There’s a whole universe of Indian cinema that never makes it to loud box-office conversations or splashy award nights. These are films that don’t shout for attention, but quietly stay with you long after the credits roll. Stories that dare to be uncomfortable, to question the familiar, to show us lives we rarely pause to notice. In a world obsessed with scale, glamour and star-studded buzz, these underrated gems remind us why cinema matters in the first place: to move us, provoke us, and help us see differently. Here are five exceptional Indian films that deserve far more love than they’ve received.
I have curated a list of 5 films that deeply touched me and reminded me all again to appreciate cinema in its absolute art form:
Titli–
A dark, unsettling drama, Titli follows a young man desperate to escape his brutal, carjacking family. His dream of independence collides with the suffocating control of his father and brothers, with violence and deep-rooted patriarchy defining his all-male household.
Beneath its gritty exterior lies a deeply nuanced portrait of a young man gasping for autonomy. What I find deeply compelling is that the film never treats its women as background tragedies. Neelu, Titli’s wife, refuses to be a pawn in his desperate plans. Their relationship is raw and unsettling, mirroring the brutality around them.
Titli is a hauntingly underrated film that drags into light the kind of world most prefer to ignore. What makes the film exceptional is its unflinching portrayal of patriarchy as a living beast. Titli’s brothers and father enforce it, yet even Vikram, the so-called patriarch, becomes a casualty of the same system. The violence throughout the film is stark, stomach-turning, and completely humourless.
It is available on Prime Video.
Luck by Chance-
Luck by Chance dives right into the glitter and grime of Bollywood, exposing an industry where talent is optional, timing is everything, and luck is the ultimate casting director. At its heart is Vikram, a struggling actor who lands a dream role almost accidentally, and the erasure of people from his life as he climbs the ladder to success. The film savagely laughs at the absurd rituals, ego explosions, and networking gymnastics that shape stardom in Mumbai.
The movie’s moral center, however, is Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma) and her ending reframing the whole story: she refuses the easy melodramatic closure, chooses her own steady path, and finds dignity outside stardom — a quieter victory that lands harder than Vikram’s spotlight. That final beat hits like truth. Two people start with the same struggle, but only one gets the spotlight, while the other learns to shine anyway.
This film deserved far louder applause for calling out who really gets to be a star. You can watch this movie on Netflix and Prime Video.
Is love enough? SIR-
Sometimes a film whispers instead of shouting — and Is Love Enough? SIR is one of those quiet power-houses that’s slipped through the cracks. Their relationship grows not from rescue but recognition. Ratna sees Ashwin drowning in heartbreak and privilege at the same time. She calls him out. She tells him life doesn’t end just because one dream does, and she proves it through her own grit — working, saving, and secretly working on her dream to become a fashion designer.
The class divide flickers at every glance: the servant’s room, the master’s dinner table, the invisible walls between them. Yet despite such richness, this film remains undervalued. It never broke into mainstream, which is bizarre, because its simplicity is its strength. Maybe because it doesn’t offer big melodrama, flashy song-and-dance, or a tidy “happily ever after”. Instead the ending gently gives Ratna her autonomy. She doesn’t cling to Ashwin — she chooses her own path, not as someone saved, but as someone self-realised.
If you’re curating films that deserve deeper appreciation, this one belongs near the top of the list. It asks a deceptively simple question — and answers it in subtle, unforgettable ways.
This was initially released on Netflix but has been removed. You can watch it on Prime Video but like most of the good movies on it, you will have to pay extra.
Love and Shukla–
Love and Shukla is a quiet, unpolished treasure that shows us a world we rarely pause to notice. Shukla, a rickshaw driver in Mumbai, navigates the city streets with more patience than most of the passengers who underpay him. This isn’t a hero with swagger. He is a man who is honest, timid, sexually inexperienced, and desperately hopeful for a normal married life. His biggest dream isn’t luxury. It is privacy.
That dream crashes into the reality of a one-room home packed with his parents, and later his sister. Suitcases become walls (literally). Love becomes whispers. Every night turns into a reminder of how little space he owns in his own life. The film handles his frustration with surprising tenderness. He books a hotel room. He reaches for slivers of intimacy with his wife. The world still pushes him back.
His wife, shy but aware, watches his efforts quietly. She sees his clumsy romance, his longing, his helplessness. Their relationship blooms not in grand declarations, but in stolen glances and unfinished conversations. The pacing is slow, because Shukla’s life is slow. This is a film that showcases the ordinary struggles of a man living below the line of privilege, carrying his family on his back and still wishing for a night where the door can finally close. Love and Shukla deserves to be spoken about more, because it gives dignity to lives usually ignored.
This one is available on Prime Video.
Three of Us-
Three of Us is a film that doesn’t rush to impress you. It simply sits beside you, holds your hand, and lets memory do the storytelling. Shailaja, her husband Dipankar (Swanand Kirkire), and her childhood love Pradeep (Jaideep Ahlawat) set out for the Konkan coast. What follows isn’t a love triangle-drama in the commercial sense; it’s three adults navigating the terrain of past, present and loss.
The husband’s quiet acceptance, the wife’s flickering memory, the friend’s unspoken regret: each emotion is treated with remarkable dignity. The pacing is unhurried because the film gives you room to breathe, reflect, feel. It shows how some love stories don’t end… they simply change shape. How even fading memories can hold immense warmth. How healing sometimes comes from revisiting the very places that once hurt.
Three of Us is an underrated jewel, a whisper of a movie that lingers long after the screen fades to black.
You can watch it on Netflix.
These films might not scream for attention at the box office, yet they linger long after the credits roll. If any of them found a place on your watchlist today, I’d love to hear what struck you the most.
Got another hidden gem that deserves the spotlight? Share it with me. Let’s celebrate the stories that deserve to be seen, heard, and remembered.
Leave a Reply