rental program has the same 20-person limit and costs about the same as 17 regular priced tickets ($8.75) or 26 matinee tickets ($5.75).

Theater Update: October 6, 2020

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With Khaali Peeli presently showing at the AMC South Barrington 24 in South Barrington, I checked to see which of the Chicago area theaters that regularly carry Bollywood films are currently operating, and under what terms. If the government ruling allowing cinemas in India to reopen later this month prompts new Bollywood films to release theatrically, will there be a home for them here?

In the Chicago area, the answer is a definitive: probably? AMC theaters are obviously open, though hours and days of operation vary by location. The region’s only all-Indian theater — MovieMax Cinemas in Niles — is closed indefinitely because of the pandemic. Regal Entertainment is closing all 536 of its US theaters on Thursday, October 8, which takes out the Cantera (which carries almost every Hindi release) as well as the Regal Round Lake Beach.

Marcus Theaters in Addison and Elgin are open Friday-Sunday and Tuesday. You can order concessions online and pick them up in cinema for your own movie night or game night at home, which is pretty tempting (especially since I’m writing this right before lunch).

Theaters in the Cinemark family like Seven Bridges, Stratford Square, and Deer Park are open Friday-Sunday. Those theaters are traditionally more dependent upon new releases out of South India than Bollywood, but that may change since cinemas are desperate for new content.

Cinemark has a really cool (but pricey) program right now called the Private Watch Party. You can rent an entire screen for you and a group of up to 20 people to watch a new release or classic film all by yourselves. Locally, new releases are priced at $149, and older films at $99. My husband and I are planning to do this for just the two of us when Dune releases on December 18. [Scratch that: Dune just got pushed to October 21, 2021.] I’m not sure if this deal will apply to any Bollywood or South Indian films that may open in Cinemark theaters, but it could be a good option if you’re concerned about safety and/or if you have a large family.

It’s still unclear what the next Indian movie to open in Chicago theaters after Khaali Peeli would be. All of this could be moot if A) a spike in infections triggers theater closures in all or part of the region, or B) theater chains decide it’s not financially viable to operate under current conditions without blockbuster Hollywood content. For now, the take away is: if you feel it’s safe to return to cinemas and are desperate to watch an Indian movie on the big screen, head to South Barrington for Khaali Peeli while you can. Or you can just stay home, like me.

Update: In response to Regal’s planned closure later this week, AMC and Cinemark have vowed to continue operating during the pandemic, according to CNBC. Just to add some further perspective, when Baaghi 3 released on March 6, it did so in thirteen local theaters: 7 AMC theaters, 1 Cinemark, 2 Marcus, 2 Regal, and 1 independent (MovieMax). As of now, only three of those theaters will be closed if/when a new Bollywood title releases locally.